Great Plains Art Museum opens three exhibitions to kick off anniversaries

The Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln will open three exhibitions on January 20, 2026, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the museum's 45th anniversary. The main and south galleries feature "Collection Connections: Art in Conversation," pairing artworks from the museum's history to highlight formal and thematic ties. The west gallery presents "'All the Beauty You Can See': Dwight Kirsch in Nature," focusing on the Nebraska-born artist's lifelong fascination with nature, while the mezzanine gallery hosts "Indigenous Ceramics from the Collection," showcasing ceramic works by Indigenous artists of the Great Plains and Southwest. The exhibitions run through July 25, with a First Friday reception on February 6.

The great antique fair of Assisi has half a century of history. The interview

La grande fiera dell’antiquariato di Assisi ha mezzo secolo di storia. L’intervista

AMAB – Assisi Mostra Arte Antiquariato Bastia Umbra, the antique fair founded in Assisi in 1973 and moved to the Umbria Fiere exhibition center in 1989, celebrated its 50th edition in 2025 and will reopen from April 24 to May 3, 2026. The 10-day event features 90 exhibitors and includes special exhibitions marking the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi (at Palazzo Collicola in Spoleto and the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia) and the centenary of the birth of artist Giorgio Ascani, known as Nuvolo, curated by Bruno Corà, as well as a project on costume designer Tita Tegano with costumes from the Renato Bruson collection. Director Emo Antinori Petrini, son of founder Mario, discusses the fair's evolution, its commitment to quality, and its new focus on contemporary art installations and performances.

newsmakers alice black tatiana cheneviere adivsory

Two London-based gallerists, Alice Black and Tatiana Cheneviere, have launched Black + Cheneviere (B+C), a new art advisory that promotes a values-led, slower approach to collecting. The duo, who founded their own galleries (Black's eponymous gallery and Pipeline gallery), aim to counter what they see as an overly transactional art market by encouraging collectors to align purchases with personal values and build sustained relationships with artists. The launch comes amid a market correction where collectors are becoming more selective and negotiating harder.

Keeping It Simple

On Valentine's Day, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan, Kansas, opened the inaugural "Kansas Triennial 25/26" exhibition, featuring works by four Kansas-based visual artists: Mona Cliff, Mark Cowardin, Poppy DeltaDawn, and Ann Resnick. The museum engaged young visitors by handing out paper hearts and inviting them to place their heart in front of the artwork they loved best, creating a reflective and participatory experience.

Photography Is…

The article 'Photography Is...' from Glasstire is a conceptual piece that presents the title as a prompt, leaving the definition of photography open-ended. The text consists solely of the title and source, functioning as a minimalist statement or an invitation for reader interpretation.

Looking Beyond the Conflict: What's driving contemporary artists from Sri Lanka?

Contemporary artists from Sri Lanka are gaining visibility across South Asia through gallery exhibitions, institutional shows, and art fairs. At Experimenter in Colaba, Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah's solo show 'No Race, No Colour' features installations like 'Charred Hyphal Mat' that explore organic communication and wounded ecologies rooted in the country's three-decade civil war. At the Art Mumbai fair, Hema Shironi uses fabric and green mesh to address post-war reconciliation, while earlier in Delhi, the twin exhibitions 'Homes Wrapped in Cloth, Borders Raised in Flags' and 'After Aphantasias' by Shrine Empire showcased similar themes. Artists such as Anoli Perera, Kingsley Gunatillake, Pala Pothupitye, and others are collectively presenting nuanced perspectives on memory, ecology, and joy beyond the conflict.

Picasso or Bitcoin? How art’s status is changing among the super-rich

Christie's and Sotheby's reported nearly flat first-half 2025 sales of $2.1bn and $2.2bn respectively, with Christie's 20th/21st-century art sales down 2% but luxury up 29%. The Mei Moses Art Index shows over 50% of auction lots sold at negative compound annual returns, which analyst Michael Moses calls 'the worst overall financial performance in the 21st century.' Meanwhile, Bitcoin, gold, and stocks have significantly outperformed art, with BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF alone attracting $84bn—far exceeding the global art market's total value. A record $43.9m Canaletto sale to a Bezos-linked buyer underscores that top-tier works still command attention, but the broader trend suggests wealthy investors are prioritizing financial returns over art as a status symbol.

