The Thirty Six for Coral auction runs through June 22. A special gala event in Cap Ferrat on June 20th features 10 lots that will be auctioned off live & via-live stream for bidders that cannot attend in person. All proceeds benefit coral reefs. To learn more visit www.forcoral.org

Bid to create a future for coral reefs. 

<b>NANA FUNO</b><div><i>Fingerprints of Tide, Eardrum of the Sea</i></div><div><br></div><div>Acrylic on panel</div><div>162.0 x 112.0 cm each (set/2 pieces )</div><div><br></div><div>2025</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Nana Funo’s dense images are delicately and laboriously constructed, through a process the artist describes as “woolly yet very sharp at the same time.” Each of her works is built up in a complex series of layers: she paints acrylic on the work’s base, creates her image in pen, applies gesso to create gradation, and finally masks the surface in another layer of acrylic paint. The final work has both depth and kaleidoscopic texture. The subjects of Funo’s works appear fantastical, but are in fact based on her day-to-day experiences and moods; recurring motifs include figures, animals, flora and fauna, and writing.</div>

NANA FUNO  |  Fingerprints of Tide, Eardrum of the Sea

<p>The Coral Collective brings some of the worldʼs most celebrated artists together with its Thirty Six for Coral exhibition and sale.</p><p>The online auction opens on May 28th and bidding will remain open until June 22nd.  Ten pieces will be selected for a live auction on June 20th.  Bidders will be informed on June 19th which pieces will be in the live auction and are able participate in the live auction online via livestream from Cap Ferrat.</p><p>Thirty Six for Coral is being exhibited at the iconic Grand Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat in the South of France from June 12-20. This immersive exhibition brings together 36 celebrated artists whose stunning works will serve as a powerful call to action for global conservation efforts for coral reefs, the rainforests of the sea.  Thirty Six for Coral aims to raise global awareness and secure essential funding for protection and restoration of one of the most critically endangered ecosystems on Earth.</p><p>Thirty Six for Coral has been made possible by the Pavoncelli Foundation.   We would also like to thank Hedley's and OMOSS for their support.</p><p>To learn about conservation impact being made,  please visit:  <a href="https://www.forcoral.org/impact" target="_blank">https://www.forcoral.org/impact</a></p><p>For enquiries, please contact: michele@weareprojectzero.org</p><p></p>


<b>PETROC SESTI</b><div><br></div><div><i>Heart of Okeanos Pacific</i></div><div><br></div><div>2024</div><div><br></div><div>Carbon Sink Sculpture, Embodied Negative Materials. Crafted in Carbonxinc, a material capable of sequestering significant quantities of greenhouse gases.</div><div><br></div><div>85 x 150 cm</div><div><br></div><div>Plinth Size - 70 x 80 cm (230 cm including plinth)</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>In 2014 the body of a blue whale washed ashore in Rocky Harbour, having tragically perished after being trapped in ice. Led by Mammalogy Technician Jacqueline Miller, the discovery prompted a team of scientists from the museum to remove the huge mammal's heart and meticulously preserve the specimen over the following 3 years.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Drawing inspiration from Roman Paleozoic cement and marine organisms like coral that capture carbon to create their structures. Sesti has been developing a carbon sink sculpture medium, a revolutionary material that combines eco-friendly concrete and carbon capture crystals to permanently store captured CO2 in rock form, a 1st for the art world.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Petroc Sesti is a British / Italian artist, born in London where he currently lives and works. His work pushes the boundaries of art and science, exploring in particular the ever-changing relationships between artwork, the viewer and the environment in which they are placed. Both sculptures and paintings perform an interactive role by engaging the location and movement of the viewer by way of vast optical lenses and Moire geometries, reconfiguring the landscape and providing the viewer with a unique and responsive interaction with the artwork. He has collaborated with scientists from space programs to forestry scientists laser scanning trees in the rainforests. Permanent collections include The Kistefos Museum Norway, MONA Museum Tasmania, the Boghossian Foundation Brussels, the Rockefeller Collection New York, the Sheikha Moza Collection - Rem Koolhaas’s Qatar Foundation, Norman Foster’s Yacht Club Monaco, SOM’s Manhattan Loft Gardens Stratford - International London, YUZI Museum China, H-66 Aedas LWK &amp; Partners Architects Shanghai.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>HEART OF OKEANOS</b></div><div>Heart of Okeanos takes its title from the Greek personification of the world’s ocean, Okeanos, and presents a sculptural rendering of the cardiovascular system of the blue whale—the largest heart known in the animal kingdom.</div><div><br></div><div>Positioned at the convergence of artistic practice and scientific research, the sculpture is intended to be returned to the ocean as a symbolic and functional beacon for biodiversity at the Reefline project in Miami.</div><div><br></div><div>Originally unveiled at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP), Heart of Okeanos was developed using advanced carbon capture technologies. Composed of carbon-negative aggregates, the work constitutes one of the first known examples of a monumental sculpture operating as a functional carbon sink.</div><div><br></div><div>“Artists are free thinkers and placemakers; they create artworks that inspire paradigm shifts toward new cultural narratives, offering alternative frameworks through which to interpret our environments.</div><div><br></div><div>Through interdisciplinary collaboration and critical engagement with the natural world, artists are uniquely positioned to catalyse public discourse. Cultural dialogue with the biosphere is not only urgent it is also generative, and will define the future of art itself.</div><div><br></div><div>I believe we are entering a new cultural golden age—a renaissance shaped not by introspection alone, but by the discoveries that lie beyond ourselves.” Petroc Sesti</div>

