Gabi Vidal-Irizarry, a guest writer for Artnet News's Wet Paint gossip column, recounts attending an "Artist Party" at the Museum of Modern Art featuring Arthur Jafa. The column then pivots to a profile of Jim Toth, the audio engineer behind the distinctive white pyramid speakers ubiquitous at New York art world events, tracing his career from the city's legendary 1980s nightlife scene to becoming the preferred sound provider for museums and elite patrons.
Performance artist Crackhead Barney, known for her viral street interventions and ambush interviews at protests and public events, is transitioning her work to the formal stage. Her new play, GOD IS RAPING ME, is having sold-out dates at the Pageant performance space in Brooklyn, marking a significant shift from her guerrilla-style, social media-driven practice to theatrical production.
Ei Arakawa-Nash, a Japanese American performance artist, was selected to represent Japan at the 61st Venice Biennale, becoming the first non-Japanese national to do so in a solo presentation. This follows his first solo museum exhibition, "Paintings Are Popstars," at Tokyo's National Art Center in 2024, which was also the center's first solo show devoted to a performance artist. In an interview with ArtReview, Arakawa-Nash discusses his naturalization as a U.S. citizen, his complex relationship with national identity, and his upcoming Venice exhibition titled "Grass Babies, Moon Babies," cocurated by Lisa Horikawa and Takahashi Mizuki, which will explore themes of care and reparation using babies as a central motif.
Nadine Khoury, a Dubai-based collector, curator, and art adviser, founded the Young Collectors Circle in 2023 to engage Millennial and Gen Z professionals in the Gulf region with the local art scene. The initiative offers free events such as studio visits, suppers with established collectors, and group outings to exhibition openings, aiming to make art collecting accessible and educational. Khoury, who previously worked at Green Art Gallery, started the circle with friends and grew it through social media and word-of-mouth, limiting attendance to 15 people to foster a friendly, barrier-free environment.
A new biography titled "Barnett Newman: Here" by Amy Newman (no relation) explores the life of Abstract Expressionist painter Barnett Newman, revealing his little-known 1933 run for mayor of New York City at age 28 under a platform of cultural and environmental reforms. The book details his upbringing as the son of Jewish immigrants in the Bronx, his philosophical studies, and his eventual reinvention as a painter who pioneered the 'zip' painting style with works like Onement I, while also chronicling his combative personality and lifelong battles against political machines and critics.
Karen Archey, the head of curatorial at Düsseldorf's K20 and K21 museums, shares personal insights in an interview format. She reveals her obsession with painter Alice Neel, discusses a formative 2007 summer touring major European art events, and lists the poetry and audio currently occupying her attention.
carmen reviriego art patronage spain callia foundation
Carmen Reviriego, founder and president of the Callia Foundation, recently hosted the 11th edition of the International Patronage Awards at Madrid’s Royal Collections Gallery. The event honored significant figures in the art world, including ARTnews Top 200 collector Batia Ofer, while highlighting the foundation's broader mission of funding restorations and fostering collaboration between private donors and Spain’s public institutions. Reviriego, who transitioned from a career in finance to art philanthropy, utilizes a business-minded approach to advocate for a more balanced model of cultural funding in Spain.
Billionaire retail magnate and prominent art collector Les Wexner provided a closed-door deposition to the House Oversight Committee regarding his past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. During the testimony, Wexner characterized himself as "naive, foolish, and gullible" for trusting the disgraced financier, whom he labeled a con man. While Wexner denied any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities, Democratic lawmakers noted that the 88-year-old offered few new details and frequently cited a lack of memory regarding key events.
Hundreds gathered on a cold Monday night in New York at Phillips auction house and the Metropolitan Club to celebrate the life and legacy of Walter Robinson, the beloved art-world figure who died in February 2025. The event, organized by the New York Academy of Art as part of its annual “Take Home a Nude” fundraiser, featured silent and live auctions, a posthumous honorary doctorate awarded to Robinson, and the announcement of the Walter Robinson Scholarship funded by auction proceeds. The evening raised over $800,000, with works by students and acclaimed artists like Richard Prince and Kiki Smith on offer, and Robinson’s painting *Blood on the Sun* (2018) selling for $35,000.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced its 2025 class of 22 MacArthur Fellows, each receiving an $800,000 no-strings-attached grant. Among the winners are several visual artists: Garrett Bradley, known for her Oscar-nominated documentary *Time* (2020) and works centering Black resistance; Gala Porras-Kim, whose practice questions how art institutions convey or conceal information about objects; Tuan Andrew Nguyen, whose films and installations explore trauma and colonization; and Jeremy Frey, a seventh-generation Passamaquoddy basket maker whose midcareer survey is on view at the Bruce Museum. Photographers Matt Black and Tonika Lewis Johnson also received fellowships, along with archaeologist Kristina Douglass and non-artists such as novelist Tommy Orange and astrophysicist Kareem El-Badry.
