The article "Art as Memorial in Lotusland" by Aleina Grace Edwards appears in the February 2026 issue of Contemporary Art Review LA (CARLA). It is part of a larger issue exploring themes like scent in art, tarot, social urgencies in curation, and video art, positioning it within a critical discussion of contemporary art practices in Los Angeles.
ai art copyright supreme court ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from computer scientist Stephen Thaler, effectively upholding lower court rulings that AI-generated artwork cannot be copyrighted. The case centered on a 2012 digital work titled "A Recent Entrance to Paradise," which Thaler claimed was created autonomously by his AI system, DABUS. By refusing the case, the court leaves in place the U.S. Copyright Office's stance that copyright protection requires "traditional human authorship."
The U.S. Department of Justice has released approximately 3 million additional files related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, sparking a new wave of resignations and investigations across the global art world. The documents detail extensive connections between Epstein and high-profile figures, including museum leaders, major collectors, and artists. While inclusion in the files does not prove criminal wrongdoing, the public pressure following these revelations has forced several prominent individuals to step down from influential institutional roles.
The article is a table of contents for Issue 42 of Contemporary Art Review LA, which includes a review of an exhibition by artist Devin Troy Strother at ArtCenter. The review, written by Janelle Zara, is listed among other reviews, interviews, and features in the publication's November 2025 issue.
STPI is launching the inaugural Print Show and Symposium Singapore during Singapore Art Week (January 22–31, 2026). The event will feature over 27 internationally acclaimed contemporary artists—including Jeff Koons, Louise Bourgeois, Takashi Murakami, and Do Ho Suh—showcasing their engagement with printmaking. A symposium titled "The Politics of Print: elephant in the room," curated by Stephanie Bailey, will bring together 25 curators, museum directors, and artists such as Michael Craig-Martin, Adele Tan, Sook-Kyung Lee, and Pinaree Sanpitak for six panels over two days.
Sasha Suda, the former director and CEO of the Philadelphia Art Museum, gave her first extensive interview since her firing last November to Philadelphia Magazine, alleging that the board attempted to strip her of the CEO title. She claims former board chair Leslie Anne Miller initially offered both roles but later tried to separate them, only allowing her to hold both temporarily. Suda says she rejected the revised offer, leading the board to backpedal. The article also reveals that Suda placed chief curator Carlos Basualdo on administrative leave in 2024, a decision that upset some trustees and may have contributed to tensions. Suda was abruptly fired on Election Day via email citing "cause," and she and the board have traded allegations over misuse of funds and unfair investigations.
Belgium plans to revoke the museum status of Antwerp's Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA) and transfer its 8,000-work collection to Ghent's Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (Smak), canceling a promised $93 million new building. The proposal by Flemish culture minister Caroline Gennez has sparked resignations, legal challenges, and backlash from artists including Luc Tuymans and Anish Kapoor, who call it unlawful and a threat to cultural independence. A parliamentary hearing is expected in January 2026.
Artnet News rounds up the standout auction moments of 2025, highlighting both triumphs and disappointments. M.F. Husain's *Untitled (Gram Yatra)* (1954) smashed expectations at Christie's, selling for $13.8 million—more than double the artist's previous record and the first South Asian Modern work to exceed $10 million. In contrast, Piet Mondrian's *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue* (1922) fell short of its $50 million estimate at Christie's, missing the artist's auction record, while Alberto Giacometti's *Grande tête mince* (1955) failed to sell at Sotheby's despite a $70 million asking price, underscoring market volatility.
Vanity Fair published a two-part feature with unprecedented imagery of the Trump administration, shot by photographer Christopher Anderson. Diet Prada annotated the photos, highlighting that a floral still life by French impressionist Berthe Morisot, titled *Peonies* (1869), appears behind press secretary Karoline Leavitt and is currently available as a print through Walmart. The painting belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which lists it as not on view and declined to comment on whether it is on loan to the White House. The Trump administration has not responded to inquiries about the artwork's provenance or whether it was newly installed or left over from a previous administration.
Artnet News critic Christian Viveros-Fauné has published a personal list of the ten best works of art in New York museums, sparking debate among readers. The selection includes iconic pieces such as Giovanni Bellini's *St. Francis in the Desert* at the Frick Collection, Gerhard Richter's *October 18, 1977* at MoMA, Paul Cézanne's *The Card Players* at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Rosenquist's *F-111* at MoMA, Diego Velázquez's *Juan de Pareja* at the Met, and Pablo Picasso's *Les Demoiselles d'Avignon* at MoMA, among others.
The Philadelphia Art Museum is organizing a 2026 exhibition titled “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments,” centered on the famous Rocky Balboa statue that sits atop the museum's steps. Curated by Paul Farber, co-founder of Monument Lab, the show will feature over 150 works by more than 50 artists, spanning 2,000 years of artifacts, and explore the role of monuments in fine art, sports, and popular culture. The exhibition coincides with the 50th anniversary of the original Rocky film and includes works by Keith Haring, Rashid Johnson, Kara Walker, and Andy Warhol, among others.
Alma Allen, a sculptor known for sleek, abstract works, has been selected to represent the United States at the 2026 Venice Biennale, marking the country's 250th anniversary. The selection process, run by the US State Department and funded by the newly formed American Arts Conservancy—which the article notes is stocked with Trump allies—has drawn criticism for favoring politically neutral art. Allen's sculptures, often made of marble and wood with digital technology, are described as aesthetically inoffensive and reminiscent of Constantin Brâncuși, with no apparent commentary on current US issues.
Es Devlin, the renowned set designer behind iconic pop culture moments for Beyoncé, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus, is shifting focus from large-scale commercial spectacles to more personal artistic projects. A new monograph and retrospective at the Cooper Hewitt, titled "An Atlas of Es Devlin," catalogues her three-decade career, while her latest installation "Surfacing," commissioned by BMW and unveiled at Art Basel 2024, marks a turn toward fine art. Devlin, now 50, describes this phase as a liberating new chapter where she feels "nothing to lose."
