New York’s Eclectic Francis Irv Gallery Shutters after Three Years

Francis Irv, a young New York gallery known for showcasing an eclectic mix of established and emerging artists from the US and Europe, has closed after just over three years in business. Founded by Shane Rossi and Sam Marion Wilken, who met as studio assistants, the gallery launched in 2022 under the name Kinder in a Chinatown mall beneath the Manhattan Bridge before relocating to a TriBeCa space. Its inaugural exhibition was a group show in Los Angeles co-curated by artist and writer Aria Dean, featuring artists such as Hannah Black, Jordan Wolfson, and Benjamin Echeverria. The gallery never formally announced a roster but showed artists including Sophie Gogl, Karla Kaplun, Megan Marrin, Win McCarthy, Ahgharad Williams, and German sculptor Reinhard Mucha. In December, it helped mount an experimental play by Georgica Pettus. The founders posted a farewell on their website, reflecting on their run.

Best 16 Seattle art exhibits to see this fall

This fall, Seattle's visual arts scene is exceptionally strong, with a curated guide highlighting 16 must-see exhibitions across the city. Notable shows include Matthew Deane Parker's 'Hard Body' at Gallery 4Culture, featuring foam boulders sculpted by an artist with multiple sclerosis; Rob Rhee's 'Crossings' at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, using dried gourds; and Stefan Gonzales's 'Unclassified Materials' and 'Quarry,' which reimagine land art through a decolonial lens. Other highlights include Rodney McMillian's 'Neighbors' at the Henry Art Gallery, 'Woven in Wool' at the Burke Museum showcasing Coast Salish weaving, and a trio of Indigenous-focused shows at the Frye Art Museum featuring Camille Trautman, Priscilla Dobler Dzul, and a survey of the late Beau Dick.

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month at the DAM

The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15–October 15) by showcasing several exhibitions featuring works by artists from Latin America, Spain, and the Caribbean. Key exhibitions include "A Century of Art in Latin America," which presents a comprehensive survey of Latin American art over the past 100 years, featuring masters like Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and José Clemente Orozco; "Confluence of Nature: Nancy Hemenway Barton," displaying textile sculptures and works on paper by the late multidisciplinary artist; "Ink & Thread: Codices and the Art of Storytelling," highlighting contemporary codices by Enrique Chagoya and the Tillett Tapestry; and "Painting in the Andes, 1680–1780," exploring colonial-era art from Andean centers. All exhibitions are included with general admission, which is free for visitors 18 and under.

Sotheby’s Auction Raises Funds for Yale MFA Scholarships

The Yale School of Art is partnering with Sotheby’s to host an auction benefiting scholarships for its Master of Fine Arts program. The 13 lots, including works by Howardena Pindell, Josef Albers, Richard Prince, Mickalene Thomas, Do Ho Suh, and Barkley L. Hendricks, will be sold as part of Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Auction in New York on May 15. Estimates range from $5,000 to $700,000. Dean Kymberly Pinder, who has raised $13 million toward debt-free graduation since 2021, stated the auction supports a larger initiative to ensure MFA students graduate without debt.

Printed Matter’s LA Art Book Fair Returns May 7–10

Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair (LAABF) returns to ArtCenter South Campus in Pasadena, California, from May 7 to 10, 2026. The fair will feature 250 exhibitors, including international artists, publishers, and booksellers, alongside programs such as talks and panels in The Classroom, music and performances on The Stage, and special Project Spaces presentations by groups like Archivos Desviados, Bread & Puppet Press, and Getty. An Opening Night celebration on May 7, co-organized with Orange Radio & Homebody, will include live music by sonrisita and Mia Carucci, a limited edition ticket by Amia Yokoyama for the first 500 guests, and a new collaborative artist edition by Deanna Templeton and Ed Templeton.

Museum Exhibitions Opening This Summer in Central Texas

Museums across Central Texas are opening a slate of summer exhibitions, including the Blanton Museum of Art's "Art in Every Corner: The Works Progress Administration (1935-1943)," featuring prints and paintings by Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and Dorothea Lange. The San Antonio Museum of Art will present "Microhistories of the Andes" with Andean artifacts, while the McNay Art Museum hosts "Garden Party: Nature on Paper" with works by René Magritte and Winslow Homer. Women & Their Work in Austin will showcase "MARK," a group drawing exhibition by 25 Texas women artists.

