raymond saunders carnegie museum retrospective review 1234744492

Raymond Saunders's first retrospective, a small but potent exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, surveys 35 of his bewitching paintings. The works, described as elusive and Rauschenbergian, feature messy scrawls, collected trinkets, and media clippings, with pieces like *Passages: East, West 1* (1987) layering chess boards, paint strokes, and appropriated still lifes. Saunders, who joined Andrew Kreps and David Zwirner last year, has never before received a retrospective, despite his influential 1967 essay "Black Is a Color" and steady institutional acquisitions.

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Artnet News editors and writers compiled a list of the worst art of 2025, calling out works they found lazy, cynical, overhyped, or ethically dubious. Highlights include Flora Yukhnovich's site-specific painting installation at the Frick Collection, which critics deemed middling and out of place among the museum's historic masterpieces; Jeff Koons's eight-foot-tall Hulk (Tubas) sculpture, sold for $3 million at Frieze New York and described as an obnoxious trophy piece; and actor Adrien Brody's interactive gum wall installation, which invited visitors to stick chewed gum onto a canvas.

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Artnet News published a year-end roundup of the worst artworks of 2023, as selected by its writers and editors. The list includes Meta's AI-art chatbot experiments on Instagram, which cloned celebrity likenesses into cringe-worthy avatars like Snoop Dogg's 'The Dungeon Master' and Kendall Jenner's 'Billie,' alongside Refik Anadol's 'Unsupervised' at MoMA, criticized as shallow tech spectacle. Other entries include a poorly received Picasso-themed exhibition and additional works deemed ill-conceived or badly executed.

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Christian Marclay's latest supercut film, "Doors," is now on view at the Brooklyn Museum after stops in Boston and Europe. The 50-minute looped video compiles scenes of famous actors opening and closing doors from various movies, following the success of Marclay's 2011 hit "The Clock," a 24-hour video-clock that synchronizes on-screen timepieces with the viewer's actual time. The article critiques "Doors" as a less profound, more self-obsessed work that lacks the emotional resonance of its predecessor.

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Michael Armitage's solo exhibition "Crucible" at David Zwirner's new Annabelle Selldorf-designed gallery in New York features paintings centered on migration, including the work *Path* (2024), inspired by a 2015 Vice News story about an Eritrean teenager's harrowing journey to Europe. The show also includes *Raft (ii)* (2024), a blurry homage to Théodore Géricault's *Raft of the Medusa*, and new sculptures that resemble wood carvings. The gallery itself, a single-story 18,000-square-foot space, opened after a larger planned venue fell through due to financial headwinds during Covid.

Jasper Johns Keeps Looking

Jasper Johns’s latest exhibition at Gagosian, 'Between the Clock and the Bed,' serves as a profound meditation on the artist's career-long investigation into the 'things the mind already knows.' By revisiting his signature motifs—including flags, targets, and crosshatch patterns—the show highlights Johns’s rejection of Abstract Expressionist spontaneity in favor of a deliberate, analytical process using encaustic and collage. The works document a transformation where familiar symbols are rendered into a complex visual language that bridges the gap between memory and physical presence.

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Actor Adrien Brody debuted a new exhibition titled "Made in America" at Eden Gallery in New York, featuring paintings that incorporate pop culture icons like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Marilyn Monroe alongside collage elements and text. The show has garnered significant media attention, including a profile in the New York Times and praise from Cultured and Interview magazine, partly fueled by the sale of one of Brody's paintings for $425,000 at the amfAR Cannes Gala. However, the art press, including Artnet News, has been highly critical, with ARTnews reviewer Alex Greenberger describing the works as ugly, derivative, and lacking nuance.

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The article reviews the Independent art fair, highlighting its curated approach that results in a visually cohesive and easeful experience compared to other fairs. It notes the prevalence of neo-bucolic landscapes and animal paintings by artists like Sameen Agha, Tim Braden, and Lisa Sanditz, as well as delicate abstractions and small ceramic works. Standout pieces include Pope.L's provocative paint-scribbled underwear at Mitchell-Innes and Nash, Rosa Barba's kinetic painting at Vistamare, Ibrahim El-Salahi's silkscreen painting at Vigo Gallery, and works by emerging artists such as Constanza Camila Kramer Garfias and Ada Friedman at Kendra Jayne Patrick Gallery.

The Robots Were Never the Problem

The New Museum has reopened with 'New Humans: Memories of the Future,' a massive survey featuring over 150 contributors including Hito Steyerl, Precious Okoyomon, and H.R. Giger. Spanning 13 sections across the museum's new 5,500 square-meter extension, the exhibition traces the intersection of art, technology, and the human body from the early 20th century to the present. It juxtaposes interwar European works, such as Hannah Höch’s photomontages and Bauhaus ballets, with contemporary installations like Simon Denny’s sculpture of an Amazon worker's cage.