PETROC SESTI  |  Heart of Okeanos

<b>OSGEMEOS</b><div><br></div><div><i>I See The Light&nbsp;</i></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Mixed Media on Wood</div><div><br></div><div>120 x 100cm</div><div><br></div><div>OSGEMEOS is the collaborative project of Brazilian twin brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, who got their start as graffiti artists. Under their chosen moniker, which means “the twins” in Portuguese, OSGEMEOS create a fantastical private universe filled with bright-yellow long-limbed characters and surrealistic landscapes. Their works, which span paintings, murals, sculpture, installation, and video, reflect contemporary and folkloric Brazilian culture in addition to the twins’ aesthetic influences, which include hip-hop, contemporary global youth culture, and the world of graffiti that launched their career. OSGEMEOS have exhibited in New York, London, São Paulo, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Berlin. Their work has sold for six figures on the secondary market and belongs in the collections of the Franks-Suss Collection, the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, the Museu de Arte Brasileira, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.</div>

OSGEMEOS  |  I See The Light 

<b>DUSTIN YELLIN</b><div><br></div><div><i>Help!</i></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>UV printed glass, Epoxy</div><div><br></div><div>19 1/8 x 8 1/8 x 6 3/8 Inches</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Dustin Yellin describes his inventive sculptures as works of “frozen cinema.” He embeds streaks of paint and a riot of tiny images snipped from old magazines, art history books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and found notebooks into sheets of laminated glass. The collage elements coalesce into intricate, shape-shifting narrative scenes, human figures, or isolated natural forms. Yellin’s sculptures can feel once contemporary and ancient, like fossilized organisms preserved in amber. The artist has exhibited in Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, London, Madrid, and beyond, and his work has sold for six figures at auction. In 2012, Yellin founded Pioneer Works, a multidisciplinary community cultural center in Brooklyn that hosts artist residencies, mounts large-scale exhibitions (Bosco Sodi, Jacolby Satterwhite, Nan Goldin, and Anthony McCall have all enjoyed solo shows here), and counts artists Shirin Neshat, Mickalene Thomas, and Michael Joo among its advisors.</div>

DUSTIN YELLIN  |  Help!

