Venice Art Biennale: The Time of Nuances

Biennale d’art de Venise : le temps des nuances

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," opened under the artistic direction of the late Swiss-Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh. The exhibition features 111 artists and collectives, presenting a more subdued, poetic, and experiential approach compared to the previous edition's explicit decolonial program. It navigates contemporary political tensions, including the participation of Israel and the reopening of the Russian pavilion, while aiming for a radical return to art's own environment and its place in society.

Spring Arts Guide 2026: The Visual Art Exhibitions Making a Splash This Season

The Spring Arts Guide 2026 highlights several major exhibitions opening in the Washington D.C. area, ranging from local photography to expansive collection surveys. Alan Sislen’s 'AMBIGUITY' at Multiple Exposures Gallery explores architectural abstraction, while the National Museum of Women in the Arts hosts 'Making Their Mark,' a traveling exhibition of the Shah Garg Collection featuring luminaries like Howardena Pindell and Joan Semmel. Additionally, the National Museum of African Art presents 'Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art,' a landmark show centering queer voices within the African diaspora.

How Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys Built a Best-in-Class Art Collection With a “Collect What You Feel” Philosophy

Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, the musician power couple, have built a major art collection known as the Dean Collection, now touring as the exhibition "Giants" at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. The show, which debuted at the Brooklyn Museum in 2024, features works by Gordon Parks, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Malick Sidibé, and a new multimedia installation by Mickalene Thomas. In an interview with GQ's Frazier Tharpe, the couple discusses their philosophy of collecting art based on emotional connection rather than investment or social status, and how their passion for art has deepened over their 15-year marriage.

San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora marks 20 years with a show about Blackness and the cosmos

San Francisco's Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) has reopened its renovated ground-floor lobby to mark its 20th anniversary, alongside two new exhibitions. The larger show, "Unbound: Art, Blackness & the Universe" (on view until 16 August 2026), explores Blackness and the cosmos through painting, photography, sculpture, and installation. Curated by MoAD's first full-time curator Key Jo Lee, the exhibition features 17 artists including Torkwase Dyson, Barkley L. Hendricks, Lorna Simpson, Oasa DuVerney, and Mikael Owunna, organized under three themes: "Geo-Cartographic," "Religio-Mythic," and "Techno-Cyborgian." The $500,000 renovation also upgraded lighting and HVAC systems.

KAWS | Untitled (KAWS X Mocad) (2019)

Bidding has concluded for KAWS's 2019 screenprint, *Untitled (KAWS X Mocad)*, a limited-edition work produced for the artist's solo exhibition "Alone Again" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. The work was offered through Palm Beach Modern Auctions, with detailed condition reports and terms available to prospective bidders.

The Must-See Biennale Exhibitions in Venice

The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, titled "In Minor Keys," opens May 9 as a tribute to its late curator Koyo Kouoh. Alongside the Biennale, Venice hosts numerous concurrent exhibitions: Marina Abramović's "Transforming Energy" at Gallerie dell'Accademia (the only living female artist with a major show there); the Matthew Wong Foundation's inaugural exhibition "Interiors" featuring unseen works by the late Chinese Canadian artist; retrospectives of Michael Armitage at Palazzo Grassi and Lorna Simpson at Punta della Dogana; Hernan Bas's new paintings at Ca' Pesaro; Lu Yang's "DOKU The Illusion" at Espaces Louis Vuitton Venezia; and "Minimal Legends" at the Vincenzo de Cotiis Foundation, staging a dialogue among Minimalist masters.

Welcome to Venice: the shows you won’t want to miss at the 61st Biennale

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," opens with a keynote exhibition conceived by the late Koyo Kouoh and realized by her team after her sudden death in May 2025. The show spans the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the Arsenale, featuring 110 artists and collectives. Highlights include Bracha L. Ettinger's installation at the Hotel Metropole, where she transforms a room where Sigmund Freud wrote part of *The Interpretation of Dreams* into a feminist 'borderspace,' and works by artists such as Arthur Jafa, Richard Prince, Issa Samb, Beverly Buchanan, and Daniel Lind-Ramos. The exhibition explores themes of history, colonialism, war, and environmental destruction, aiming for a 'sotto voce' tone that nonetheless delivers powerful, liberating statements.

digital art isnt built to last could data co ops change

Shanti Escalante-De Mattei launches a new column called "Link Rot" in ARTnews, exploring the intersection of art, technology, and the internet. The first edition focuses on the fragility of digital and new media art, which faces rapid obsolescence as hardware and software evolve. New media art dealer Kelani Nichole, founder of Transfer Art Gallery (2013), has launched the Transfer Data Trust, a data cooperative designed to preserve digital artworks for up to 100 years. The Trust uses a combination of network-attached storage, decentralized file storage (IPFS, Filecoin), and a user-friendly browser to archive artist intent and conservation data, with pooled sales proceeds funding conservation efforts.