The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) reopened after nearly six years, replacing its 1969 building with a 146,000-square-foot complex designed by Adjaye Associates. The new structure features nine interlocking modernist pavilions, a 40-foot mosaic by Nick Cave, and flexible spaces like a central hall convertible into a lecture hall. The museum's collection of 117,000 objects is installed with ahistorical juxtapositions, pairing works such as Andy Warhol's Blue Marilyn (1962) with a 14th-century Virgin and Child, and Titus Kaphar's To Be Sold (2018) with a George Washington portrait. The reopening follows controversy: David Adjaye stepped back from the project in 2023 after allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied.
W magazine's current art issue features Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence in a three-part collaboration with French filmmaker and artist Philippe Parreno, American painter Elizabeth Peyton, and German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. Parreno shot a short film starring Lawrence, Tillmans photographed her at his London studio wearing a T-shirt referencing his Centre Pompidou exhibition, and Peyton painted a portrait of the actress in her signature loose, romantic style. The issue has three different covers, each dedicated to one collaborating artist's work.
Sasha Suda, director and CEO of the Philadelphia Art Museum (formerly the Philadelphia Museum of Art), was dismissed on Tuesday. Reports from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Magazine indicate she was terminated for “cause” via email, though the specific reasons were not disclosed. The dismissal follows controversy over the museum’s recent rebranding, which was criticized online and reportedly caught board members off guard. Suda, who joined in 2022 after leading the National Gallery of Canada, faced internal dissent from unionized staff and tense negotiations, as well as the departure of deputy director Carlos Basualdo. The museum has also struggled with a deficit and declining attendance since the pandemic.
Qatar has announced the launch of a new quadrennial art event called Rubaiya Qatar, set to debut in November 2026. The inaugural edition will feature a curated exhibition titled “Unruly Waters,” organized by Tom Eccles, Ruba Katrib, Mark Rappolt, and Shabbir Husain Mustafa. The event will take place across Qatar, centered at the Al Riwaq pavilion near the Museum of Islamic Art. A preview performance by artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, titled "untitled 2025 (no bread no ashes)," was unveiled in Doha, involving communal bread baking with diverse bakers. The quadrennial aims to reflect Qatar's cultural diversity and its historical connections to maritime trade routes.
The Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025 reveals that Gen Z collectors are reshaping the art market by treating art, sneakers, digital assets, and luxury goods as a single continuum of collectibles. Gen Z allocates 26% of their total wealth to art and collectibles—the highest of any generation—and spends 56% of that on non-traditional items like limited-edition sneakers, handbags, and digital artworks. Digital art ownership has rebounded sharply, with 23% of collectors planning to buy digital works, up from 19% in 2024, and Gen Z shows the strongest appetite for sculpture.
Art Basel Paris launched a new ultra-exclusive invitation-only preview called Avant Première, held one day before the official VIP preview. The four-hour event on Tuesday afternoon saw strong sales, with Thaddaeus Ropac selling works including a 1953 Alberto Burri for €4.2 million and two George Baselitz pieces, while Hauser & Wirth sold Gerhard Richter's 1987 *Abstraktes Bild* for $23 million, the highest reported sale. The fair limited each gallery to six invites with plus-ones, resulting in an estimated 3,000 attendees compared to 6,000 for the regular First Choice preview, creating a more manageable and urgent atmosphere.
V. Joy Simmons, a Los Angeles-based physician and longtime art collector, opened her Baldwin Hills home to ARTnews for a tour of her extensive collection. The house features over 150 objects, including stained-glass windows by Varnette Honeywood and Joyce Dudnick, a site-specific column installation by Lauren Halsey, and works by Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Kerry James Marshall, Mark Bradford, Kehinde Wiley, and Carrie Mae Weems, among many others. Simmons began collecting in the 1970s with a $50 lithograph by Catlett and has since built a collection that spans generations of Black artists, often juxtaposing older and younger artists in her displays.
Ron Rivlin, owner of Revolver Gallery in Los Angeles and a prolific collector of Andy Warhol works, lost his Pacific Palisades home and 340 artworks—including 30 Warhols and pieces by Keith Haring, John Baldessari, Damien Hirst, Alex Katz, and Kenny Scharf—to the January 2025 wildfires that swept through Los Angeles County. The fires, fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions, consumed approximately 60,718 acres and 17,291 structures, killing 30 people. Numerous other artists, collectors, and arts professionals, including Beatriz Cortez, Amir Nikravan, Salomón Huerta, and curator Paul Schimmel, also reported losing homes and artworks.
Dom Pérignon has partnered with artist Takashi Murakami to design limited-edition labels and packaging for its Vintage 2015 and Rosé Vintage 2010 releases. Murakami’s signature smiling floral motifs appear on black backgrounds, and the collaboration is framed as an exploration of time, transformation, and the intersection of historical craftsmanship with contemporary art. Murakami worked with Dom Pérignon’s Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon, and the project is part of a broader series titled “Creation is an eternal journey,” which also involves actors, musicians, and chefs.
Art historian Dieter Buchhart, a leading expert on Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, will debut a new Basquiat exhibition titled “Signs: Connecting Past and Future” at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, opening September 23 and running through January 31, 2026. In a recent interview with Jing Daily, Buchhart discussed the growing convergence of branding, fashion, and art, highlighting the role of luxury companies like LVMH in underwriting major exhibitions, citing their sponsorship of the 2023 show “Basquiat x Warhol. Painting 4 Hands” without special requests, though the exhibition premiered at LVMH’s Fondation Louis Vuitton.