The gallery Anthony Meier in San Francisco is hosting "Barbara Stauffacher Solomon: Garden = Grid = City," the first exhibition of the late artist’s work since her estate began being co-represented by the gallery and von Bartha. The show highlights Solomon’s diverse eight-decade career, moving beyond her famous "supergraphics" to showcase rarely seen paintings and drawings from the 1980s that explore the intersection of city grids and landscape architecture.
The New York art scene is witnessing a shift in the Tribeca gallery landscape as 1969 Gallery, a fixture known for championing emerging painters, has shuttered its physical space at 39 White Street. Founder Quang Bao confirmed the closure following the building owner's decision to sell the property, noting that he is currently operating from Barcelona with plans to pivot toward collaborations and residencies rather than the traditional gallery model. Meanwhile, the itinerant Ward Gallery continues to gain traction by hosting pop-up symposia at institutions like the International Center for Photography, signaling a broader trend toward real-estate-free dealership.
The American Federation of the Arts (AFA) has launched a major touring exhibition titled "Abstract Expressionists: The Women," featuring nearly 50 works from the collection of Christian Levett. Currently on view at the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Virginia, the show highlights 32 artists who were pivotal to the movement but often overshadowed by their male peers. The exhibition includes masterpieces by celebrated figures like Helen Frankenthaler and Lee Krasner alongside rediscovered works by lesser-known painters such as Emiko Nakano and Yvonne Thomas.
Praise Shadows Art Gallery, a respected contemporary art gallery, is relocating from Brookline to a 2,000-square-foot downtown Boston storefront in the Leather District. The move was facilitated by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the city's Space for Creative Enterprise Downtown initiative, which helped founder Yng-Ru Chen secure a 10-year lease. The gallery opens on March 13 with a group show titled "Summoning" and has a slate of solo shows planned for Boston-based artists in 2026.
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.
The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University has opened a survey exhibition titled 'Photorealism in Focus.' The show brings together works by more than 30 artists, including early pioneers like Robert Cottingham and Ralph Ladell Goings, as well as artists such as Audrey Flack and Joyce Stillman-Myers, to trace the movement's history from the late 1960s to its contemporary expansions across painting and sculpture.
Artnet News has compiled a list of the spookiest, bloodiest, and most gruesome works in art history to celebrate Halloween. The selection includes Francisco de Goya's "Saturn Devouring His Son" (ca. 1820–23), Hermann Nitsch's blood-soaked "Schuttbild" (2013), Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's woodblock print of a samurai drinking from a severed head, and Théodore Géricault's macabre still lifes of body parts. Other entries feature Goya's "The Witches' Flight," Katsushika Hokusai's ghost story print "The Lantern Ghost, Oiwa-San," John Henry Fuseli's "The Nightmare," Vincent van Gogh's "Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette," and Utagawa Kuniyoshi's "Takiyasha The Witch and the Skeleton Spectre."
San Francisco Art Week is underway, anchored by the 12th edition of FOG Design and Art (January 21–25) on a historic former Army base. The event arrives amid flux for Northern California's art scene, with several prominent galleries closing and two major art schools—the San Francisco Art Institute and the California College of the Arts—recently shuttering. However, new free-admission fairs Atrium and Skylight Above (both January 22–25) signal fresh energy. The article highlights must-see museum shows across the city, including "Lee ShinJa: Drawing with Thread" at BAMPFA, "Rose B. Simpson: Lexicon" at the de Young Museum, "Rising Tides" at the Floating Art Museum, and "Earthseed Dome: Lily Kwong" at the Institute of Contemporary Art, San Francisco.
Mnuchin Gallery, a blue-chip art gallery on Manhattan's Upper East Side, will close at the end of February after 34 years, following the death of its founder Robert Mnuchin in December at age 91. The gallery, known for museum-quality exhibitions of Modern and postwar art, concluded its final show—a survey of Julian Schnabel's plate paintings—on Saturday. Partner Michael McGinnis said the decision to close was made to end on a high note, honoring Mnuchin's passion and vision.
Ai Weiwei has recreated Claude Monet's monumental triptych "Water Lilies" (1914–26) using 650,000 Lego bricks in 22 colors, spanning nearly 50 feet. The work, titled "Water Lilies #1" (2022), is now on display at the Design Museum in London ahead of a major survey exhibition opening April 7. Ai added a personal touch by inserting a "dark portal" referencing the underground dugout he shared with his father during his family's exile to Xinjiang in the 1960s. The show also includes "Untitled (Lego Incident)", a work made from Lego bricks sent by fans after Ai's Instagram post about Lego temporarily restricting his bulk orders for political artworks.
