New fund helps museums make purchases at Frieze New York

The Sherman Family Foundation Acquisition Fund has launched at Frieze New York, providing $50,000 annually to help US museums acquire works from the fair's Focus section, which features solo stands by galleries under 12 years old. In its first year, the Baltimore Museum of Art acquired works by Reika Takebayashi, Seba Calfuqueo, and Joanne Burke, while the Brooklyn Museum acquired two works by Bettina (Bettina Grossman). Each artist also receives an unrestricted $5,000 award.

Coco Fusco and Jeffrey Gibson’s Public Lectures, Free Admission at MCA Denver, and More: Industry Moves for May 13, 2026

This week's art industry moves include Coco Fusco and Jeffrey Gibson being named speakers for Johns Hopkins University's Sam Gilliam Lecture Series, with free talks scheduled in Washington, D.C. Other notable developments: MCA Denver received a $1 million gift from the Precourt Foundation for free youth admission through 2031; Xavier Hufkens now represents painter Richard Aldrich; Galatea will represent the estate of Brazilian self-taught painter Grauben do Monte Lima; Green Art Gallery added Sharjah-based artist Fatma Al Ali; Chris Sharp Gallery now represents sculptor Richard Rezac; and the Oakland Museum of California received a ceramics gift and $1 million endowment from the Brian and Edith Heath Foundation. Additionally, a Banksy painting from the "Crude Oils" series is estimated at $18 million for an upcoming Fair Warning auction at Tiffany & Co.

Tuan Vu Paints Vietnam Through the Haze of Memory and Imagination

Self-taught Vietnamese artist Tuan Vu presents his solo exhibition "Annam" at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery in Berlin, featuring paintings that blend memory, imagination, and history. The show includes works such as *Tranquil South* (2026), *A Usual Day* (2026), and *The Official Portrait* (2026), which explore Vu's childhood recollections of Vietnam and the country's colonial past. Vu, who relocated from Ho Chi Minh City to Quebec, Canada, for his studies and now resides there, uses the exhibition's title to reference the term used for Vietnam during Chinese and French colonial periods, highlighting the distance and interpretive nature of memory.

The US pavilion's curator on the controversial choice of Alma Allen for the Venice Biennale

The US pavilion at the Venice Biennale has selected Alma Allen, a Utah-born, Mexico-based sculptor, as its representative artist—a controversial and surprising choice given his relative obscurity compared to past pavilion artists. The selection process was unusually fraught: the first artist chosen was dropped before official announcement, and the announcement was delayed by the US government shutdown. The pavilion's curator, Jeffrey Uslip, discusses the exhibition titled "Call Me the Breeze," which will feature Allen's sculptures in stone, bronze, and wood that appear to defy their own weight, emphasizing artistic autonomy despite the State Department's framing of the choice as showcasing "American excellence."

Timeless Meets Timely at TEFAF New York 2026

TEFAF New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory from May 15–19, 2026, with an invitation-only preview on May 14. The fair features 88 international exhibitors from 14 countries across four continents, showcasing a wide range of collecting categories including art, antiquities, design, and jewelry. Highlights include a new abstract canvas by Minjung Kim, a glass mosaic by Shahzia Sikander, ancient Egyptian and Roman works, and pieces by modern masters such as Jean Dubuffet, Martin Kippenberger, Pierre Soulages, Barbara Hepworth, John Chamberlain, and Cecily Brown.

Lévy Gorvy Dayan Bets on Urgency With New LGD Hammer Sales Platform

Lévy Gorvy Dayan has launched LGD Hammer, a new sales platform that blends gallery exhibition with auction-style urgency. The first work offered is Willem de Kooning's *Milkmaid* (1984), estimated at $10–$15 million, which will be on view by appointment from May 2 until the sale on May 16. Gallery cofounder Dominique Lévy will serve as auctioneer, drawing on her Christie's experience, while bidding occurs by phone with online observation. Cofounder Brett Gorvy emphasized the platform is not a market overhaul but a response to slowed private sales and cautious collectors who still respond to competitive pressure.

