This beloved pop culture art gallery in L.A. is closing after 20 years — is AI to blame?

Gallery 1988, a pioneering Los Angeles institution that branded itself as the world's first pop culture-focused art gallery, will cease operations at the end of April after 20 years. Founded in 2004, the gallery became a cult favorite for its tribute exhibitions dedicated to films, video games, and television, often drawing massive crowds for shows like "Crazy 4 Cult." Owner Katie Sutton cited a historically weak art market and the loss of a physical storefront as primary factors in the decision to close.

Los Angeles’s next generation of dealers forges new paths

Despite a wave of high-profile gallery closures and economic pressure from the shrinking entertainment industry, a new generation of Los Angeles art dealers is finding resilience through local community ties. While major outposts like Michael Werner and Sean Kelly have shuttered, local mainstays argue that the market is not failing but rather correcting itself against unrealistic expectations. Success in the current climate requires a physical presence and deep-rooted relationships that satellite galleries often struggle to maintain.

JD Malat Gallery brings Paris-based artist Sophie-Yen Bretez to Dubai

JD Malat Gallery Dubai is presenting *The Unsaid Remains Remembered*, the debut solo exhibition in the Middle East by Paris-based artist Sophie-Yen Bretez. The show features large-scale canvases that move beyond the human figure to explore landscapes, domestic objects, and natural motifs, using symbolic thresholds like windows, tables, clocks, and fruit to evoke memory, silence, and transformation. Bretez describes her approach as a 'dramaturgy of passage,' capturing unseen moments when time overlaps and absence carries presence.

Artists in charge

A roundup of artist-run galleries in Kansas City highlights the rise of spaces like Vulpes Bastille and 100,000,000, which are reshaping the local art scene. These venues, operated by artists and volunteers, offer exhibition opportunities, studios, and community support, exemplified by Andrew Johnson's intimate multimedia installation "In The Presence of an Absence" at Vulpes Bastille.

Art Basel reveals exhibitor lineup for Paris fair's 2025 edition

Art Basel Paris has announced the exhibitor lineup for its 2025 edition, which will bring 203 galleries to the Grand Palais this autumn. The fourth edition features 89% returning exhibitors from last year and 25 newcomers, with a strong Parisian presence—one-third of participants operate a space in the French capital. The main sector includes 177 exhibitors such as Thaddaeus Ropac, Mor Charpentier, and Acquavella Galleries, while the Emergence section offers 16 solo stands for emerging artists, and the Premise sector challenges art historical canons with pre-1900 works and obscure practices. Highlights include a joint presentation by Gordon Robichaux and Stars of Janet Olivia Henry's dioramas, and a solo stand by Arash Nassiri at Ginny on Frederick.

The Berlin art legend who found his calling in sneaking into other artists’ shows

Patrick Jambon, a 58-year-old French performance artist living in Berlin, has spent the past 25 years attending gallery openings as a continuous performance piece he calls his 'gallery project.' Dressed in a bright red T-shirt, cartoonish metal-framed glasses, and carrying a yellow bike helmet, he visits dozens of galleries daily, compiling opening lists from websites and social media. His project has become so embedded in the city's art scene that his handwritten lists are now exhibited in spaces like Berlin-Weekly, and artists such as Ae Hee Lee note that 'you aren't a real Berlin artist if you don't know him.'

In Minor Keys: The 61st Biennale di Arte Venezia Opens Under Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025).

The 61st Biennale di Arte Venezia opens under the posthumous curatorial vision of Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), the late Cameroonian-born curator who reshaped contemporary African and diasporic art discourse. The central exhibition, spanning the Giardini and Arsenale, features 111 participants including artists, collectives, and artist-led organizations from across the Global South, with works in textiles, film, sculpture, and performance that interrogate colonialism, migration, and ecological repair. The Biennale is also marked by a pronounced presence of African and diasporic narratives across national pavilions, including several first-time pavilions from the African continent.