Lower Manhattan is getting a new nonprofit art space called Times (styled in lowercase), founded by Summer Guthery and Francesca Sonara. Located on the fourth floor of 151 Lafayette Street above the Museum of Chinese in America, the 3,000-square-foot venue will operate for only three years. Its inaugural exhibition, featuring Danish artist Nina Beier, opens February 21 with a display of melting Cornetto ice cream cones. The space will officially open February 12 with a performance by Latvian choreographer Jana Jacuka. Guthery, previously founding artistic director of Canal Projects, and Sonara, former director of communications at Minnesota Street Project, met as graduate students at Bard College's Center for Curatorial Studies.
Nicolas Party's exhibition "Dead Fish" at Karma gallery in Chelsea, New York, features approximately 40 postcard-sized oil-on-copper works and a mural of three dead fish, a departure from his usual large-scale pastel paintings. Only 10 of the works were for sale, priced between $165,000 and $205,000, and all sold quickly. The show includes replicas of his earlier compositions, described as a "retrospective in miniature," with many pieces drawn from his archive and not available for purchase.
The Winter Show returns to New York's Park Avenue Armory from January 23 to February 1, 2026, blending blue-chip modernism with decorative arts, design, jewelry, and antiques. The fair features a special presentation titled 'Study of a Young Collector,' curated by Patrick Monahan in collaboration with executive director Helen Allen, which imagines the private study of a next-generation collector using works from 11 international dealers exhibiting for the first time. Notable highlights include Jonathan Boos's presentation of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's early work 'Wrapped Toy Horse' (1963), priced at $450,000, and a rare copper and gilt mask by Harlem Renaissance artist Sargent Claude Johnson from 1933, priced at $245,000. Boccara Gallery also showcases modern and contemporary tapestries by artists like Man Ray and Alexander Calder.
This week's art industry roundup covers a flurry of developments across art fairs, auction houses, galleries, and museums. A new boutique fair called Enzo will launch alongside Frieze Los Angeles in an Echo Park warehouse with 10 New York galleries, while Felix Los Angeles returns to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with 50 exhibitors. Art Cologne's revived Palma Mallorca fair announces 88 exhibitors for its April debut. At auction, Christie's London will offer the Vanthournout collection of modernist and Surrealist works, including a Magritte painting estimated at $4.7 million, while Bonhams sells rare Oscar Wilde materials and three Bob Ross paintings. In gallery news, Roland Augustine steps down at Luhring Augustine, Lehmann Maupin opens a London space, and several galleries announce new artist representations. Museums see leadership changes at the Park Avenue Armory and Wrightwood 659, and the Rijksmuseum plans a new sculpture garden.
This edition of State of Play, part of Artnet Pro's The Asia Pivot newsletter, reports on multiple developments across Asia's art scene. Highlights include the launch of Art Fairs Pavilion Taipei, a new alternative art fair co-founded by Hong Kong dealers Willem Molesworth and Ysabelle Cheung, with 13 galleries for its inaugural edition. Galleries Antenna Space and Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery are expanding into Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, while veteran Beijing gallery Long March Space has closed its physical venue. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum announced Taiwan's collateral exhibition at the Venice Biennale, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art named artists for its collateral show. The Asia Society Museum in New York will open a 70th-anniversary exhibition, and the H+ Museum in Suzhou, designed by Tadao Ando, officially opened with two inaugural shows.
The article investigates the rising cost of art shipping, which has become a major issue for the art industry since the Covid-19 pandemic. Industry figures including Fritz Dietl of Dietl logistics, Belgian collector Alain Servais, art advisor Michaela Neumeister de Pury, New York collector Jonathan Travis, dealer Jack Shainman, and OCS Art Services owner Nicole Scuderi describe shipping as a 'necessary evil' and a 'major stumbling block' that affects galleries, collectors, fairs, auction houses, and museums. Costs surged during Covid due to inflation in labor, materials, and insurance, and have not come down, while complications from Brexit, U.S. trade policies, and New York State tax laws have added further layers of expense and confusion.