<b>WALTON FORD</b><div><br></div><div><i>Study for Cabeza de Vaca&nbsp;</i></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>32.7 x47.3cm (framed)</div><div><br></div><div>2021</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Turning the work of naturalist and painter John James Audubon on its head, Walton Ford imbues the flora and fauna in his own watercolors and prints with sex, violence, and melodrama. His aim is to satirically comment on the history of colonialism, slavery, and other forms of oppression. The beauty and naturalism of his meticulously rendered scenes belie their comedic grotesqueness. As he explains, “I think that there’s almost no subject that you can’t treat with some humor, no matter how brutal it can seem.”</div>

WALTON FORD  |  Study for Cabeza de Vaca 

VIK MUNIZ<div><br></div><div>Garoupa</div><div><br></div><div>2022</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Archival injet print</div><div><br></div><div>1 of 4 AP</div><div><br></div><div>40 x 53.3 inches&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Framed</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Mixed-media artist Vik Muniz recreates historical artworks with unusual materials, then photographs the results. He’s previously used chocolate, sugar, trash, and toys to appropriate and reinterpret the work of artists ranging from Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko to Caravaggio and Jacques-Louis David.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Muniz has exhibited in New York, London, Paris, San Francisco, and Tokyo, among other cities. His work belongs in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. In addition to his mixed-media works, Muniz has also starred in "Waste Land" (2010), an Oscar-nominated film about garbage pickers at a Brazilian landfill and led a number of social justice–oriented projects that focus on education and development in his native Brazil. In 2001, the artist represented the country at the Venice Biennale.</div><div><br></div><div>“Money is perhaps one of the most important and efficient means of communication that exists, but for me it is a type of media. It is a means of communication that is on the verge of disappearing, and that is what interests me. The Dinheiro Vivo series did not happen out of nowhere. I think that since 2010, a time that coincides with the acceleration of this change from chemical to digital, we were changing a lot of things in the studio, and perhaps my attention turned to this story of paper, of the image still dependent on a medium of support, until we arrived at the idea of ​​money. I had this opportunity through the Mint, which gave us a huge amount of shredded money, which is stuff they don't use. They asked if I wanted some of this material to make something and of course I accepted, but we didn't know how much money they were offering. I had this opportunity through the Mint, which gave me a huge amount of shredded money, which is stuff they don't use. They asked if I wanted some of this material to make something, and of course I accepted, but we didn't know how much money they were offering. I was wondering what to do with this material, especially given the fact that Brazilian money has representations of animals, some of which are endangered. There's also the issue of animals, they offered a limit on the number of works, which would be seven in this case, and then I felt the need to perhaps explore this history of money a little more, and I opted for landscapes.” - Vik Muniz</div>

VIK MUNIZ  |  Garoupa

<p><b>MOYOSORE MARTINS</b></p><div><br></div><div><i>Emi Ko (It's Not Me)</i></div><div><br></div><div>62 x 52 inches</div><div><br></div><div>Oil, Oil Stick, Pigment, Graphite on Canvas</div><div><br></div><div>2023</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Móyòsóré Martins is a self-taught mixed-media artist. Raised in Lagos, Nigeria by a Brazilian father and a Nigerian mother from Ekiti state, Martins adopted a paintbrush and pencil at a young age as instruments to express his innately curious and spiritual nature. Through his work, Martins blends his traditional Yoruba cultural roots with his contemporary vision of art.</div><div><br></div><div>Martins’ artwork combines figurative, abstract, and narrative elements drawn from his unique life experience and journey from Nigeria to his large Bronx studio. His work is deeply symbolic and frequently features cultural and personal iconography. Martins’ richly textured paintings feature bold brushstrokes, thick oil paint, drawings, scribbles, collaged materials, and text. The vibrant, heavily layered canvases are interspersed with spiritual elements and wishes manifested and fulfilled. Martins also works in three-dimensional form with clay sculpture. As Martins describes:</div><div><br></div><div>My artwork is intentionally raw. I like to use a lot of different materials and have rough-cut edges on the canvas. The paintings are textured with scratches, scribbles, and mud-like paint, as well as clay, liquid plastic, oil sticks, chunky layers of oil paint. I layer the background and then deconstruct them, which gives the feeling of wear and tear on the canvas. No painting is alike as each has symbolic patterns and encrypted messages hidden within it. I want to merge the vision with the given and the new world that I live in now. The word “Why?” is seen in a lot of the work because it leaves you asking the same question.</div><div><br></div><div>Forbidden by his father to create or study art, Martins spent his college years in Ghana and the Ivory Coast studying computer science. He immigrated to New York City in 2015 to further pursue his artistic ambitions. Martins’ artwork has been exhibited at the Varenne Contemporary (Geneva), TrafficArts (New York, Paris), Crossing Art Gallery (New York), Nassau County Museum (Roslyn, NY), Path Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), Robert Fontaine Gallery (Miami, Fl.), Dacia Gallery (New York, NY), Heath Gallery (New York, NY), Grady Alexis Gallery (New York, NY) and Long-Sharp Gallery (Indiannapolis, IN).</div><div><br></div><p></p>


