Artist Lucy Raven has completed her film trilogy, "The Drumfire," with the release of Murderers Bar (2025). The 42-minute film documents the historic removal of four dams along the Klamath River, capturing the dramatic release of water and the restoration of a river system flowing from Oregon through Northern California. The work is currently on view at the Power Plant in Toronto and is scheduled to travel to the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston in May.
Artnet News profiles eight Gulf artists who are shaping the region's cultural renaissance, including Mohammad Alfaraj and Dana Awartani. The article highlights their growing international recognition, with Alfaraj winning Art Basel Emerging Artist and Gold Awards in 2025 and Awartani exhibiting at the 2024 Venice Biennale. It notes the expansion of major art fairs like Art Basel and Frieze into the Gulf, alongside new homegrown initiatives such as the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale and Rubaiya Qatar.
Charisse Pearlina Weston, a rising artist known for transforming industrial materials like shattered glass and concrete into harmonious abstract works, is the subject of a profile highlighting her rapid ascent. Her first solo exhibition with Jack Shainman Gallery, titled "Mis-/Mé- (Squeeze)," opened in New York's Chelsea and runs through December 20, 2025. Weston, who gained attention with a solo presentation at Patron gallery during Frieze New York 2024, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in April 2025 and has an installation at the Cecilia Alemani-curated SITE Santa Fe International. She will also have dual representation at Art Basel Miami Beach next month.
Gabriel Chaile's adobe sculptures are currently on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York, as part of a world tour that has seen his work exhibited across multiple continents. The artist, who draws inspiration from pre-Columbian communities in northwest Argentina, creates towering, creature-like forms coated in adobe that leave dust everywhere during installation. His career has expanded rapidly since his inclusion in Cecilia Alemani's 2022 Venice Biennale, with recent commissions in Montana, Uruguay, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Berlin, and an upcoming participation in the Biennale of Sydney.
London-based nonprofit Yan Du Project (YDP) has appointed Billy Tang as its artistic director, effective this month, ahead of the opening of its new home in a Grade I-listed townhouse on Bedford Square this October. Tang, who was born in London to Vietnamese refugee parents, returns to the city after serving as executive director and curator at Para Site in Hong Kong, and previously held curatorial roles at Magician Space in Beijing and Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai. YDP is the second nonprofit founded by ARTnews Top 200 Collector Yan Du, following the Asymmetry Foundation launched in 2019.
Leah Ke Yi Zheng, a Chinese-born artist who initially pursued law and business before committing to art, is gaining significant recognition. She opened her second solo exhibition with Mendes Wood DM in New York in January and is preparing upcoming shows in Vienna and at the Renaissance Society in Chicago. Zheng's paintings use Chinese silk on custom wooden stretchers, often irregularly shaped, blending traditional Chinese materials with Western avant-garde formal provocations. Her work explores themes of spirituality and interrupts the data-saturated modern experience, often depicting mechanical devices like fusees from antique clocks or abstract compositions inspired by the I Ching.
Taiwanese artist Li Chen is the subject of a major solo exhibition at Asia Art Center in Beijing, titled “Heavenly Realm, Mortal World: Spiritual Journey through the Mundane World—Li Chen Ink-Black Sculpture 2020–2023,” on view through June 8, 2025. The show features smaller-scale works rendered in Ink-Black, contrasting transcendent heavenly realms with the complexities of the mortal world, and marks Li Chen's first solo show in Beijing in six years.
Austrian art dealer Thaddaeus Ropac is opening a new gallery in Milan, his seventh location, despite initial concerns over Italy's high value-added tax (VAT) on art, which was Europe's highest at 22 percent. The Italian government slashed the VAT to 5 percent in June after pressure from art market players, making it the lowest in the EU. The gallery, spanning over 3,000 square feet in the 18th-century Palazzo Belgioioso, opens on September 20 with a show featuring Georg Baselitz and Lucio Fontana, followed by exhibitions of Valie Export and Ketty La Rocca. Elena Bonanno di Linguaglossa will serve as executive director.
Brooklyn-based painter Shara Hughes is entering a major career phase with a series of high-profile exhibitions and commissions. In September 2025, her first New York solo show since 2019, “Weather Report,” opens at David Kordansky Gallery, featuring nine large-scale paintings. Two months later, a mid-career survey titled “Shara Hughes: Inside Outside” debuts at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, including both paintings and ceramics. Next year, she will unveil a large-scale mosaic floor installation at JFK International Airport’s Terminal 6, alongside works by Charline von Heyl and Candida Alvarez. The article includes an interview with Hughes, who discusses her studio routine, creative process, and the emotional depth behind her psychedelic landscapes.