The Frick Collection reopens to the public on April 17 after a five-year closure and a $220 million expansion and renovation by Selldorf Architects. The project adds 18,000 square feet, including 10 new galleries in the family's original second-floor living quarters, a marble staircase, cafe, gift shop, and a new auditorium. The percentage of the collection on view has increased from 25% to 47%, and Ukrainian artist Vladimir Kanevsky has created porcelain floral arrangements for the reopening. New director Axel Rüger, who joined from London's Royal Academy of Arts, welcomed journalists at a press preview.
The article examines the posthumous market resurgence of painter Robert Colescott, who died in 2009. After his commercial profile faded, Los Angeles dealer Tim Blum and his gallery Blum & Poe began working with the artist's estate in 2017, staging five solo shows and rescuing a disorganized estate with works stored in shipping containers in Arizona. Major auction prices followed, including a record $15.3 million for 'George Washington Carver Crossing The Delaware' in 2021. In 2024, after Blum & Poe closed, Gladstone Gallery took over representation. A current exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum, 'The One-Two Punch: 100 Years of Robert Colescott,' runs through March 29.
Artnet News asked four curators and four art advisors from around the world to each select one artist they believe is poised to break out in 2026. The article profiles the first two of eight artists: Indonesian artist Bagus Pandega, known for kinetic plant-based installations, who has had solo shows at Kunsthalle Basel and Swiss Institute New York; and Max Hooper Schneider, a Los Angeles-based artist creating aquarium-like works blending organic and artificial materials, recently exhibited at 125 Newbury gallery in New York.
Artnet News reports on the top five most expensive Helen Frankenthaler paintings sold at auction, all from the 1970s and all sold within the past five years. The list includes "Basin" (1979, $4.53M at Christie's New York in May 2025), "Carousel" (1979, $4.74M at Sotheby's New York in 2020), "Circe" (1974, $4.77M at Sotheby's New York in 2022), and "Dream Decision" (1976, $5.89M at Sotheby's New York in 2021), with the top lot yet to be fully detailed. The article highlights Frankenthaler's soak-stain technique, her influence on Color Field painting, and the role of Gagosian Gallery in elevating her market after her death in 2011.
The article explores the challenge of articulating olfactory experiences in art, focusing on Norwegian artist Sissel Tolaas, who has dedicated her career to scent as a medium. Tolaas has collected over 15,000 smell molecules for her SMELL RE_searchLab in Berlin and invented a language called NASALO to describe scents more precisely. The piece also highlights the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf's exhibition "The Secret Power of Scents," which integrates smell into its permanent collection display, and references historical and contemporary artists like Ernesto Neto, Mike Kelley, and Oswaldo Maciá who have used scent in their work.
Artnet News recaps the defining trends of 2025 in the art world, highlighting five key stories. These include the resurgence of elaborate frames in contemporary art ("Bordercore"), the rise of "red-chip art" favored by a new breed of flashy collectors, a "para-pastoral" movement that twists idyllic rural scenes into unsettling visions, and the growing popularity of small-scale paintings driven by intimacy and market shifts.
Palm Beach is emerging as a major art destination, bolstered by Miami's growing art scene. The article highlights key cultural attractions including the Norton Museum of Art, which underwent a Norman Foster-designed expansion in 2019 and features Dutch Golden Age masterworks from the Leiden Collection, as well as a growing contemporary collection. Other notable sites include the Flagler Museum (Whitehall), a Gilded Age mansion showcasing historic interiors and a private railcar, and the Bunker Artspace, a private museum founded by collector Beth Rudin DeWoody in a converted toy factory, displaying over 600 works from her collection.
Gloria Klein, a late New York-based painter known for anxious acrylic arrangements and methodical mathematical systems, is the subject of a new solo exhibition titled "Crisis Management" opening January 9, 2026, at Anat Ebgi New York. The show presents many of her later paintings for the first time, and coincides with the announcement that Anat Ebgi now represents her estate. Klein, born in Brooklyn in 1936, was a queer artist who participated in the feminist publication HERESIES, created portraits of critics Arlene Raven and Lucy Lippard, curated the 1977 exhibition "10 Downtown: 10 Years" at PS1, and was a member of the Criss Cross art cooperative. Despite a recent sale of her work for $30,000 at Frieze Los Angeles in 2023, she remains relatively unknown.