The National Pavilion UAE has selected Bana Kattan, curator and associate head of exhibitions at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, to curate the United Arab Emirates' presentation at the 61st International Venice Biennale in 2026. Born in Abu Dhabi and raised in the UAE, Kattan previously served as a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where she organized shows for artists including Wafaa Bilal, Maryam Taghavi, and Mona Hatoum. A dedicated publication will accompany her pavilion presentation.
KAWS (Brian Donnelly) has been named Uniqlo's first-ever artist-in-residence, tasked with expanding the brand's "Art for All" philosophy. He will curate art events across Uniqlo stores worldwide and collaborate with the company's museum partners, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern, the Louvre, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His first collection with Uniqlo is scheduled for Fall/Winter 2025.
Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro hosted a reception on February 25, 2014, honoring painter Catherine Murphy as the third recipient of the Robert De Niro Sr. Prize, a $25,000 annual award for mid-career American painters. The event took place at De Niro's Greenwich Hotel in New York, with previous winners Stanley Whitney (2012) and Joyce Pensato (2013) in attendance, along with jury members including Lindsay Pollock, Susan Davidson, Peter Plagens, and Robert Storr.
Art dealer Gordon VeneKlasen, former longtime partner of Michael Werner, launched his own gallery at the start of 2025. The new VeneKlasen Gallery made its art fair debut at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar in Doha and will open twin shows of the late German artist Sigmar Polke at its New York and London spaces on March 3 and 12, respectively. In an interview, VeneKlasen discusses his career trajectory, from studying art history and working at the Ashmolean Museum to a stint with the U.S. Census Bureau, before joining Michael Werner and eventually striking out on his own. Several artists, including Florian Krewer, Issy Wood, and Sanya Kantarovsky, are following him to his new venture.
ÓSCAR MURILLO: LA PINTURA COMO POZO DE ACUMULACIÓN
The article profiles Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo and his expansive, socially-engaged practice. It details his rise to international prominence in the early 2010s with large-scale paintings that incorporate text, textiles, and studio detritus, and highlights his ongoing, collaborative project 'Frequencies,' which involves students from over thirty countries creating works on canvases attached to school desks. The piece also references his major solo exhibitions, including 'El pozo de agua' at kurimanzutto in Mexico City (2026), 'Masas' at WIELS in Brussels (2024), and 'The flooded garden' at Tate Modern (2024).
Clément Delépine, the director of Art Basel Paris, has been appointed as the next director of Lafayette Anticipations, a prominent Parisian exhibition space. He will succeed Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel, who is leaving after six years to pursue new challenges. Delépine will assume the role on November 17, shortly after the upcoming edition of Art Basel Paris, which opens to VIPs on October 22. A search for a new director for the Paris fair is underway.
This podcast episode features an in-depth conversation with Belgian painter Luc Tuymans, born in 1958 in Mortsel and based in Antwerp. Tuymans discusses his transformative approach to painting, which draws from photographs, film, and media to explore subjects ranging from contemporary politics and historical events to everyday objects. He shares insights into his meticulous process, his influences including Piet Mondrian, Léon Spilliaert, Francisco de Goya, and David Lynch, and his concept of "authentic forgeries." The episode also highlights his current exhibitions: "Luc Tuymans: The Fruit Basket" at David Zwirner in New York and Los Angeles, and a presentation at the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.
Adrian Cheng, founder of the K11 property business and a prominent figure in Hong Kong's art scene, discusses his two-decade role in shaping the city's cultural landscape. He founded K11 in 2008 to integrate museum-quality art with retail, developed the Victoria Dockside district and K11 MUSEA, and established the K11 Art Foundation and K11 Craft & Guild Foundation. Cheng has launched new ventures including K11 by AC and the ALMAD Group, and his foundations have partnered with major institutions like the Palais de Tokyo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Serpentine Galleries. He also initiated a regular salon series focused on art and technology, held during events like Frieze Seoul and Asia Now.
Cliff Lauson, a curator, participates in 'A brush with...' and shares his personal connection to art, citing Rodney Graham's self-portrait 'My Late Early Styles (Part I, The Middle Period)' as the single work he would live with. He reflects on formative cultural experiences, including working with Northwest Coast First Nations communities at the UBC Museum of Anthropology and seeing the ballet 'Tree of Codes' by Wayne McGregor with Olafur Eliasson and Jamie xx, which inspired his later collaboration on the exhibition 'Infinite Bodies'. Lauson also discusses his recurring engagement with Brian O'Doherty's book 'Inside the White Cube' and his unusual background as a curator who worked on a Star Wars film during his Clore Fellowship at Industrial Light and Magic.
