Cecily Brown: ‘I was too shy to talk to all these super cool kids like Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst’

Cecily Brown is preparing for her first major museum exhibition in her native London at the Serpentine Gallery, titled 'Picture Making'. The show features new and old paintings, monotypes, and drawings inspired by Kensington Gardens, marking a significant return for the artist who left for New York in the 1990s. Despite her commercial success with Gagosian and inclusion in major museums, she expresses nervousness about the critical reception.

Twombly Foundation to Exhibit Rare Rauschenberg Works at Gagosian

The Cy Twombly Foundation is presenting six rarely seen early works by Robert Rauschenberg at Gagosian's new Upper East Side gallery in New York. The exhibition includes a fragile 1950 assemblage of twigs and glass, a cyanotype made with his then-wife Susan Weil, a 'Black Painting' from around 1952, and a 1961 assemblage, offering a unique glimpse into a period of the artist's output that he largely destroyed.

jeff koons porcelain series gagosian

Jeff Koons has returned to Gagosian in New York with his "Porcelain Series," on view through February 28, 2026, marking his first exhibition with the gallery after four years with Pace. The show features hyper-polished porcelain sculptures and paintings that reference historical European porcelain workshops such as Sèvres, Meissen, and KPM Berlin, as well as 16th-century prints. Koons discusses the high-low dialogue of porcelain, its ties to readymade objects and Duchamp, and his use of advanced scanning and fabrication techniques to transform humble figurines into luxury art.

catherine opie interview trump misogyny

Los Angeles-based artist Catherine Opie is in London for the opening of her solo exhibition "Portraits and Landscapes" at Thomas Dane Gallery, following the installation of her major survey "Keeping an Eye on the World" at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Norway. The show features one large-scale abstracted portrait of the British coast and 13 Old Master-influenced portraits of renowned contemporary artists and figures, including David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Duro Olowu, Thelma Golden, Gillian Wearing, Isaac Julien, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. In an interview, Opie discusses her choice of sitters, her formal portrait techniques, and the meta-portrait quality of riffing on the subjects' own artistic practices.

met gala 2025 looks artworks

The 2025 Met Gala, officially the Costume Institute Benefit, was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, launching the exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” The event drew a star-studded guest list, with celebrities channeling the theme of Black dandyism through tailored silhouettes, bold patterns, and luxurious fabrics. Several attendees, including Cardi B, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, Colman Domingo, and Janelle Monáe, wore outfits that directly referenced specific artworks, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s *Veronica Veronese*, Frank Stella’s *Rectangular Orange Painting with Diagonal Pattern*, and Hyacinthe Rigaud’s portrait of Louis XIV.

Lee Ufan: ‘I try to bring together those things which are made and unmade’

Lee Ufan, the South Korean artist and founding member of the Mono-ha movement, is being honored with a major solo exhibition at SMAC San Marco Art Centre as an official Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale, marking his 90th year. Simultaneously, a new display of his painting and sculpture opens at Dia Beacon in New York State, and his first show in Portugal opens at Casa e Parque de Serralves in July. In an interview with The Art Newspaper, Ufan discusses his artistic journey, his rejection of the artist's hand, and the influence of seeing a Barnett Newman exhibition at MoMA in 1971, which led him to develop his signature From Point and From Line paintings that use repeated marks to express the passage of time.

10 Shows Around Venice Not to Miss During the Biennale

ARTnews has published a guide to 10 exhibitions in Venice worth seeing during the 2026 Biennale, beyond the central show "In Minor Keys" curated by the late Koyo Kouoh and the national pavilions. Highlights include a major survey of Lee Ufan at the San Marco Art Centre (SMAC Venice), organized by the Dia Art Foundation and curated by Jessica Morgan; "Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince" at Fondazione Prada, curated by Nancy Spector; and "Strange Rules" at Palazzo Diedo, conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Mat Dryhurst and Holly Herndon, introducing the concept of "Protocol Art." Other venues include the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Pinault Collection, Berggruen Arts & Culture, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, and a three-night-only performance at Teatro Goldoni.

