Designer Alexander Wang and his mother Ying Wang have acquired the historic 58 Bowery building in New York's Chinatown for $9.5 million, marking its first Chinese American ownership. They are transforming the former bank into a cultural venue named Wang Contemporary, which will host exhibitions, performances, and festivals focused on Asian and Asian American creatives, with its inaugural exhibition curated by the art collective MSCHF.
Chinese authorities have concluded a major investigation into the Nanjing Museum, revealing decades of alleged mismanagement and corruption that led to nationally significant artworks being funneled into the private market.
Chinese authorities have concluded a major investigation into the Nanjing Museum, revealing decades of alleged mismanagement and corruption that led to nationally significant artworks being funneled into the private market.
Shrewsbury-based artist Lee Lewis has opened a solo exhibition titled 'Story' at Swan Hill Studio, featuring a collection of paintings and personal objects that explore themes of memory and personal narrative. The exhibition, which has been extended until February 28, 2026, focuses on Lewis's paintings inspired by childhood memories, observed scenes, and her Welsh heritage, and includes items like her late brother's telephone and her grandfather's handmade cricket bat.
The Wichita Art Museum (WAM) has opened a major exhibition titled 'Alex Katz: Theater and Dance,' focusing on the celebrated American artist's decades-long engagement with performing arts subjects. The show features over 50 works, including paintings, collages, and prints, that capture the energy and aesthetics of theater and dance, highlighting Katz's distinctive style of flat planes and bold color.
Austrian-born, Netherlands-based performance artist Florentina Holzinger has joined the roster of blue-chip gallery Thaddaeus Ropac. This move comes just months before she is set to unveil her project "Seaworld Venice" for the Austrian Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, marking a significant shift of her boundary-pushing, interdisciplinary practice from the theater and dance worlds into the commercial art gallery system.
High Line Art has announced its 2026 season of public art commissions for New York's elevated park. The program includes a billboard work by Katherine Bernhardt and three major installations by Patricia Ayres, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, and Derek Fordjour, alongside video works for the High Line Channel by Saba Khan and a film grouping by Marianna Simnett, Filip Kostic, and Ana Hušman.
A major bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, 'King and Queen' (1952-53), will be the top lot at Christie's 20th/21st Century evening sale in London on March 5. The work, estimated at £15 million ($20.5 million), is the first cast from an edition and the only one remaining in private hands, having been acquired directly from the artist by its current anonymous owner.
Art Price's annual list of the world's 500 most saleable contemporary artists features five Irish artists, led by Sean Scully at number 16. Scully's auction record is $2,046,500 for his 1985 painting "Song." The other listed artists are Graham Knuttel (ranked 202), Liam O'Neill (376), and Genieve Figgis (350), with their market performance and notable auction results detailed. The article also cites commentary from independent art advisor Arabella Bishop on each artist's market appeal and investment potential.
Choreographer Florentina Holzinger, known for her extreme and provocative performances, has joined the roster of the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery. This move coincides with her preparation to represent Austria at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with a site-specific performance project titled SEAWORLD VENICE.
A new immersive exhibition titled "David Bowie: You're Not Alone" will open at Lightroom in London on April 22. The show, organized by creative director Mark Grimmer, will feature projected performance footage, interviews, film clips, and drawings, including newly recovered footage of Bowie's 1978 "Heroes" performance at Earl's Court.
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The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture has opened in Almaty, Kazakhstan, launching its program with a powerful performance titled 'Barsakelmes.' The event, created by a collective of Kazakh artists, musicians, and poets, used traditional and contemporary elements to summon the ecological and cultural trauma of the Aral Sea's destruction under Soviet rule, framing decolonization as a process of remembrance, rethinking, and advancement.
The Western Lights Illuminated Arts Festival returns for its second year, transforming downtown Reno into a free, open-air art gallery from February 19-21. The family-friendly event will feature over 50 art and light installations and more than 70 live musical performances, alongside a new illuminated costume contest and VIP experiences.
Theater director Łukasz Twarkowski's new multimedia production, "ROHTKO," is set to open at London's Barbican Centre on October 2. The four-hour performance, which premiered in Riga in 2022, uses onstage action, video screens, and a techno soundtrack to explore the nature of authenticity in art, taking the Knoedler & Co. forgery scandal—which involved fake Rothko, Pollock, and Motherwell paintings—as a central narrative thread.
The opening ceremony of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics featured significant art-historical references, including a flame cauldron inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's knot drawings and performances that brought to life the marble sculptures of Antonio Canova. Dancers animated recreations of works like 'Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss,' and the ceremony included symbolic representations of Italian architectural landmarks like the Colosseum and Florence's Duomo.
Pablo Picasso, the Spanish artist who died over 50 years ago, remains one of the most influential and commercially successful figures in modern art. His works, spanning painting, sculpture, and ceramics, continue to break auction records, with his 1955 painting 'Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')' selling for $179.4 million in 2015.
Jambalaya Arts Inc., a non-profit art gallery in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is expanding by opening a dedicated music venue called The Jamb on High Avenue. The new space, set for a soft opening at the end of March, will host live music events, allowing the gallery to stop the labor-intensive process of converting its existing Main Street gallery for performances.