London Dealer Stephen Friedman Owes $10.6 M. to Dozens of Creditors, Including Artists Deborah Roberts and Kehinde Wiley

London-based gallery Stephen Friedman has accumulated debts of approximately $10.6 million, according to official documents filed with Companies House. Creditors include Coutts & Co. bank (£3.2 million), Pentland Group Ltd. (£1.4 million), the UK tax authority, the Pollen Estate, art logistics company Crozier, and several prominent artists—Alexander Diop (£341,905), Deborah Roberts (£289,232), and Kehinde Wiley (£163,849). The gallery closed its New York space in November 2024 after just two years, then abruptly shut its London location and entered insolvency proceedings in February 2025, shortly after pulling out of Art Basel Qatar. A restructuring proposal by FRP Advisory was approved on 22 April.

Salon review – like getting to know fascinating guests at a fabulous party

The article reviews a salon-style exhibition curated by Matthew Higgs, director of New York's White Columns gallery, at an unnamed gallery space. The show features 43 paintings by a diverse group of artists including Denzil Forrester, Andrew Cranston, Kaye Donachie, Merlin James, Margot Bergman, Gillian Carnegie, Bill Lynch, and Adam Keay, arranged around mismatched chairs facing white windows painted on the walls. The reviewer describes moving through the space, engaging with individual works, and highlights the eclectic, unthemed curation that prioritizes personal taste and conversation over academic or political messaging.

Stockholm's Market Art Fair wants to prove the 'periphery is now essential'

The 20th edition of Stockholm's Market Art Fair for Modern and contemporary art opens in a new waterfront venue at Magasin 9 in the Frihamnen docks area, running until 26 April. This year, 54 dealers—mostly from the Nordics—are joined by international galleries from the US and UK, including Anthony Wilkinson gallery (London) and albertz benda (New York). The fair expanded its reach last year by opening applications to galleries without existing Nordic ties. Notable presentations include new works by Ólafur Elíasson (i8 gallery, Iceland), dystopian paintings by Munan Øvrelid (Galleri Haaken, Oslo), and textile works by Petra Lindholm (Magnus Karlsson gallery). Prices range from SEK 28,000 to €195,000, with strong early sales reported.

Art Dubai Unveils Leaner ‘Special Edition’ Built Around Regional Core

Art Dubai has announced a streamlined "special edition" for its 2026 iteration, featuring a reduced roster of approximately 75 exhibitors. Scheduled for May 15–17 at Madinat Jumeirah, the fair is pivoting toward a regional core, with 60 percent of participants hailing from the Gulf and Southwest Asia. To address economic pressures and regional instability, the fair is implementing a novel risk-sharing financial model where booth costs are partially tied to sales performance.

alserkal art month dubai art week expansion art dubai 2026

Alserkal Avenue in Dubai is expanding its traditional Art Week into a five-week "Art Month" running from April 18 to May 18. This strategic extension includes 16 gallery exhibitions, over 100 public events, and a new commercially focused group show featuring 12 UAE-based galleries. The initiative aims to provide a more sustainable platform for the local art ecosystem, especially as the Art Dubai fair has been rescheduled to mid-May and adapted in response to regional instability.

'It was my job to create the view': US artist Liza Lou on making colourful works in her windowless warehouse

American artist Liza Lou discusses her recent shift in practice, moving from her famous large-scale bead installations to a new body of work that fuses oil painting with glass beads. After years of collaborative work in South Africa and focusing on monochrome tones, Lou has returned to a solitary studio practice in a windowless warehouse in the San Fernando Valley. This new phase is defined by a "headlong love affair with colour," inspired by the hallucinatory palette of the Mojave Desert and a transition from logical drawing to a more intuitive, freestyle process.

The Best Booths at Expo Chicago, From a 16th-Century Belgian Manuscript to a Painting of a Mariachi Band

The 13th edition of Expo Chicago has opened at Navy Pier with a streamlined selection of 130 international exhibitors. This year’s fair features a more curated and manageable scale, drawing a significant crowd of museum directors, curators, and collectors to the Windy City. Notable presentations range from contemporary Canadian artist duos to rare historical artifacts, reflecting a high bar for quality across diverse media.

