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Tilton Gallery, a fixture of New York’s Upper East Side for over 40 years, has announced it will close its physical space following an upcoming Ruth Vollmer exhibition to focus on private projects. The week also saw significant leadership shifts, including Lisa Phillips announcing her retirement as director of the New Museum after 26 years, and Ebony L. Haynes being promoted to the newly created role of global head of curatorial projects at David Zwirner. Meanwhile, legal tensions surfaced as a court dismissed Ronald Perelman’s $400 million insurance lawsuit regarding fire damage to his art collection.

Thomas J Price, Artist Behind Viral Times Square Sculpture, Unveils New Bronze in London

Thomas J Price, Artist Behind Viral Times Square Sculpture, Unveils New Bronze in London

Thomas J Price has unveiled a monumental new bronze sculpture, *A Place Beyond*, at the entrance to the V&A East museum in London. The 18-foot-tall figure, his tallest work to date, depicts a young Black woman in contemporary clothing holding a cell phone, created from a composite of many individuals rather than a single model. The sculpture will greet visitors when the new museum branch opens next month.

The story behind Iran’s only Van Gogh: ‘At Eternity’s Gate'

A rare, inscribed lithograph by Vincent van Gogh, 'At Eternity's Gate,' resides in the collection of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. The work, one of only seven surviving examples, was acquired in 1975 by Farah Pahlavi, the wife of the Shah of Iran, for the museum. It passed through notable hands, including those of US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, before arriving in Tehran just before the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

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Guest columnist John Chiaverina reports from the opening of the 2026 Whitney Biennial, capturing the shifting moods of the New York art scene. Through interviews with participating artists like Maddie Biven of the collective kekahi wahi and veteran performer Pat Oleszko, the piece explores a tension between the desire for exuberant, risk-taking aesthetics and a perceived lack of political urgency among younger generations.

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Gagosian is set to present a solo exhibition of Nam June Paik’s work in Seoul, marking the first time in 25 years that a show in the artist’s home country has been organized in collaboration with his estate. Titled "Nam June Paik: Rewind / Repeat," the exhibition will be held at the APMA Cabinet and features approximately a dozen works, including rare early pieces from the 1960s such as "Media Sandwich" and the iconic "TV Bra for Living Sculpture."

Hiba Schahbaz: The Garden

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Hiba Schahbaz is the subject of her first major museum retrospective, "The Garden," at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. Curated by Jasmine Wahi, the exhibition features 80 works spanning 15 years, tracing the artist's evolution from traditional Indo-Persian miniature painting in Lahore to her current large-scale practice in Brooklyn. The show highlights her recurring use of the female nude—often a stylized self-portrait—navigating mystical landscapes filled with Sufi poetry, mythical creatures, and art historical references.

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Art Basel Qatar has launched its inaugural edition in Doha, marking a significant expansion of the Swiss fair brand into the Middle East. The event features 87 exhibitors in a unique, booth-less format spread across the M7 and Doha Design District, departing from traditional trade fair aesthetics in favor of a curated, biennial-style presentation. While the opening VIP day saw strong attendance from regional collectors and major international galleries like Hauser & Wirth, the atmosphere was tempered by light initial sales and significant regional geopolitical tensions.

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Conceptual artist Anicka Yi has joined Pace Gallery, where she will be represented in partnership with Gladstone Gallery, 47 Canal, and Esther Schipper. Known for her research-heavy practice that utilizes scents, bacteria, and robotics, Yi cited Pace CEO Marc Glimcher’s background in biology and the gallery's history with light and space pioneers as primary reasons for the move. Her work will be featured in the New Museum’s upcoming expansion inaugural exhibition, "New Humans: Memories of the Future."

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Olivia Barrett, co-founder of the Los Angeles gallery Château Shatto, is pivoting her business strategy to navigate a cooling art market and a post-boom landscape in Southern California. After moving to the Melrose Hill art corridor, Barrett is shifting away from the high-velocity art fair model to focus on a more curated, historical program. This includes integrating 20th-century estates and secondary-market works from artists like Alice Rahon and Emily Kam Kngwarray alongside contemporary voices like Aria Dean.

