The Bros Are Back

Daily Newsletter The Bros Are Back

Crypto art rears its head again at Art Basel Miami Beach and Pantone's color of the year draws backlash.

Hyperallergic December 5, 2025 — 3 min read Beeple's "Regular Animals" (2025) (photo Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic)

Today in douchy crypto-bro art, a Beeple sensation at Art Basel Miami Beach features anthropomorphic robodogs with the faces of powerful men, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol, and the artist himself, born Mike Winkelmann.

Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia, who had the misfortune of witnessing the spectacle, calls out the real purpose of this installation and others at the fair, which is to "advance crypto wealth by making you, the viewer, an active participant in the ploy."

I thought we got rid of NFTs and the scam artists who made them. And yet they're rearing their heads again.

Read the full opinion

SPONSORED

Craft in America Returns for a New Season With “EAST” and “WEST”

The latest episodes of the PBS docuseries explore craft across the US, beginning with stories of artists in the Eastern and Western United States.

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Opinion

Dancer Gia Bella is among three artists tapped to ring in Pantone's 2026 color of the year. (image courtesy Pantone Color Institute)

Pantone’s Color of the Year Sounds About WhiteAfter the year we’ve had, going with Cloud Dancer can easily be interpreted as a piercing dog whistle. | Rhea Nayyar

News

• NYC: The city's Department of Cultural Affairs selects Ifeoma Ebo, Stephen Kwok, and Mauricio Higuera as its public artists in residence.
• NADA Miami: Surrealism and queer futurism dominated the fair this year, Alexandra Martinez reports.

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Purchase College Was Founded to Make Quality Arts Education Possible

Graduate arts students have access to generous financial support and paid teaching opportunities, state-of-the-art facilities, and New York City’s vibrant cultural scene.

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Member Comment

Holly Wong on Erika Hirugami's "The Cruelty of American Curatorial Silence."

Thank you for this powerful writing. I can only imagine the pressure that curators must feel institutionally to edit themselves and their political views. I love your statement "Let's speak now, let's help now...." Deeply inspiring and motivating.

Community

Tech oligarch robot pups aren't the only wildlife roaming around in Miami right now. There's a giant (virtual) panther prowling around Cartier's exhibition Into the Wild in the city's design district. We love you, Miami, we don't mean to be catty. (photo courtesy Cartier)

Art Movements: All's Fair in Art FairsThe Andy Warhol Foundation gives out $1 million in art writing grants, a new mega-gallery enters the villa, and other industry news.

Required ReadingWorld AIDS Day at Stonewall, Alison Bechdel on making ends meet, Houston van art, NYC’s latest eyesore, Christ and kink, and the family behind Elf on the Shelf.

A View From the EaselWelcome to the 314th installment of A View From the Easel, a series in which artists reflect on their workspace. This week, artists pace about their studios and weave painted canvases in Philadelphia and Yorkshire, England.

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MFA, MA, and PhD Programs to Apply for by Early 2026

Arts-related graduate programs to explore and apply to before deadlines close.

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ICYMI

Film still from Grand Hotel (1932), directed by Edmund Goulding (all images courtesy Film Forum)

How Art Deco Changed American CinemaOn the centennial of the movement, Film Forum is hosting a months-long retrospective of screenings. | Dan Schindel

From the Archive

Madonna and Beeple, still from NFT video artwork Mother of Nature (2022) (all images courtesy the artists)

Madonna’s NFT Collab With Beeple Is a Matryoshka of Vagina HorrorsCan’t Madonna just donate to charity without making everyone look at a 3D scan of her vagina? | Sarah Rose Sharp

Happy Friday!

—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief

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