10 Art Books for Your Spring Reading List

Hyperallergic has published a curated list of ten art books recommended for spring reading. The selection emphasizes historical retellings through an artistic lens, featuring works such as a memoir by activist-artist Susan Simensky Bietila, a chronicle of the Jewish Bund by Molly Crabapple, and the first major catalog on artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha in 25 years. The list also includes exhibition catalogs like "Chicano Camera Culture" and a monograph on painter Ewa Juszkiewicz.

The 2026 Venice Biennale Is Quintessential Biennial Art

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by the late Swiss-Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, opened in 2026. The main exhibition at the Arsenale and Giardini features works by artists such as Éric Baudelaire, Maria Magdalena Campos Pons, Mohammed Z. Rahman, Sohrab Hura, and Rose Salane, among others. The exhibition centers on themes of mourning, colonial history, slavery, and healing, with works like Baudelaire's video installation linking the flower trade to the transatlantic slave trade, and a tribute section honoring artists Beverly Buchanan and Issa Samb.

jeff koons gagosian porcelain series review 1234762301

Jeff Koons's latest exhibition at Gagosian Gallery in New York features his new series of large-scale porcelain and stainless-steel sculptures, including the centerpiece *Aphrodite* (2016–21), an eight-and-a-half-foot-tall nude. The show marks Koons's first solo presentation in New York in seven years and follows a turbulent period in his career, including record auction sales, a move to Pace Gallery and back to Gagosian, and two lawsuits. Critic Christopher Garcia Valle panned the works as unstimulating and banal, arguing they fail to awe viewers despite their technical ambition and massive scale.

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Alex Da Corte's mid-career survey, "The Whale," is on view at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, featuring works that repurpose pop-cultural icons like Disney villains and Mariah Carey to explore themes of erasure and violence. The exhibition includes pieces such as *A Time to Kill* (2016), which obliquely references the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting through an inverted Elsa standee, and *The Great Pretender* (2021), which removes Lily Tomlin from a TIME magazine cover to comment on queer erasure.

Are We Too Reverent of Marcel Duchamp?

The Museum of Modern Art has launched a major retrospective of Marcel Duchamp, co-organized with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibition tracks the artist's evolution from his early Cubist experiments and the scandal of 'Nude Descending a Staircase' to his radical invention of the readymade, exemplified by the infamous urinal, 'Fountain'. The show presents a comprehensive look at 'The Duch' through a reverential, church-like atmosphere, concluding with his later years as a dapper, enigmatic figure of the avant-garde.

Kamrooz Aram Breaks Down the Grid

Kamrooz Aram is the subject of multiple major exhibitions in early 2026, including a solo show at Alexander Gray Associates in New York, a presentation at Nature Morte in Mumbai for Mumbai Art Week, and a significant inclusion in the 2026 Whitney Biennial. The artist, known for his work with the grid, uses painting to explore the connections between Western modernist abstraction and non-Western decorative traditions, particularly from Western Asia.

Notes from New York: The World in a Convex Mirror

The article reviews the sixth edition of MoMA PS1's quinquennial survey 'Greater New York 2026,' which coincides with the institution's 50th anniversary. It highlights works by artists such as Covey Gong, Win McCarthy, Mekko Harjo, and Sophie Friedman-Pappas, noting how the exhibition's themeless structure and use of reflective surfaces create a hall of distorted reflections. The show includes 53 emerging and midcareer artists, mostly millennials, and is accompanied by a block party and gala rather than a dedicated commemorative exhibition like FORTY (2016).

best new york art criticism critics table

Cultured magazine's critics roundup highlights several notable New York art exhibitions. Cameron Rowland's "Properties" at Dia Beacon is examined as a landmark Land art installation that uses contractual relations to address racial capitalism, with works available only for rent or loan. Other shows include Feliciano Centurión's "Sol naciente" at Ortuzar, Joshua Caleb Weibley's "Game Transfer Phenomena" at Chart, Ian Miyamura's debut at Bureau, and Laura Owens's new show at Matthew Marks Gallery, each reviewed for their conceptual and aesthetic innovations.

Michael Armitage in Venice, monumental and disturbing. What the exhibition at Palazzo Grassi looks like

Michael Armitage is the subject of a major solo retrospective at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, marking his largest exhibition in Europe to date. Organized by the Pinault Collection, the show features monumental paintings that blend African identity, local Kenyan chronicles, and mythological narratives. Armitage’s work is noted for its physical scale and its ability to transform the chaos of human affairs into a syncretic epic, utilizing traditional materials like Lubugo bark cloth to ground his contemporary subjects.

Comment | We are living in an age of bad painting—the medium must be challenged to stay interesting

The article argues that contemporary painting has entered a period of stagnation, characterized by bloated, vapid, and market-driven works. The author cites observations from Frieze London and the exhibition "Painting After Painting" at SMAK in Ghent, noting that much recent painting lacks intellectual rigor and emotional depth. A conversation with artist Christopher Wool is referenced, where he contrasts the current lack of critical dialogue with the productive crises of the late 1970s, when painters like Philip Guston faced backlash for challenging conventions.