The waves that disappeared—Art duo Cooking Sections track lost tides in new installation

Art duo Cooking Sections, comprising Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe, have opened a new immersive installation titled "Waves Lost at Sea" at Centro Botín in Santander, Spain. The exhibition explores the disappearance of waves due to human activities such as sea dredging, port construction, and coastal development. Working with biologists and engineers from the University of Cantabria's GeoOcean project, the duo researched eleven lost waves globally. The installation features a white fabric structure, 11 slinky-like forms, and a soundscape composed by musician Duval Timothy, with 30-minute looped pieces for each lost wave. The show runs until March 1 and is part of Centro Botín's 30-year program that has previously supported artists like Tacita Dean and Mona Hatoum.

Ronny Quevedo Connects Sites of Cosmovisions at Krannert Art Museum

Ronny Quevedo's first institutional solo exhibition in the Midwest, "a l l s t a r s," has opened at the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign-Urbana. The show features works from the Ecuadorian-born, New York-based artist's recent past alongside a new site-driven installation, "a mother's hand" (2025), which incorporates objects from the museum's reinstalled Andean art collection. Using materials like wax, drywall, muslin, carbon paper, and gold-silver leaves, Quevedo creates abstract fields that evoke cartographies, constellations, dressmaking diagrams, and sports playbooks, weaving together autobiographical references to his seamstress mother and soccer-playing father with broader themes of cultural inheritance, duality, and cosmovisions.

Krannert Art Museum reopening highlights gallery reinstallations, artist Ronny Quevedo exhibition

Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, Illinois, is reopening on August 28 with a major reinstallation of its Andean gallery, featuring the exhibition "Fragmented Histories: Andean Art Before 1600." The gallery, co-curated by Kasia Szremski and Allyson Purpura, moves away from a linear display to explore the mobility of objects, their histories of looting, and their ongoing cultural significance. The reopening also includes a solo exhibition by contemporary artist Ronny Quevedo, titled "Ronny Quevedo: a l l s t a r s," and reinstallations of European and American art in the Bow and Trees galleries.

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The Art Angle podcast hosted eight cultural critics, theorists, and artists throughout 2025 to reflect on key tensions and transformations in the art world. The roundup features voices including Nadia Asparouhova on the value of intimate 'antimemetic' art spaces, Andrea Fraser on the fragmentation of the art field, Alison E. Gingeras on the necessity of all-women exhibitions as resistance, Dean Kissick on the problems of social justice art, and Sean Monahan on social surveillance in the art world. Each thinker offers a snapshot of the debates, anxieties, and aspirations shaping contemporary cultural discourse.

What We Loved (And Didn’t) in “Greater New York”

The article presents a critical review of the 2026 "Greater New York" exhibition at MoMA PS1, a massive survey featuring over 150 works by more than 50 artists. The Hyperallergic editorial team highlights specific artists and works they loved, disliked, or found puzzling, offering a curated list of around 20 standout pieces. The review includes detailed commentary on individual works by artists like Dean Millien, the collective Red Canary Song, and Kameron Neal, capturing the diverse and often contentious reactions the show provokes.

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A graffiti art installation titled "HEAR US" has been unveiled at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England, created by poet Alex Vellis and curator Jacqueline Creswell. The works, which appear directly on the cathedral's walls, pose spiritual and social questions such as "What is the architecture of heaven?" and "Why are you indifferent to suffering?" The project emerged from community workshops asking "What would you ask God?" and involves marginalized communities including the Punjabi, black and brown diaspora, neurodivergent individuals, and the LGBTQIA+ population. The installation is approved by the cathedral and runs through January 18, though it has already sparked widespread online backlash.

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Art Basel launched its inaugural Art Basel Awards ceremony at the New World Center in Miami Beach during Art Basel Miami Beach week. The awards, first introduced in New York in May, recognized 36 medalists across categories including Icon, Established, Emerging, Patron, Institution, Curator, and Media & Storytelling. Top winners included Cecilia Vicuña (Icon), Nairy Baghramian and Ibrahim Mahama (Established), Mohammad Alfaraj and Saodat Ismailova (Emerging), and Meriem Bennani (BOSS Award). The event was hosted by musician and collector Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean, with performances by cellist Kelsey Lu and recorded narration by actor Emma D'Arcy. Each artist received $50,000, and established artists will debut commissions at Art Basel in Switzerland next year.