MOYOSORE MARTINS  |  Emi Ko (It's Not Me)

NABIL NAHAS<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Untitled</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Acrylic on Canvas&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>44 x 42 cm</div><div><br></div><div>2025</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Drawing inspiration from the fractal patterns found in coral reefs, Nahas creates vibrant, multi-layered compositions that appear to pulsate with life, bridging the gap between the cosmic and the microscopic.</div><div>Nabil Nahas is an internationally acclaimed Lebanese-American artist known for his bold, three-dimensional paintings that merge geometric abstraction with organic forms, evoking the intricate beauty of nature. Drawing inspiration from the fractal patterns found in coral reefs, Nahas creates vibrant, multi-layered compositions that appear to pulsate with life, bridging the gap between the cosmic and the microscopic.</div><div>Born in Beirut in 1949, Nahas moved to the United States in 1969 to pursue his artistic education, earning a BFA from Louisiana State University before completing his MFA at Yale University in 1972. After settling in New York in 1973, he became a significant figure in the city’s contemporary art scene, drawing influence from both Islamic decorative patterns and the American abstract painting movement of the mid-20th century.</div><div>A pivotal moment in Nahas’s artistic journey came when he learned to scuba dive in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Immersed in the underwater world, he was profoundly moved by the complexity and delicate structure of coral formations. Since then, corals have remained a major influence in his work, inspiring his textured, richly pigmented “fractal” paintings that mirror the organic growth of marine life. His signature "Constellation" compositions reference both seabeds and celestial bodies, creating a hypnotic interplay of depth, movement, and luminous color.</div><div>Beyond his marine-inspired works, Nahas also explores themes of cultural identity and environmental fragility. His later works incorporate imagery of cedars, olive trees, and palms, symbolizing both the natural heritage and the resilience of his homeland, Lebanon. He had his first major retrospective at the Beirut Exhibition Center in 2010, and in 2002, he represented Lebanon at the 25th São Paulo Bienal in Brazil.</div><div>His work has been showcased in renowned institutions and exhibitions worldwide, including "Glasstress 2011," a Collateral Event of the 54th Venice Biennale, and "Glasstress: New York" at the Museum of Arts and Design in 2012. His paintings are housed in the permanent collections of prestigious museums, including:</div><div>The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York</div><div>Tate Modern, London</div><div>Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE</div><div>Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha</div><div>Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</div><div>Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia</div><div>High Museum of Art, Atlanta</div><div>Nahas had his first solo show at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York in 1977, later exhibiting with Holly Solomon Gallery in 1986 and continuing his long-standing relationship with Sperone Westwater Gallery since 1997.</div><div>Through his innovative practice, Nahas transforms the microcosm of coral reefs into vast, immersive landscapes, inviting viewers to contemplate the delicate interplay between art, nature, and the infinite patterns of existence.</div><div>Represented by internationally recognized galleries Ben Brown Gallery,&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>Spironi Westwater, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Lawri Shabibi Gallery, and Galerie Tanit.</div><div><br></div>

