South Africa's culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, has cancelled the country's planned pavilion at the upcoming Venice Biennale, a project by artist Gabrielle Goliath and curator Ingrid Masondo. The artist and curator are fighting the decision, appealing to the nation's president and filing a case with the high court.
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The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art has opened "Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art," the largest-ever exhibition dedicated to LGBTQ+ African art. The show, curated by Kevin Dumouchelle and Serubiri Moses, features nearly 60 works by 30 artists from across Africa and its diasporas, spanning photography, painting, tapestry, collage, and sculpture.
Two new winter exhibitions open February 11, 2026 at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University: “Photorealism in Focus” and “Yinka Shonibare: Sanctuary.” The first brings together pioneering Photorealists like Richard Estes, Charles S. Bell, Audrey Flack, and Ralph Goings alongside contemporary artists, exploring the blurred line between painting and photography. The second features the U.S. debut of Yinka Shonibare’s installation “Sanctuary City” (2024), comprising 18 illuminated miniature buildings that served as historical refuges, lined with the artist’s signature Dutch wax textiles. Both shows are curated by Gannit Akori, the museum’s director and chief curator.
The latest episode of The Art Newspaper's 'The Week in Art' podcast, hosted by Ben Luke, covers three major stories. It features a discussion with co-curator Kevin Dumouchelle about 'Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art,' a new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., focusing on LGBTQ+ artists from Africa and its diaspora. The episode also examines the cultural impact of the protests and brutal crackdown in Iran, with reporter Sarvy Garenpayeh, and highlights Louise Nevelson's 'Tropical Garden II (1957)' as the Work of the Week, tied to a new survey of the sculptor's work at the Centre Pompidou-Metz.
January brings a full slate of exhibitions across the Bay Area timed to San Francisco Art Week, headlined by the 12th edition of FOG Design+Art at Fort Mason Center (January 21-25). Galerie highlights nine must-see shows, including "100 Candleholders" at Blunk Space, where international artists create candleholders inspired by JB Blunk; "New Work: Sheila Hicks" at SFMOMA, featuring fiber installations tied to personal places; "The Houses Are Haunted By White Night-Gowns" at The Future Perfect, a furniture-and-bowls installation by Studio Ahead; and "Auudi Dorsey: What’s Left, Never Left" at Jonathan Carver Moore, where the painter excavates histories of African American leisure sites.
Singapore is solidifying its position as a central hub for Southeast Asian art, supported by government initiatives, established institutions like the National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum, and major events such as Art SG, the Singapore Biennale, and Singapore Art Week. While other regional hubs like Jakarta, Bangkok, and Manila are growing, Singapore uniquely fosters a pan-Southeast Asian focus, attracting collectors and artists from across the region. However, recent closures of smaller independent spaces like Sàn Art in Saigon and Your Mother Gallery in Singapore, along with the absorption of S.E.A. Focus into Art SG, have impacted the independent scene, though new venues such as Bangkok Kunst-halle and Vũ Dân Tân Museum offer fresh opportunities.
SF Art Week returns with a packed schedule of events across San Francisco, including the Recology Artist in Residence exhibition featuring work made from materials sourced at the city's recycling center, a mural painting and unveiling by eL Seed in collaboration with incarcerated artists at San Quentin, and the launch of ICA SF's nomadic model with exhibitions by Tara Donovan and Lily Kwong at the Transamerica Pyramid Center. Other highlights include gallery openings at Paul Thiebaud Gallery, frame-making demonstrations at Aedicule, a new art fair at the Fairmont Hotel, and a curator-led tour at SHACK15, alongside workshops, a rave-themed reception at the Asian Art Museum, and a conversation between artist Lava Thomas and curator Key Jo Lee at MoAD.
Kathleen Goncharov, an artist and curator who worked at influential US organizations including Just Above Midtown and Creative Time, died on 31 December at age 73. She most recently served as senior curator at the Boca Raton Museum of Art from 2012 until her retirement in 2024, and previously held positions at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, the MIT List Visual Arts Center, and the New School. Goncharov also served as commissioner of the US Pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale, curating Fred Wilson's solo project. She had a solo exhibition of her abstract paintings at Olympia gallery in New York in 2022.
The article profiles three emerging artists to watch in 2026: Lebanese artist Dala Nasser, who creates politically charged works using materials like salted water and cyanotypes; Chinese-born, Berkeley-based artist Connie Zheng, whose work maps plantation economies and resource extractivism through painterly and symbolic compositions; and New York-based artist Nina Hartmann, who creates resin works inspired by DIY plaques and memorials, exploring hidden histories and Freemason symbolism. Each artist is highlighted for upcoming exhibitions or new series in 2026.
Filmmaker Wes Anderson and Gagosian curator Jasper Sharp have recreated Joseph Cornell's basement studio from his home on Utopia Parkway in Queens, New York, at Gagosian Gallery's Paris location. The exhibition, titled "The House on Utopia Parkway: Joseph Cornell's Studio Re-Created by Wes Anderson," features over 300 original objects collected by Cornell, alongside his iconic shadow boxes and collages. It runs through March 14 and is free to the public, displayed behind the gallery's storefront windows.
The Argentine real-estate developer and collector Eduardo F. Costantini has acquired the entire Daros Latinamerica Collection, adding 1,233 works by 117 artists to his Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba). Previously housed in Zurich, the collection includes key pieces by artists such as Ana Mendieta, Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, and Cildo Meireles. The acquisition brings 75 new artists to Malba's holdings, including Doris Salcedo and Jesús Rafael Soto, and strengthens existing ones like Guillermo Kuitca and León Ferrari. Plans for a museum expansion to accommodate the works are already underway.
Curators and museum directors from leading institutions worldwide selected their favorite exhibitions of 2025, highlighting a diverse range of shows. Standouts include Wolfgang Tillmans at Centre Pompidou, Paris, praised for its generous scope and integration of the library space; 'Encounters: Giacometti x Mona Hatoum' at Barbican Art Gallery, London, noted for its dialogue across time; and Ithell Colquhoun's retrospective at Tate St Ives, which repositions the artist from a Surrealist footnote to a major figure. Other acclaimed exhibitions include Noah Davis at Barbican Art Gallery, Linder at Hayward Gallery, Hamad Butt at Whitechapel Gallery, and Caroline Walker at Hepworth Wakefield.
The article surveys the art world's turbulent 2025, beginning with devastating Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed artworks and the political shockwaves of Donald Trump's re-election. Trump's administration targeted the National Portrait Gallery, whose director Kim Sajet resigned after threats of firing, while immigration crackdowns, tariffs on art imports, and attacks on diversity initiatives chilled the art community. The year also saw Venice residents protest Jeff Bezos's lavish wedding, Trump's gilded Oval Office renovations, and a major Veronese exhibition at the Prado that drew parallels between historical extravagance and decline.
Napoles Marty, a US painter and sculptor based between Connecticut and Rhode Island, has won the 2026 Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize. The award includes $25,000 and a solo stand at the fair, which opens in late February at Santa Monica Airport. Marty, whose work draws on dream imagery and his Cuban heritage, was selected by a jury including collectors Allison K. Berg and Maisha C. Clark. He will collaborate with fair organizers and Diana Nawi, curator of special projects at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, on his presentation. Marty was previously a member of the sixth cohort of Nxthvn, a Connecticut-based arts incubator founded by artist Titus Kaphar and impact investor Jason Price.
At this year's Paris Photo, the MUUS Collection presented "Looking Out, Looking In: Larry Fink and Rosalind Fox Solomon with Lisette Model," an exhibition that placed the work of photographers Larry Fink (1941-2023) and Rosalind Fox Solomon (1930-2025) in dialogue with that of their teacher, Lisette Model (1901-83). The MUUS Collection, founded by Michael W. Sonnenfeldt, owns the archives of Fink and Solomon, acquired in 2024 and 2021 respectively, and partnered with the French gallery baudoin lebon to include Model's prints. The presentation was organized by Anne E. Havinga, curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and highlighted Model's pedagogical legacy as a teacher at the New School for Social Research who emphasized personal vision and creative independence.
A roundup of the best art shows of 2025 highlights standout exhibitions across New York galleries and museums. Notable shows include Reverend Joyce McDonald's first major exhibition at the Bronx Museum, Laura Owens' interactive takeover at Matthew Marks Gallery, and Harkawik's refrigerator-mounted photo display featuring 280 artists. Other featured shows include Maxwell Gallery's unsold works, Elisabeth Kley's curator-driven show at White Columns, Cady Noland's sculpture at Gagosian, and Falcon Art Collective's group show in an unfinished midtown building. The article also mentions Alannah Farrell's trans-themed work in Chinatown, Bradford's blue-field paintings at Canada gallery, and the reopening of institutions like the Frick Collection.