Finland Pulls Back Venice Biennale Presence Over Return of Russian Pavilion

Finland’s political leadership has announced it will boycott the Venice Biennale if the Russian Pavilion proceeds with its planned exhibition. While Finnish public officials will still attend to support their own national artists, the Ministry of Education and Culture stated that Russia should be excluded as long as the war in Ukraine continues. This move follows an open letter from 22 European nations and a warning from the European Commission regarding potential sanctions violations.

Archaeologists Uncover a 2,000-Year-Old Hillfort in Estonia

Archaeologists from the University of Tartu have discovered a 2,000-year-old Iron Age hillfort at Köstrimägi in Tartu County, Estonia. Using high-resolution terrain mapping, the team identified a 16,000-square-foot fortification featuring an unusual stepped rampart system that dates back to between 41 BCE and 9 CE. Despite its size, the site yielded few artifacts beyond pottery fragments and charcoal, suggesting a very brief period of occupation before it was destroyed by fire.

Newly Translated 2,000-Year-Old Graffiti Proves Presence of Indian Visitors to Egypt’s Valley of the Kings

Archaeologists have translated 2,000-year-old graffiti in Old Tamil, Sanskrit, and Kharosti script found on the walls of six tombs in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. The inscriptions, dating from the 1st to 3rd centuries CE, include one individual, Cikai Korran, who wrote his name eight times across five tombs, effectively 'tagging' the ancient site.

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The Belarus Free Theatre (BFT), an underground performance group currently in exile, has announced its first major visual art exhibition titled "Official. Unofficial. Belarus." as a collateral event for the 61st Venice Biennale. Staged at the historic La Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista, the show features site-specific works by exiled artists including Sergey Grinevich, Vladimir Tsesler, and Nicolai Khalezin. The installations range from paintings functioning as altar panels to a massive sphere of banned books and a crucifix made of CCTV cameras, all designed to critique the surveillance and censorship of the Lukashenko regime.

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Performance artist Maria De Victoria spent Tuesday chanting the last words of Renee Nicole Good—a poet and mother killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis—outside the ICE field office in New York City's Jacob K. Javits Federal Building. Dressed in a coat bearing Good's phrase "I'm not mad at you, dude," De Victoria performed the endurance piece from sunrise to sunset as an act of dissent against federal immigration crackdowns. The work concluded with a silent vigil, and De Victoria, an immigrant from Peru represented by Desnivel Gallery, has a history of politically charged endurance performances.

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A nearly 2,000-year-old Egyptian ceramic vessel, a bucket-shaped situla, was discovered during conservation work at the Thermopolium of Regio V in Pompeii. The faience pot, decorated with Egyptian-style hunting reliefs, was found in the kitchen of a well-preserved fast-food restaurant that served the working- and middle-class residents of the Roman city before its destruction by Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. The discovery was published by the Pompeii Archaeological Park’s online journal.

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The National Museum of Yemen was damaged during Israeli airstrikes on Sanaa on Wednesday, according to the Houthi Ministry of Culture. The bombardment, part of escalating regional tensions linked to the Gaza war, killed 45 people and injured 165. Video footage shows the museum courtyard littered with rubble, and its windows and doors destroyed, though the building remains standing. The museum had only reopened in May 2023 after a decade-long closure due to Yemen's civil war.

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Frieze is launching Frieze House Seoul, a new exhibition space in the Yaksu-dong neighborhood of central Seoul, which will open alongside the fourth edition of Frieze Seoul in early September 2025. The four-story venue, renovated by architecture studio Samuso Hyoja, spans 210 square meters and includes two main galleries and a landscaped garden. Galleries can apply to program the inaugural season, following a model similar to Frieze's No. 9 Cork Street space in London. The announcement coincides with Korean artist Im Young-zoo being named the 2025 Frieze Seoul Artist Award recipient, a prize funded by Bvlgari.

