parties guggenheim museum gala 2025 rashid johnson

The Guggenheim Museum held its 2025 gala, titled "Under the Oculus: A Celebration of Visionaries," honoring artist Rashid Johnson, whose solo exhibition "A Poem for Deep Thinkers" is on view at the institution, alongside the National Basketball Association and National Basketball Players Association. The event featured a seated dinner by Chef Marcus Samuelsson, a performance by Questlove and the Roots, and drew a crowd of art-world figures, sports leaders, and patrons including Abigail and Joseph Baratta, Wendy Fisher, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, and gallerist David Kordansky.

moca gala art performance party

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) held its annual gala, presented by BVLGARI, at the Geffen Contemporary space in Little Tokyo. The evening introduced a new format called MOCA Legends, honoring artist Theaster Gates, architect Frank Gehry, and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt. Guests included actors Jane Fonda, David Alan Grier, Sarah Paulson, director Ava DuVernay, and artists Andrea Bowers, Charles Gaines, Henry Taylor, and Olafur Eliasson, whose exhibition OPEN was on view. After a performance by the TAIKOPROJECT Japanese drum ensemble, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi surprised attendees by introducing Gehry. Rapper Tierra Whack performed during dinner, and the event raised $3.1 million for museum operations.

Sharjah Biennial Lines Up 109 Artists for 2027 Edition, Titled ‘What Remains, Sits Restive’

Julia Heyward “Voices of Many Voices” at Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster

The Westfälischer Kunstverein in Münster is presenting "Voices of Many Voices," a significant exhibition dedicated to the pioneering work of Julia Heyward. The show highlights Heyward’s multidisciplinary practice, which emerged from the 1970s New York performance scene, blending vocal experimentation, monologues, and complex multimedia orchestrations. By juxtaposing music, image, and language, the exhibition captures the artist's unique ability to navigate emotional extremes and the "simultaneity of opposites."

Sharjah Biennial announces theme and artists

Sharjah Art Foundation Announces 2027 Biennial Programming

aspen art fair 2025

The Aspen Art Fair returns for its second edition from July 29 to August 2, 2025, at the historic Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado. The fair has doubled in size to 44 dealers, including returning exhibitors like Perrotin, Galerie Gmurzynska, and Southern Guild, and newcomers such as Marianne Boesky Gallery, Sean Kelly, and Vielmetter. Co-founded by Becca Hoffman and Bob Chase, the event features a boutique, intimate format with galleries displayed in hotel bedrooms, along with collector home tours, panel discussions, hikes, cold water plunges, and dinners. A special curated suite by advisor Wendy Cromwell draws inspiration from novels by Miranda July and Virginia Woolf.

State of Art: Arizona Biennial opens at Tucson Museum

The Tucson Museum of Art will open the Arizona Biennial 2026 on May 22, featuring 31 contemporary artists from across the state. Juried by Julie Rodrigues Widholm, executive director of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the exhibition runs through September 27 in the museum's James J. and Louise R. Glasser and Earl Kai Chann Galleries. The biennial showcases work across multiple media, with public programs planned throughout its run.

Surrey Art Gallery spotlights Expo 86 with In the Shadow of the Pavilions, April 18 to June 7

The Surrey Art Gallery is launching "In the Shadow of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art," a multidisciplinary exhibition running from April 18 to June 7. Curated by Jordan Strom, the show features archival works and documentation from over 40 artists created between 1984 and 1988. It brings together official commissions from the world’s fair alongside unofficial, parallel art initiatives that emerged during Vancouver’s Centennial celebrations, covering media ranging from kinetic sculpture to performance art.

9 new art museum and gallery exhibits opening in Houston this month

Houston is experiencing a significant surge in artistic activity this month, anchored by the 40th anniversary of FotoFest and major new installations at the city's leading institutions. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is hosting "Buddha/Nature," a dialogue between ancient sculptures and contemporary works, alongside the return of Ernesto Neto’s massive immersive crochet installation, "SunForceOceanLife." Meanwhile, the Menil Collection is showcasing recent gifts, and Artechouse has launched a technology-driven spring celebration featuring AI-assisted sculpting and digital floral environments.