We Are the Drum and the Scribe: Black Art In America Collection at the Bo Bartlett Center

The Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia, is hosting the exhibition "We Are the Drum and the Scribe: Black Art In America Collection" from January 20 to May 16. The show features over 40 works from the private collection of Najee & Seteria Dorsey and Black Art In America (BAIA), including pieces by Kerry James Marshall, Wadsworth Jarrell, David Driskell, and contemporary artists like Dr Fahamu Pecou and Alfred Conteh. A public reception is scheduled for February 19th.

Headed to Paris for Art Basel? Here are the 17 museum shows not to miss

Art Basel Paris is underway, and this article highlights 17 must-see museum shows across the city. Key exhibitions include a joint tribute to Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, and Pontus Hultén at the Grand Palais; a Rick Owens fashion retrospective at Palais Galliera; the first French monographic show of John Singer Sargent at the Musée d'Orsay, featuring his scandalous 'Portrait of Madame X'; a Bridget Riley exhibition exploring her debt to Georges Seurat; a Minimalism survey at the Bourse de Commerce; and a major Jacques-Louis David retrospective at the Louvre marking the bicentenary of his death.

The Synthesis of Poetry and Violence: Inside the New Exhibitions at the Pinault Collection in Venice

La sintesi tra poesia e violenza. Ecco come sono le mostre alla Pinault Collection di Venezia

The Pinault Collection has unveiled its 2025 exhibition program across its two Venice venues, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana. This year, the institution opts for a multi-artist approach rather than a single-artist takeover, featuring Michael Armitage and Amar Kanwar at Palazzo Grassi, alongside Lorna Simpson and Paulo Nazareth at Punta della Dogana. The exhibitions focus heavily on global perspectives, spanning from Kenya and India to Brazil and the United States, addressing contemporary social tensions through diverse media.

미시시피미술관 '사진과 흑인미술운동, 1955-1985'(7/25-11/8) - Lounge

The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) presents "Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985," a landmark exhibition exploring the role of photography in fostering Black visual culture and identity during the civil rights and Black Arts Movement eras. The show features approximately 150 works by over 100 artists, including Dawoud Bey, Gordon Parks, and Carrie Mae Weems, drawn primarily from the National Gallery of Art's collection, and runs from July 25 to November 8, 2026, as the final stop on a national tour.

What’s on now at San Francisco museums, November 2025

San Francisco museums are presenting a wide array of exhibitions in November 2025, with several closing soon and others opening in the coming months. At SFMOMA, major shows include "Alejandro Cartagena: Ground Rules" (through April 19), "KAWS: Family" (through May 3, 2026), the photography exhibition "(Re)Constructing History" featuring Carrie Mae Weems, Nona Faustine, Carla Williams, and Dawoud Bey, and "Suzanne Jackson: What is Love," the artist's first retrospective. The Institute for Contemporary Art hosts "Midnight March" by Masako Miki and "stay, take your time, my love" by David Antonio Cruz, both closing Dec. 7. The Asian Art Museum presents "Rave into the Future: Art in Motion" closing Jan. 12, and the Legion of Honor will open "Drawn to Venice" from Jan. 24 to Aug. 2, 2026. The Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, a collaboration with the San Francisco Foundation and SOMarts, closes Dec. 7.

The Whitney Museum Raised $6.3 Million Last Night

The Whitney Museum of American Art raised $6.3 million at its annual benefit gala on Tuesday night, honoring artist Julie Mehretu, Board Chair Fern Kaye Tessler, and Director Emeritus Adam D. Weinberg. The event drew a crowd of artists, actors, musicians, and arts leaders, with a performance by Grammy winner Shaggy and a seated dinner at the museum's downtown flagship.