Morocco debuts at the Biennale with an exploration of its age-old craft traditions

Morocco is debuting its first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale with a monumental installation titled "Asetta" by artist Amina Agueznay. The 300-square-meter site-specific work, located in the Arsenale, draws on centuries-old Moroccan craft traditions, including weaving, beadwork, and embroidery. Agueznay conducted field research across Morocco and collaborated with over 130 artisans, mostly women, some of whom she has worked with for decades. The installation explores the transmission of traditional craftsmanship and shared memory, and incorporates the concept of the threshold (âatba) from Moroccan vernacular architecture, offering visitors both an immersive experience and functional seating.

parties raouls jennifer lawrence chloe sevigny 50th anniversary

A dinner and party at Raoul's, the iconic SoHo French bistro, celebrated its 50th anniversary in partnership with Moda Operandi. The event drew a crowd of regulars and celebrities including Chloë Sevigny, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Sedaris, and Dave Gahan, who reflected on the restaurant's history as a haven for artists and its role in the neighborhood's transformation from a gritty gallery hub to a tourist destination. Karim Raoul, the founder's son, spoke about the restaurant's enduring family-run ethos.

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Santina Semadar Panetta, a progenitor of Neo-Pointillism, recently exhibited her vibrant, brushstroke-driven works at Art Miami. In an interview with Artnet News, she discussed her debut at the fair, showing two key pieces—'Souls Connection' (2022) and 'Ciel et Terre' (2023)—chosen to reflect Miami's dual nature of boldness and introspection. She also described her practice as 'emotional architecture,' evolving to engage more deeply with classical art philosophy and contemporary themes like identity and the fluidity of time.

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Nick Axel and Daniele Balleri have written a reply to this article. The 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, organized by MIT professor Carlo Ratti under the theme “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.,” features A.I.-generated summaries alongside traditional wall texts for each exhibit. These two-sentence distillations, labeled “A.I. Summary,” are designed to help visitors quickly grasp core ideas and choose their pace through the dense show. An example is Beatriz Colomina, Roberto Kolter, Patricia Urquiola, Geoffrey West, and Mark Wigley's installation *The Other Side of the Hill*, whose 200-word wall text is condensed into a succinct A.I. summary about microbial intelligence and demographic collapse.

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The Swiss Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale pays tribute to Lisbeth Sachs (1914–2002), one of Switzerland's first licensed women architects, by recreating her 1958 kunsthalle design inside the pavilion originally built by Bruno Giacometti. The exhibition, titled "Endgültige Form wird von der Architektin am Bau bestimmt," is curated by an all-woman team—Elena Chiavi, Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins, Axelle Stiefel, and Myriam Uzor—and resurrects a structure Sachs built for the 1958 Swiss Exhibition for Women's Work (SAFFA) in Zürich, of which almost no trace remains today.

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Jonathan Crockett, deputy chairman of Phillips in Asia, reflects on the auction house's 10-year journey in the region, from a small Hong Kong office to a major presence in the West Kowloon Cultural District. He recounts his career path from Christie's and Sotheby's to founding his own advisory firm, then joining Phillips to launch its Asian operations, overcoming brand confusion and building a robust client network.

Jamie Robertson’s soft heat at Houston Center for Photography, Houston

Jamie Robertson’s solo exhibition, "soft heat," at the Houston Center for Photography presents a series of infrared photographs documenting Southern wetlands, including Caddo Lake and the Great Dismal Swamp. Using archival pigment prints and a zine titled "Alligatorwatergreen," Robertson utilizes thermosensational imagery to transform dense marshlands into ethereal, snow-like landscapes. The work incorporates archival figures, such as a liberated formerly enslaved man named Osman, to highlight the historical role of swamps as sites of maroonage and Black resistance.

