After a turbulent period of reorganisation, the 18th Istanbul Biennial favours futurity over futility

The 18th Istanbul Biennial, titled "The Three-Legged Cat," has opened after a turbulent period of reorganization. Curated by Christine Tohmé, the biennial unfolds over three years instead of the usual two, featuring 47 artists—only six from Turkey, with many from the Middle East. The exhibition spans eight venues, including a former cone factory and a French orphanage, and includes works such as Naomi Rincón-Gallardo's video installation on opossum resilience and Khalil Rabah's site-specific intervention with oil barrels and saplings. The biennial's budget was raised from €2m to €6.5m, mostly funded by Koç Holdings, following controversy over the initial appointment of curator Defne Ayas, which was rejected by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), leading to Tohmé's eventual selection.

Backed by an Expanding Collector Base, Old Masters Make a Quiet Comeback

Christie's London Classic Week generated a combined total of £60,844,240 ($83,660,830) between its Old Masters Evening Sale and The Exceptional Sale, led by a record-setting £31.9 million sale of a Canaletto masterpiece. The painting, once part of Sir Robert Walpole's collection, attracted five bidders from Asia, Europe, and North America. Sotheby's also saw strong results, with the two houses together achieving £58 million (excluding buyer's premium) in Old Masters evening auctions, a notable increase from 2024. Other highlights included Titian's Portrait of a nobleman, seated before a window selling for £3,428,000 and Jan Davidsz de Heem's still life achieving £3,670,000.

Farhad Moshiri In the Raha Gallery Collection

Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri passed away on July 17, 2024, at age 61. A pioneering figure in Middle Eastern contemporary art, Moshiri made history as the first artist from the region to sell a work at auction for over one million USD, achieving this milestone twice—first with "Love" at Bonhams Dubai in 2008 and later with "Secret Garden" at Christie's Dubai in 2013. The article highlights his work "Toothpicker" (2008), now part of the Raha Gallery Collection, which was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London in 2010 and sold at Christie's Middle East in 2014. Moshiri's practice combined pop art, kitsch, and precious materials like crystals and glitter, earning him a solo exhibition at the Andy Warhol Museum in 2017.

Baltimore-based artist Linling Lu on weaving color, culture, and music into her work

Baltimore-based artist Linling Lu, who trained as a classical pianist in southern China, discusses her work *Circle Dance* on view at the Frary Gallery in the Hopkins Bloomberg Center. The metal print features ten concentric orbs inspired by circle dances, geometry, and Renaissance tondos. Lu explains how her background in music informs her visual art, comparing color to a musical element and citing influences from Henri Matisse, Stravinsky, and tribal Miao circle dances. She also previews her upcoming solo exhibition *Fugue in 3 Voices* at Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum, which will respond to compositions by Dvořák, Stravinsky, and Beethoven.

Right bank, Left bank: A walk through the sites of “Black Paris”

The article explores the sites of "Black Paris" through a walking tour of locations significant to Black artists and musicians in postwar Paris. It highlights jazz clubs like the Blue Note and Chez Haynes, galleries such as Galerie Huit and Galerie Intemporel, and museums including the Louvre and the Musée de l'Homme, where artists like Gordon Parks, Herbert Gentry, Bob Thompson, and Ernest Mancova found inspiration and community. The tour also examines the film "Harlem-sur-Seine" and the exhibition "Paris Noir," which document these cultural hubs.

Why this WA artist has gained so much acclaim

Joe Feddersen, a 71-year-old artist and member of the Colville Confederated Tribes, has gained widespread acclaim for his prints, paintings, weavings, glass sculptures, ceramics, photography, and digital imagery. His work draws on the Plateau pictorial style and ancient petroglyphs, blending traditional Indigenous motifs with contemporary icons like chain-link fences and high-voltage towers. A traveling retrospective, a new book titled "Earth, Water, Sky," and a 2024 Governor's Arts & Heritage Award mark a particularly busy period, culminating in the exhibition "Past/Present" at studio e gallery in Seattle. Feddersen also addresses painful history, such as the 2021 discovery of unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, through works covered with skull outlines.

Martin Wong’s Brick Monument to Popeye

Hyperallergic reviews Martin Wong's posthumous exhibition "Popeye" at PPOW gallery, featuring six motorized plywood panels that reimagine the cartoon character Popeye as curving brickwork. The show includes smaller works like "Sacred Shroud of Pepe Turcel" (1989–90) and paintings of vintage cartoon characters Mutt and Jeff, Little Lulu and Tubby, all rendered in Wong's signature brick style. The review highlights Wong's queer, magpie sensibility and his ability to cross boundaries between high and low culture.

