Artists who defy categorisation take pride of place at Independent 20th Century

The Independent 20th Century art fair opened to VIPs on September 4, featuring dealers who present deep dives into canonical and under-recognized artists. Notable stands include Galerie Lelong's survey of Elda Cerrato (1930-2023), an Italian-born artist who worked in South America, with works priced between $80,000 and $100,000; Rosenberg & Co's showcase of Gertrude Greene (1904-56), a Constructivist and Abstract Expressionist; and Forum Gallery's presentation of Gregory Gillespie (1936-2000), known for surreal, layered paintings. The fair's founder Elizabeth Dee notes that some stands take two to three years to organize, aiming to bring important exhibitions to New York that might not otherwise travel there.

See photos as Wicklow arts centre hosts emerging artist’s first solo exhibiton

Artist Shane Malone-Murphy launched his first solo exhibition, 'Say Again, This Place', at the Courthouse Arts Centre in Tinahely, County Wicklow. The show features site-responsive works using materials like glass, soot, ash, and clay, developed during his residency at the centre. Supported by The Arts Council and Wicklow County Arts Office, the exhibition explores themes of place, memory, and materiality through objects in states of transition.

5 Artists on Our Radar in August 2025

Artsy Editorial's August 2025 edition of 'Artists on Our Radar' highlights five emerging visual artists: Jesse Akele, Ficus Interfaith (the duo of Ryan Bush and Raphael Martinez Cohen), and Shuling Guo. Akele's hazy figurative paintings explore fleeting place and memory, featured in WORKPLACE's group show 'Cold Enough for Snow.' Ficus Interfaith creates playful terrazzo sculptures blending fine art, design, and craft, with a solo exhibition 'Furniture Music' at P.P.O.W in New York. Shuling Guo produces transcendental works in color pencil and oil paint, alluding to her life experiences, with pieces at Hollis Taggart and Mindy Solomon Gallery.

Five art exhibitions to check out around Brookline this summer

Praise Shadows art gallery in Brookline's Coolidge Corner is among five venues offering free art exhibitions this summer. The gallery presents "Pigment Spells," a solo show by Boston-based artist and Boston University professor Lucy Kim, featuring resin casts of found objects covered in oil paint. Other exhibitions include David Weinberg's "Explorations" at Gallery 93 in the Brookline Senior Center, which combines photo montages with medieval manuscripts, and Gateway Arts' "Artists Assortment," a tribute to current and former artists with disabilities featuring celebrity portraits. The roundup also highlights the accessibility of these spaces, which welcome visitors without admission fees.

Independent art fair adjusts as market slows

The Independent art fair in New York, running until 11 May, features 85 exhibitors—its largest edition yet—with 26 solo debuts. Amid a slowing art market, galleries are adjusting pricing strategies, with a notable increase in works priced between $10,000 and $20,000, which now account for about one-third of offerings. Several galleries reported strong sales during the VIP preview, including Long Story Short selling six works by Keita Morimoto and Ricco Maresca Gallery selling out its vintage board game collection for a six-figure sum. Co-founder Elizabeth Dee noted that VIP registrations were up 30% year-over-year, and dealers like Charles Moffett deliberately chose established artists to match collector comfort levels.

HARRY CHÁVEZ: DONDE MUERDE EL MITO

Harry Chávez: Donde muerde el mito was the first presentation of Peruvian artist Harry Chávez's work at the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), held as part of the MALI Colecciones. Intervenciones contemporáneas program. The exhibition recently won the Premio Luces 2026 from El Comercio in the best exhibition category, a public-vote award reflecting its impact. The show explores symbolic conflicts between serpent and feline in Andean and Amazonian mythology, featuring works like 'Salto mortal' and 'Nacimiento del dragón' that depict cosmic struggles and hybrid transformations.