Thomas J Price, Artist Behind Viral Times Square Sculpture, Unveils New Bronze in London

Thomas J Price, Artist Behind Viral Times Square Sculpture, Unveils New Bronze in London

Thomas J Price has unveiled a monumental new bronze sculpture, *A Place Beyond*, at the entrance to the V&A East museum in London. The 18-foot-tall figure, his tallest work to date, depicts a young Black woman in contemporary clothing holding a cell phone, created from a composite of many individuals rather than a single model. The sculpture will greet visitors when the new museum branch opens next month.

claire tabouret notre dame

French artist Claire Tabouret is currently the subject of a major career retrospective at Museum Voorlinden and a high-profile solo exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. The latter showcases her full-sized maquettes for six new stained-glass windows commissioned for Notre-Dame Cathedral, depicting the Biblical story of Pentecost. These works, created in collaboration with the historic Atelier Simon-Marq, represent a significant shift for the artist as she translates her signature fluid, figurative painting style into the medium of translucent glass.

gallerist ron mandos erwin olaf

Gallerist Ron Mandos reflects on the enduring legacy of the late Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, whose work blended fine art, fashion, and activism. Following Olaf’s death in 2023, Galerie Ron Mandos has continued to champion his career, most recently through the exhibition “Tender Fury,” which places Olaf’s provocative imagery in dialogue with conceptual artist Kendell Geers. The partnership between Mandos and Olaf began in earnest in 2020, a period during which the artist committed to a decade of total creative freedom, resulting in significant series like “Im Wald.”

dirty looks fashion exhibition

A new London exhibition, "Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion," opens at the Barbican Art Gallery, exploring how designers have used dirt, distress, and imperfection as acts of defiance and new forms of beauty. Curated by Karen Van Godtsenhoven, the show features over 60 designers from Alexander McQueen and Maison Margiela to emerging upstarts, tracing moments like the rise of anti-fashion in the 1980s and trends like bogcore. It runs until January 2026 and is the Barbican's first fashion-focused show in eight years.

jenny savilles solo show at ca pesaro in venice in 2026 will be her fourth museum show in 18 months

The International Gallery of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro in Venice will host a major solo exhibition of works by British painter Jenny Saville in 2026, coinciding with the Venice Biennale. The show, curated by Elisabetta Barisoni, will run from March 28 to November 22 and feature around 30 paintings spanning Saville's career from the 1990s to the present, including a new series inspired by Venice. Mega-gallery Gagosian, which represents Saville, is supporting the exhibition.

katharina grosse messeplatz art basel interview

German artist Katharina Grosse, known for her immersive spray-painted installations, will create a monumental painting titled "CHOIR" across the entire Messeplatz in Basel during Art Basel. The project, curated by Natalia Graboska, involves spray-painting the 53,800-square-foot pedestrian precinct in shades of magenta, marking the first time a painter has been commissioned to take over the entire square. In an interview with ARTnews, Grosse discusses her evolution from early experiments with spray guns in Marseille to key works like "Untitled" (1998) at Kunsthalle Bern and "The Bedroom" (2004), and her upcoming 2026 show at the Munch Museum in Oslo.

Ten years on, Tefaf New York still stands out from the crowd

Tefaf New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory from 15 to 19 May, bringing together 88 exhibitors from 14 countries. The fair, which launched in 2016 as a two-part event and consolidated into a single annual edition in 2022, spans Greco-Roman antiquities, jewellery, 20th-century design, and contemporary art. This year’s edition includes nine new exhibitors such as David Lévy, Larkin Erdmann, Piano Nobile, Macklowe Gallery, and ML Fine Art, and sees the return of John Berggruen after a three-year absence. Fair leadership, including director Leanne Jagtiani and head of fairs Will Korner, emphasize the fair’s distinctive focus on Modern art, which they say differentiates it from other spring fairs in New York that are more heavily weighted toward contemporary work.

Asian Artists Set the Stage at Independent Art Fair 2026

At the 17th edition of the Independent art fair in New York, six galleries are presenting solo booths dedicated to Asian artists, including a U.S. debut by Taiwanese artist Tseng Chien-Ying and works by Japanese painter Rika Minamitani and Chinese conceptual artist Pu Yingwei. Founder Elizabeth Dee highlights the trend as reflecting broader geopolitical shifts and artists' desire to engage with complex cultural debates in New York.

‘I paint the kind of people I’m attracted to’: Hernan Bas on hiding from the world in Venice

Cuban-American artist Hernan Bas has been living in Venice, painting tourists while reflecting on the ironies of mass tourism and his own status as a visitor. His new series, titled "The Visitors," comprises 30 paintings that will be exhibited at Ca' Pesaro, Venice's modern art museum, alongside the Venice Biennale. The works range from bleak to satirical, depicting young white men in tourist scenarios—such as a grinning youth at Holi in India or another cradling a koala—and explore themes of alienation, innocence, and the uncanny. Bas, who is gay, acknowledges that his subjects are often the kind of people he is attracted to, and he emphasizes narrative as central to his practice, aiming to be a conceptual artist who happens to paint.