Shigeo Toya, artist who looked to nature with his wood sculptures, 1947–2026

Shigeo Toya, the Japanese artist renowned for his chainsaw-hewn wood sculptures, has died at age 79. Born in 1947 in a small village in Nagano Prefecture, Toya began his signature Woods series in 1984, carving rough textures into tall lumber and arranging the pieces like a forest. His series Twenty Eight Deaths featured stacked wooden blocks with cavities and burn marks. Toya represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1988 and later exhibited at the Asia Pacific Triennial (1993) and Gwangju Biennale (2000). A major survey of his work was held at the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, in 2022–23.

Under pressure, the jury of the 61st Venice Biennale will exclude Russian and Israeli pavilions from the awards

Sous pression, le jury de la 61e Biennale de Venise exclura les pavillons russe et israélien du palmarès

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and running from May 9 to November 22, 2026, has been embroiled in political controversy after organizers decided to reinstate the Russian pavilion, which had been excluded since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Under pressure from the European Commission, which threatened to suspend a €2 million grant, the jury announced it will exclude artists from the Russian and Israeli pavilions from winning prizes, citing that leaders Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu face International Criminal Court charges for crimes against humanity. The Russian pavilion will remain closed to the public but open for VIP press previews, while the Israeli pavilion stays open to the public. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has refused to attend the opening ceremony in protest.

parties nyfw fashion bethann hardison

CULTURED magazine hosted a September issue launch party at FOOD, a revived 1970s art-world restaurant now run by artist Lucien Smith and the estate of Gordon Matta-Clark. The event, co-hosted by legendary model and activist Bethann Hardison and CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson, drew a crowd of fashion and art insiders including designers, stylists, artists, and editors. Guests enjoyed family-style dishes, Lagavulin cocktails, and left with copies of the magazine's latest covers featuring Julia Fox, Anthony Edwards, Vicky Krieps, Sophie Calle, and Lucien Smith.

art storm ascher hamptons black arts council

Storm Ascher, an artist and curator who has spent years in the Hamptons, founded the Hamptons Black Arts Council in 2020 to support public programming for Black artists and arts organizations. This summer, the council is marking milestones including the "Mami Wata" benefit exhibition at the Eastville Community Historical Society, which explores themes of water, healing, and Black women's history, and the establishment of a permanent contemporary art collection at Eastville with works by artists like Sanford Biggers and Derrick Adams.

Aileen Murphy at Deborah Schamoni

Aileen Murphy at Deborah Schamoni

Aileen Murphy has opened a solo exhibition titled "We must go under the wallpaper" at the Deborah Schamoni gallery in Munich. The show, running from January 9 through March 21, 2026, features new works by the artist, documented extensively with twenty installation photographs.

Valentina Bartolini at Callirrhoë

Valentina Bartolini at Callirrhoë

Valentina Bartolini has opened a solo exhibition, "Belly of the Fish," at the Callirrhoë gallery in Athens. The show, which runs from January 22 through March 21, 2026, presents a new body of work from the artist, documented extensively with 24 images on the platform.

Finnish gallery Makasiini Contemporary will open a new gallery space in Helsinki.

Finnish gallery Makasiini Contemporary has announced it will open a new location in Helsinki this fall, after eight years in Turku. The 8,000-square-foot space, located in Helsinki's historic Train Factory in Pasila, will debut on September 19 with three simultaneous exhibitions: solo shows by Spanish painter Jorge Galindo and Canadian painter Cindy Phenix, plus a group exhibition featuring artists from the gallery's roster. Founded in 2016 by Frej Forsblom, the gallery also maintains its flagship in Turku's former governor's stables, built in 1832.

Abi Castillo’s Ceramic Beings Contrast Delicacy With the Natural World

Galician artist Abi Castillo has unveiled a new series of ceramic self-portraits that explore the intersection of femininity, mysticism, and the natural world. Her latest sculptures feature signature wide-eyed figures adorned with organic elements like coral, insects, and flora, which act as a form of delicate armor for the emotive personas. This new body of work was produced in Castillo’s recently acquired larger studio space, which has allowed for expanded creative freedom and scale.