Yves Klein Research Grant 2026: A Funded Residency for Emerging Scholars

The Yves Klein Foundation has launched its first Research Grant for 2026, offering a CHF 6,000 stipend and a one-week funded residency in Paris to emerging scholars under 35 who hold a PhD or postdoctoral degree. The program invites original research projects that deepen understanding of Yves Klein’s work, ideas, and legacy, with access to archives and scholarly guidance provided. Applications are due by 15 June 2026, with selection based on originality, scientific quality, and feasibility.

The Cosmic Entanglements and Inner Transformations of ‘Metamorphosis’.

Isaac Julien has created a new site-responsive film installation titled 'All That Changes You. Metamorphosis' at The Cosmic House in London. The work, which features protagonists Lilith and Naomi, explores themes of transformation, cosmology, and interdependence through a non-linear narrative that moves from Californian redwoods to Renaissance interiors, using the postmodern architecture as an active participant in the dialogue.

Annonce de chercheurs : Exposition Maurice Utrillo, de Montmartre à Angoulême

The Musée d'Angoulême will host the exhibition "De Montmartre à Angoulême, Maurice Utrillo intime…" from April to September 2027, focusing on the artist's lesser-known years in the Charente region. Curators Pamela de Montleau and Philippe Cassereau are seeking archives, correspondence, photographs, testimonies, and paintings to illuminate Utrillo's two-year stay in Angoulême (1935–1937), where he married painter and writer Lucie Valore. The show will also feature works by his painter friends, including Maurice de Vlaminck, Alphonse Quizet, and others.

The Long-Awaited Reopening of the Musée Bonnat

La réouverture attendue du Musée Bonnat

After fifteen years of closure, the Musée Bonnat (now renamed Bonnat-Helleu) in Bayonne, France, has finally reopened. The closure was initially due to structural problems, including collapsing skylights and leaks, and even before that, much of the collection had been inaccessible. The renovated museum now features a new extension built from a former school, housing the public reception area, an exhibition space, a courtyard with a café terrace, and storage. The galleries display the museum's full holdings, including Rubens sketches, terracottas from the Paul Cailleux collection, and works by Léon Bonnat himself.

Billionaire Collector Ken Griffin Buys Second Rare Constitution Printing

Billionaire collector Ken Griffin has quietly acquired a second rare first printing of the US Constitution, known as the Van Sinderen copy, through a private deal after it was pulled from a planned Sotheby’s auction in 2022. Griffin, who previously paid $43.2 million at Sotheby’s in 2021 for another copy, now holds the only two copies of the 1787 document still in private hands. The newly acquired document will go on public display starting May 27 at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York, headlining an exhibition titled “The Promise of Liberty” that includes other foundational texts.

Archaeologists Uncover a 2,000-Year-Old Hillfort in Estonia

Archaeologists from the University of Tartu have discovered a 2,000-year-old Iron Age hillfort at Köstrimägi in Tartu County, Estonia. Using high-resolution terrain mapping, the team identified a 16,000-square-foot fortification featuring an unusual stepped rampart system that dates back to between 41 BCE and 9 CE. Despite its size, the site yielded few artifacts beyond pottery fragments and charcoal, suggesting a very brief period of occupation before it was destroyed by fire.

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A portrait of Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle in England has been revealed through infrared reflectography to have been altered to show her hands, countering rumors that she was a witch with six fingers. Tree-ring analysis dates the painting to around 1583, during the reign of her daughter Elizabeth I, making it the earliest known likeness of Boleyn. The underdrawing lacked hands, suggesting the unknown artist deliberately added them to rebut claims by Catholic activist Nicholas Sanders that Boleyn had six fingers.

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The Gallerist, a new satire directed by Cathy Yan, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film follows struggling gallerist Polina Polinski (Natalie Portman), who is betting everything on a one-artist debut at Art Basel Miami Beach. After an obnoxious art influencer, Dalton Hardberry (Zach Galifianakis), dies accidentally by impalement on a sculpture titled The Emasculator, Polina and her assistant Kiki (Jenna Ortega) conspire to pass off his corpse as part of the artwork, duping wealthy clients. The ensemble cast also includes Catherine Zeta-Jones as a legendary dealer reminiscent of Marian Goodman, Da'Vine Joy Randolph as the earnest artist Stella Burgess, and Sterling K. Brown as Polina's ex-husband.