Overdue payments to artists, landlords and workers at a popular gallery reflect pressures squeezing the dealer sector

The Hole, a prominent gallery with locations in New York and Los Angeles, is facing significant financial distress characterized by shuttered spaces and mounting legal disputes. Following a period of rapid expansion fueled by the 2021–2023 art market boom, the gallery has permanently closed its West Hollywood location and is currently facing multiple lawsuits from Manhattan landlords alleging over $180,000 in unpaid rent and taxes. Founder Kathy Grayson attributes the crisis to a sharp decline in sales starting in late 2023, which has left the gallery struggling to pay artists, staff, and creditors.

Patron Gallery Adds Miao Wang to Its Roster, and More: Industry Moves for April 1, 2026

Several galleries announced new artist representations and expansions. Patron Gallery added painter Miao Wang, who will appear at Expo Chicago; Jessica Silverman added Neo-Pop painter Koak; Anat Ebgi added painter Veronica Fernandez; and Sundaram Tagore Gallery opened a new London space. Additionally, Open Restitution Africa launched an AI-powered database to assist with restitution processes.

Miart Turns 30 With a Bigger, Bolder Edition in Milan

Miart, Milan's international modern and contemporary art fair, is launching its 30th-anniversary edition in a new, larger venue, the Allianz MiCo South Wing. The 2026 edition, themed "New Directions: Miart, but different," will host 160 galleries from 24 countries across three levels, featuring sections like Emergent for new voices, Established for historical dialogue, and a special film project called Movements.

Independent 2026 Exhibitor List Announced

independent 2026 exhibitor list

Independent has unveiled the exhibitor list for its 17th edition, scheduled for May 14–17, 2026. The fair is relocating to a new venue at Pier 36 in New York’s Lower East Side and will feature 76 exhibitors showcasing over 100 artists. Notably, more than 70 percent of the booths will be dedicated to solo presentations, including a special solo project by Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons and sculptural installations by Gretchen Bender and Francis Upritchard.

art market report 2025 growth high end sales

The global art market returned to growth in 2025, reaching $59.6 billion in sales according to the latest Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. This 4 percent increase ended a two-year decline, driven primarily by a 9 percent surge in public auction sales and a significant revival in high-value transactions for works priced over $10 million. While the United States maintained its dominant 44 percent market share, the recovery was uneven, with the Impressionist and Old Masters sectors seeing major gains while Postwar and Contemporary art continued to cool.

Hong Kong Art Week 2026: Art Basel Preview

hong kong art week art basel preview

Hong Kong’s art market is signaling a cautious recovery in 2026 as the city prepares for its marquee Art Week. Despite macroeconomic improvements in real estate and equities, the sector is grappling with significant logistical hurdles caused by the US–Israel–Iran War. Shipping costs between Europe and China have surged by 30%, leading to the cancellation of the International Antiques Fair and the withdrawal of high-profile delegations like the Sharjah Art Foundation.

The Big Ideas Driving Art Paris This Year

Art Paris 2026 will take place from April 9–12 at the Grand Palais, featuring two major curated themes: "Babel – Art and Language in France," guest-curated by Loïc Le Gall, and "Reparation," curated by Alexia Fabre. The fair will include roughly 165 galleries, with sectors like Promises for emerging artists, Solo Show for monographic presentations, and French Design Art Edition.

london stephen friedman gallery abruptly closes insolvency

Stephen Friedman Gallery, a fixture of London’s Mayfair district since 1995, has abruptly entered administration and closed its doors to the public. The gallery confirmed the insolvency process following its last-minute withdrawal from the inaugural Art Basel Qatar. Approximately 25 employees are expected to be laid off, and represented artists have been advised to retrieve their works immediately as the firm undergoes a financial review by FRP Advisory.

frieze los angeles satellite fairs report

The Felix Art Fair kicked off LA Art Week at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, drawing significant crowds despite logistical hurdles. While long lines for elevators slowed the initial flow of visitors to the upper floors, exhibitors reported steady interest and early sales. New York-based dealers faced particular challenges arriving for the opening due to a major Nor’easter that disrupted flights across the East Coast, forcing many to finalize their booths just hours before the VIP preview.

lincoln townley eclipse art group

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.

