A touring exhibition titled 'The Art of Banksy' has opened in San Diego. The show features over 80 authenticated works by the anonymous street artist, including prints, canvases, and sculptures, and is presented by Starvox Exhibits.
A priceless 2,500-year-old golden helmet and three golden bracelets from Romania's Dacia civilization, stolen from the Drents Museum in the Netherlands in January 2025, were returned to Romania on Tuesday. The artifacts arrived at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport under guard and were displayed at Bucharest's National History Museum, flanked by armed security. The recovery followed 14 months of investigations, diplomatic tensions, and an ongoing trial of three suspects; one bracelet remains missing but Dutch authorities vow to continue the search.
The Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah, has opened two new exhibitions, “Returning To Wonder” and “All Sketches Wish To Be Real,” featuring international and local artists. Among the featured artists is Alexandra Fuller, a multidisciplinary artist whose work includes cyanotypes of wildlife and who has ties to the Sundance Film Festival—her short film “Sister Wife” was accepted at the 2009 festival. The exhibitions also include works by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist, American artist Lia Halloran, and Utah-based artist Antra Sinha. The center will host a series of public programs, including artist talks, workshops, and a book discussion, to engage the local community.
The article is a personal essay by the author reflecting on the life and art of their father, Samuel Kahn (1927-2007), a self-taught artist and clinical psychologist who struggled with bipolar depression. A posthumous exhibition titled "Samuel Kahn, Ph.D. + Friends" opens on 29 January at the Gordon Art Galleries at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, featuring around 50 of his wood-carvings, paintings, and sketches. The author describes how they once believed their father had wasted his life, but now sees his vibrant, untrained works as a source of joy and connection.
The article argues that art and science are deeply interconnected, both relying on freedom of thought and cross-disciplinary collaboration. It cites examples like birds' colorful feathers being explained by a study supported by Schmidt Sciences, which found that birds use a layer of white and black feathers to accentuate color—a technique painters have used for centuries. The piece highlights the Artist-at-Sea programme aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor (too), where artists like Constance Sartor and Jill Pelto collaborate with scientists to communicate marine science to broader audiences. The author, who works with scientists and is married to one, emphasizes that both disciplines pursue truth through different but complementary methods, from Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical studies to medieval Islamic tilework and Alexander von Humboldt's naturalist drawings.
Brazilian police have arrested three suspects in connection with the December 7 theft of 13 works by Henri Matisse and Candido Portinari from the Biblioteca Mário de Andrade in São Paulo. The stolen artworks remain missing. One suspect remains at large: Gabriel Pereira Rodrigues de Mello, nicknamed “Gargamel” and “Capybara”, who had prior robbery convictions overturned earlier this year. The heist involved two armed men who subdued a guard and visitors before removing the works from a glass display case and escaping via a getaway van.
Artist and author Oliver Jeffers is holding his first exhibition in his hometown of Belfast in over 20 years. The show, titled "Disasters and Interventions," is on view at the Naughton Gallery at Queen's University and features a series of works where Jeffers inserts calamitous scenes—such as an oil tanker spill or an airship crash—into tranquil vintage landscapes, transforming calm into catastrophe. The project began when he found a discarded print in New York's Chinatown and began painting into it, eventually building a collection over 14 years that balances tragedy with a wry, thoughtful humor.
“The Art of Banksy: Without Limits,” a touring exhibition dedicated to the anonymous British street artist Banksy, will open January 30 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego. Featuring 200 pieces including certified originals from private collectors and replicas, the show presents prints, photographs, sculptures, murals, and video-mapping installations, along with an infinity room, a hologram installation, and a room focused on Banksy’s Ukraine-related works. The exhibition, which debuted in Istanbul in 2016, is not officially sanctioned by Banksy but serves as a tribute to his provocative, satirical art.
Maria "Masha" Alyokhina, a member of the protest group Pussy Riot, recounts her life-changing meeting with Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson at the opening of the GES-2 art centre in Moscow in late 2021. In an extract from her new book *Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia*, she describes their encounter, during which Kjartansson praised her group's "Punk Prayer" as one of the greatest performances in art history. The book charts her years of dissent, including her 2012 imprisonment with fellow Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova and her 2022 escape from Russia disguised as a food courier, allegedly facilitated by Kjartansson.
The Philadelphia Art Museum opened 'Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100,' a traveling exhibition marking the centenary of surrealism, which originated in France in 1924. The show, curated by Matthew Affron, features about 180 works from the museum's own collection and loans from Europe and the Americas, including pieces by Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Remedios Varo, and Joseph Cornell. The opening occurred the day after the museum's board abruptly fired CEO Sasha Suda, with interim director Louis Marchesano declining to comment on the termination and focusing on the exhibition instead.