Jorge M. Pérez, the Miami-based real estate developer and art collector, has donated more than 80 photographic works to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). The donation includes pieces by artists such as Thomas Ruff, Ana Mendieta, Cindy Sherman, Isaac Julien, Candida Höfer, Vik Muniz, Tania Bruguera, Renata Lucas, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, and Wolfgang Tillmans. The works are currently on view in the museum's exhibition "Language and Image: Conceptual and Performance-Based Photography from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection" through January 11. Museum director Franklin Sirmans noted that photography has been integral to PAMM's collection since 1996 and that the donation strengthens the museum's holdings in conceptual and performance-based photography, including the Düsseldorf School.
CULTURED magazine has published a guide to 13 must-see gallery and museum shows in Miami this week, highlighting exhibitions across the city during Art Basel Miami Beach. Featured shows include Studio Lenca's first solo show in Miami at David Castillo Gallery, Jeffrey Deitch's pop-up exhibition in the Miami Design District, Aneta Grzeszykowska's "DISORDER" at Voloshyn Gallery, a posthumous survey of Richard Hunt at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, Woody De Othello's hometown museum solo at Pérez Art Museum Miami, Shayla Marshall's installation at a Walgreens storefront organized by the Bass and Bakehouse Art Complex, and Lawrence Lek's "NOX Pavilion" at the Bass, among others.
Woody De Othello, a self-described '90s kid from North Miami Beach now based in Oakland, California, is preparing for his largest museum exhibition to date at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), on view through June 28, 2026. The exhibition, titled 'Coming Forth by Day,' marks a homecoming for the artist, whose Funk Art–inflected ceramic and bronze sculptures of animated household objects—telephones, clocks, fans—have gained significant attention. Othello's work, which blends cartoonish aesthetics with personal narrative, has been featured in biennials at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Orange County Museum of Art. He works out of two East Bay studios, one a former gym for painting and ceramics, the other a woodshop for frames and pedestals, and has been represented by San Francisco dealer Jessica Silverman since 2018.
The US State Department has officially confirmed that sculptor Alma Allen will represent the United States at the 2026 Venice Biennale, following earlier delays caused by a 43-day government shutdown. Allen's exhibition, titled "Alma Allen: Call the Breeze," will run from May 9 to November 22, 2026, at the US Pavilion, organized by commissioner Jenni Parido of the American Arts Conservancy and independent curator Jeffrey Uslip. The show will feature around 30 sculptures, including new site-specific works, and the state department announcement explicitly aligns the presentation with President Donald Trump's "America first" ideology, framing the artworks as symbols of collective optimism and American excellence.
"The Great Camouflage" at the Rockbund Museum of Art (RAM) in Shanghai, curated by X Zhu-Nowell and Kandis Williams, opened during Shanghai Art Week. The exhibition features works by artists including Christine Tien Wang, Hao Jingban, and Wang Tuo, and is anchored in Black feminist thought, drawing on Suzanne Césaire's text "The Great Camouflage: Writings of Dissent (1941–45)." It aims to revisit revolutionary attitudes and build new networks of solidarity across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, deliberately decentering Euro-American narratives while navigating China's sociopolitical landscape.
Art Basel has announced the gallery lineup and first highlights for its 2026 Hong Kong edition, which will feature 240 galleries from 41 countries and territories. Over half of the participating galleries operate in the Asia-Pacific region, including 29 with spaces in Hong Kong. A new sector called Echoes debuts, spotlighting recent works, while the Encounters sector will be curated for the first time by a collective of four Asia-based curators led by Mami Kataoka. The fair also introduces a Film Program curated by Ellen Pau and a Conversations Program directed by Venus Lau. A co-commissioned public artwork by Shahzia Sikander will be presented on the M+ Facade. The fair runs March 27–29, 2026, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum will present "Big Things for Big Rooms," an exhibition tracing the development of immersive, large-scale artworks from the late 1960s to the present. Organized by head curator Evelyn C. Hankins and curatorial assistant CJ Greenhill Caldera, the show features 10 works—five on view for the first time—drawn largely from the museum's collection, including pieces by Robert Irwin, Richard Long, Sam Gilliam, Dan Flavin, Lygia Pape, Mika Rottenberg, Olafur Eliasson, Spencer Finch, Rashid Johnson, and Paul Chan. The exhibition runs from November 21, 2025, through July 4, 2027, and is divided into two parts: the first explores pioneering "Environments" from the 1960s, while the second highlights contemporary artists expanding on those ideas.