What makes love political, Wynnie Mynerva?

Was macht Liebe politisch, Wynnie Mynerva?

Peruvian artist Wynnie Mynerva discusses her exhibition "Volveré y seré millones" at the Société gallery in Berlin, timed to coincide with Gallery Weekend. The artist explores Andean cosmologies, specifically the concept of 'Ayni' or collective reciprocity, as a counter-narrative to Western, capitalist structures of romantic love and individualism. Her work draws from her personal experience as a migrant in Europe and her observations of Berlin’s queer scene, questioning how care and survival function within modern political frameworks.

Moving On Up: 24 Museum Curators and Art Leaders Who Took on New Appointments in First Half of 2025

Culture Type has published its annual list of new appointments among museum curators and arts leaders for the first half of 2025, highlighting two dozen hires and promotions at major institutions. Notable appointments include Deana Haggag as program director for arts and culture at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ann Collins Smith as chief curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art (the first Black American in a full-time curatorial role there), and Vincent van Velsen as head of exhibitions at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. The list also features curators such as Alisa Chiles at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Brittany Webb at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

See Inside The Met's New $70M Wing Ahead Of Grand Opening

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing will reopen to the public on May 31 after a $70 million renovation. The wing houses the museum's collections of art from Africa, the Ancient Americas, and Oceania, and features a new sloped glass wall, a dedicated gallery for light-sensitive Andean textiles, and over 1,800 works spanning five continents. The reopening day celebration includes live music, art-making activities, and a conversation between Met director Max Hollein and architect Kulapat Yantrasast.

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing reopened in May 2025 after a multiyear renovation, presenting reimagined galleries for the arts of Africa, the ancient Americas, and Oceania. The 40,000-square-foot space, designed by Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY Architecture, now houses the three collections as independent entities, featuring digital features, commissioned films, new wall text, and objects on view for the first time—including major acquisitions of historic and contemporary works, a gallery for light-sensitive ancient Andean textiles, and contemporary commissions by Indigenous Pacific artists.

Review: “Maya Blue” at the San Antonio Museum of Art

The San Antonio Museum of Art is presenting "Maya Blue: Ancient Color, New Visions," an exhibition curated by Kristopher Driggers that explores the ancient Maya pigment known as Maya blue. The show features eight earthenware artworks and one stucco piece dating from 550 to 1,500 years ago, alongside five modernist and contemporary works that highlight the enduring influence of Indigenous knowledge. Objects on view include figurines, a censer, and jade pieces, many bearing traces of the distinctive blue pigment, which was difficult to produce and held sacred significance in Maya culture.

New MCASD exhibit of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys' personal collection showcases Black art

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) has launched "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys," a major traveling exhibition showcasing the couple's extensive collection of Black diasporic art. The show features monumental works from 37 artists, including a 164-foot painting by Meleko Mokgosi and an 8,000-pound sculpture by Arthur Jafa that required structural reinforcement of the museum floor. To create a more inclusive atmosphere, the exhibition replaces traditional white gallery walls with bold colors and includes a curated musical playlist by Swizz Beatz.

The Giants Have Arrived: Inside Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz’s MCASD Exhibition

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz have opened a major exhibition of their personal art collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD). Titled "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys," the show features over 100 works by prominent Black artists, including Kehinde Wiley, Amy Sherald, Barkley L. Hendricks, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Tomás Saraceno and Indigenous communities build art complex in Argentine salt flats

Artist Tomás Saraceno has begun construction on "El Santuario del Agua" (The Water Sanctuary), a monumental art complex in the Salinas Grandes salt flats of northern Argentina. Developed in collaboration with 11 Indigenous communities and the Red Atacama coalition, the project consists of five semicircular salt structures inspired by Andean cosmology. Scheduled to open in October, the site will function as a community-owned space where visitors can engage with the landscape through elevated viewing platforms while supporting a sustainable tourism model.

Top 10 art events in the Twin Cities in 2025

The article lists the top 10 art events in the Twin Cities in 2025, highlighting major exhibitions such as "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys" at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Dyani White Hawk's "Love Language" at the Walker Art Center, and a retrospective of Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjörk at the American Swedish Institute. Other notable shows include "Mary Sully: Native Modern" at Mia, Jonathan Thunder's "The Artist as Storyteller" at the U's Quarter Gallery, and "Queering Indigeneity" at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, along with the annual crop art display at the Minnesota State Fair.

