The New York art scene was bustling with events this week. The New York Botanical Garden held its annual Orchid Dinner at the Plaza Hotel, featuring elaborate floral designs and guests like Martha Stewart and Sigourney Weaver. Meanwhile, Sotheby's hosted the Art for Water benefit auction for the Waterkeeper Alliance, with works by Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha, and the New Museum celebrated the opening of a major Raymond Pettibon exhibition.
The New Museum in New York will reopen on March 21 after a two-year closure, following a major expansion designed by OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu with Rem Koolhaas that adds 60,000 square feet, nearly doubling exhibition space. The reopening weekend offers free admission and features new commissions by Tschabalala Self, Klára Hosnedlová, and Sarah Lucas, along with the inaugural exhibition “New Humans: Memories of the Future” showcasing over 200 artists. Separately, Phillips will auction the collection of former US Ambassador to Denmark John L. Loeb Jr., comprising the largest private trove of Danish art, with highlights by Vilhelm Hammershøi, Bertha Wegmann, P. S. Krøyer, and Anna Ancher, expected to exceed $12 million.
A New York federal jury has awarded the Morgan Art Foundation $102.2 million in damages after finding that art publisher Michael McKenzie isolated artist Robert Indiana near the end of his life and created unauthorized versions of his iconic "LOVE" works. Separately, South Carolina collage artist Aldwyth (Mary Aldwyth Dickman) has died at age 90, known for intricate assemblages made in a treehouse studio. In Los Angeles, influential gallery The Box, founded by Mara McCarthy with her father Paul McCarthy, announced it will close after 19 years. Other news includes the dismantling of the Armand Vaillancourt fountain in San Francisco, preservationist concerns over Trump's Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool project, and a new JR installation in Venice inspired by Veronese's "The Wedding at Cana."
Artist Charles Ross is nearing the completion of Star Axis, a monumental naked-eye observatory in the New Mexico desert that has been under construction for over 50 years. Conceived in 1971 and situated on a mesa Ross discovered in 1975, the massive architectural sculpture is designed to make the 26,000-year cycle of Earth’s axial precession perceptible to the human eye. The project began after a chance encounter with a local ranching family provided Ross with the square mile of land necessary to realize his cosmic vision.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is preparing to open its new $720m David Geffen Galleries, a massive undulating concrete structure designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Spanning Wilshire Boulevard, the new building adds 110,000 square feet of gallery space and 3.5 acres of public parkland, marking the completion of a two-decade capital project led by Director Michael Govan. The facility will house the museum’s permanent collection, which has been largely out of public view for seven years, and features innovative exhibition strategies such as hanging artworks directly onto concrete walls.
Qatar has announced details for its inaugural contemporary art quadrennial, Rubaiya Qatar, set to launch in November alongside Frieze Abu Dhabi. Organized by Qatar Museums, the event will feature over 50 artists and new commissions, with a major exhibition titled 'Unruly Waters' curated by Tom Eccles, Ruba Katrib, Mark Rappolt, and Shabbir Hussain Mustafa. Confirmed artists include Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Sophia Al Maria, Mohamed Bourouissa, and Lydia Ourahmane. Additionally, a previously unpublicized pavilion dedicated to Gerhard Richter will open within the quadrennial. Separately, revelations from the Epstein files show ties between Jeffrey Epstein and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, including a donated artwork and potential financial backing for a piece by Neri Oxman. A small Michelangelo drawing of a foot sold at Christie's for $27.2 million, setting a new auction record.
The Frick Collection has enlisted comedian Steve Martin to create a playful video tour of its newly renovated Fifth Avenue building, aiming to attract visitors after a $220 million revamp. Separately, the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in China is facing a severe financial crisis, with staff wages withheld for six months due to tightened corporate backing and government restrictions on art that does not align with Communist Party values.
Tate has announced an ambitious plan to build a £150 million ($201 million) endowment by 2030, launching the Tate Future Fund in June with over £43 million ($58 million) pledged. The initiative, unveiled at a high-profile gala that raised £1 million ($1.34 million), has sparked debate across the UK museum sector about the viability of endowment models for long-term sustainability. Meanwhile, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead launched a £10 million ($13 million) endowment, bolstered by a gift from musician Sting, and other UK museums like the British Museum and V&A have quietly built similar reserves. In a separate story, Matthiesen Gallery has filed a lawsuit in US District Court against convicted fraudster Thomas Austin Doyle, artist Shalva Sarukhanishvili, Jill Newhouse Gallery, and art collector Jon Landau over the alleged mishandling of Gustave Courbet's painting *Mother and Child on a Hammock* (ca. 1844), claiming fraud and breach of contract after the painting was sold far below its market value.