Paris Photo 2025, the 28th edition of the international photography fair, returns to the Grand Palais from 13-16 November, hosting 179 galleries from 33 countries. Artistic director Anna Planas emphasizes a program spanning photography's full history, from 19th-century works to contemporary digital and blockchain-based pieces. Highlights include a solo installation by Hasselblad Award winner Sophie Ristelhueber, a darkroom demonstration by photographer Renato D'Agostin, and the 'Emergence' sector featuring Prix Maison Ruinart winner Marine Lanier. The fair also offers conversations, performances, and book signings with artists like Todd Hido and Wolfgang Tillmans, plus an exhibition of Latin American photography from the Estrellita B Brodsky collection.
The second week of November 2025 marks Lagos Art Week, featuring the 10th edition of Art X Lagos, West Africa’s leading international art fair, and the 15th edition of Lagos Photo Festival, now a biennial. A new symposium, Re: assemblages, hosted by the Alliance Française de Lagos and organized by the Guest Artists Space and Yinka Shonibare Foundations, brought together cultural practitioners from across Africa and the diaspora to discuss African and Afro-diasporic art archives. Key takeaways include the importance of archives as living tools for shaping the future, concerns about restricted access to the archives of late curators Okwui Enwezor and Bisi Silva, and the need for restitution efforts to incorporate African knowledge systems and language, not just the return of objects.
Art Week Tokyo is underway, and this article highlights five must-see exhibitions across the city. Featured shows include Phung-Tien Phan's debut solo exhibition in Japan at Misako & Rosen, where she presents fabric-wrapped sculptures made from found objects; ChimPom from Smappa! Group's environmental-themed show "A Hole Within a Hole Within a Hole" at Anomaly; the group exhibition "The Clearing" at space Un, organized by curator Ekow Eshun, featuring five emerging African diaspora artists; the "Jam Session" pairing new works by Chikako Yamashiro and Lieko Shiga with the Ishibashi Foundation Collection at Artizon Museum; and Eiki Mori's photographic series "Moonbow Flags" at Ken Nakahashi gallery.
This article highlights 14 solo shows and one duo exhibition currently on view in New York galleries, curated by CULTURED magazine. Featured artists include Aiza Ahmed, whose debut solo show "The Music Room" at Sargent's Daughters draws on Satyajit Ray's 1958 film; B. Wurtz at Garth Greenan, presenting assemblages of everyday objects; Ali Banisadr at Olney Gleason, with works responding to visual overload; Brock Enright at Club Rhubarb, showcasing eccentric mixed-media pieces; and Jay DeFeo at Paula Cooper, focusing on her 1980s paintings. Each entry includes location, closing date, and a brief curatorial rationale.
A major exhibition of rarely seen works by the late Chinese-Canadian artist Matthew Wong will open at the Palazzo Tiepolo Passi in Venice from 9 May to 1 November 2025, coinciding with the 61st Venice Biennale. The show features 35 works dating from 2015 to 2019, curated by John Cheim of Cheim & Read gallery, and is organized by the Matthew Wong Foundation, founded by the artist's parents Monita Wong and Raymond KP Wong after his death by suicide in 2019. The exhibition catalogue includes a text by Nancy Spector, former chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum.
An exhibition titled "Don’t Look Now: A Defense of Free Expression" has opened at Nathalie Karg Gallery in New York City, organized by the nonprofit Art at a Time Like This and co-founded by curator Barbara Pollack. The show features artworks by artists who have experienced censorship, including Danielle SeeWalker’s painting "G is for Genocide" (2024), which led to the revocation of her artist residency in Vail, Colorado, and Andil Gosine’s altered photograph "Magna Carta" (2025), which was removed from a planned exhibition at the Art Museum of the Americas. The works address suppression linked to President Trump’s crackdown on DEI, anti-Palestine sentiment, and other forms of censorship, with some institutions self-censoring due to funding cuts from entities like the National Endowment for the Arts.
Bogdan Ablozhnyy has been awarded the 2025 Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Award. The prize recognizes emerging visual artists and provides them with a solo exhibition at Camden Art Centre in London, along with a residency and production support. Ablozhnyy was selected from a competitive pool of nominees by a jury of curators and art professionals.