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz celebrate Black contemporary art in 'Giants' exhibition

The article reports on the exhibition 'Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys,' which recently opened at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond after previous stops in Brooklyn, Atlanta, and Minneapolis. The show features around 130 works from the couple's private collection of over 1,000 pieces, celebrating Black contemporary artists from 20th-century icons like Gordon Parks to emerging talents. In an interview, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz discuss how their shared passion for art led them to build the Dean Collection, one of the most significant private collections of contemporary art in the world.

Comment | I went to see Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst sculptures in an ancient UK cave system—and it was eerily brilliant

The article describes a visit to "Back to the Cave: The Full Spectrum," an exhibition of around 70 sculptures by contemporary artists including Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Sarah Lucas, and Maggi Hambling, held in the ancient Clearwell Caves in the Forest of Dean, England. The show was organized by Rungwe Kingdon and Claude Koenig of Pangolin Editions, a sculpture foundry that fabricated many of the works, and required significant ingenuity to install large, heavy pieces in the deep, dark, damp cave system.

Krannert Art Museum’s opening turned a gallery into gathering

Krannert Art Museum in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, reopened after an 18-month closure for repairs and upgrades with a celebratory evening event. The crowd included students, retirees, new faculty, and local dignitaries such as Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen and Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams. Speeches emphasized the museum's role as a community anchor, and performances by Peruvian Quechua hip-hop artist Liberato Kani and dancer Yana Paqcha energized the space. Attendees explored newly reinstalled collections, including works by Thomas Gainsborough and Nicola Victor Ziroli, as well as exhibitions like "Fragmented Histories: Andean Art Before 1600" and "Ronny Quevedo: a l l s t a r s."

Illustrative Artist: Anthony Bartley’s Journey From Science into the Gallery

Anthony Bartley, a 27-year-old artist from Chicago's South Side, is presenting twenty acrylic paintings from 2023 to the present in his solo exhibition “Words I’ve Never Said: A Community Healing and Art Exhibition” in Hyde Park. The show explores themes of love, grief, and mental health, doubling as a creative space for community engagement. Bartley’s journey began with childhood interests in anime, Pokémon cards, and video games like Kingdom Hearts and Halo Reach, later influenced by his mother Jeanette, a dean at Triton College, who exposed him to science. He initially majored in molecular biology at Washington University in St. Louis before turning to art as a form of journaling, developing a style he calls “illustrative painting” that blends pop art and street art elements.

THE IMMA SHOWCASES THE DEEP REFLECTION OF CECILIA VICUNA

The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) is presenting "Reverse Migration, a Poetic Journey," the first solo exhibition in Ireland by Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña. The show features a diverse range of works including her signature 'precarios' and 'quipus'—ancient Andean-inspired textile structures—alongside early paintings and sound installations. Central to the exhibition is Vicuña’s personal connection to Ireland, explored through a 2006 pilgrimage to archaeological sites and new collaborations with local artisans using Irish wool.

Young artists, Mia exhibit, shine uncomfortable light on American racism

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) opened its fourth annual Teen Perspectives exhibition on May 10, titled “Minneapolis as Monument,” featuring works by high school students addressing health and racial equity. The show, running through July 20, includes paintings, photos, sculptures, and video installations inspired by the murder of George Floyd five years ago and the concurrent “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” exhibition. Speakers included Virajita Singh, Mia’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, and Bukata Hayes of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, the program’s sponsor. Student artists like Lydia Nobrega and Joseph Willie created pieces that explore personal stories, community, and systemic racism.

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Damascus University in Syria has begun strictly enforcing a 1974 ban on nude models in its fine arts departments—sculpture, painting, engraving, and printmaking—threatening students with a failing grade if they use nude figures. Fine arts dean Fouad Dahdouh issued the directive, citing ethical and societal values, despite being a practicing artist who himself has created artworks depicting nude figures. Students have pushed back, calling the policy a violation of academic freedom and organizing a peaceful protest.

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The Ford Foundation has appointed Heather Gerken, dean of Yale Law School, as its next president. She will succeed Darren Walker and become the 11th president of the foundation, as well as the second woman to lead the organization in its nearly 90-year history. Gerken will officially assume the role on November 1, following a national search launched after Walker announced his departure after 12 years.