‘There’s a bead connection to every place’: Wendy Red Star on exploring the real and symbolic currency of beads

Artist Wendy Red Star has launched a site-specific solo exhibition titled 'One Blue Bead' at Sargent’s Daughters in Tribeca, exploring the historical and symbolic weight of trade beads. The exhibition transforms the gallery into a simulated trading floor featuring monumental glass beads, over 100 watercolors, and Hudson’s Bay point blankets. The project originated from the artist's residencies at the Pilchuck School of Glass and the Tacoma Museum of Glass, where she researched the global circulation of glass beads from Europe to Africa and the Americas.

Museum acquisitions round-up: a 17ft sculpture by Anselm Kiefer, a $1.7m dinosaur skull, and a 17th-century genre painting

Three major museums have announced significant new acquisitions for their permanent collections. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem received a monumental 2014 sculpture by Anselm Kiefer, titled *Die Erdzeitalter (Ages of the World)*, donated by collector Martin Z. Margulies. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., acquired a $1.7 million Pachycephalosaurus dinosaur skull, donated by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy. Meanwhile, the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem purchased an early 16th-century genre painting by Maarten van Heemskerck.

Review: Shows on view at Akron Art Museum reveal creative soul of a 200-year-old city

The Akron Art Museum is hosting a series of exhibitions that explore the identity and creative spirit of Akron, Ohio, as the city celebrates its 2025 bicentennial. The centerpiece is a large-scale retrospective of Alfred McMoore (1950-2009), a self-trained outsider artist from Akron who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent much of his life in psychiatric institutions. McMoore created massive pencil and crayon drawings focused on funerals and death rituals, and his work attracted a circle of supporters including the late antiques dealer Chuck Auerbach and journalist Jim Carney, whose sons Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney later founded the Grammy-winning band The Black Keys, named after McMoore's cryptic phrase.

‘Truly inspiring’: New Princeton University Art Museum opens its doors to all

The new Princeton University Art Museum opened its doors to the public on Oct. 31, 2025, with a 24-hour open house that drew 21,763 visitors. The event featured dancing, stargazing, artmaking, live performances, film screenings, and a trivia contest, with highlights including Claude Monet's "Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge" and Nick Cave's mosaic. Director James Steward welcomed the crowd, and the museum also hosted previews for students, faculty, staff, and tradespeople, attracting thousands more.

Martin Parr steps out from behind the camera lens in informal autobiography

Martin Parr, the renowned British documentary photographer, has released an informal autobiography titled "Utterly Lazy and Inattentive: Martin Parr in Words and Pictures," written with author Wendy Jones. The book traces his career from early black-and-white work inspired by Garry Winogrand and Tony Ray-Jones to his signature vivid color series like "The Last Resort" (1983-85) and "Small World" (1987-94), which drew controversy for their satirical take on British leisure and global tourism. Parr, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, continues to be active, with his photographs of Bristol Pride currently on display at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery through March 2026.

In a new biography, Vanessa Bell is cast as the Bloomsbury Group's leading light—and as central to 20th-century visual culture

Wendy Hitchmough’s new biography, *Vanessa Bell: The Life and Art of a Bloomsbury Radical*, argues that Vanessa Bell (1879–1961) was a central figure in 20th-century visual culture, both as an artist and designer. The book details how Bell navigated sexism through collaboration and anonymity, with works like *Dancing Couple* only attributed to her in 1999. Hitchmough, a former curator of Charleston, presents Bell’s life with a matter-of-fact tone, weaving in the complex personal and professional entanglements of the Bloomsbury Group, including her relationships with Clive Bell, Roger Fry, and Molly MacCarthy.

Rediscovered David Wojnarowicz mural could disappear from view again

A large mural by David Wojnarowicz (1954-92), rediscovered in a Louisville, Kentucky building in 2022, is at risk of being concealed again behind drywall as the building is redeveloped into high-end residences. The site-specific work was created in 1985 for the group exhibition *The Missing Children Show: Six Artists from the East Village on Main Street*, organized by dealer Potter Coe to benefit the Kentucky Child Victims’ Trust Fund. The building's current developers plan to turn the mural's floor into a waiting room for a boxing gym, covering it with sheetrock, though they have guaranteed no damage. The artist's foundation and gallery, PPOW, have proposed covering it with transparent plexiglass instead, but the mural's removal is unlikely due to its size and brick surface.