NABIL NAHAS  |  Untitled

<div><div>Bio Resin, Pigment, Brass Chains, Brass ring, Brass eye hooks, Brass wall hook, Brass caribiners</div><div><br></div><div>130cm x 40cm x 35cm</div><div><br></div><div>2025</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>HENRIETTA ARMSTRONG</b></div><div>&nbsp;</div><div><i>Medusa's Blood</i></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><span>Medusa’s Blood is a ritual object for a dying world. Inspired by traditional Italian apotropaic charms, such as the mano figa and corno, often carved from Corallium rubrum, the red coral of the Mediterranean, this work reimagines their protective power at an exaggerated scale. Glowing in coral reds and pinks, it hangs suspended like an oversized pendant or sacred offering. According to Greek mythology, red coral was born from the blood of Medusa, the Gorgon whose severed head turned men to stone. When Perseus beheaded her, the legend says her blood spilled into the sea, staining seaweed and transforming it into living coral. This myth ties red coral to both death and creation, a duality that lies at the heart of the piece.  In various belief systems, red coral is more than decorative: it is alive with meaning. It is said to offer protection from harm, promote well-being, and guard against negativity. In some traditions, if red coral changes colour, it’s considered a warning, an omen of illness or misfortune. These beliefs imbue the material with a sense of urgency and power, further deepening its connection to themes of life, loss, and transformation.  Drawing on these histories and associations, Medusa’s Blood evokes the contradictory beauty and devastation of coral reefs under threat. As the Great Barrier Reef fades to white through bleaching and death, the charms become relics, symbols of protection, grief, and feminine fury. Part shrine, part fossil, the work asks what we are trying to preserve, and what we are already mourning. It is a spell for the reef, and a curse for the forces undoing it.</span></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Henrietta Armstrong MRSS is a multimedia artist and curator based in London, specialising in sculpture, installation and public art. She looks at man-made objects and structures from everyday technologies that are often obsolete or defunct, and the symbolism or meaning that we imbue them with. Henrietta creates work that can sometimes be playful but has a serious message that stays with the viewer about the effects we are having on the planet and what we will be leaving behind for the future. Protection and defence are recurring themes, looking at the brutalist forms of sea defences, sea erosion and the global threat of rising sea levels due to global warming. Her most recent work continues her exploration of themes related to personal relics, the mystical unknown and ritualistic practices. Considering the hypocrisy between the Catholic Church's veneration of relics and its historical condemnation of witchcraft. While relics, often mass-produced religious items with supposed divine significance, are celebrated and revered, the Church's stance on witchcraft has been one of persecution and condemnation. This contrast adds an intriguing layer to Armstrong's exploration of religious artefacts and their cultural symbolism, urging viewers to reflect on the complex dynamics of the symbols, rituals and shifting perceptions that shape human belief systems. The paradox between the acceptance of institutional idolatry and the persecution of marginalised groups for similar behaviour, raises questions about the role of power and biases embedded in historical narratives. Through her work, she encourages us to confront the incongruities within our societal norms, inviting us to question the malleable boundaries between the sacred and the condemned.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Henrietta Armstrong BA Fine Art (Hons) at Sir John Cass School of Art, London, graduating in 2003. Recent exhibitions include: ‘Entangled: Saatchi Gallery X Liminal Gallery’ - Saatchi Gallery, London, Take A Seat - HA.LF X Bow Arts FRIEZE Takeover, London, Art Car Boot Fair - Sweet ‘Art, London, Sex Sells - Beyond The Historical Matrix - Semjon Contemporary, Berlin, The Garden of Delights on Earth - Gallery 46, London, HOW LONG IS FOREVER - G37 Galerie, Berlin, solo show SANCTUM FUTURUM: Relics and Forbidden Desires at Liminal Gallery, Margate, Throwing Bones II at Chaucer Group Ltd, The Scalpel Building, London. She is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, her work is part of the Soho House permanent collection and is held in private collections around the world.</div>

NANA FUNO | Fingerprints of Tide, Eardrum of the Sea

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