Andrew Cranston’s Paintings of Dreamlike Domesticity

Scottish artist Andrew Cranston has opened a new solo exhibition titled 'I’m going in a field' at Modern Art gallery in London. The show features eleven paintings that blend landscape, memory, and domestic scenes, drawing inspiration from the artist's childhood in Hawick, Scotland, and his reflections on activities like golf, which he views as a form of landscape experience.

Obama Presidential Center Announces Final Cohort of Commissions Ahead of June Opening, Including María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Jeffrey Gibson, Lorna Simpson

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago has unveiled its final cohort of artist commissions ahead of its scheduled opening in June. This group includes high-profile contemporary artists such as Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Jeffrey Gibson, and Lorna Simpson, who will contribute site-specific works ranging from a multi-layered portrait of the Obamas to a 34-foot stainless steel sculpture by Martin Puryear honoring the late John Lewis. These eight artists join a previously announced roster, bringing the total number of new commissions for the 19.3-acre South Side campus to 30.

school of visual arts transfers ownership alumni society

The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York has transferred ownership from the Rhodes family, which owned it for nearly 80 years, to the SVA Alumni Society, a nonprofit that has funded student scholarships since 1972. The transfer took effect on September 1, with longtime president David Rhodes stating that day-to-day operations would not change. The move comes amid financial difficulties, a recent faculty unionization effort by SVA Faculty United (affiliated with United Auto Workers), and reported layoffs of around 30 workers.

Joy Gregory: ‘It’s about translation and trying to understand’

British artist Joy Gregory has opened her first institutional survey show, "Catching Flies with Honey," at Whitechapel Gallery in London, made possible by her winning the 2023 Freelands Award. The exhibition features over 250 works spanning four decades, including photography, film, installation, textiles, sound, and digital media. In an interview with The Art Newspaper, Gregory discusses her early image-making, her interrogation of portraiture, and a new film commission, "The Last Speakers," shot over 20 years with a San community in the Kalahari Desert.

Christie's to sell three early paintings by Lucian Freud for £20m

Christie's will offer three early paintings by Lucian Freud from a single private collection at its London evening sale on 15 October, with a combined estimate of £13m to £20m. The works span three decades of Freud's career: *Woman with a Tulip* (1944, est. £3m-£5m), *Self-portrait Fragment* (around 1956, est. £8m-£12m), and *Sleeping Head* (1961–71, est. £2m-£3m). All three have been in the same collection for many years and have been exhibited widely, including in major retrospectives at the National Gallery, London, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Lorna Simpson Comes Full Circle in Venice with ‘Third Person’

American artist Lorna Simpson has opened a major solo exhibition titled 'Third Person' at Punta della Dogana in Venice, featuring over 50 works across painting, collage, sculpture, installation, and film. The show surveys her practice from the last decade, including new works created in response to the venue, and runs through November 22. Curated by Emma Lavigne of the Pinault Collection, the exhibition also includes pieces from her 2015 Venice Biennale participation and series such as 'Ice,' 'Special Characters,' and 'Earth and Sky.'

Patricia Li: An Art And Design Guide To Venice

Patricia Li, writing for Vogue Circle, shares a curated guide to art and design destinations in Venice beyond the main venues of the Venice Biennale. Her recommendations include the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana (part of the Pinault Collection), the newly opened Fondazione Dries Van Noten, and Fondazione Prada, each hosting special exhibitions timed to the Biennale.

10 Exhibitions to See in Venice Which Aren’t Part of the Biennale

Ocula's editors have curated a list of 10 must-see collateral exhibitions in Venice that are not part of the main Biennale. Highlights include Shirin Neshat's film trilogy "Do U Dare!" about YouTuber Nasim Aghdam, Hernan Bas's ironic paintings of tourists at Ca' Pesaro, and the group show "Outta Love" featuring Francesca Woodman, Jenny Saville, and Wolfgang Tillmans. Another notable exhibition is "Turāndokht" from Parasol unit, which brings together 11 female artists from Central Asia to challenge Orientalist stereotypes.

Old Master Grandeur and Modern Patronage Converge at the 2026 Norton Museum of Art Gala

The Norton Museum of Art's 2026 annual gala drew nearly 700 guests and raised nearly $5 million for the museum's programs. The event featured a live auction hosted by Sotheby's Oliver Barker, selling works by contemporary artists like Julie Curtiss, Jeffrey Gibson, Jessie Henson, and Marilyn Minter, and honored trustee Ronnie Heyman and artist Loie Hollowell. The evening's design was inspired by the concurrent exhibition "Art and Life in Rembrandt's Time: Masterpieces from the Leiden Collection."

Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum opens at SFU Burnaby campus

The Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum, a new 12,100-square-foot facility on the Simon Fraser University Burnaby campus in British Columbia, has officially opened to the public. Designed by Siamak Hariri of Hariri Pontarini Architects, the museum features B.C.-sourced mass timber beams, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a layout that integrates with the surrounding forest. Its inaugural exhibition, "Edge Effects," includes works by artists such as Debra Sparrow, Cindy Mochizuki, Patrick Cruz, Lorna Brown, and Jin-me Yoon, and the museum also houses approximately 5,900 works from the Simon Fraser University Art Collection.

On the Market: Artist Lorna Simpson's Studio, Custom-Designed by David Adjaye in Brooklyn, New York

Lorna Simpson's custom-designed Brooklyn studio, created by architect David Adjaye in 2006, has been listed for sale at $6.5 million. The 3,300-square-foot, four-story property at 208 Vanderbilt Avenue in Fort Greene features a double-height great room, three bedrooms, a rear garden, and was originally built as a live/work space for the artist and her then-husband James Casebere. The listing is handled by Leslie Marshall and Nick Hovsepian of the Corcoran Group. Simpson, whose survey exhibition "Lorna Simpson: Source Notes" is currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has moved her primary practice to a larger nearby space, using the Vanderbilt Avenue property for archives and events.

Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection | Exhibition

The exhibition "Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection" will be on view from February 27 to July 26, 2026, featuring approximately 80 works by nearly 70 influential women artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. Artists include Magdalena Abakanowicz, Cecily Brown, Sheila Hicks, Jenny Holzer, Julie Mehretu, Joan Mitchell, Faith Ringgold, Tschabalala Self, Amy Sillman, Lorna Simpson, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Pat Steir, Sarah Sze, Kara Walker, and Zarina. The show is organized into seven thematic sections—Gestural Abstraction, Luminous Abstraction, Pixelated Abstraction, Disobedient Bodies, Of Selves and Spirits, The Power of Form, and Craft is Art—juxtaposing emerging artists with their predecessors to highlight intergenerational connections and subversions of traditional art hierarchies.

Highlights from New York’s Upstate Art Weekend 2025

Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) returns for its sixth edition, running until July 21, 2025, with over 155 participants across galleries, studios, museums, and art centers in New York's Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains. Founded in 2020 by Helen Toomer as a pandemic-era initiative, the event now supported by Space Design + Production and Bloomberg Connects offers highlights such as 'Eclectic Cream' at Army of Frogs Studio, 'Muskeg and Collateral Magic' at Mother-in-Law's Gallery, 'The Rose' at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, tours at Hessel Museum of Art, and 'Peculiar Manufactures' at Jesse Bransford House.

Obama Presidential Center announces new work by Jeffrey Gibson, Rashid Johnson, Lorna Simpson.

The Obama Foundation has unveiled the final group of artists commissioned to create site-specific works for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. This prestigious roster includes Jeffrey Gibson, Rashid Johnson, Lorna Simpson, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, whose works will be integrated into the 19.3-acre campus. The announcement completes the artistic vision for the center, which aims to blend public space with high-caliber contemporary art when it opens on June 19th.

Simon Fraser University to open The Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum

Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, will open The Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum (The Gibson) on September 20, 2025. The 12,100-square-foot facility, designed by Siamak Hariri of Hariri Pontarini Architects with Iredale Architecture, is the university's first purpose-built gallery. It will consolidate SFU Galleries and house the SFU Art Collection of over 5,800 works. The inaugural exhibition, "Edge Effects," features 12 new or rarely seen works by Canadian artists, including 10 commissions, with artists such as Liz Magor, Lorna Brown, and Jin-me Yoon, alongside Cindy Mochizuki's "Arboreal Time."

New art exhibition to open this summer as part of Glasgow International 2026

A new two-person exhibition titled "Painting, our mutual friend" will open at Glasgow Print Studio on June 4, 2026, as part of Glasgow International 2026. Featuring artists Lorna Robertson and Andrew Cranston, who are life partners, the show runs through August 1 and includes etchings, monoprints, watercolours, and oil paintings that explore their individual and shared experiences. The works were developed through experimental residencies at the studio between 2025 and 2026.