On March 16, 2026, e-flux Screening Room presented “Viscosities,” a program of moving-image works by artist Lucy Beech, followed by a conversation between Beech, Lukas Brasiskis, and the audience. The discussion, edited for publication, explores Beech's concepts of accumulation and viscosity, drawing from Trisha Brown's 1971 performance *Accumulation* to describe how her work builds complex sequences through additive materials. Beech discusses her film *Flush*, which examines freemartin cows studied by eugenics-linked scientists, and its connection to endocrinology and IVF. She also addresses her reuse of materials, collaboration with James Richards on *A Map of the Pit*, and her film *Out of Body*, which uses imaging technologies to trace hidden industrial and biological flows, including urine-derived hormones from the Dutch program Moeders voor Moeders.
Pace Prints is expanding its operations to Los Angeles, with plans to open a new production facility and small gallery space this fall. Unlike a standard gallery expansion, the Hollywood location will prioritize providing West Coast artists with a dedicated environment for long-term experimentation in printmaking. The move coincides with the publisher's debut at Frieze Los Angeles, featuring a roster of local and international artists including Jonas Wood and Hilary Pecis.
LA Louver, one of Los Angeles's longest-running galleries, is closing its physical space in Venice, California, after 50 years and shifting to private dealing. The gallery, founded in 1975 by Peter and Elizabeth Goulds, has shown artists including Marcel Duchamp, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, and Doris Salcedo, mounting over 660 exhibitions. The Venice space will host select exhibitions by appointment, while the gallery will focus activities on a private warehouse in LA's West Adams neighborhood. The Huntington library, museum, and botanical garden will receive LA Louver's archive of photography, correspondence, and documents.
Adam Lindemann, a collector-turned-dealer, announced he will close Venus Over Manhattan, the New York gallery he founded 14 years ago. The gallery's final exhibition, a solo show for painter Susumu Kamijo, will run until July 18. Lindemann revealed the decision in an opinion piece for Artnet News, citing the challenges of straddling the roles of collector and dealer, as well as the politics of art fairs. He plans to return to collecting full-time.
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is presenting the first UK exhibition dedicated to Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. Titled 'Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art,' the show features over 400 objects, including 100 ensembles, and traces her work from the 1920s to the present under current creative director Daniel Roseberry. It highlights her collaborations with major 20th-century artists.
On Curating Carnage
The Berlin-based art journal *OnCurating* published a September 2025 issue titled "Let’s Talk About… Anti-Democratic, Anti-Queer, Misogynist, Antisemitic, Right-Wing Spaces and Their Counter-Movements." The article critiques this publication, arguing it uses the language of feminism, anti-racism, and anti-Semitism as a political tool to unconditionally support Israel and demonize the Palestinian cause, thereby aligning with German state policy and a specific strain of leftist thought known as Antideutsch.
TONO, the time-based art festival, has announced its 2026 lineup, running March 6–22 across Mexico City and Puebla. The program includes video installations, performance commissions, music events, and screenings at venues such as Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Casa del Lago UNAM, Museo Jumex, Museo de Arte Moderno, and Museo Amparo. Featured artists include Tino Sehgal, Space Afrika, Franziska Aigner, Kelman Duran, Ho Tzu Nyen, Avantgardo, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Melanie Smith. International collaborations bring dance works via 99 Canal and Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, and a joint evening with Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie. The festival is also co-producing Camille Henrot’s exhibition Água Viva at São Paulo’s Instituto Bardi.
The 2026 Venice Biennale is embroiled in controversy, with the US Pavilion at the center of a political storm. The Trump administration's State Department overhauled the selection process, bypassing the usual NEA panel and commissioning a nonprofit, the American Arts Conservancy, to organize the pavilion. Artist Alma Allen, who accepted the invitation despite threats from galleries and curators, presents a show that critics find politically muted. The Biennale's jury resigned days before the opening, and annual prizes were canceled, adding to the turmoil.
A hand-signed offset lithograph poster by Ed Ruscha, created for the 2012 "Reading Ruscha" exhibition at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, is available for sale. The poster features an iconic 1971 photograph of the artist by Jerry McMillan and is noted for its rarity, with Ruscha having signed fewer than 50 copies for the institution.
The Los Angeles art scene is preparing for a major surge of activity anchored by the return of Frieze Los Angeles to the Santa Monica Airport from February 26 to March 1. The week features a dense schedule of satellite fairs including the inaugural West Coast edition of Indianapolis’s Butter Fine Art Fair, the boutique Post-Fair in a historic Art Deco post office, and the poolside Felix Art Fair at the Hollywood Roosevelt. Major gallery presentations include James Turrell at Pace, Sam Gilliam at David Kordansky, and a high-profile opening for Christina Quarles at Hauser & Wirth.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) celebrated the opening of its new David Geffen Galleries with a star-studded gala that raised nearly $11.5 million. The event brought together architect Peter Zumthor, museum director Michael Govan, and a high-profile mix of Hollywood celebrities, artists, and major donors. The $720 million building, Zumthor's first major project in the United States, marks the culmination of a decades-long development process and is set to open to the public next week.
Gagosian is set to expand its footprint at 980 Madison Avenue by opening a new ground-floor gallery space on April 25, 2026. The inaugural exhibition features a landmark presentation of Marcel Duchamp’s iconic readymades, including "Fountain" and "Bicycle Wheel." This selection specifically highlights the 1964 editions produced with Arturo Schwarz, returning these works to the exact building where they made their American debut at the Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery over sixty years ago.
Michael Armitage is the subject of a major solo retrospective at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, marking his largest exhibition in Europe to date. Organized by the Pinault Collection, the show features monumental paintings that blend African identity, local Kenyan chronicles, and mythological narratives. Armitage’s work is noted for its physical scale and its ability to transform the chaos of human affairs into a syncretic epic, utilizing traditional materials like Lubugo bark cloth to ground his contemporary subjects.
Joan Mitchell’s diptych "La Grande Vallée VII" sold for HK$137 million (US$17.6 million) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, setting a new record for the most expensive work by a female artist ever sold at auction in Asia. The 1983 masterpiece, part of a celebrated 21-painting cycle dedicated to a grieving friend, led a successful Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction that saw a 100% sell-through rate for its 54 lots. Other notable results included a Mark Rothko canvas that more than doubled its low estimate and significant sales for works by Sanyu and Zao Wou-Ki.
Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 opened with a renewed sense of optimism, featuring 240 galleries and a significant emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. The VIP preview saw a surge in attendance primarily from regional collectors across mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, signaling a robust recovery for the local market. While international travel remains a factor, the fair's success is increasingly driven by a localized ecosystem of younger collectors and long-term public investments in cultural infrastructure like the M+ museum.
The Portland Art Museum (PAM), the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest, has recently completed a significant 100,000-square-foot expansion to enhance its public and gallery spaces. The museum's diverse collection of over 50,000 objects is particularly noted for its holdings in Native American art, English silver, and graphic arts. Current highlights include the Joe and Shelley Voboril Gallery’s focus on Plains regional works and the 'Conductions: Black Imaginings II' series of in-gallery activations.
London's spring art season is anchored by several major institutional surveys, most notably Tracey Emin’s comprehensive exhibition "A Second Life" at Tate Modern. Other significant showcases include Hurvin Anderson’s exploration of Caribbean diaspora at Tate Britain, David Hockney’s new works at Serpentine North, and Cecily Brown’s long-awaited institutional homecoming at Serpentine South. The season also features diverse media, from Chiharu Shiota’s immersive yarn installations at the Hayward Gallery to Isaac Julien’s filmic explorations at the Cosmic House.
Chicago's cultural institutions are preparing a diverse slate of exhibitions and openings for 2026. Highlights include the Art Institute of Chicago presenting Henri Matisse's complete 'Jazz' book of cutouts for the first time, a survey of Dominican artist Firelei Báez at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the National Museum of Mexican Art exploring the history of Mexican railroad workers, and a costume design exhibition featuring Paul Tazewell's work at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. The year also features the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center and a Barbara Nessim survey at the DePaul Art Museum.
Los Angeles is set for a major year in visual arts in 2026, with 22 notable exhibitions and events planned across the city. Highlights include the opening of the world’s first AI arts museum (Dataland), the long-awaited Lucas Museum, Yoko Ono’s first solo show in L.A., and the LA Art Show featuring Sylvester Stallone’s abstract works and a new Latin American Pavilion. Other exhibitions include a Selena retrospective at the Grammy Museum and a video art survey at the historic Variety Arts Theater.
Sotheby's held its debut evening sale at the Breuer building in New York on November 18, achieving a record-breaking $706 million total. The highlight was the white-glove auction of Leonard A. Lauder's collection of 20th-century masterpieces, which alone brought $527.5 million. Gustav Klimt's portrait *Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer* (1914-16) sold for $236.4 million, setting a new record for the artist and for Sotheby's Modern category. The evening also included a strong Contemporary sale led by Maurizio Cattelan's golden toilet at $12.1 million, with active bidding from Asian collectors.
This episode of "A brush with…" podcast features an in-depth conversation with artist Christopher Wool, who discusses his career spanning painting, photography, and sculpture. Wool reflects on early influences including the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Dan Flavin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dieter Roth, and Toni Morrison's novel *The Bluest Eye*, which inspired one of his text paintings. He also explains the title of his recent exhibition "See Stop Run" and how jazz has consistently inspired his work. The podcast is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, which highlights museums that have shown Wool's work, including the Guggenheim, MoCA Los Angeles, and SFMOMA.