Whiteley showcase reveals struggles with addiction and pursuit of beauty

A touring exhibition from the Brett Whiteley studio in New South Wales, titled *Inside The Studio*, has arrived at the Shepparton Art Museum in Victoria—its final stop and only Victorian venue. The show features drawings, ceramics, sketchbooks, photographs, Whiteley's iconic Sydney Harbour painting, and his 1976 Archibald Prize-winning self-portrait. Wendy Whiteley, the artist's former wife and an artist herself, shares memories of their turbulent marriage, including his struggles with addiction and his intense dedication to his craft. She has also repurchased several of her favorite sketches of her in the bathtub, which had been auctioned off over the years.

In The Mastermind, an art heist’s aftermath unfolds against the backdrop of Vietnam War-era America

Kelly Reichardt's new film *The Mastermind* premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, following J.B. Mooney (Josh O'Connor), a carpenter who orchestrates an art heist targeting four Arthur Dove paintings from a fictional Massachusetts museum. The heist is inspired by a real 1972 robbery at the Worcester Art Museum, and the film explores the tension between artistic value and monetary worth against the backdrop of Vietnam War-era America.

John Singer Sargent exhibition in London shines a light on the lives of the ‘dollar princesses’

English Heritage has opened an exhibition titled 'Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits' at Kenwood in London, featuring 18 portraits by John Singer Sargent of American heiresses known as the 'dollar princesses.' These women traveled to the UK in the late 19th century to marry into the British aristocracy, bringing wealth that helped restore estates like Blenheim Palace. The show marks 100 years since Sargent’s death and includes never-before-displayed works, such as a charcoal portrait of Consuelo Vanderbilt. Curator Wendy Monkhouse emphasizes that the exhibition focuses on the sitters as individuals, addressing themes of misogyny, stereotyping, and xenophobia.

Annual photo show at MacNider Museum showcases local talent

The Charles H. MacNider Art Museum in Mason City, Iowa, has opened its 46th Annual Cerro Gordo Photo Show in the Center Space Gallery, sponsored by the Safford and Lena Lock Photo Endowment Fund. Sixty-two entries were submitted by residents of Cerro Gordo County and students at North Iowa Area Community College, with 36 photographs by 20 artists selected for exhibition. An opening reception and awards ceremony will be held on May 7, 2026, with cash prizes including $125 for Best in Show. The exhibition runs through July 11, 2026, and admission is free.

46th annual Cerro Gordo Photo Show open at Charles H. MacNider Art Museum

The 46th Annual Cerro Gordo Photo Show has opened at the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum's Center Space Gallery in Mason City, Iowa. The exhibition features 36 photographs by 20 artists from Cerro Gordo County and North Iowa Area Community College, selected by a panel of judges from 62 entries. Artists include Alec Heggen, Brad Janson, Wendy Janson, Dennis Nettifee, Margo Underwood, Lisa Wolf, and many others from Clear Lake, Mason City, and Plymouth. The show is sponsored by the Safford and Lena Lock Photo Endowment Fund, with an opening reception and awards ceremony scheduled for May 7, offering cash prizes including $125 for Best in Show.

‘It takes an entire museum to do it justice’: the Smithsonian celebrates America in 250 objects

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington DC is marking the 250th anniversary of US independence with a major exhibition titled "In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness," opening on 14 May. The show displays 250 objects spanning all three floors of the museum, ranging from a Revolutionary War-era gunboat (the Philadelphia) to a Donald Trump "Make America great again" hat. Seventy-six rarely seen objects are concentrated in entry hall cases, while the rest are embedded throughout existing galleries, connected by a "ribbon" design. Director Anthea Hartig frames the exhibition as a commemoration of moments where individuals and communities fought for recognition and identity, pairing each object with an action verb to emphasize democracy as participatory.

Long Overlooked, Minnie Evans’s Mystical Landscapes Are Finally Getting the Spotlight

Minnie Evans (1892–1987), a self-taught African American artist who worked for 25 years as a ticket seller at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina, is experiencing a major resurgence. Long overlooked after her death, Evans created thousands of vibrant, kaleidoscopic drawings featuring florals, animals, and abstraction, often on scrap paper using affordable materials. A touring exhibition, "The Visionary Art of Minnie Evans," is currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, curated by Colton Klein, and a larger exhibition opens this November at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta before traveling to the Whitney Museum of American Art in summer 2026. Evans had a 1975 retrospective at the Whitney during her lifetime but faded from prominence afterward.

