Performance artist Crackhead Barney, known for her viral street interventions and ambush interviews at protests and public events, is transitioning her work to the formal stage. Her new play, GOD IS RAPING ME, is having sold-out dates at the Pageant performance space in Brooklyn, marking a significant shift from her guerrilla-style, social media-driven practice to theatrical production.
German artist Heinz Mack, co-founder of the influential ZERO movement, is being celebrated with a solo exhibition at Beck and Eggeling gallery in Düsseldorf to mark his 95th birthday. The show features recent and rarely exhibited works, including ceramics, collages, and pastel drawings, demonstrating his continued exploration of light, color, and materiality.
British artist Lincoln Townley has launched a new series titled "Success," which explores the psychology of ambition and achievement through gestural, abstract portraits. The collection, available through his partnership with the Prague-based Eclipse Art Group, expands his market into Eastern Europe, following successful sell-out exhibitions at the London Art Fair 2025 and a planned presentation at the Palazzo Bembo during the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Casa Batlló, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Barcelona designed by Antoni Gaudí, has opened a new exhibition space called Casa Batlló Contemporary dedicated to contemporary art. The program launched with a show by United Visual Artists (UVA), a London-based collective founded by Matt Clark, running from January 31 to May 17. The space, located on the second floor and restored by architecture studio Mesura, will host two annual exhibitions. This initiative expands on Casa Batlló’s existing "Mapping" series, which commissions artists to project audiovisual works onto Gaudí’s façade.
Mernet Larsen, whose painting *Getting Measured* (1999) appears on the cover of the Winter 2025 issue of *Art in America*, discusses the work's origin and evolution in an interview from her home in Tampa, Florida. She explains how the painting marked a turning point from abstraction to a representational style inspired by 12th-century Japanese narrative painting and the parallel perspective technique used by architects, while also incorporating elements from her own abstract works and a self-portrait titled *Indecisive Woman*.
Scientists from the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project (LDVP) have extracted DNA from a chalk sketch titled *Holy Child*, which may be by Leonardo da Vinci. In a preprint paper posted Tuesday, researchers suggest genetic links between the artwork and a letter from one of Leonardo's cousins, indicating a shared Tuscan ancestry. However, the findings are preliminary and not yet peer-reviewed, with experts cautioning that proving a direct connection to Leonardo himself is extremely difficult due to the lack of confirmed DNA from the artist and the disputed attribution of the drawing.
Croatian artist Edita Schubert (1947–2001), a contemporary of Marina Abramović, is the subject of a major retrospective at Muzeum Susch in Switzerland. Titled "Edita Schubert: Profusion," the exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of her work outside Croatia, spanning twelve galleries and covering her evolution from early anatomical realism to abstraction, collage, sculpture, and performance. Curated by historian David Crowley, the show draws its name from a description by critic Ješa Denegri, who called Schubert a pioneer of Yugoslav art and her practice a "profusion." The exhibition highlights Schubert's conceptual rigor and her engagement with the human body, influenced by her work as a draftswoman at the University of Zagreb's Institute of Anatomy.
Malba, the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires, has acquired the Daros Latinamerica Collection, a private trove of 1,233 works by 117 artists spanning the 1950s to 2010s. The deal, orchestrated by founder Eduardo F. Costantini, nearly doubles the museum's holdings to roughly 3,000 works and is part of a broader expansion timed to Malba's 25th anniversary in 2026, including a building extension beneath Plaza Perú that will double its footprint to 90,000 square feet.
Santina Semadar Panetta, a Canadian artist, is pioneering Neo-Pointillism, a contemporary evolution of the 19th-century pointillist style. She creates vibrant, intricate paintings that blend portraiture and landscape, using bold color palettes and meticulous technique. Panetta is the only Canadian artist selected for the Biennale di Palermo, Biennale di Mantova, and the Biennale of the Nations in Venice, and her work was recently featured at the LA Art Show. In an interview, she discusses her shift from journalism to art, inspired by the events of September 11, 2001, and her academic training at Académie Art et Beaux, which led her to develop a philosophical and rhetorical approach to Neo-Pointillism.
Phillips held its modern and contemporary evening sale in New York on Wednesday, following Christie’s and Sotheby’s auctions that had already generated nearly $1.4 billion. The 33-lot sale achieved $67.3 million, a 24% increase from the equivalent sale last year, with a 94% sell-through rate. Headlining lots included an untitled Joan Mitchell painting ($14.3 million), a Francis Bacon diptych ($16 million), and a juvenile triceratops skeleton that sold for $5.3 million, exceeding its high estimate. Only two lots failed to sell, and notable results included works by Ruth Asawa, Firelei Báez, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Max Ernst.