Zurbarán in London, the Carnegie International, Walter Sickert’s Ennui—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast covers three major art events opening this weekend. The largest career survey of 17th-century Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán since the 1980s opens at the National Gallery in London, co-curated by Francesca Whitlum-Cooper. The 59th Carnegie International, titled "If the word we," opens at the Carnegie Museum of Art and other venues in Pittsburgh, directed by Eric Crosby. The Work of the Week is Walter Sickert's "Ennui" (c.1914), featured in the exhibition "Walter Sickert: Working Notes" at Charleston in Lewes, curated by Robert Travers of Piano Nobile in partnership with Charleston.

Chernobyl 40 years on, Paula Rego at Munch in Oslo, Gluck’s flower painting—podcast

This episode of The Art Newspaper's podcast 'The Week in Art' covers three distinct exhibitions. Host Ben Luke discusses the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster with organizer Olha Kovalevska, whose exhibition at Nikolaikirche in Potsdam runs until 27 April. He also explores a new show at Munch in Oslo, 'Paula Rego: Dance Among Thorns', with curator Kari J. Brandtzæg, focusing on Rego's engagement with Edvard Munch. Finally, the episode features 'Convolvulus' (1940) by Gluck as the Work of the Week, part of the group exhibition 'Handpicked: Painting Flowers from 1900 to Today' at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, discussed with co-curator Naomi Polonsky.

Bettina Pousttchi Recasts Steel Barriers as Poetic Sculptures at Rockefeller Center

German artist Bettina Pousttchi has unveiled a monumental steel sculpture titled "Vertical Highways V03" at New York’s Rockefeller Center. Crafted from repurposed roadway guardrails that have been bent and colored, the vertical installation stands in dialogue with the surrounding Art Deco architecture. The work, which has previously been exhibited in Paris, Berlin, and Istanbul, will remain on public display in Midtown Manhattan through April 17, 2026.

‘What a fascinating challenge for an artist’: how Monet captured Venice in his twilight years

A major exhibition at San Francisco's de Young Museum, titled 'Monet and Venice,' brings together over 100 works, focusing on the two dozen paintings Claude Monet created during his only visit to the city in 1908. The show contextualizes his Venetian output with works by contemporaries like J.M.W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, revealing that the trip was almost cancelled and was initially planned as a brief holiday.

ludovic nkoth flag art foundation

Ludovic Nkoth is the latest artist featured in the FLAG Art Foundation’s “Spotlight” series, which showcases a single, previously unexhibited work paired with a commissioned text. The featured painting, "Stars under the border" (2026), depicts figures in a quiet, mundane moment of rest or labor, exploring the tension between aspiration and systemic limitation. Nkoth’s practice, rooted in his Cameroonian heritage and New York base, utilizes nuanced brushwork and color to investigate the psychological complexities of the Black diasporic experience.

global reach and local appeal defined artissimas latest edition

Artissima, Italy's only contemporary art fair, closed its 32nd edition on November 2, 2025, at the Oval Lingotto Fiere in Turin, drawing 34,500 visitors and 176 galleries from 36 countries. Directed by Luigi Fassi for the fourth year, the fair ran from October 30 to November 2, featuring 63 monographic presentations and 26 first-time exhibitors. The edition introduced a new 5% VAT rate on artworks in Italy, awarded 13 prizes including the new Vilnius Residency Prize, and saw the Fondazione Arte CRT Acquisition Fund acquire 26 works for GAM Torino and Castello di Rivoli, marking its 25th anniversary. Special projects included "From Japan: Anonymous Art Project" and a film screening by Basim Magdy at Parco Michelotti.

maja ruznic site santa fe

Artist Maja Ruznic has created a suite of large, luminous canvases responding to early 20th-century paintings glorifying Spanish colonization at the St. Francis Auditorium in the New Mexico Museum of Art, as part of the 12th Site Santa Fe International. The exhibition, curated by Cecelia Alemani and titled "Once Within a Time," opened last week. Ruznic, a Bosnian war refugee living in Placitas, New Mexico, confronts the problematic history depicted by artist Donald Beauregard, who died at 29 before completing the commission, which was later finished by uncredited artists Carlos Vierra and Kenneth Chapman.