Go big or go home: how The Lost Giants revived the ancient art of goliath-making

The Lost Giants (TLG), an art collective based in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, is reviving the British tradition of making processional giants—large, community-built figures made from wood, cloth, and papier-mâché. Founded three years ago by theatre designer Ruth Webb and her sister-in-law Amy Webb, the group has created giants for events ranging from local lantern parades to a harvest procession at Hauser & Wirth’s Somerset gallery. This New Year’s Eve, environmentalist Lisa Schneidau joined a massive procession of these giants in Lostwithiel, describing it as an extraordinary experience. The collective recently issued a public callout for an environmental group to collaborate on making a new beastie.

Summer Exhibitions Coming to Venues in East & South Texas

Summer exhibitions are opening across East and South Texas at venues including the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, the Beeville Art Museum, the Longview Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of East Texas in Lufkin, and the Rockport Center for the Arts. Highlights include Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee's 'Magic Water' at the Rockport Center for the Arts, a 2026 FotoFest Biennial Participating Space; Jennifer Arnold's 'A Layered Space: Coming Up For Air (v.6)'; Elena Rodz's 'Byways' as part of the Past Master Artists | Rockport Legends exhibition; Bill Pangburn's 'Printed Traces – A Neches River Journal' at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas; and Woody Gwyn's 'Skylight On Water, Trees, Rock and Road' at the Art Museum of South Texas.

Major exhibition to transform USC Pacific Asia Museum into an immersive journey through myth and the immigrant story

USC Pacific Asia Museum (USC PAM) has announced "Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry," a major exhibition conceived by Los Angeles–based Korean American artist Dave Young Kim. Opening February 14, 2026, the 12-room immersive installation blends approximately 100 objects from the museum's collection—spanning 5,000 years of Asian and Pacific art—with new media technology and contemporary works by over 20 artists, including Dinh Q. Lê, Lily Honglei, Wendy Park, Momoko Schafer, Kyungmi Shin, Sanjay Vora, and Lauren YS. The exhibition uses mythology as a visual language to explore the immigrant experience, featuring environments like a shadowy night crossing, a recreated first apartment, and a gilded room with a gold Jin Chan frog. A limited public preview runs December 20, 2025–January 4, 2026.

Reviving Metcalf Château: Celebrating Hawaiʻi artists who redefined modern art

A new exhibition at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center honors the Metcalf Château, a pioneering collective of Asian-American artists who gathered in a house on Metcalf Street in the 1950s to redefine modern art in Hawaiʻi. Curated by Allison Wong and initiated by longtime university supporter Walter Dods, the show features works by founding members Bumpei Akaji, Satoru Abe, Tadashi Sato, Edmund Chung, Tetsuo “Bob” Ochikubo, Jerry T. Okimoto, and James K.K. Park, with a ceremonial blessing by Kahu Kordell Kekoa.

The Rooftop Gallery Next Door

Adam Zhu, an artist, skateboarder, and photographer, has transformed a 9-by-15-foot former storage shed on his Chinatown rooftop into Market Gallery, a tiny exhibition space. The opening of Tucker van der Wyden's "Savage Love" drew about 200 visitors who walked through Zhu's one-bedroom apartment to reach the show. Zhu, who moved into the apartment in 2015, renovated the shed with contractor Andrew Kass, adding concrete walls and folding glass doors. The gallery has hosted seven shows, featuring emerging and established artists, and has become a platform for art in an unconventional setting.

Latter-day Saint artists ‘Lift Up the Hands Which Hang Down’ in new exhibit

The Church History Museum in Salt Lake City has unveiled 150 artworks selected for the 13th International Art Competition of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, themed "Lift Up the Hands Which Hang Down" after Doctrine and Covenants 81:5. The exhibition opened on April 24, 2025, featuring works by 584 artists from 26 countries, including pieces like "Deposition" by Sarah Hawkes and "The Parable of the Gardner: The Garden of the Lord" by Pamela Salinas Bernal. Curator Laura Paulsen Howe and BYU art history professor James Swensen, a juror, highlighted how artists visualized themes of succoring the weak and strengthening others through diverse media and personal testimony.