Artnet News published its quarterly list of the most exhibited living artists in U.S. museums for December 2025, compiled by tracking temporary exhibitions across hundreds of institutions. The list ranks artists based on the number and type of shows they appear in, prioritizing career retrospectives, dedicated exhibitions, and biennial appearances. Among the top artists featured are Marie Watt, whose touring print exhibition "Storywork" and numerous group show appearances earned her a high ranking, and Jeffrey Gibson, known for his installation at MASS MoCA. The article notes that Watt also won the $250,000 Heinz Award in September 2025.
Artnet News highlights the top photography moments of 2025, including Sara Cwynar's exhibition of search-engine images at ICA Boston, Inuuteq Storch's debut at MoMA PS1 showcasing his Greenlandic hometown, and Dietemar Busse's Polaroid portraits celebrated at Amant, New York. The year also saw Wolfgang Tillmans' blockbuster farewell exhibition at the Centre Pompidou before its five-year renovation, and Marian Goodman Gallery's inaugural show of Ana Mendieta's work, "Back to the Source," featuring her iconic photographs and performances. Mendieta's work was also spotlighted at Art Basel Miami Beach, with her piece "Sandwoman" (1983) drawing emotional responses from visitors.
This week's art industry roundup covers major auction results, gallery representation changes, museum leadership shifts, and a high-profile art theft. François-Xavier Lalanne's *Hippopotame Bar* sold for $31.4 million at Sotheby's Breuer headquarters, setting a record for both the artist and design works. A Tiffany Magnolia floor lamp also set a new auction record at Sotheby's, fetching $4.4 million. Meanwhile, a New Jersey auction house quietly sold over $100,000 of Jeffrey Epstein's belongings, including artworks, without disclosing his ownership. In the gallery world, several artists changed representation, and former Clearing director John Utterson joined Thaddaeus Ropac. Museum news includes the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art repatriating three Khmer-era sculptures to Cambodia, Maria Balshaw stepping down as Tate director, MoMA PS1 offering free admission starting January 1, and the Rijksmuseum planning a new branch in Eindhoven. Additionally, eight rare Matisse prints and five works by Candido Portinari were stolen from São Paulo's Mário de Andrade Library.
Two concurrent exhibitions in New York explore the intersection of art and UFOs, paranormal phenomena, and extraterrestrial life. "Voice of Space: UFOs and Paranormal Phenomena" at the Drawing Center (through February 1, 2026) features some three dozen works from artists including René Magritte and Isa Genzken, with Magritte's 1931 painting "Voice of Space" as the conceptual centerpiece. Meanwhile, "Paintings Made for Aliens Above" at P.P.O.W (through December 20, 2025) presents new works by Romanian artist Hortensia Mi Kafchin, probing technofuturism's promises and failures. The shows include historical pieces like Paulina Peavy's multimedia works co-credited to her personal UFO, and contemporary works by Char Jeré that interrogate technology and consumerism.
The article highlights four must-see fall gallery shows in New York City for September-October 2025. It features Mercedes Matter's first solo show at Berry Campbell, reviving the overlooked Abstract Expressionist; Julio Torres's theatrical debut "Color Stories" at Performance Space New York; Gabrielle Garland's first New York solo exhibition at Miles McEnery Gallery, showcasing surreal suburban paintings; and Omar Ba's exhibition "Promises and Glory" at Templon, presenting fantastical mixed-media works.
This week's art industry news includes Art Basel appointing Egyptian artist Wael Shawky as artistic director of its first Middle East fair, Art Basel Qatar, running February 5–7, 2026. A new fair called Loading… debuts in Hudson, N.Y., during Upstate Art Weekend, while Vienna Contemporary names Abaseh Mirvali as artistic director. Bonhams offers material from Roy Lichtenstein's Hamptons home, and a legendary Le Birkin handbag sells for €8.5 million at Sotheby's Paris. Galleries see Hollis Taggart adding two artists, Adam Lindemann closing Venus Over Manhattan, and Berlin's Meyer Riegger and Paris's Galerie Jocelyn Wolff opening a joint Seoul gallery. Museums include the Zayed National Museum opening in Abu Dhabi, Shamim M. Momin named director of the Bronx Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art acquiring 150 new works. The Art Bridges Foundation and Crystal Bridges acquire 90 Indigenous artworks, and the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt opens a temporary location. In legal news, DHS officials visited the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago.