aspen summer guide exhibition art fair

Aspen's summer 2025 art scene is packed with exhibitions and fairs. Highlights include a mini-survey of photographer Anastasia Samoylova at Casa Tua Aspen, a major Sherrie Levine retrospective at the Aspen Art Museum (June 6–Sept. 29), Enrique Martínez Celaya's 'The Pale Threshold' at Baldwin Gallery (June 20–July 20), the Intersect Aspen Art + Design Fair (July 29–Aug. 3) featuring Shepard Fairey and Michael Stipe, Anderson Ranch's Summer Series with talks by Issy Wood and Titus Kaphar, and the Aspen Art Fair (July 29–Aug. 2) at Hotel Jerome.

art collector tia tanna london young collectors

Tia Tanna, a 24-year-old London-based collector and curator who serves on Tate's photography acquisitions committee, discusses her collecting journey in an interview with Cultured. She began collecting with a Sterling Ruby ashtray and now actively builds a collection that includes Middle Eastern contemporary art, textiles, fashion photography, and couture. Her father sparked her interest by starting a collection on her behalf when she was a child, and she now manages around 70 loans for exhibitions.

jon neidich nightlife cool young collectors

Jon Neidich, a 43-year-old New York nightlife entrepreneur and collector who chairs the board of Creative Time, discusses his art collection in an interview. He shares that his first purchases were works from Robert Longo's "Men in the Cities" series and a Tracey Emin neon titled "Trust Yourself," which offered a wholesome counterpoint to his nightlife-focused world. Neidich credits his mother, Brooke Garber Neidich, a voracious collector of mid-century and contemporary artists, for teaching him to navigate the art world. He also recounts a hard-won acquisition of Victor Moscoso and Lee Conklin rock posters from Matthew Marks gallery, and highlights John Baldessari's "Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line" as a piece he often stares at.

mary ann unger berry campbell eve biddle interview

Berry Campbell gallery in New York is presenting "Across the Bering Strait," a comprehensive exhibition of the late sculptor Mary Ann Unger, featuring the full 34-part installation of the same name for the first time in the city. The show, on view through May 17, 2025, revives Unger's meditation on human migration and includes an interview with her daughter, artist Eve Biddle, who discusses growing up in a family of artists and her mother's legacy.

salman toor paintings luhring augustine

Salman Toor's largest exhibition to date, "Wish Maker," opened May 2 across Luhring Augustine's Chelsea and Tribeca galleries in New York. The Chelsea space features new paintings, while the Tribeca show is the artist's first dedicated presentation of works on paper. The two-venue presentation is Toor's first major New York showing since his solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2020, which launched him to art stardom. The article includes an interview conducted by CULTURED contributor Adam Eli, where Toor discusses his creative process, his attachment to finished paintings, and how his need to come out as queer through painting drove the development of his distinctive style.

OSCAR MURILLO: PAINTING AS A WELL OF ACCUMULATION

ÓSCAR MURILLO: LA PINTURA COMO POZO DE ACUMULACIÓN

The article profiles Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo and his expansive, socially-engaged practice. It details his rise to international prominence in the early 2010s with large-scale paintings that incorporate text, textiles, and studio detritus, and highlights his ongoing, collaborative project 'Frequencies,' which involves students from over thirty countries creating works on canvases attached to school desks. The piece also references his major solo exhibitions, including 'El pozo de agua' at kurimanzutto in Mexico City (2026), 'Masas' at WIELS in Brussels (2024), and 'The flooded garden' at Tate Modern (2024).

David Armstrong “Portraits” at Artists Space, New York

Artists Space in New York is presenting the first US survey of photographer David Armstrong (1954–2014), titled "Portraits." The exhibition brings together over 90 photographs that showcase Armstrong's experimental approach to portraiture, transforming landscapes, still lifes, and fashion imagery into explorations of intimacy, desire, and loss.

5 Must-See Exhibitions During Milan Art Week 2026

Milan Art Week 2026 features a robust program of institutional exhibitions alongside the miart and Paris Internationale Milano fairs. Key highlights include Cao Fei’s multimedia exploration of smart agriculture at Fondazione Prada, Anselm Kiefer’s monumental tribute to forgotten female alchemists at Palazzo Reale, and a major retrospective of Rirkrit Tiravanija’s architectural research at Pirelli HangarBicocca.

"A Radical Change": Art Brussels Reinvents Itself for Its Collectors

« Un changement radical » : Art Brussels se réinvente pour ses collectionneurs

Art Brussels, the Belgian art fair, is implementing a significant strategic overhaul for its 42nd edition. The fair is reducing its size by 18%, featuring 136 galleries, and consolidating into a more compact layout to prioritize visitor experience and quality over quantity. It is introducing a new artistic advisory desk to guide collectors and launching a curated section for monumental works.

Felix Art Fair Founder Mills Morán Steps Back From Gallery Duties

Mills Morán, cofounder of the Los Angeles gallery Morán Morán, is stepping away from its day-to-day operations to focus on Felix Art Fair, the fair he cofounded with his brother Al Morán and collector Dean Valentine in 2018. The fair, held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel alongside Frieze Los Angeles, has staged eight editions. Morán announced the decision in a statement shared with artists and colleagues, citing personal recalibration after nearly two decades in the art world and a desire to be more present for loved ones.

M+ in Hong Kong and Centre Pompidou in Paris Plan New Five-Year Partnership

M+ in Hong Kong and the Centre Pompidou in Paris have announced a new five-year partnership beginning next year. The agreement, announced at M+ on May 15, includes lending artworks for exhibitions, collaborative research and commissions, curator exchanges, and a four-year postdoctoral fellowship. A major exhibition focusing on visual culture in France and Greater China will debut at the Pompidou when it reopens in 2029 or 2030, then travel to M+.

‘You look at it and you just feel better’: this year’s Photoville festival highlights

The 15th annual Photoville festival in New York features over 90 photographic exhibits, ranging from whimsical subjects like cosmic-looking apples in "Old Apples" to hard-hitting reportage on wildfires, water access inequalities, and ICE's impact on communities. Notable exhibits include "Special Girls," showcasing 1990s photos of trans women from the Remsen Wolff archive, and "Point of View," pairing self-portraits by Dutch college students with Rijksmuseum artworks. Other highlights include Lexi Parra's "The Avillas," documenting a family after a matriarch's self-deportation, and "Puppies Behind Bars," a photo series on incarcerated men raising service dogs at Green Haven prison.

The Netherlands is confronting its history of Nazi occupation – but many stolen objects remain unreturned

Arthur Brand, a Dutch art detective, was contacted by a man who discovered that his family descended from Hendrik Seyffardt, a high-ranking Nazi collaborator, and that a painting looted from Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker remained in their possession. The painting, Toon Kelder's *Portrait of a Young Girl*, had hung in a relative's home near Utrecht for years. The family, who changed their name after WWII, handed the painting to Brand after the story broke in Dutch media, expressing shame and outrage over the silence surrounding their history.

Independent art fair makes the most of more spacious digs

The Independent art fair in New York has relocated from Spring Studios in Tribeca to Pier 36 on the East River, doubling its footprint while slightly reducing the number of exhibitors from 87 to 76. The move creates a more spacious, single-level layout with larger stands and improved circulation, allowing for more ambitious installations. Dealers report strong early collector turnout, with over a third of exhibitors presenting solo stands by artists showing in New York for the first time, including Omar Mismar and Julia Maiuri. Notable presentations include Charles Moffett’s revival of late textile artist Silvia Heyden, James Fuentes’s cross-generational downtown New York showcase, and a large-scale installation by Gretchen Bender.

'I get strong gut reactions': Jonathan Travis on what he collects and why

Jonathan Travis, a realtor and art collector who has helped drive the migration of New York galleries to Tribeca, discusses his collecting habits in an interview with The Art Newspaper. Travis, a partner at Redwood Property Group, has found Tribeca homes for around 40 galleries and co-founded the Wolf Hill artist residency in Chappaqua, New York, with Ethan Rafii. He shares details about his first purchase (a Nicole Eisenman painting), his most recent acquisition (a Masanori Tomita painting), and his strong gut reactions when buying art in person. He also mentions works in his collection by artists such as Sasha Gordon, Jenna Gribbon, and Arcmanoro Niles, and expresses excitement for the Salvador Dalí show at Di Donna and the May auctions.

At Independent, Joel Mesler’s ‘Death Wish’ Is Part Art Exhibit, Part Market Experiment

Joel Mesler, a former gallerist turned artist, is debuting a new series of figurative paintings titled “Interiors” at the Independent art fair under the deliberately strange name “Joel Mesler Presented by The Estate of Joel Mesler.” The project includes only 12 paintings, which will not be sold through a gallery sales team; only Mesler himself and his former dealer David Kordansky can sell the work. Mesler describes the presentation as part art exhibit, part controlled market experiment, reflecting his frustration with the contemporary art market's loss of intimacy and unpredictability.

Dinosaurs roam New York’s Bowery

Amanita gallery in New York’s Bowery is presenting a rare exhibition pairing a John Chamberlain sculpture, *Gondola Marianne Moore* (1982), with three full, mounted Maiasaura dinosaur skeletons from the Upper Cretaceous period. The fossils, which are 62% to 85% real bone, have never before been exhibited in New York, let alone in a commercial gallery. Amanita partner Jacob Hyman emphasizes the show is not a gimmick but a serious exploration of sculpture, compression, and time, linking Chamberlain’s crushed automobile-part gondolas to the natural preservation of fossils.

Frieze New York Diary: a charity sale and rogue underwear

Frieze New York is underway, with notable highlights including a provocative marble sculpture of underwear by Reza Aramesh at the Iranian gallery Dastan, representing the last garment removed before imprisonment. Meanwhile, collectors Susan and Michael Hort are hosting a charity sale at their Tribeca townhouse benefiting the Rema Hort Mann Fund, featuring a popular "Buy What You Love" section where $150 works on paper are sold anonymously. Actor Lucy Liu is also making waves with a new exhibition titled "Hard Feelings" at Alisan Fine Arts on the Upper East Side, showcasing deeply personal paintings about memory and family.