È morto Bruno Bischofberger, il gallerista e collezionista svizzero che fece lavorare assieme Warhol e Basquiat

Bruno Bischofberger, the influential Swiss gallerist and collector, has died at age 86. A pivotal figure in the contemporary art market, he opened his first gallery in Zurich in 1963 and was instrumental in introducing American Pop Art to Europe, exhibiting Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg. He later championed Minimalism, Land Art, and Neo-Expressionism, representing artists like Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, and Francesco Clemente. Most famously, Bischofberger discovered Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1981 and orchestrated the legendary collaboration between Warhol, Basquiat, and Clemente. His close relationship with Warhol included a first-refusal agreement on future works and the suggestion of standardized portrait commissions that became Warhol's primary income source.

Casa Batlló to open second-floor contemporary art gallery

Casa Batlló in Barcelona will open its second floor as a contemporary art gallery starting January 2026. The space, previously used as apartments, offices, and a maintenance workshop, has been redesigned by Barcelona-based studio Mesura with a curved metal ceiling echoing Gaudí’s forms, while preserving original woodwork and stained glass. The gallery extends the Casa Batlló Contemporary program, which commissions artists for two exhibitions per year, accessible with general admission or a standalone ticket.

‘The Queen of the Ghetto’ Gave New York’s Immigrant Community a Voice. A Century Later, It’s Re-emerging

Anzia Yezierska, a Polish-Jewish immigrant who arrived in New York in 1890, defied traditional gender expectations to become a leading literary voice of the 1920s. Dubbed the 'Queen of the Ghetto,' she documented the raw struggles of immigrant women on the Lower East Side using a unique 'immigrant English' style that captured Yiddish idioms. After escaping a restrictive marriage and pursuing an education at Columbia University, she channeled her personal frustrations into stories of poverty, ambition, and the psychological toll of assimilation.

Mei Lanfang Was Famous for His Masterful Performances as Female Leads. In the 1930s, He Introduced American Audiences to the World of Chinese Opera

Mei Lanfang Was Famous for His Masterful Performances as Female Leads. In the 1930s, He Introduced American Audiences to the World of Chinese Opera

Mei Lanfang, one of China's most celebrated Peking opera stars famed for his masterful performances of female *dan* roles, embarked on a groundbreaking seven-month tour of the United States in 1930. His performances, which introduced American audiences to the elaborate art of Chinese opera for the first time, were met with critical acclaim and packed houses, earning him honorary doctorates from American universities and adulation from both Chinese American communities and the wider public.

Arles Drawing Festival: What Not to Miss at This Fourth Edition

Festival du dessin d’Arles : ce qu’il ne faut surtout pas rater pour cette quatrième édition

The fourth edition of the Arles Drawing Festival has opened, featuring over forty exhibitions across the city. The highlights include two major private drawing collections being publicly presented: Marin Karmitz's collection, displayed at the Sainte-Anne church under the title "Et la vie continue…", and the Collezione Ramo from Milan, showcased at the Museon Arlaten chapel as part of a focus on Italian art.

The message behind the US pavilion at the Venice Biennale

The article previews the 61st Venice Biennale, opening May 9 and running through November 22, highlighting early controversies. The five-person Golden Lion jury, led by Brazilian curator Solange Farkas, resigned after declaring they would not consider pavilions from countries under International Criminal Court investigation, targeting the Israel pavilion and its artist Belu-Simion Fainaru. Separately, the US pavilion has drawn scrutiny from the New York Times over its selection process, with commissioner Jenni Parido (a former pet food store owner) tapping curator Jeffrey Uslip and sculptor Alma Allen, bypassing traditional funders like the Ford and Mellon foundations.

This Years Met Gala Felt More Like an Art Exhibition Than a Red Carpet

The 2026 Met Gala, held on May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, was widely described as feeling more like an art exhibition than a traditional red carpet. The theme, "Costume Art," with the dress code "Fashion Is Art," encouraged celebrities to treat their bodies as canvases. Beyoncé made a highly anticipated return after a decade, serving as a co-chair alongside Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour. Beyoncé wore a sculptural skeleton-inspired design by Olivier Rousteing, while Kiddon wore a shimmering red Chanel gown and Williams donned a Swarovski crystal gown inspired by her Smithsonian portrait. Other notable looks included Sabrina Carpenter in a Dior dress made from vintage film strips, Kendall Jenner referencing classical sculpture, Madonna channeling surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, and Heidi Klum arriving as a marble statue. Inside, live performances by Sabrina Carpenter and Stevie Nicks added to the spectacle.

Summer Exhibitions Coming to West Texas & the Panhandle

Art galleries and institutions across West Texas and the Panhandle have announced their summer exhibition schedules. Highlights include the El Paso Museum of Art's "From the Collection: Portraiture, 1903-2021," featuring works by César Martínez, Edward Curtis, and Andy Warhol; Ballroom Marfa's solo show "Raven Halfmoon: Flags of Our Mothers" with colossal stoneware sculptures; and The Grace Museum in Abilene's "Memory Painters: The Art of Memories," showcasing Texas intuitive painters. Other venues include the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in Lubbock, and the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, with exhibitions spanning portraiture, student art, memory painting, and immersive installations.