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Pace Gallery, Emmanuel Di Donna, and David Schrader are launching a new joint gallery called Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries (PDS), dedicated to secondary-market sales. The boutique operation will begin operations in spring 2026, open a formal space on New York's Upper East Side in summer, and host a major historical exhibition in autumn. The venture is a collaborative model rather than a merger, combining Pace's global reach and estate relationships, Di Donna's connoisseurship, and Schrader's expertise in private sales.

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Art Basel has introduced booth-fee discounts for first- and second-time exhibitors at its fairs, offering 20% off for first-year participants and 10% for second-year participants. The policy, confirmed by chief artistic officer Vincenzo de Bellis, has been in place since Art Basel Miami Beach in 2021 and applies to all Art Basel fairs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Miami Beach, with a new edition launching in Qatar. Starting in 2026, discounts will increase to 25% and 15% respectively.

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Archaeologists have identified ancient Egyptian iconography on a marble lintel in a Roman-era bathhouse at Sagalassos, Turkey. The carving depicts the sphinx god Tutu, flanked by two human figures wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, along with deities Horus and Sobek. Dating to the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE), the panel was found in the frigidarium and was sourced from marble quarried over 124 miles away in the Afyonkarahisar region.

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A team from the French National Center for Scientific Research has lifted 22 massive stone blocks from the Lighthouse of Alexandria from the seafloor, 30 years after the remains were first discovered in Egypt. The blocks include monumental door lintels, jambs weighing 70 to 80 tons, a threshold, large base slabs, and parts of a previously unknown pylon with an Egyptian-style door from the Hellenistic period. Each block will be scanned and studied to add to a digital collection of over 100 blocks already digitized, aiming to construct a virtual model of the lighthouse. The excavation was supervised by archaeologist Isabelle Hairy and conducted under the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, with support from La Fondation Dassault Systèmes and French documentary company GEDEON Programmes, which filmed the work for a 90-minute documentary.

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A group of high-profile art market veterans—Ed Dolman, Alex Dolman, Brett Gorvy, Philip Hoffman, and Patti Wong—have launched a new collaborative consultancy called New Perspectives Art Partners (NPAP). Unlike traditional advisory firms, NPAP operates on a flexible, project-based model where partners retain their existing roles and assemble only for high-level, specialized challenges. The consultancy aims to advise collectors, fiduciaries, and family offices on managing, growing, or dispersing significant collections, leveraging the partners' deep experience across auction houses, galleries, institutions, and advisory, with a global footprint spanning Hong Kong to Doha.

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Giulia Crețulescu creates fiber art from synthetic fabric sourced from a Ford automotive factory near her hometown of Craiova, Romania. Her work features geometric, torso-sized wall-mounted shapes with bondage-like straps and repurposed industrial seatbelts, blending found and handmade elements. After completing a PhD in graphic arts in Bucharest, she turned to sewing to resist the speed of digital design, producing non-functional, armor-like abstractions. Her recent exhibition at Fragment Gallery in New York showcased her unique approach, which also incorporates inspiration from motorcycle gear and medieval armor.

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Artist and editor Tod Lippy, stunned by Donald Trump's 2024 presidential election win, embarked on an obsessive two-day search for voters who had publicly supported Trump. Finding 50 individuals through op-eds and news interviews, Lippy—who had never painted before—created a series of portraits titled *My Fellow Americans*. The works debut as a site-specific installation at Independent New York. Over several months, Lippy painted nearly one portrait a day using acrylic gouache, immersing himself in the process and studying each subject's face in detail.

Exhibition explores connection between textiles and spirituality in Asia

The Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (Chat) in Hong Kong has opened the exhibition 'Threading Inwards,' which explores the deep connection between textiles and spirituality across Asia. The show features 14 artists from the region, working in media from painting to video, who use fabric and fiber to create portals, shrines, and installations that bridge the material and spiritual realms.