The National WWII Museum in New Orleans has opened a special exhibit titled 'Degenerate! Hitler’s War on Modern Art,' on loan from the Jewish Museum Milwaukee and running through May 10, 2026. The exhibit features over 65 works by artists deemed 'degenerate' by the Nazi regime, including Wassily Kandinsky, Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso, and Marc Chagall, alongside documents and artifacts that explore how modernist art was suppressed and weaponized as propaganda. The museum has expanded the original exhibit to include a focus on suppressed music, featuring instruments from the era, such as a tenor saxophone played by Eddie Powers and a clarinet played by George Lewis, on loan from the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
The 36th Bienal de São Paulo has opened with a site-specific installation by Nigerian-American artist Precious Okoyomon, titled "Sun of Consciousness. God Blow Thru Me – Love Break Me" (2025), which features a spiraling path of moss-covered earth and waterfalls evoking Brazil's deforested Cerrado region. The biennial, curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung with an international team, includes 125 artists—97 international and 28 Brazilian—with more than half of the works commissioned for the exhibition. Notable presentations include a career-spanning display of over 20 paintings by British artist Frank Bowling, alongside works by Brazilian artist Gervane de Paula, who has the largest presence in the show.
Metro Art, the public art program of Los Angeles County's transit authority, is celebrating National Arts & Humanities Month in October 2024 with a series of exhibitions and events across the Metro system. Highlights include 'Love, Leimert' at Leimert Park Station, featuring moving-image works by ten artists; 'LA on the Move' at Union Station, an exhibition exploring how people and wildlife navigate the city; and guided tours of large-scale artworks at Grand Ave Arts/Bunker Hill Station. The program also features a wrapped Metro Art Bus showcasing rider portrait photography.
This article from The Straits Times, dated October 3, highlights a series of cultural events in Singapore during the first week of October. It details a literary conference hosted by Nanyang Technological University's English department from October 3 to 5, featuring public talks by notable writers including Singaporean author Amanda Lee Koe, Malaysian novelist Tan Twan Eng, graphic novelist Sonny Liew, and American poet Alice Lyons. The article also covers a new dining theatre experience called 'Rasa' at Dempsey, which combines 12th-century Sanskrit poetry, bharatanatyam dance, live Carnatic music, and a curated vegetarian menu. Additionally, it announces an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, organized by Lianhe Zaobao and Qiu Zhai Art Studio, celebrating the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and China, featuring 368 works by Singaporean and Chinese artists.
Sotheby’s London is hosting an exhibition previewing highlights from its upcoming Modern & Contemporary Middle East and Arts of the Islamic World & India auctions. Featured works include Abdulhalim Radwi’s 'Untitled (Desert Scene)' (1975), a mix of oil and sand on canvas estimated at £40,000–£60,000; Ahmed Mater’s 'X-ray Painting 5' from his pioneering series blending medicine and art; Paul Guiragossian’s 'Portefaix en Chomage,' depicting unemployed porters; and Fahrelnissa Zeid’s 'Untitled (Flowers)' from the late 1940s, bridging figurative and abstract styles.
Four years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, Afghan women are using art as a means of expression and resistance. The article profiles artist Alina Gawhary, who fled to study art in Belfast, and highlights the work of the UK-based NGO Turquoise Mountain, which collaborates with women carpet weavers in Bamiyan. Afghan-British artist Maryam Omar collected poetry from illiterate weavers and designed watercolor patterns that were woven into carpets, displayed in the selling exhibition "Weaving Poems" at Sotheby's in London. The exhibition foregrounds the women's creative voices and returns profits to the weavers.
Two forged Pablo Picasso prints from his Suite Vollard series, sold at a Stuttgart auction house, have been recovered as part of an international police operation led by Italian authorities. The Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office (LKA) announced that an Italian national, believed to be a professional art restorer, is suspected of consigning four forged works to the auction house over several years. Two prints were recovered—one in Germany's Rhineland region and one in Austria—while two others were seized before delivery. The operation, code-named "Minotauro bis," began in 2022 and has led to the seizure of 104 fake contemporary artworks, the dismantling of a forgery laboratory in Rome, and the freezing of bank accounts and vehicles. Forgers used complex methods including fake watermarks, scanned images, and aging paper with coffee or tea.
Evan Mirapaul, an art collector and former concert violinist, has transformed four ordinary homes in Pittsburgh's Troy Hill neighborhood into immersive, site-specific art installations. Inspired by Naoshima, Japan's art houses, Mirapaul commissioned artists including Thorsten Brinkmann, Robert Kuśmirowski, Lenka Clayton, Phillip Andrew Lewis, and Mark Dion to create entire-house works, such as a Cold War radio hub, a functioning lighthouse, and a natural history-filled home. The project began in 2013 and continues to expand, with Brinkmann's La Hütte Royal set to reopen in October.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei will unveil a major new commission in Kyiv, Ukraine, this autumn. The installation, titled "Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres and Camouflage Uniforms Painted White," is a site-specific response to global armed conflicts, housed in Pavilion 13, a renovated Soviet-era exposition hall. The work features three large spheres covered in camouflage uniforms painted white, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's illustrations, and incorporates patterns based on rescued cats. The project is commissioned by RIBBON International and supported by the Pavilion of Culture.
Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of Pussy Riot, began a durational performance titled "Police State" at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles on June 5, 2025. Inside a mock prison cell at the Geffen Contemporary, she screams, plays a pink toy piano, synthesizer, and laptop, and layers live music with sampled prison noises to create an 80-hour experimental soundscape. The performance, running until June 15, references her own 2012 imprisonment in Russia for an anti-Putin protest. On the fourth day, MOCA closed due to clashes between ICE agents, the California National Guard, and protesters over immigrant raids, prompting Tolokonnikova to post: "Police State exhibit closed today due to police state."
Carter Reese, a 77-year-old Pennsylvania man and former neighbor of Taylor Swift, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and mail fraud for selling forged artworks by Francis Bacon, Keith Haring, Jean Cocteau, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Pablo Picasso, and Jean-Michel Basquiat between February 2019 and March 2021. Reese misled buyers with false affidavits and signatures, claiming the forgeries came directly from the artists or from a deceased collector and a supplier using the alias "Ken James," who was later convicted of selling counterfeit art. Reese faces up to 40 years in prison, with sentencing set for September 12.
Sotheby's high-stakes Modern evening sale on Tuesday night ended in shock when Alberto Giacometti's bronze bust "Grand tête mince (Grand tête de Diego)," estimated at $70 million, failed to sell. Bidding stalled at $64.25 million, well below the reserve, and auctioneer Oliver Barker withdrew the lot. The consignment came from the Soloviev Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the late real estate mogul Sheldon Solow, who had declined an auction guarantee. The sale ultimately brought in only $152 million, far short of the $240 million low estimate, with the Giacometti representing nearly 30% of that target.
Bonhams will auction museum-quality works from the collection of legendary New York gallerist Holly Solomon during its Post-War & Contemporary Art daytime sale on May 15, 2025, and its 20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale on May 14, 2025. The lots include pieces by Robert Rauschenberg, Nam June Paik, Christo, Gordon Matta-Clark, Claes Oldenburg, and Richard Pettibone, among others, many of which have rarely been seen.
Walt Disney Animation Studios is presenting a special exhibition titled "Whimsy & Wonder" at the Animayo festival in Gran Canaria, Spain, from May 7-10, 2025. The exhibition honors female talent in animation, featuring works by trailblazing color stylist Mary Blair and six contemporary female artists from the studio: Lorelay Bové, Lisa Keene, Brittney Lee, Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay, Josie Trinidad, and Fawn Veerasunthorn. The show includes art from films such as "Frozen," "Encanto," "Moana 2," and "The Princess and the Frog." Animayo, an Oscar-qualifying animation festival, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with Disney as an official sponsor.
The New York Times reports on a comprehensive exhibition in Seattle that explores the provocative and creative world of Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei. The show presents a deep dive into his multifaceted practice, including his politically charged installations, sculptures, and works that critique authority and surveillance.
Thai artist and filmmaker Chantana Tiprachart has been awarded the 2026 Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant by the Han Nefkens Foundation. The prize provides $15,000 for the production of a new moving-image work over a nine-month period, which will subsequently tour several international institutions including the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai and Nottingham Contemporary. The jury selected Tiprachart for her ability to locate social and political narratives within quiet, everyday spaces, praising her commitment to reflection in an era of information overload.
Following the recent electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition by the opposition party Tisza, the Hungarian art world faces a monumental task of institutional restoration. For 16 years, the regime’s 'System of National Cooperation' (NER) systematically co-opted cultural institutions, installing loyalists in leadership roles at major venues like the Kunsthalle and Ludwig Museum to promote an ethno-nationalist agenda. This period was marked by the exodus of independent curators, the occupation of museums by activists, and a fractured ecosystem where state funding was tied to political compliance.
In Florence, Italy, a 28-year-old tourist is being prosecuted for damaging the historic Neptune Fountain during a bachelorette party on the night of April 18-19. She allegedly climbed the monument on Piazza della Signoria after a dare from friends to touch the statue's intimate parts, causing an estimated €5,000 in damages to the horses' legs and a decorative frieze. This follows a similar incident in September 2023, when a 22-year-old German tourist caused €5,000 in damage to the same fountain while posing for photos.
Rob Franklin, a professor, poet, critic, and co-founder of Art for Black Lives, has released his debut novel "Great Black Hope" on June 10. The book follows Smith, a queer Black Stanford graduate, who is arrested for cocaine possession in the Hamptons after his best friend's death, leading him through New York's nightclubs, courtrooms, and recovery meetings. The novel is described as a satirical, intellectually incisive, and mournful addition to the canon of New York party literature, blending social commentary with a bildungsroman and elegy.
The article reflects on the art market's turbulent 2025, marked by gallery closures, weak auction results, and canceled art fairs. Rather than viewing this as a collapse, the author argues it represents a necessary "right-sizing" of an industry that over-expanded during boom years. Key figures like Philip Hoffman of the Fine Art Group advocate for leaner, more agile business models, such as his new advisory firm New Perspectives Art Partners. Meanwhile, dealers in New York and Los Angeles are adapting through shared exhibition spaces and strategic mergers, including Marian Goodman Gallery hosting Jenkins Johnson Gallery and the formation of Hoffman Donahue.