Beyoncé, Bad Bunny and Heidi Klum take artistic liberties with Met Gala dress code

The 2026 Met Gala, celebrating the opening of the Costume Institute's "Costume Art" exhibition, saw celebrities including Beyoncé, Naomi Osaka, Emma Chamberlain, and Heidi Klum embrace the dress code "Fashion is art" with bold, sculptural, and art-inspired ensembles. Beyoncé wore a custom Olivier Rousteing skeleton dress with a feathered train and diamond crown, while Osaka stunned in a Robert Wun white sculptural dress with a red anatomy-themed reveal. Co-chairs Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams also made notable appearances, with Williams referencing a Robert Pruitt portrait of herself. Many guests drew direct inspiration from art history, such as Lauren Sánchez Bezos channeling John Singer Sargent's "Madame X" and Lena Dunham collaborating with Valentino's Alessandro Michele to depict Artemisia Gentileschi's "Judith Slaying Holofernes."

History of soccer exhibition open at Arlington museum ahead of FIFA World Cup

The Arlington Museum of Art has opened "More Than a Match," a large-scale exhibition exploring the history of soccer through World Cup memorabilia, historic jerseys, maps, and contemporary art. The show features items on loan from the National Soccer Hall of Fame, the University of Texas at Arlington's Special Collections, and the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. Highlights include a replica of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Trophy, a jersey worn by Pelé, and artworks by Andy Warhol, Kehinde Wiley, and Darío Escobar, as well as a mural by Dallas-based artist Colton Canava depicting Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham, and Virgil van Dijk as saint-like figures. The exhibition runs through August 2, 2026, and is located near AT&T Stadium, which will host nine World Cup matches.

Bones and crystals greet visitors at Marina Abramovic show in Venice

Marina Abramović, the Serbian pioneer of performance art, inaugurated her latest exhibition "Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, days before the official opening of the Biennale International Art Exhibition. The show features a pile of plaster bones and crystal objects, with guides in white coats encouraging visitors to interact with the crystals to detox from modern technology. Abramović is the first living woman artist to present an exhibition at the Gallerie, which is known for its Renaissance masterpieces.

What Is the 2026 Met Gala Exhibit “Costume Art” All About?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will unveil its 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art,” on May 4, 2026, coinciding with the Met Gala. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show explores the relationship between fashion and the human body, juxtaposing garments like Rei Kawakubo's bulbous Comme des Garçons ensemble with artworks such as Hans Bellmer's “La Poupée” and Albrecht Dürer's “Adam and Eve.” Mannequins cast from real bodies and mirrored heads by artist Samar Hejazi will enhance the immersive experience. The exhibition runs from May 10, 2026, to January 10, 2027, in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries.

It’s not all movies: LA’s art, museums and exhibitions are world class

Los Angeles is expanding its cultural offerings with several new and renovated art institutions. The Museum of AI Arts, called Dataland, is set to open this spring at the Grand L.A. complex, created by artist Refik Anadol. It claims to be the world's first museum dedicated to AI art, featuring immersive installations like an Infinity Room with AI-generated scents. Meanwhile, the Natural History Museum completed a $75 million renovation in 2024, adding a 60,000-square-foot wing and displaying a unique green-boned dinosaur named Gnatalie, along with Barbara Carrasco's previously censored mural. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is opening the David Geffen Galleries on May 4, a 110,000-square-foot space for its permanent collection.

Marlene Dumas becomes first contemporary woman artist to join Louvre's permanent collection

Marlene Dumas has become the first contemporary woman artist to join the Louvre's permanent collection. Nine site-specific paintings by the South African-born artist were unveiled at the Paris museum last Thursday, now on permanent display in the Porte des Lions atrium. The series, titled Liaisons, depicts faces that draw on the "horrors" of the world today, as described by the artist. Dumas collaborated with Donatien Grau, the Louvre's head of contemporary programmes, and was selected by director Laurence des Cars, who called her the "obvious choice" for the commission.

Indigenous Artists Infiltrate the Met With a Guerrilla A.R. Project

On Indigenous Peoples' Day, nonprofit media lab Amplifier launched an unsanctioned augmented reality exhibition titled “Encoded” at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The project features 17 Native artists who have digitally altered 25 iconic American artworks from the Met's collection—such as Thomas Cole's *View on the Catskills – Early Autumn* and Emanuel Leutze's *Washington Crossing the Delaware*—overlaying Indigenous perspectives onto the museum's American Wing. Visitors can view the AR works on smartphones or iPads, and Amplifier representatives are on-site to distribute guides and offer tours through the end of the year.