L, an artist known for spiritually charged sculptures and paintings, has died at age 41 or 42. Their passing was announced by galleries that represented them, though a cause of death was not confirmed. Born Jason Metcalf in Salt Lake City, L created works using objects suspended in mineral oil, which they called "spells," and exhibited at major institutions including Documenta and the Getty Center, as well as galleries such as Marlborough Gallery, 56 Henry, and the Ranch. L was also a spiritual practitioner and neurodivergent, and their career included early performances like "Original Skin" and a notable 2015 show at the LA alternative space JOAN.
RichesArt Gallery, the only Black-owned art gallery in Austin, hosted its Rhythms and Poetry open mic night on February 3, featuring slam poetry, rappers, and spoken word performances. The event, organized by poetry director Jonathan Ezemba in collaboration with gallery founder Richard Samuel, operated on a pay-what-you-can basis to keep it accessible. Performers like Maya Edwin shared personal poems about identity, queerness, and Blackness, emphasizing the gallery's role as a safe space for Black artists.
Critic and artist Aria Dean, known for her influential essays on digital culture and race, has staged a new theatrical work titled "The Color Scheme" as part of the Performa biennial. The piece imagines a 1920s meeting in Berlin between two Black intellectuals, marking a shift from her usual focus on contemporary online life to historical Black culture and politics. Dean's essays are collected in the recent book "Bad Infinity" from Sternberg Press, and her art has appeared in major exhibitions including the Hammer Museum's Made in L.A. Biennial and the Whitney Biennial.
David Beckham was a prominent attendee at Art Basel Qatar in Doha, visiting key art venues and installations. He was seen at Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija's interactive installation in MIA Park, viewing works by Chung Seoyoung at the Fire Station, and attending a performance by Haroon Mirza alongside major collector Sheikha al-Mayassa. Movie star Angelina Jolie was also spotted at a special project by the performance collective Sweat Variant.
Mexico City's Museo Experimental El Eco is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its reopening with a special exhibition and a commissioned performance. The museum, a landmark of 1950s architecture designed by artist Mathias Goeritz, is also in the final stages of obtaining national heritage status, which would ensure its long-term preservation.
The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) has opened a new exhibition titled 'Yes &…', inspired by the improvisational comedy rule of accepting and building on ideas. Guest curators Donald Fodness and Tobias Fike selected 18 artists whose work emphasizes process over polish, featuring visible seams, fingerprints, and evidence of human decision-making across painting, sculpture, video, installation, and performance. The exhibition includes interactive elements, such as a sculpture with hand-carved 'ice cubes' intended for viewers to take, and runs through May 3.
Performance artist Pat Oleszko, known for her satirical costumes and public interventions, is receiving significant institutional recognition in New York. At 78, she is featured in the 2026 Whitney Biennial and is the subject of a solo exhibition, "Fool Disclosure," at SculptureCenter, her first institutional solo show in the city in over 35 years.
The first Art Angle Round-Up of 2026 highlights three major art world stories. The selection includes the controversy surrounding the South Africa pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Prado Museum's struggle with and plans to manage overwhelming visitor numbers, and the phenomenon of 'speed painting,' exemplified by artist Vanessa Horabuena selling a 10-minute painting of Jesus for nearly $3 million at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser.
Several major Los Angeles institutions are opening new exhibitions in February. Highlights include the Academy Museum's interactive "Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo" show, the Autry Museum's "Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents" exhibition on Southwestern art, a performance by Wild Up at The Broad, the Getty Center's "Photography and the Black Arts Movement" survey, LACMA's display of modern masterpieces from the Pearlman collection, and the Marciano Art Foundation's Bruce Conner retrospective.
Ayala Malls has launched Art Walk by Ayala Land, a public art initiative transforming several of its Makati shopping centers into open-air galleries from January 30 to February 8. The program places contemporary artworks by Filipino and international artists in high-traffic mall environments, featuring large-scale installations, digital works, performance art, and wearable pieces across locations like Ayala Malls Circuit, Greenbelt, Glorietta, and One Ayala.
The 2026 India Art Fair, the 17th edition of South Asia's leading contemporary art event, is taking place from February 5 to 8 at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in New Delhi. It features 135 exhibitors presenting modern and contemporary art, performance, film, craft, design, and outdoor installations, alongside a program of talks, workshops, and citywide collaborations.
Jeffrey Deitch's gallery has apologized for hosting a performance by rapper Lexa Gates that was deemed an unauthorized derivative of performance artist Miles Greenberg's work. Gates's 10-hour piece, 'The Wheel,' involved walking inside a spinning wheel at the gallery to promote her new album, closely echoing Greenberg's 24-hour 2020 work 'Oysterknife,' which was previously screened at the same location. The gallery stated it had rented the space to Gates's record company and was unaware of the event's content.
Zona Maco, Latin America's largest art fair, has concluded its 2026 edition in Mexico City, reporting strong sales and significant international attendance. The fair featured over 200 galleries from more than 25 countries, with a notable focus on contemporary art from Latin America and a robust program of curated sections.