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Artist Amy Sherald has been named one of TIME magazine’s 2026 Women of the Year, a distinction honoring her leadership and commitment to equity. The recognition follows Sherald's high-profile decision to withdraw her solo exhibition, "American Sublime," from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., after the institution attempted to censor or alter the presentation of her painting 'Trans Forming Liberty' (2024) due to political pressure. The Baltimore Museum of Art subsequently stepped in to host the show, where it has since shattered all-time attendance records for the institution.

Nan Goldin: Why The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is So Important

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Gagosian London is hosting an exhibition of all 126 photographs from Nan Goldin’s seminal work, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency," to mark the 40th anniversary of the photobook's publication. The exhibition traces the evolution of the project from its origins as a DIY slideshow performance in New York nightclubs to its status as a cornerstone of contemporary photography, featuring intimate portraits of Goldin’s inner circle across New York, Berlin, and beyond.

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Frieze Los Angeles returns to a city landscape significantly altered by both commercial development and recent environmental tragedy. While blue-chip galleries like David Zwirner, Marian Goodman, and Lisson have established new strongholds in districts like Melrose Hill and Hollywood, the local community is simultaneously reeling from devastating January wildfires that displaced numerous artists and collectors. This guide provides a strategic roadmap for navigating the sprawling city's geography, highlighting key exhibitions such as Bruce Nauman at Marian Goodman and a 90-artist benefit show for fire victims.

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ART SG concluded its 2026 edition at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands with steady sales and a reported attendance of 43,000 visitors. While the fair lacked the million-dollar trophy sales seen in previous years, blue-chip galleries like Thaddaeus Ropac and White Cube reported significant transactions, including a £475,000 Raqib Shaw painting and a sell-out presentation of Lee Bae works by Johyun Gallery totaling $2.76 million. The event also featured a strategic partnership with S.E.A. Focus, integrating the boutique fair into the main hall to highlight regional talent.

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The commercial market for performance art is undergoing a significant shift in value and sophistication. While performance has been sellable for decades through archival editions and documentation—a model pioneered by figures like Marina Abramović and dealer Sean Kelly—newer methods include oral contracts for 'live' works and high-stakes secondary market sales. Recent examples, such as Hauser & Wirth offering a Felix Gonzalez-Torres performance piece with an eight-figure price tag, signal that the medium is moving from a niche interest into a high-value asset class.

Paint Drippings: Art Industry News February 23

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This week’s art industry roundup highlights major shifts across the global market, including Art Basel’s announcement of 290 galleries for its flagship Swiss fair and Sotheby’s adjustment of its buyer’s premium rates. Significant personnel moves include Devyani Saltzman’s abrupt departure from the Barbican, which sparked an open letter from over 170 cultural figures, and Anne-Claire Legendre becoming the first woman to lead Paris’s Arab World Institute.

ADAA Art Show 2016 Review

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The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) kicked off Armory Week with its 2016 edition of The Art Show at the Park Avenue Armory. The fair is characterized by a high concentration of solo-artist presentations, featuring a diverse range of works including Milton Avery's paintings, Jasmin Sian's intricate paper deli bags, and Deborah Butterfield's bronze horse sculptures. Notable highlights include Maria Elena González’s player piano rolls based on birch bark patterns and a strong showing of female artists like Gillian Wearing and Mary Bauermeister.

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Gagosian Gallery will open a new exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein's work titled "Painting with Scattered Brushstrokes" in March 2026. The show, drawing exclusively from the Lichtenstein family collection, will feature paintings, sculpture, and works on paper from the 1970s and '80s, focusing on his recurring brushstroke motif. It coincides with a major retrospective at the Whitney Museum and follows a period of intense market activity for the artist's work.

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Auction house Bonhams has opened a new 42,000-square-foot flagship headquarters in New York's Steinway Hall, launching a month of exhibitions and sales. The Philadelphia Museum of Art appointed Katherine Anne Paul as its new curator of Indian and Himalayan Art, while the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) awarded its Fund for Black Art Acquisition Prize to Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid, acquiring her painting "Horn Seller." Several galleries announced new artist representations, including Bortolami with Nathlie Provosty and Deborah Schamoni with Mariann Metsis, and auction house Freeman's appointed two senior executives.

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Painter Louis Fratino has joined the mega-gallery David Zwirner, adding the powerhouse to his existing representation by Berlin's Galerie Neu and New York's Sikkema Malloy Jenkins. This multi-gallery arrangement is a departure from the typical practice of artists severing ties with smaller galleries when aligning with a global giant.