The superstars of contemporary art

León Gallery's Magnificent September Auction 2025, taking place on September 13, features a diverse lineup of Philippine modern and contemporary art. Highlights include modernist works by Juvenal Sansó, Cesar Legaspi, Vicente Manansala, José Joya, and Anita Magsaysay-Ho, alongside conceptual pieces by Roberto Chabet. The auction also spotlights living contemporary artists such as Raffy Napay, Geraldine Javier, Demi Padua, and Marc Aran Reyes, with works ranging from textile art and natural-dye pieces to hyperrealistic paintings.

‘A true champion of artists’: Victoria Miro's artists celebrate gallery's 40th anniversary

Victoria Miro opened her eponymous gallery on Cork Street in London in December 1985, at a time when the punk collective The Grey Organisation was protesting the conservative art establishment. To mark the gallery's 40th anniversary, Miro is hosting an exhibition of works by all her artists at her 17,000 sq. ft space in Hoxton, with 23 of them creating new works specifically for the show, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Flora Yukhnovich, Elmgreen & Dragset, Chris Ofili, Chantal Joffe, Grayson Perry, and Celia Paul. The article features heartfelt tributes from artists like Isaac Julien, who calls Miro 'a true champion of artists,' and Joffe, who describes the gallery as family.

Nelson-Atkins Museum picks architect for $160m expansion

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City has selected the New York-based firm Weiss Manfredi Architecture Landscape Urbanism to lead a $160–170 million campus expansion. The decision followed an international competition that drew 182 firms from 30 countries, with six finalists—including Kengo Kuma & Associates, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Selldorf Architects, Studio Gang, and Why Architecture—presenting concepts publicly. Weiss Manfredi's design places a new 61,000-square-foot wing to the southwest of the original 1933 Beaux-Arts building, mirroring the Steven Holl Architects addition from 2007, and features curved glass walls that open onto the sculpture park. The project aims to accommodate growing attendance, which has doubled since director Julián Zugazagoitia joined in 2010, reaching about 600,000 visitors annually.

Wer vertritt wen in Venedig?

Berlin Museum of Prints and Drawings Wins Award in New York

Berliner Kupferstichkabinett gewinnt Auszeichnung in New York

The Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin has acquired two new works from the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair in New York. The purchases were funded by the museum winning the Richard Hamilton Acquisition Prize, which provided a $10,000 grant specifically for acquisitions at the fair. The new additions are a 2005 paper work titled "Europa" by German-American artist Kiki Smith and a 2001 lithograph titled "Pregnant Caryatid" by Louise Bourgeois.

Auction Record in India

Record aux enchères en Inde

The Indian art market has reached a new milestone with the sale of Raja Ravi Varma’s painting, 'Yashoda and Krishna,' which fetched $17.9 million (including fees) at a domestic auction. The masterpiece was acquired by the prominent industrialist Cyrus Poonawalla, setting a new world record for an Indian painting sold at auction.

art olivia walton crystal bridges

Olivia Walton, former TV journalist and current board chair of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, discusses her leadership and vision in an interview for Cultured's 2026 CULT100 honorees. She took over from founder Alice Walton, her husband's aunt, in 2021 and has championed free admission and expanded access. The museum is set to open a major expansion in May, doubling its public space and celebrating its 15th anniversary alongside America's 250th birthday.

art justin emmanuel dumas young artist

Cultured magazine profiles 31-year-old Pittsburgh-based artist Justin Emmanuel Dumas as part of its 2025 Young Artists list. Dumas creates what he calls 'painting-shaped objects' that challenge traditional notions of painting, often incorporating wear and tear, slouching forms, and surfaces that peel outward. His work, including the piece 'Détrompe Warp' from his graduate thesis, explores infrastructural decay and renewal on both citywide and intimate scales. Dumas has exhibited at the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, and his practice involves using tools like a heat gun and improv techniques learned from his aunt, Sandy Dowe.

Venice Biennale’s Visitor Lions Face Artist Boycott

TikTok Shop adds ‘fine art’ category—will it disrupt the art market?

