Agreed. I think a lot of ‘em use industrial desiccants to speed up the process, and I get that they do it to meet demand, but it absolutely WRINGS out the moisture and does some damage in the process.

Air-drying them over the course of a few months is the way to go.

Medium: Silver Gelatin Print, Photography

Dimensions: 3 1/4 × 4 1/2" (8.3 × 11.5 cm)

info from moma.org

Pretty sure that the environment (and corporate logos) were just painted as they existed. This painting seems more like a technical flex/exercise rather than a commentative one with a particular message or theme.

Was posted by the artist, and has a few comments and replies remarking on the process and time investment (~10 hours) https://old.reddit.com/r/painting/comments/tq8jvy/shanghai_showers_transparent_watercolor_on_paper/

It was submitted to a competition: https://reidsart.com/awards/iws-poland-step-by-step/

Not that I'm aware of. Apparently, the creator made this as a christmas present for their sister.