Oodles of Art Shows to Ogle Over This Fall

Santa Barbara's fall 2025 art season offers a diverse array of exhibitions across museums and galleries, from contemporary printmaking at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History to Impressionist masterworks at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Highlights include John Comer's seascapes at Santa Barbara Fine Art, David Florimbi's retrospective at the new Separate Reality gallery, and a joint show by Joan Rosenberg-Dent and Sarita Reynolds at Art & Soul Gallery. The California Nature Art Museum also celebrates its 25th anniversary with a solo exhibition by founder Patti Jacquemain.

Here Are the Seven Booths We’re Beelining to at NADA’s 2026 New York Edition

The 12th edition of NADA New York is now open through May 17 at the Starrett-Lehigh building in Chelsea, featuring 120 galleries and nonprofit spaces from around the world. The fair emphasizes intimacy and scale, with presentations ranging from wrestling-scene paintings by Ursula Dilley to miniature landscapes stitched onto shirt cuffs by Chang Suyung, alongside collaborations rooted in regional craft traditions and psychedelic excess. Cultured magazine highlights seven must-see booths, including solo shows by Douglas Rieger and Loucia Carlier, and a transatlantic dialogue between Saenger Galería and COHJU.

art abbas akhavan venice biennale canadian pavilion

Abbas Akhavan has transformed the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale into a greenhouse-like installation titled "Abbas Akhavan: Entre chien et loup." The pavilion's wooden doorway has been replaced with glass, revealing a pond with pinkish water illuminated by sunlight and LED grow-lamps. Visitors encounter mossy boulders, a vintage fur coat sprayed with water, sharpened bronze sticks, and custom frosted mirrors that blur the architecture. The centerpiece will be three giant Bolivian water lilies, grown from seeds sent from Kew Gardens to Padua, which will gradually take over the pond over the summer. The exhibition is curated by Kim Nguyen, commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada, and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

art exhibition bernard frize perrotin paris

French-born, Berlin-based artist Bernard Frize presents his 21st exhibition with Perrotin and 10th in Paris, titled “Les 26,” on view through May 30. The show features his signature geometric latticework paintings, where interlocking grids of uniform brushstrokes create hazy chromatic architectures. Works include both resin-layered canvases with overlapping bands of bright color and tempera paintings on glass with strict compositional rules—each color moving in three straight lines to form two right angles. Frize continues his practice of using utilitarian, nonsensical titles like “Vido,” “Sioc,” and “Vesem” to decenter subjective interpretation.

art amanda precourt cookie factory denver

Amanda Precourt, a 52-year-old philanthropist and real estate developer, has transformed a former fortune cookie factory in Denver's Baker neighborhood into a combined private residence and public art space called Cookie Factory. Over the past nine years, she has amassed a contemporary art collection at a rapid pace, designing her 8,000-square-foot home around specific works—such as Anselm Kiefer's monumental painting *Engel der Geschichte* (2017) and Jeffrey Gibson's beaded punching bag *Know Your Magic, Baby* (2016). The lower 5,700 square feet of the building serves as a free, self-funded public gallery, where Precourt, her partner Andrew Jensdotter, and artistic director Jérôme Sans invite artists to create site-specific works inspired by Colorado. The space opened last May with an exhibition by Sam Falls, and a second show featuring Gary Simmons runs through May 9.

literature art magma bottega veneta

The third edition of the art journal Magma, titled “Archive of the Future,” has been published, featuring over 100 previously unpublished works and texts from artists, filmmakers, and musicians. Highlights include voice memos by Charles Ray, Polaroids by Jonas Mekas from a 1971 Fluxus dinner with Yoko Ono and John Lennon, selections from Jean-Luc Godard’s archive, a text by Patti Smith, and contributions from Precious Okoyomon and Pol Taburet. The 388-page volume, backed by Bottega Veneta and edited by Paul Olivennes, includes a foreword by Hans Ulrich Obrist and will be accompanied by exhibitions at Tramps gallery in London and Forma in Paris.

art collecting on a budget guide

The article reports that the ultra-contemporary art market has cooled, with high-end sales plummeting while works priced at $5,000 or less have grown. Art economist Clare McAndrew, author of the Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2025, notes that collectors are now buying art they genuinely like rather than for investment. The piece offers a practical guide for collecting on a $10,000 budget, featuring advice from gallerists, advisors, and collectors on finding affordable works.

brandon john harrington collector google queer

Brandon John Harrington, a collector and Google executive, is featured in Cultured magazine for his role in the art world and his advocacy for queer visibility. The article highlights his collection and his work at Google, where he intersects technology with art patronage.