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Museums across the United States are presenting a series of major exhibitions featuring Black artists in conjunction with Black History Month. Highlights include the final stop of Noah Davis's first museum show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a major retrospective of self-taught artist Minnie Evans at Atlanta's High Museum, a thematic group show of Black women artists at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, a long-overdue South Carolina retrospective for 92-year-old artist Leo Twiggs at the Gibbes Museum, and a survey of Tavares Strachan's work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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Gabi Vidal-Irizarry, a guest writer for Artnet News's Wet Paint gossip column, recounts attending an "Artist Party" at the Museum of Modern Art featuring Arthur Jafa. The column then pivots to a profile of Jim Toth, the audio engineer behind the distinctive white pyramid speakers ubiquitous at New York art world events, tracing his career from the city's legendary 1980s nightlife scene to becoming the preferred sound provider for museums and elite patrons.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art has partnered with Lego to release a $249.99 building set recreating Claude Monet's 1899 painting 'Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies.' The kit, containing 3,179 pieces, is the most expensive in Lego's Art series and launches March 4. The museum is also releasing a podcast hosted by curator Alison Hokanson to accompany the set.

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A nationwide general strike, called for Friday, January 30, 2026, in protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minneapolis, has prompted numerous art galleries and organizations to close their doors. Major commercial galleries like Gagosian, David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth, and Pace Gallery, alongside institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and the Drawing Center, are participating in the shutdown.

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Newly released documents from the Department of Justice reveal that the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was deeply involved in facilitating major art transactions between mega-collector Leon Black and Gagosian gallery. The files detail Epstein's personal communications with Black's lawyers regarding the acquisition of Pablo Picasso's 1931 sculpture *Buste de Femme (Marie-Thérèse)*, a work that was the subject of a legal dispute before Black acquired it for over $115 million. Epstein also assisted in a complex $48 million swap of a Rothko painting for a Picasso through Gagosian in 2012.

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Singapore's Art SG fair featured a new pavilion called South Asian Insights, backed by India's TVS Motor Company, showcasing contemporary art from South Asia. The pavilion, which included eight galleries and featured a tapestry by Raqib Shaw sold to a Japanese collector, was crowded and highlighted the rising market for South Asian art.

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Art Basel has launched its first edition in Doha, Qatar, with a deliberately small and tightly controlled format. The fair features only 87 galleries, all required to mount solo presentations, with strict limits on booth size, power sources, and rehanging of works. This creates a slower, calmer atmosphere distinct from its larger, more chaotic sister fairs in Miami and Paris.

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A significant number of New York art galleries, including major players like Pace Gallery, David Zwirner, and Marian Goodman, will close on January 30 to join a nationwide general strike protesting expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. The strike is a response to allegations of federal overreach, including the use of deadly force against protestors and the detention of Native Americans, which have fueled widespread outrage.

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A 51-page document released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files appears to catalog the extensive private art collection of billionaire collector and former MoMA board chair Leon Black. The document, which lists works by masters from Michelangelo to Picasso under corporate entities linked to Black, reveals valuations and details of a collection largely kept from public view, including works held as promised gifts to major museums like MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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The Asia-Pacific art scene saw significant activity across multiple sectors. Art SG reported increased attendance and sales, while the SAM Art SG Fund acquired works for the Singapore Art Museum. JD.com announced plans for a major new museum in Shenzhen, and several appointments and award winners were named across the region. Auction houses Bonhams Hong Kong and Sotheby's Singapore posted strong sales results, with the latter setting new artist records.

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Artnet News lists 10 immersive installation artworks that are creepy enough to double as haunted houses for Halloween. Featured works include Alex Da Corte's "Die Hexe" (2015) at Luxembourg & Dayan, which transformed a townhouse into a ghostly dollhouse with a morgue; Mike Kelley's "Exploded Fortress of Solitude" (2011) at Hauser & Wirth, a sculptural interpretation of Superman's lair; Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe's "Scenario in the Shade" at Red Bull Studios, a dystopian arts festival installation; Tobias Rehberger's "Bar Oppenheimer" (2013) at Hotel Americano, featuring disorienting dazzle camouflage patterns; and Puppies Puppies' "Gollum" at Queer Thoughts, where an actor in a Gollum mask performs live.