The Studio Museum in Harlem is set to inaugurate its new $160 million, purpose-built home on Manhattan’s 125th Street. Designed by Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, the 82,000-square-foot facility nearly doubles the museum's previous exhibition space and replaces a repurposed 1914 bank building that lacked essential infrastructure like loading docks and large elevators. This milestone marks the first time in the institution's history that it will operate out of a structure specifically designed to support its mission of championing artists of African descent.
Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang have donated 150 works by Native American artists to the New-York Historical Society to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States. The collection features significant pieces by artists such as Fritz Scholder, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and T.C. Cannon, intended to bridge historical and contemporary indigenous narratives. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has named Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos as honorary chairs for the upcoming Met Gala, a move that follows their previous roles as major sponsors.
The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation has donated 14 artworks to two Parisian museums, the Musée Carnavalet and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. The donation includes preparatory collages, silkscreens, lithographs, and a scale model related to both realized and unrealized projects by the artist duo, such as the wrapped Arc de Triomphe and Pont-Neuf, as well as early sculptures.
Kim Sajet, the former director of the Smithsonian-run National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., resigned after President Donald Trump claimed he fired her via social media. Despite Trump's demand, Sajet continued reporting to work until formally quitting. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution, intervened to block internal board suggestions to follow Trump's orders, leading the board to issue a resolution affirming its sole authority to fire museum directors. The controversy followed Trump's executive order accusing the Smithsonian of promoting a "divisive, race-centered ideology" and his post calling Sajet a "highly partisan person" and "strong supporter of DEI." Separately, artist Amy Sherald withdrew her mid-career survey from the National Portrait Gallery after being asked to remove a portrait of a trans woman posing as the Statue of Liberty.
The Gordon Parks Foundation is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2026, marking two decades since the founding of the organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of photographer and artist Gordon Parks. Executive Director Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr. reflects on the foundation's growth, including exhibitions, museum partnerships, publications, and fellowships that support emerging artists. The foundation was co-founded by Parks and Kunhardt's grandfather, Phil Kunhardt, in 2006. As part of the anniversary, the foundation is publishing a new edition of "Gordon Parks: Diary of a Harlem Family, 1967/1968" and will realize three gallery exhibitions, starting with "We Shall Not Be Moved" at Alison Jacques Gallery in London, curated by Bryan Stevenson.
The Gordon Parks Foundation held its annual Awards Dinner and Auction at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City, raising nearly $2 million to support its mission of social justice through the arts. The gala honored a distinguished group of changemakers, including activist Angela Davis, painter Amy Sherald, philanthropist Clara Wu Tsai, producer Crystal McCrary, and businessman Raymond McGuire. Hosted by Kaseem Dean (Swizz Beatz) and Executive Director Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., the event celebrated the enduring legacy of Gordon Parks and his commitment to documenting and advancing civil rights.
The Studio Museum in Harlem hosted a star-studded gala at the Glasshouse in Manhattan, raising $3.7 million to support its upcoming reopening. The event marked a significant milestone for the institution, which has been undergoing extensive renovations for seven years and is scheduled to open its new doors on West 125th Street on November 15. Director and Chief Curator Thelma Golden described the evening as a 'threshold' moment, celebrating the museum's legacy of shaping cultural history since its founding in 1968.
The May 2025 roundup of Black art news reports the deaths of two influential figures: international curator Koyo Kouoh and artist-curator Evangeline J. Montgomery, who died at 94. Montgomery's career spanned metalwork, fiber art, and photography, and she was a key advocate and mentor in the African American art community, later working at the U.S. Information Agency. Other highlights include historian Edda L. Fields-Black winning a Pulitzer Prize for her book on Harriet Tubman, the acquisition of Adam Pendleton's entire "Who is Queen" installation by MoMA, and Kapwani Kiwanga winning the Joan Miró Prize. The Met Gala also featured Black dandy style inspired by the Costume Institute's exhibition "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style."
Fulton Leroy Washington, the self-taught painter known as Mr. Wash, has unveiled plans for a $15-million community arts hub in Compton, California. Designed by the renowned firm Morphosis Architects, the proposed Art by Wash Studio & Community Center will provide housing, studio space, and a small-business incubator specifically for formerly incarcerated artists. The project was launched alongside Washington’s latest exhibition, “The City of Compton: Then & Now,” which serves as a fundraiser for the construction.
A new report by the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) finds that most U.S. museums are not transparent enough about the provenance of artworks with World War II-era gaps, making it harder for families to track down Nazi-looted art. The American Alliance of Museums shut down an online portal that had listed nearly 30,000 such works, and the WJRO discovered that only 10,668 of those can now be located online through individual institutions. Separately, the Central State Museum in Almaty, Kazakhstan, abruptly canceled a planned exhibition of Taiwanese artists amid allegations of Chinese censorship, and Marina Abramović will be the subject of a historic solo exhibition at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice in May 2026.