French Algerian artist, curator, and educator Kader Attia has been appointed curator of the Seventh Kochi-Muziris Biennale, scheduled to open in Kochi, India, in December 2027. The selection was made by a jury led by Biennale president Jitish Kallat and including Shilpa Gupta, Amrita Jhaveri, Pooja Sood, Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, Mariam Ram, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Attia, who participated in the 2014 edition of the biennale, is known for his practice addressing social injustice, postcolonialism, and marginalized communities, and previously curated the 2022 Berlin Biennale.
Nicola Lees, director of the Aspen Art Museum since 2020, discusses her tenure and the launch of AIR, a new initiative that blends festival, think tank, and public artwork to cultivate artists as leaders. The weeklong kickoff event begins with a closed-door session for artists, scientists, and technologists, followed by citywide programming from July 29 to 31. Lees reflects on how the museum's remote Colorado location has become an asset, enabling durational projects like Precious Okoyomon's rooftop garden, and emphasizes artist-centered programming and long-term collaborations.
Cherry Cheng, an art collector and founder of the high-end perfume house Jouissance, discusses her art-buying habits, favorite London spots, and Frieze week plans in an interview. She studied at Sotheby's Institute of Art and Goldsmiths, worked for Gurr Johns, and now collects works by artists such as Tancredi di Carcaci and Anastasia Pavlou, while supporting institutions like the Serpentine, Studio Voltaire, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Dale Berning Sawa has been featured in an article from The Art Newspaper, though the provided text is incomplete and primarily consists of a subscription prompt and footer information. The article appears to be a profile or news piece about Dale Berning Sawa, likely a journalist or writer in the art world, but no specific events or details are available from the given content.
The article profiles Tadanori Yokoo, the 89-year-old Japanese artist and graphic designer, who remains active despite a recent bout of Covid-19. It details his early life in Nishiwaki, his failed attempts to enter art school and the postal service, and his eventual career in commercial printing, which shaped his innovative approach to graphic design and painting. The piece highlights his ongoing exhibition at Tokyo's Setagaya Art Museum and his enduring influence in Japan's cultural world, including the Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art in Kobe.
Christopher Knight, the Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic for the Los Angeles Times, is retiring after a 45-year career in criticism, including 36 years at the newspaper. His final day is Friday. Knight, one of the few remaining full-time art critics in American journalism, was praised by colleagues for his encyclopedic knowledge and razor-sharp assessments. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2020, notably for a series of articles that harshly critiqued the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's (LACMA) proposed redesign by architect Peter Zumthor. He also received a lifetime achievement award from the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation in 2020, and the College Art Association's Frank Jewett Mather Award in 1997. Before his journalism career, Knight worked as a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and consulted for the Lannan Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation and its subsidiary CFAO SAS have announced the five inaugural winners of the Toyota Tsusho CFAO African Art Award. Zimbabwean mixed-media artist Moffat Takadiwa received the Grand Prize, while Gosette Lubondo and Unathi Mkonto were honored with Distinguished Awards. The selection process involved 35 international art professionals who nominated 100 artists, eventually narrowing the field to 12 finalists before selecting the five winners across various categories including painting and photography.
The Kochi Biennale Foundation has appointed contemporary artist and curator Jitish Kallat as the new president of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. He will chair the selection committee for the next edition's curator, succeeding co-founder Bose Krishnamachari, who resigned earlier this year.
The Getty has hired Justine Ludwig, currently the executive director of Creative Time in New York, as the creative director of PST Art, a newly created position. Ludwig will relocate to California and start on October 27, leading a team that includes Zachary Kaplan and Tina Lee, with plans to expand the department. The Getty has spent around $50 million on PST Art over two decades but previously lacked a dedicated team for the event. Ludwig's appointment comes as the Getty prepares for the 2030 edition and aims to refine the program, including working closely with smaller partner museums and non-profits.
James Rondeau, director of the Art Institute of Chicago, has given his first detailed interview about a 2023 incident where he removed his clothes on a flight from Chicago to Munich after consuming alcohol and prescription medication. The event led to police involvement and a voluntary six-week leave before the museum's board reinstated him, expressing confidence in his leadership.
Morad Montazami has been appointed as the artistic director for the sixteenth edition of the Dak’Art Biennial, scheduled to run from November 19 to December 19. Titled "(Anti)Fragility: Arts of Repair and Counter-Shock Strategies," the upcoming biennial will focus on themes of community, co-creation, and the transformation of vulnerability into artistic strength. Montazami, an esteemed art historian and curator known for his work on global modernism and postcolonial narratives, brings extensive experience from previous roles at Tate Modern and various international exhibitions.