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Abstract Painter Who Refused to Conform, Dies at 84

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, an abstract painter known for her gestural, unruly works that defied categorization, died on Sunday in Mérida, Mexico, at age 84. Her galleries, Jenkins Johnson and Marianne Boesky, announced her passing. O’Neal produced sprawling paintings characterized by tangles of drippy strokes, often using lamp black pigment to create intensely black canvases. She rejected labels like Abstract Expressionist or Minimalist, insisting she was simply a painter. Her series "Whales Fucking" (1979) and a 2020 exhibition at Mnuchin Gallery revived her profile, leading to inclusion in the 2024 Whitney Biennial.

Tiny Cranach Painting That Vanished During WWII Returns to Dresden

A miniature portrait of Friedrich III (Frederick the Wise) by Lucas Cranach the Elder, missing since World War II, has been returned to the State Art Collections of Dresden, Germany. The painting was last documented in May 1945 in a limestone quarry shelter near Pockau-Lengefeld before vanishing. It resurfaced in 2024 when consigned to Parisian auction house Artcurial, whose provenance investigation revealed a matching inventory number from 1722–1728. The Dreyfus family in France, the modern owners, returned the work after negotiations and a financial agreement. It is now on view at the Coin Cabinet of the Royal Palace in a special exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of Friedrich III's death, and will later be permanently displayed in the Semper Gallery.

Authorship Dispute Erupts Over ‘Hair Dress’ at the Met’s Costume Institute

British artist Anouska Samms has publicly claimed that the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute exhibition "Costume Art" includes a dress, Corpus Nervina 0.0 (2023-24), that was based on her collaborative work with Israeli fashion designer Yoav Hadari. Samms alleges that she co-created the original "Hair Dress" with Hadari in 2023 while both were residents at the Sarabande Foundation, and that the Met initially sought to acquire that piece. After negotiations fell through, Hadari instead provided a similar garment attributed solely to him, prompting Samms to demand proper credit via Instagram posts and through her lawyer.

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.

Soft armour, pert nipples: how London design team made Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala breastplate

Kim Kardashian wore an orange fibreglass breastplate to the 2024 Met Gala, created by the east London design duo Whitaker Malem (Patrick Whitaker and Keir Malem) in collaboration with British pop artist Allen Jones. The breastplate was cast from a mould derived from Jones's 1969 sculpture "Hatstand," finished by car bodyshop MPS Body and Paint in Kent, and paired with a hand-painted leather skirt. Kardashian directly contacted the duo in early April, flew to the UK for fittings, and chose the piece to interpret the gala's "fashion is art" dress code, which explored the dressed and undressed human body.

‘I told his family he was HIV positive’: Keith Haring’s best friend on life with the artist as unseen works go on show

A collection of unseen Keith Haring works, including a crib he painted for his best friend's unborn child, is going on display at Sotheby's New York before being auctioned in May 2025. The collection belongs to Kermit Oswald, Haring's childhood friend, and features 20 works, with a 1985 self-portrait estimated at $3m-$5m and the crib valued at $250,000-$350,000. Oswald shares intimate stories of their friendship, from childhood pranks in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, to their move to New York to study at the School of Visual Arts, and Haring's later collaboration with William Burroughs.

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."

Alma Allen’s US Pavilion Is One of the Emptiest Shows at the Venice Biennale

Alma Allen represents the United States at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a subdued, apolitical exhibition inside the US Pavilion. The show features roughly 25 sculptures—mostly in bronze, wood, and stone—many titled "Not Yet Titled," and deliberately avoids overt political messaging. This marks a stark departure from the previous two US pavilions, curated by Simone Leigh (2022) and Jeffrey Gibson (2024), which directly confronted colonialism and empire. The Trump administration’s call for proposals explicitly asked for work that "reflects and promotes American values," and Allen’s presentation has been criticized as safe, unremarkable, and lacking the incisive edge of contemporary American art.

Artist Mel Kendrick Is Mining New Possibilities From Wood and Color

American artist Mel Kendrick, who began his career in the early 1970s integrating Minimalism and architecture, presents his ninth solo exhibition at David Nolan Gallery in New York. Titled “Mel Kendrick: Tilt,” the show runs through June 6, 2026, and features new and recent wood sculptures alongside older works, including pieces like *Walnut Shelf* (2026), *Gemstone* (2026), and *Yellow Drum* (2025). Kendrick works without pre-planning, allowing the material to guide his process, and treats color as a material with its own weight, inspired by Gothic and medieval architecture.

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.

Isabel Nolan’s Work Challenges Everything We Think We Know About Creativity

Artist Isabel Nolan recently discovered she has aphantasia, a rare neurological condition that prevents her from visualizing mental images. Despite this, Nolan has built a successful career creating abstract sculptures, drawings, and tapestries, and her work is featured in the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Her exhibition, "Dreamshook," explores themes of imagination versus reality and draws inspiration from late medieval history and the printer Aldo Manuzio.

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.