aspen art museum air werner herzog

Aspen Art Museum will launch its new flagship initiative AIR on July 29, 2025, a program combining a public festival and private retreat focused on the intersections of art and technology. The inaugural edition features filmmaker Werner Herzog as a keynote speaker, alongside architect Francis Kéré and artist Maya Lin. Other participants include artist Matthew Barney, who will debut a new performance piece titled "TACTICAL parallax," as well as Paul Chan, Mimi Park, Jota Mombaça, Cannupa Hanska Luger, and the duo of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Rafiq Bhatia. The program includes site-specific art, dialogues, and conversations exploring themes such as ecstatic truth, artificial intelligence, and the origin of life.

arrival hotel art fair change the game

A new art fair called Arrival made its debut at the Tourists hotel in North Adams, Massachusetts, featuring 36 exhibitors and attracting curators, collectors, and artists from across the country. The fair, which closed June 15, offered an intimate format with world-class art, deep conversation, and a relaxed atmosphere that included swimming between sales, set against the backdrop of cultural attractions like Mass MOCA, the Clark Art Institute, and the Williams College Museum of Art.

nicole wittenberg maison la roche

Nicole Wittenberg's new painting series "Ain't Misbehavin'" is on view at Maison La Roche in Paris through July 19, 2025. The exhibition, a collaboration between Massimo De Carlo and Fondation Le Corbusier, features large floral works that eliminate depth and press blossoms against the picture plane, creating a dialogue with Le Corbusier's purist modernist architecture. Wittenberg, a San Francisco-born artist who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, has work in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, and the Albertina.

photo london 2025 standouts

Photo London's 10th edition opened with a buoyant mood despite co-founder Michael Benson acknowledging a difficult economic climate. The fair features classics by pioneers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Brassaï, alongside emerging artists through its Discovery section and Positions platform. Standouts include Palestinian-American artist Adam Rouhana's poignant images of joy and resistance, the special exhibition "London Lives" curated by Francis Hodgson featuring 30 photographers, and a notable booth by Guerin Projects showcasing Robin Hunter Blake's chronophotographic works paired with Rodin's The Kiss.

In Venice, 22 unmissable exhibitions on the sidelines of the biennial

À Venise, 22 expositions incontournables en marge de la biennale

The article highlights 22 must-see exhibitions happening alongside the 61st Venice Biennale, which is expected to be affected by geopolitical tensions but still promises artistic vibrancy. Notable events include Bvlgari's dual projects featuring artists Lotus L. Kang, Lara Favaretto, and Monia Ben Hamouda; the unveiling of the Asscher collection at the Ama Venezia foundation with works by Charles Ray, Jenny Saville, and Richard Serra; and the inaugural exhibition "The Only True Protest Is Beauty" at the Fondation Dries Van Noten, showcasing 200 objects across fashion, design, and art. Other highlights include a dialogue between Picasso, Morandi, and Parmiggiani at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa.

David Hockney : tout savoir sur la superstar de la peinture exposée à la galerie Lelong

Beaux Arts Magazine has published a comprehensive dossier on David Hockney, coinciding with his current exhibition at Galerie Lelong in Paris. The article presents a multi-episode series covering the British artist's career, from his iconic "Pool Paintings" like *A Bigger Splash* (1967) to his recent works created on iPad in Normandy. It highlights his ongoing exhibitions at multiple venues, including a major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou starting June 21, a dialogue with Matisse at the Musée Matisse in Nice, a show at the Van Gogh Museum, and a loan from Tate Britain to the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence. The piece also explores Hockney's fascination with Old Masters, his use of technology, and his enduring status as a pop art and hyperrealist superstar.

Frank Stella’s Personal Collection of Navajo Textiles Goes on View for the First Time

A selection of Navajo textiles from the personal collection of minimalist artist Frank Stella is being exhibited and sold for the first time. The 55 textiles, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, will be on view at Arader Galleries in New York from May 15 to June 10, then travel to Peter Pap Rugs in New Hampshire in June. Priced between $6,500 and $25,000, the collection includes a large 19th-century blanket that Stella lent to a seminal 1972 exhibition at LACMA. Stella began collecting these works in the mid-1960s after being introduced to Navajo art by Donald Judd and Tony Berlant.