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Santina Semadar Panetta, a progenitor of Neo-Pointillism, recently exhibited her vibrant, brushstroke-driven works at Art Miami. In an interview with Artnet News, she discussed her debut at the fair, showing two key pieces—'Souls Connection' (2022) and 'Ciel et Terre' (2023)—chosen to reflect Miami's dual nature of boldness and introspection. She also described her practice as 'emotional architecture,' evolving to engage more deeply with classical art philosophy and contemporary themes like identity and the fluidity of time.

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An oil painting of Dr. John Beale Davidge, co-founder of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, was discovered at a shuttered Baltimore restaurant called Bertha's Mussels. The portrait, believed to date to 1844, was found by Carolyn Brownley while clearing the space for a foreclosure auction. It was purchased by Meg Fielding, director of the History of Maryland Medicine at MedChi, and donated to the Medical Alumni Association. The painting now hangs in Davidge Hall, the historic medical school building named after Davidge, which is currently under renovation until late 2026.

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A new exhibition at the Pompeii Archaeological Park, titled “Being a Woman in Ancient Pompeii,” aims to correct centuries of historical neglect by highlighting the lives of real women from the ancient city. Through frescoes, artifacts, inscriptions, and an interactive app, the show presents the stories of entrepreneurs, priestesses, innkeepers, artisans, sex workers, and slaves—including Clodia Nigella, a public pig-keeper; Faustilla, a pawnbroker; Asellina, a tavern owner who employed bar workers and sex workers; Julia Felix, an independent property owner who rented out her bathhouse; and Eumachia, a businesswoman. Co-curated by archaeologist Francesca Ghedini, the exhibition uses archaeological evidence to reconstruct the personalities and daily activities of these women, whose roles have long been obscured by male-dominated historical narratives.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Pope Leo XIV with a Ukrainian religious icon painted on a fragment of an artillery crate from the front lines in the Kharkiv region, following the Pope's inaugural Mass on May 18, 2025. Zelenskyy described the icon, depicting the Virgin Mary and child, as a symbol of life that must be protected, referencing children affected by Russia's invasion. The meeting in Vatican City also included discussions about peace talks, with the Pope offering to host negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

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Archaeologists have uncovered a series of remarkable discoveries at Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E. Recent finds include life-sized statues of a priestess and a man from a tomb, frescoes depicting Dionysian rituals and mythological scenes, an extravagantly decorated 'tiny house' called the House of Phaedra, and evidence of aspirational interior design. These artifacts, unearthed in suburban villas and tombs, range from a bejeweled priestess statue to children's gladiator doodles and ancient fast-food counters, revealing new details about daily life in the Roman Republic.

NYU Steinhardt Presents 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibitions

NYU Steinhardt's Department of Art and Art Professions is presenting its 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibitions in two parts at the 80WSE Gallery in Greenwich Village. The first exhibition, titled 'Hoodwinked,' runs from April 1 to April 18 and features works by Nicholas Koby, Richard Medina, Roselynn Sadaghiani, Mario Saponaro, and Brooke Schneider. The second, 'Eggshells,' runs from May 6 to May 23 and showcases artists Ariel Barish, Christopher Chan, Mélanie Dumas, Roxie de Là, and Fan Qi.

Take Your Practice Further in a Visual Arts Residency at Banff Centre

The Banff Centre is accepting applications for two thematic visual arts residencies in late 2026 and early 2027. The first, "On Other Archives," focuses on reinterpreting archival methods and will be led by artists Deanna Bowen and Krista Belle Stewart with curator Tarah Hogue. The second, "Future Figurations," explores speculative futures and world-building under the guidance of artists Rajni Perera and Marigold Santos.

Is There an Ethical Path for AI Art?

An exhibition at Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts, titled 'Imaging after Photography', presents work by seven contemporary artists who use artificial intelligence in ethically considered ways. The show argues we are in a post-photographic moment where AI disrupts the link between photorealism and reality, and features artists who train their algorithms on their own images or public domain datasets to avoid plagiarism.