A 10-foot-tall statue of Tina Turner was unveiled in her hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee, on Saturday, September 29, 2025. Created by sculptor Fred Ajanogha, the work has sparked widespread online outrage for its distorted depiction of the late pop star, with critics comparing it to a caricature and noting its bizarre proportions, unnatural hair, and toothy grin. The statue has been condemned by both right-wing commentators and comedians like Kevin Fredericks, who likened it to other infamous public art failures.
Filming has begun on the long-awaited Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic *Samo Lives* in New York City's East Village, specifically around Tompkins Square Park. Directed by Julius Onah and starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Basquiat, the film was first announced in January 2022 but faced delays. Grainy photos from local blog EV Grieve suggest an actor has been cast to play Andy Warhol, Basquiat's friend and collaborator. The production is shooting in the neighborhood where Basquiat once lived and worked, including his former studio at 57 Great Jones Street.
Italian artist and Arte Povera pioneer Michelangelo Pistoletto, aged 91, has been announced as a headliner for the 2025 edition of "Forever Is Now," an annual outdoor exhibition at the Great Pyramids of Giza. Pistoletto will create a monumental installation described as merging ancient civilization with modern ideas, with full details yet to be revealed. The project involves his Cittadellarte foundation, which is offering a fully-funded three-year bachelor course at its Unidee Academy in Biella, Italy, to Egyptian artists, supported by the Italian Institute of Culture in Cairo.
A father-daughter duo from New Jersey, Erwin Bankowski (50) and Karolina Bankowska (26), pleaded guilty to creating and selling over 200 counterfeit artworks falsely attributed to artists including Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Fritz Scholder, and Banksy. They admitted to wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresentation of Native American-produced goods, defrauding buyers out of at least $2 million. The pair fabricated provenances and collection histories, forged gallery stamps, and attempted to auction the works for up to $160,000 each. They each face up to 20 years in prison.
Crown Equipment has announced the construction of the Modern Aboriginal Art Museum in New Bremen, Ohio, a 23,700-square-foot facility scheduled to open in late 2026. The museum will house one of North America’s largest collections of contemporary Australian Aboriginal art, featuring over 100 paintings and sculptures. The project stems from the company’s 60-year business history in Australia and follows the philanthropic model of Crown’s previous local cultural investments.
« Uber Life » : le récit photographique percutant de Tassiana Aït-Tahar, livreuse devenue artiste
Tassiana Aït-Tahar, a student at the Beaux-Arts de Paris and former delivery rider, has released "Uber Life," a hybrid photobook and sociological inquiry published by Fisheye Éditions. The project documents her five years working for Uber Eats, combining raw photography, screenshots of delivery apps, and personal journals to chronicle the grueling reality of the gig economy. Encouraged by mentors like the artist JR, Aït-Tahar transitioned from documenting her daily survival to presenting a formal artistic narrative that was previously showcased at the Centquatre in 2022.
Le lent demain at Air de Paris
The group exhibition "Le lent demain" (The Slow Tomorrow) was held at the Air de Paris gallery in Romainville from February 14 to March 21, 2026. Curated by Sebastián Quevedo Ramírez, it featured works by 17 artists, including Nicolas Aguirre, Devendra Banhart, and Hudinilson Jr., among others.
The Obama Foundation has unveiled the final group of artists commissioned to create site-specific works for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. This prestigious roster includes Jeffrey Gibson, Rashid Johnson, Lorna Simpson, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, whose works will be integrated into the 19.3-acre campus. The announcement completes the artistic vision for the center, which aims to blend public space with high-caliber contemporary art when it opens on June 19th.
Award-winning photographer Tom Jenkins captures the high-stakes atmosphere of the 2026 Grand National meeting at Aintree. The photo essay documents the dramatic physical feats of the horses, including falls at the notorious 'Chair' fence, alongside the vibrant social culture of the spectators, from the high-fashion 'Style Awards' on Ladies’ Day to the rain-soaked crowds of the final day.
French artist JR was arrested at the opening of his solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Known for his large-scale photographic installations on buildings and public spaces, JR was taken into custody during the event, though details of the charges remain unclear. The arrest occurred in front of attendees and museum staff, drawing immediate media attention.
The APEX Museum in Atlanta, a Black history institution founded in 1978, reported discovering a "noose-like rope" in a tree on its premises. The museum's president and CEO, Dan Moore Jr., shared the news in an Instagram post, noting that Homeland Security determined the object was not a noose but that it was removed for evidence. Atlanta police are investigating the incident, which occurred on Wednesday.