2022 obituaries

rediscovering luis fernando zapata

Artnet News reports on the rediscovery of Colombian artist Luis Fernando Zapata (1951–1994), whose solo booth at Art Basel Miami Beach features works from 1988 to 1994 that resemble ancient artifacts. The booth, titled “The Immemorial: The Transcendence of Luis Fernando Zapata,” is presented by Bogotá’s Galería Elvira Moreno in the fair’s Survey sector, which highlights historically significant art made before 2000. Zapata’s pieces—including totemic shields, a mud-brown sarcophagus with cuneiform-like glyphs, barques, steles, and his “excavaciones”—are mostly hand-sculpted papier-mâché, evoking ritual and imagined cosmologies. Diagnosed HIV+ in the mid-1980s, Zapata died in 1994, leaving a body of work that has remained largely absent from the queer canon and art-world consciousness until now.

este arte 2026 fair uruguay report

The 12th edition of Uruguay's Este Arte fair took place last week in José Ignacio, featuring 14 exhibitors and attracting 5,000 visitors over four days. Notable works included Vanderlei Lopes's aluminum installation resembling a silver leak, Germán Tagle's liquid landscapes paired with altered New York Times front pages, and Diego Bianchi's chimeric sculptures. The fair favored abstraction, with strong sales reported across galleries such as Almeida & Dale, Aninat Galeria, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Piero Atchugarry Gallery, and Black Gallery.

art palm beach debuts a major biennial style installation for its fourth edition

Art Palm Beach returns for its fourth edition from January 28 to February 1, 2026, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. The fair features a mix of returning and first-time galleries from the U.S. and abroad, including Gefen Gallery (San Francisco), Onessimo Fine Art (Palm Beach), Oliver Sears Gallery (Dublin), and John Martin Gallery (London). Highlights include Hollis Taggart’s presentation of John Knuth’s fly paintings, Pontone Gallery’s showcase of Matteo Massagrande, and Provident Fine Art’s retrospective ‘Sylvester Stallone: Evolution.’ For the first time, the DIVERSEartPB program presents a large-scale, biennial-style installation curated by Marisa Caichiolo, featuring Chilean artist Eugenia Vargas-Pereira’s participatory work AGUAS (1991).

craft state fairs white house saam renwick smithsonian

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery has opened "State Fairs: Growing American Craft," the first exhibition since the Trump administration's August 2025 audit of all Smithsonian exhibitions, didactics, and collections. The audit, based on an executive order to "restore truth and sanity to American history," condemned discussions of racism, sexism, and oppression as revisionist history. The exhibition features over 250 works from across the United States, spanning the 19th century to the present, arguing that regional state and tribal fairs are essential sites for the development of American craft. It includes spectacular pieces like a 12-foot pair of Lucchese boots, a life-size butter sculpture, and works by artists such as Morgan Hill, Kelly Bohnenkamp, Betty Spindler, Linda Nez, Kaye D. Miller, and Peggie Hartwell.

design miami 2025 brings out creatures and comfort

Design Miami 2025 preview drew a bustling crowd with over 70 exhibitors under the theme "Make Believe." Highlights included Katie Stout's whimsical carousel featuring marine animals, Roham Shamekh's biomorphic "Roots" sofa with integrated headphones, and ATRA's futuristic "Intelligence of Evolution" seating system upholstered in Hermès fabric. The Spanish silver brand Garrido showcased collaborations with Peter Marino, while the fair's 20th anniversary edition embraced a carnivalesque atmosphere with popcorn and mirrored walls.

these galleries dropped out of art basel miami beach heres what happened next

Several galleries withdrew from Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 amid rising costs and a contracting art market, leaving some like San Francisco's Altman Siegel facing cancellation fees despite closing. Claudia Altman-Siegel, who shut her gallery, owed $22,000 after missing the free-cancellation deadline. Other dealers, including Miguel Abreu, Tilton Gallery, and Sperone Westwater, navigated the fair's strict payment terms for different reasons—some pulling out early to avoid penalties, others proceeding despite business challenges. The fair proceeded with 283 exhibitors and reported strong sales, including an $18.5 million Joan Mitchell painting, signaling a potential market upturn.