TikTok Shop has launched a new "fine art" category within its collectibles section, allowing artists to sell original artworks directly through shoppable videos, photographs, and livestreams. The category debuted with a three-hour live sale by artist Sophie Tea, who created a series of 20 oil paintings titled *Bric-a-Brac* and sold them for £2,800 each. The sale faced technical glitches—items added to baskets were prematurely marked as sold, causing confusion—and required workarounds for TikTok's pricing caps, automatic discounts, and shipping policies.

christoph buechel art mosque iceland pavilion venice biennale shut down

Authorities in Venice have shut down the working mosque installed by Swiss artist Christoph Büchel in the city center as part of his presentation for the Icelandic Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. The closure followed an evaluation by a public safety committee, citing overcrowding during Friday prayers that exceeded the legal limit of 90 people, as well as security concerns due to the mosque's location near a pedestrian bridge. The Venice Biennale expressed hope that solutions could be found to reopen the pavilion, while the Icelandic Art Center's director published a letter detailing the fraught negotiations with Italian authorities leading up to the installation.

anonymous artist xcopys digital work last selfie sells for record breaking 3 27 m to private collector

An edition of XCOPY's digital artwork "Last Selfie" (2019) sold for a record-breaking $3.27 million (727 ETH) to a private collector, making it the highest price ever paid for an editioned artwork in the tokenized art space. The anonymous London-based artist minted the limited edition of 10 in 2019 for $20 each; the buyer's intermediary approached all ten holders, nine of whom rejected the offer before one accepted. Notable collectors who own editions include Raoul Pal, CozomoMedici, and punk6529, while AI art collector Jediwolf turned down the offer.

Zóbel pieces headline Leon Gallery’s ‘The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction’

Leon Gallery's 'The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction' in Makati City features several key artworks from the Zóbel de Ayala family collection, including Fernando Amorsolo's 'The Burning of Manila'—one of the largest Amorsolo paintings ever auctioned—and multiple pieces by Fernando Zóbel, such as 'Versión en Toledo', 'Variante Sobre Un Tema de Cassatt', 'Talgo', and 'Pequeño homenaje a Stravinski'. Other notable lots include Anita Magsaysay-Ho's 'Water Carriers', Vicente Manansala's 'From the Market', and Hernando R. Ocampo's 'Miners'. The auction, scheduled for June 7, 2025, marks Leon Gallery's 15th anniversary in the art business.

Long Live the King?

Sam Jacob's essay in ArtReview uses the upcoming Baz Luhrmann film 'EPIC: Elvis Presley in Concert' (2026) as a springboard to explore the cultural and technical implications of digital restoration. The film, a spinoff from Luhrmann's 2022 Elvis biopic, draws on 59 hours of previously unseen footage from Elvis Presley's 1970 and 1972 Las Vegas performances, recovered from Warner's Kansas salt-mine archive. Using Peter Jackson's Park Road Post technology—including Machine Assisted Learning (MAL) for demixing audio and video—the damaged, fragmented material has been digitally scanned, reconstructed, and enhanced to 4k resolution with 12-channel sound, presented in IMAX cinemas.

Ax Swings Following Artsy/Artnet Consolidation as Top Reporters Are Laid Off

Major layoffs have hit Artnet and Artsy following their consolidation under the UK-based investment firm Beowolff Capital. The staff reductions occurred just one day after the merger announcement and include the departure of veteran Artnet News reporters Sarah Cascone and Eileen Kinsella, who both served the publication for over a decade. As part of the restructuring, Artnet will also shutter its German entity, while Andrew Russeth has been tapped to serve as interim editor.

Artist Pooja Bhansali unveils Grid & Garden exhibition in Mumbai

Mumbai-based contemporary artist Pooja Bhansali is making her debut solo exhibition, "Grid & Garden," at Jehangir Art Gallery in Kala Ghoda. The show features works that blend painting, textile, and sculpture, using materials like herringbone tweed, silk brocade, and wool felt on custom wooden structures. Series include "Wave Grid," "The Golden Realm," "The Beehive Series," and "Water Garden Triptych," exploring themes of structure, fluidity, nature, and luxury.

fernando amorsolo leon gallery art and antiquities

On June 7, Manila-based Léon Gallery Art and Antiquities held its Spectacular Mid-Year Auction, kicking off the gallery's 15th-anniversary celebrations. The sale featured modern and contemporary works by leading Filipino artists, including Fernando Zóbel, Juan Luna, and Vicente Manansala. A standout lot was Anita Magsaysay-Ho's *Water Carriers / Taga-igib* (1947), an egg tempera work that sold for over PHP 60 million (about $1.08 million). Another key highlight was Fernando Amorsolo's *The Burning of Manila* (1942), which set a record for the artist's wartime paintings at PHP 36.04 million ($645,460). The painting, from the collection of Don Enrique “EZ” Zóbel, had been on loan to the National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila, for about a decade before auction.

Exhibition | Byoung Cho, 'WHEN SPACE BECOMES PAINTING' at BB&M, Seoul, South Korea

BB&M gallery in Seoul presents "When Space Becomes Painting," a solo exhibition of leading Korean architect Byoung Cho, organized in partnership with Jiyoon Lee of SUUM Project. The show traces Cho's 30-year engagement with space across painting, installation, maquettes, and drawing, exploring how his architectural thinking translates onto canvas. Central to the exhibition is Cho's concept of "mahk," inspired by Korean traditional ceramic maksabal, embracing spontaneity and imperfection as a guiding philosophy. The exhibition shifts from viewing artworks to experiencing them, with paintings that function as performative inquiries into existence rather than static images.

Amorepacific Museum of Art Presents APMA, CHAPTER FIVE - FROM THE APMA COLLECTION

The Amorepacific Museum of Art in Seoul has launched "APMA, CHAPTER FIVE – FROM THE APMA COLLECTION," a major exhibition featuring approximately 80 works from its permanent holdings. Running from April 1 to August 2, 2026, the showcase includes a diverse array of paintings, sculptures, and installations by over 40 influential Korean and international artists. High-profile participants include Kiki Smith, Rose Wylie, Carol Bove, and Gala Porras-Kim, alongside Korean masters such as Nam June Paik, Lee Bul, and Haegue Yang.

gofundme created donation pages museums

GoFundMe created approximately 1.6 million donation pages for US nonprofits, including dozens of major art museums, without informing or obtaining consent from the institutions. Museums such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art discovered these pages only when contacted by ARTnews. The pages were optimized for web searches and charged transaction fees, potentially diverting donations from the museums' own fundraising channels. After media coverage, GoFundMe apologized, switched to an opt-in model, and removed unclaimed pages.

israeli airstrike doha qatar risk of planning art basel fair

On Tuesday, Israel carried out a missile strike in Doha, Qatar, targeting senior Hamas leaders, with explosions reported in the Leqtaifiya neighborhood and smoke visible over the Katara cultural district. The strike comes as a shock to Qatar, which has built a reputation for stability and is home to major art institutions operated by Qatar Museums, including Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Qatar, and the Museum of Islamic Art. Art Basel, which announced in May a partnership with Qatar Sports Investments and QC+ to launch Art Basel Doha in February 2026, said it is closely monitoring developments and remains committed to the fair's inaugural edition.

dealer oghenochuko ojiri jail sentence hezbollah financier

London art dealer Oghenochuko Ojiri has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison for failing to declare that he sold artworks to Nazem Ahmad, a collector sanctioned by the US government since 2019 for financing Hezbollah. Ojiri pleaded guilty in May to eight charges of failing to disclose potential terrorist financing under the Terrorism Act 2000, marking the first conviction under this specific offense. Evidence showed Ojiri researched Ahmad's identity, saved him as 'Moss Collector' in his contacts to obscure the relationship, and ignored a colleague's warning, all while continuing transactions to boost his gallery's reputation.

FYI Calendar: Arkansas Living Treasure Longhua Xu’s exhibit at Fort Smith RAM continues through June 21

The article is a calendar of arts and community events in the Fort Smith, Arkansas area, compiled by features writer Dustin Staggs. It lists dance and theater performances, plant swaps, life drawing classes, historical society events, and multiple art exhibitions. Among the visual art highlights are "Soul Taking Shape," an exhibition by Arkansas Living Treasure Longhua Xu at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum (RAM) running through June 21, along with other shows at RAM and Arts On Main featuring works by local artists and student artists.