Matisse, 1941-1954 review – hit after glorious hit in a show of life-enhancing genius

A major exhibition at the Centre Pompidou and the Grand Palais focuses on the final, revolutionary period of Henri Matisse's career, from 1941 to 1954. The show charts his artistic reinvention following a life-threatening surgery, beginning with obsessive, reworked paintings from his Nice studio during the war and culminating in the radiant, large-scale cut-outs for which he is widely celebrated.

Tracey Emin’s Cult of the Self

A major retrospective of Tracey Emin's work, "A Second Life," is on view at Tate Modern in London. The exhibition presents the artist's deeply personal and confessional body of work, including iconic pieces like "My Bed" and "Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made," which chronicle intimate experiences of love, trauma, and self-exploration through text, objects, and raw imagery.

The Met’s Costume Institute Needs an Art History Lesson

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute spring exhibition, "Costume Art," pairs fashion with artworks from the Met's collection, including ancient Greek statues and Andy Warhol screenprints, alongside garments by designers from Charles James to CFGNY. Curator Andrew Bolton aims to suggest that fashion can expand understanding of art, but the show's juxtapositions often feel vague and sloppy, with only occasional resonant pairings like a Jean Paul Gaultier shirt and Joe Brainard drawing linked by queer artist lineage.

What We Miss When We Talk About Giacometti

This article explores a critical reevaluation of Alberto Giacometti’s career, specifically focusing on the decade between 1935 and 1945. While Giacometti is globally recognized for his spindly, post-war 'Existentialist' figures, art historian Joanna Fiduccia’s new book, *Figures of Crisis*, argues that his mid-career departure from Surrealism to study human likeness was not a mere transition but a profound response to the political crises and nationalism of interwar France.

The Artist Whose Shimmering Obelisks Are Cropping Up All Over the World

Artist Gisela Colón is currently the subject of a major retrospective at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC), showcasing her signature "monoliths" and iridescent obelisks. These monumental sculptures, which have appeared in global locations ranging from the Great Pyramids of Giza to the Saudi Arabian desert, utilize advanced aerospace carbon fiber and site-specific minerals to create shifting, phenomenological experiences. The exhibition tracks her evolution from 1996 to the present, highlighting her unique ability to blend high-tech materials with ancient totemic forms.

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Joseph Beuys remains one of the most polarizing figures in 20th-century art, a former Nazi soldier who reinvented himself as a shamanic healer and a founding member of the Green Party. A new monographic study by art historian Daniel Spaulding, 'Joseph Beuys and History', re-evaluates the artist's legacy by confronting his refusal to apologize for his wartime past and his use of ambiguous materials like fat and felt. Spaulding argues that Beuys’s work should be read through the lens of 'bad faith,' where his utopian slogans masked a deep, unresolved engagement with the horrors of the Holocaust.

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A wave of paintings by women depicting women dominated New York galleries this fall, sparking a critical examination of contemporary feminist figuration. Artists like Emily Coan and Anna Weyant create images of idealized, often sexualized femininity, framing their work as a reclamation of beauty and personal expression.

martin puryear mfa boston review 1234772363

Martin Puryear's 1978 sculpture *Self* opens a survey of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, titled “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” which runs through Sunday before traveling to the Cleveland Museum of Art in April. Curated by Emily Liebert, Reto Thüring, and Ian Alteveer, the exhibition argues that Puryear's abstract, craft-intensive sculptures—like *A Column for Sally Hemings* (2021)—are not merely formalist exercises but carry political and historical meanings that are deliberately withheld, challenging viewers to read beyond elegant surfaces.

Joseph Grigely's 'Otherhow' Primary Information on Disability Arts and Being Deaf

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Artist and writer Joseph Grigely has published a new essay collection, 'Otherhow: Essays and Documents on Art and Disability 1985–2024.' The book compiles decades of his work, blending art, autobiography, and advocacy through ephemera like postcards, emails, and legal documents to chronicle his experiences navigating the art world as a deaf man.

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Stan Douglas's survey at Bard College's Hessel Museum of Art features a new video installation titled "Birth of a Nation" (2025), which reworks a racist sequence from D.W. Griffith's 1915 film of the same name. The installation presents the original footage alongside four new videos from different character perspectives, shot in black and white without sound, and ends with a blue screen left bare to suggest the mutability of historical images. The survey also includes earlier works like "Hors-Champs" (1992), which critiques televisual representation through a staged free jazz performance.

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The article reviews several notable art events and exhibitions from 2025, beginning with Cameron Rowland's controversial work "Replacement" at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, where the French flag was replaced with the flag of Martinique, leading to the artwork being deemed potentially illegal. It also covers Johanna Fateman's review of Rowland's "Properties" at Dia Beacon, Ross Simonini's reflection on Joseph Beuys and the Eaton fire in Los Angeles, John Vincler's critiques of Cady Noland at Gagosian and Nicole Eisenman at 52 Walker, and Fateman's year-end roundup including figures like Anne Imhof, Laura Owens, and Jack Whitten.