Chinese artist Gao Zhen, arrested in 2024 on charges of slandering China's heroes and martyrs, remains in detention with deteriorating health, according to Human Rights Watch. The nonprofit reports that Gao, known for politically charged works challenging Communist orthodoxies, has fainted and may have arteriosclerosis, a stroke precursor. He is held in a crowded cell, denied medical bail, and awaits a trial date. Gao, a US permanent resident, has written to dissident artist Ai Weiwei, drawing parallels to Ai's 2011 detention and lamenting the lack of international outcry.
The New Yorker has commissioned six contemporary photographers—Marilyn Minter, Awol Erizku, Ryan McGinley, Collier Schorr, Camila Falquez, and Alex Prager—to reimagine historical illustrated covers for the magazine’s centennial. Each photographer created a celebrity portrait inspired by a past cover, such as Erizku’s photo of Spike Lee as Eustace Tilley and Minter’s recreation of a 1925 cover featuring actress Sadie Sink. The project marks only the third time in the magazine’s history that photography has been used for its cover.
Nayland Blake, a conceptual artist known for blending cerebral ideas with visceral, queer sensibilities, is the subject of a major solo exhibition at Mathew Marks Gallery in New York, running through October 2025. Concurrently, a new book titled *My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio: Writings and Interviews 1983–2024* is set for release next month, compiling decades of the artist's writings and interviews. The article explores Blake's unique approach to art, which combines psychoanalytic theory, queer aesthetics, and a critical stance toward institutional power, as seen in their analysis of figures like Judge Daniel Paul Schreber and artist Jack Smith.
The Alexandria Biennale will return in September 2026 after a 12-year hiatus, with its 27th edition curated by Egyptian artist Moataz Nasr under the title “This Too Shall Pass.” The exhibition will feature 55 artists from across the Mediterranean, with a main program complemented by smaller shows in Alexandria museums focusing on emerging Egyptian artists. Venues include the Roman amphitheater, the Alexandria Library, and the Qaitbay Citadel. The biennale was originally established in 1955 under Gamal Abdel Nasser, suspended in 2011 amid the Egyptian revolution, briefly reopened in 2014, and then shuttered again due to financial and political instability.
Georges Seurat's Post-Impressionist masterpiece, *A Sunday on La Grande Jatte* (1884–86), is analyzed in depth for its revolutionary technique and historical context. The painting depicts weekend day-trippers in a Parisian park, employing pointillism—which Seurat called divisionism or *peinture optique*—to fix modern life in a chromatic eternity. Influenced by his academic training under Henri Lehmann (a student of Ingres) and Michel Eugène Chevreul's color theory, Seurat used tiny dots of color that blend in the viewer's eye, merging science with art. The work was preceded by *Bathers at Asnières* (1884), which shares the same landscape and thematic concerns, together portraying both sides of the Seine.
American artist Alan Sonfist, a pioneer of the Land Art movement known for his 1978 work "Time Landscape" in New York City, has opened a solo exhibition titled "Seeds of Time" at Parco Arte Vivente (PAV) in Turin, Italy. Curated by Marco Scotini, the show features a new installation, "Growth Between the Cracks" (2025), for which Sonfist collaborated with local residents to collect soil samples from overlooked urban spaces across Turin. The exhibition revisits Sonfist's early ecological works and includes a conversation between the artist and curator about the evolution of environmental art.
The Eames House, designed by Charles and Ray Eames in the late 1940s in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades, has reopened after a six-month closure due to smoke damage from the January 2025 wildfires. The property was saved from destruction partly because hundreds of surrounding trees were removed in 2024. The restoration has expanded visitor access, opening the studio for the first time, which will host exhibitions on the house's evolution and contemporary design influences. The first exhibition may focus on community rebuilding after the fires.
Simon de Pury pays homage to Hans Neuendorf, the visionary founder of Artnet, following the announcement of Artnet's sale at the end of May. De Pury recounts Neuendorf's background as a successful art dealer who championed underappreciated artists like Francis Picabia, and describes how Neuendorf revolutionized the art world by creating the world's most comprehensive auction results database in 1989 (initially called Centrox). The article contrasts the pre-digital era of manually filing auction results with the instant access Artnet now provides, and notes that Neuendorf later expanded the platform with Artnet News and Artnet online auctions.
Valie Export, the pioneering Austrian feminist artist known for her provocative and confrontational performances from the 1960s onward, is the subject of a reflective essay by writer and academic Hettie Judah. The article revisits Export's radical works such as *Hyperbulia* (1973), where she crawled naked through electrified wires; *From the Portfolio of Doggedness* (1968), in which she led a man on a dog lead through Vienna; and *Action Pants: Genital Panic* (1969), where she walked through a cinema with exposed genitals. Judah draws on her own interviews with Export, who died in 2023, and discusses the artist's manifesto demanding that women use art to reshape consciousness and achieve liberation.
Iranian-Canadian visual journalist and artist Parisa Azadi describes her process of creating protest photographs during the 2022 Iranian revolution from exile in Dubai. Unable to return to Iran, she used open-source protest footage from social media, isolating frames and printing them with a Fujifilm instax camera to transform ephemeral digital images into physical objects. In January 2026, after state massacres and executions, she began burning these prints as an act of mourning, scarring their surfaces to echo the violence they depict.
A major exhibition opening at The Arc Gallery in Winchester places the Scottish Colourists—SJ Peploe, JD Fergusson, GL Hunter, and FCB Cadell—in dialogue with their European and UK contemporaries for the first time. Running until September, the show features 70 artworks including André Derain's *The Pool of London* (1906) on loan from the Tate, alongside works by Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Walter Sickert, Augustus John, and Roderic O'Connor. The exhibition is presented by Hampshire Cultural Trust in partnership with the Fleming Collection and explores the international "colour revolution" from 1905 to 1914, examining influences of Cubism and Vorticism.
Swiss businessman and former diplomat Uli Sigg has spent over three decades assembling one of the largest private collections of contemporary Chinese art, comprising thousands of works. Artist Ai Weiwei has referred to Sigg as “my maker,” highlighting the collector’s pivotal role in promoting Chinese contemporary art on the global stage.
The contemporary art fair Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) has announced a major leadership change, transitioning from a single director to a seven-member leadership committee. The new committee, effective April 1, includes Doi Miho, Hattori Yoko, Mine Keiko, Ohishi Masako, Suzuki Hidenori, Takamura Miwa, and Tezen Wakako. Current director Yamashita Yukako will step down and assume the role of chair of ACK Ambassadors. The fair's sixth edition is scheduled for November 7–9 at the Kyoto International Conference Center.
The Frist Art Museum is presenting a new exhibition that spans 100 years of contemporary Indigenous art, featuring works from both established elders and emerging makers. The show aims to highlight the continuity and evolution of Indigenous artistic practices across generations.
Il museo MAR di Ravenna apre una galleria permanente dedicata al fotografo di moda Paolo Roversi
The MAR museum in Ravenna, Italy, is opening a permanent gallery dedicated to fashion photographer Paolo Roversi, set to launch on May 20. The space, curated by Chiara Bardelli Nonino, will showcase Roversi's poetic and visual universe, featuring his iconic portraits of models like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Rihanna, along with his fashion work and still lifes. The gallery is designed by scenographer Ania Martchenko with lighting by Silvestrin & Associati, and includes areas such as the Studio, the Archive, and the Room of the Muses.
Milan’s art scene is currently anchored by 'New Humans' at Pirelli HangarBicocca, a major solo exhibition by Cao Fei that explores the intersection of technology, labor, and human identity. The show features immersive installations and films that document global farming practices and the surreal evolution of social structures in the digital age, alongside other key city-wide exhibitions including Anselm Kiefer’s portraits of female alchemists.
An exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac in Paris is showcasing the personal art collection of the late Martinican philosopher and poet Édouard Glissant. The show, titled 'Édouard Glissant: Un monde en relation,' features over 150 works he and his wife, Sylvie Glissant, acquired, including pieces by artists like Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta, and Hervé Télémaque, offering a tangible map of his intellectual and aesthetic affinities.
Art galleries and institutions across West Texas and the Panhandle have announced their summer exhibition schedules. Highlights include the El Paso Museum of Art's "From the Collection: Portraiture, 1903-2021," featuring works by César Martínez, Edward Curtis, and Andy Warhol; Ballroom Marfa's solo show "Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers" with colossal stoneware sculptures; and The Grace Museum in Abilene's "Memory Painters: The Art of Memories," showcasing Texas intuitive painters. Other venues include the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in Lubbock, and the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, with exhibitions spanning portraiture, student art, memory painting, and immersive installations.
The Art Institute of Chicago is offering members exclusive preview access to "Willem de Kooning Drawing" from June 11–13, 2025, before it opens to the public. This is the first exhibition to comprehensively examine de Kooning's drawing practice, featuring works from across his career—from his earliest drawings to late calligraphic paintings—and marks the museum's first solo presentation of the artist since 1969.
The National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) in Dublin opens a major monographic exhibition titled 'Picasso: From the Studio' on Thursday, October 9, 2025. Curated in partnership with the Musée Picasso Paris, the exhibition presents a new perspective on Pablo Picasso's life and work, featuring paintings, paper sculptures, ceramics, and photographic works. It is the first major Picasso exhibition in Ireland in 20 years and the only one to offer an overview of his entire career, from the late 19th century to the 1970s. The show includes notable works such as 'Bust of a Woman with a Blue Hat', 'Portrait of Marie-Therese', and 'The Studio at La Californie', and runs until February 22, 2026.