Spectral Birds Endemic to New Zealand Find New Life in Fiona Pardington’s Portraits

Spectral Birds Endemic to New Zealand Find New Life in Fiona Pardington’s Portraits

New Zealand artist Fiona Pardington will present her photographic series *Taharaki Skyside* in the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The large-scale, spectral portraits depict preserved specimens of endemic birds, including extinct and critically endangered species like the huia and the South Island Takahe, captured from within the country's natural history collections.

Ides Kihlen, Abstract Painter and Argentine Art Legend, Dies at 108

Ides Kihlen, the beloved Argentine abstract painter, died on April 14 at age 108. Her first solo exhibition came at age 85 in 2002 at the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Buenos Aires, after which her career blossomed with presentations at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo and the Emilio Caraffa Fine Arts Museum. Known for rhythmic compositions blending geometric forms, experimental line work, and collage on varied supports, Kihlen maintained a daily routine of painting from morning and playing piano after sunset, reflecting her lifelong dual commitment to art and music.

London 20th/21st Century Frieze Week sales achieve a running total of £141.8m / $189.7m / €162.75m

Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale during Frieze Week 2025 achieved £106.9 million, up 30% year-on-year, with a 90% sell-through rate by value. The top lot was Peter Doig’s *Ski Jacket* (1994), sold for £14.27 million after intense bidding, part of the Ole Faarup Collection, which raised £27.3 million total for the Ole Faarup Art Foundation. Other notable sales included works by Lucian Freud, Paula Rego, Gerhard Richter, Pablo Picasso, and Suzanne Valadon, with more than half of all lots selling above high estimate.

Sad Cowboy

What Pipeline gallery presents "Sad Cowboy," a group show organized for Miguel Bendaña at The Falstaff Project in El Paso, running from May 28 to July 4, 2026. The exhibition features three Detroit artists—Israel Aten, Cay Bahnmiller, and Dylan Spaysky—whose works explore American mythology, masculinity, and identity through collage, drawing, and sculpture. The title references a collage by Bahnmiller incorporating Amiri Baraka's poem "Sad Cowboy," critiquing the lone cowboy myth. Aten's colossal figures blend medieval iconography with video games, Bahnmiller's text-based works deconstruct language, and Spaysky's carbon paper drawings capture disposable media moments.

With Her First Solo Museum Show in the US, Widline Cadet Conjures Scenes She Can’t Quite Remember

Photographer Widline Cadet has opened her first solo museum exhibition in the United States, titled "Currents 40: Widline Cadet," at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The show, on view through August 9, 2026, features 52 photos and videos that explore her family's migration story from Haiti to the United States. Cadet's installation includes a recreated Haitian living room with plastic flowers, ceramic angels, and a wall-size portrait of her father, blending reality and fantasy to evoke fragmented memories of home.

What’s on for spring? Spiritualism and symbolic systems

This article surveys several spring exhibitions in Chicago that explore themes of spiritualism, symbolic systems, and interconnected consciousness. Featured shows include Mindy Rose Schwartz's "Countersealed" at M. LeBlanc, which uses deconstructed fur coats, wands, and twisted fiber sculptures to evoke rituals addressing ecological disaster and historical subjugation. Daniel G. Baird's "Margin" at Patron examines thresholds between material and spiritual realms through a gilded canoe, wax arm cast, and birchwood oar. Leah Ke Yi Zheng's "Change, I Ching (64 Paintings)" at the Renaissance Society presents 64 hexagram paintings on silk, connecting abstract minimalism with Eastern silk painting traditions.

At 85, Anjolie Ela Menon revisits her iconic themes in New Delhi exhibition

Veteran Indian artist Anjolie Ela Menon is currently presenting a career-spanning exhibition titled 'Revisitations' at Triveni Kala Sangam in New Delhi. Presented by Vadehra Art Gallery and curated by Uma Nair, the show features over 30 works ranging from the 1950s to new pieces created in 2025 and 2026. The exhibition highlights Menon’s steadfast commitment to figurative painting, Byzantine-inspired imagery, and recurring motifs such as the empty chair and the crow, which explore themes of presence and loss.

Readers react to LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries: L.A. arts and culture this weekend

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is preparing for the public debut of its $724-million David Geffen Galleries, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Ahead of the April 19 member opening, public discourse has intensified following a series of reports detailing the building's architecture, the reinstallation of Alexander Calder’s "Three Quintains (Hello Girls)," and the project's massive budget. Reader reactions remain deeply polarized, reflecting a two-decade-long debate over the structure's unconventional design and its impact on the urban landscape.

10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This March

Los Angeles enters the month of March with a diverse array of exhibitions following the intensity of its major art fair week. Highlights include Hayv Kahraman’s mystical paintings at Vielmetter, which process the trauma of displacement and environmental loss, and a survey of the late muralist Noni Olabisi at Loyola Marymount University’s Laband Art Gallery. Other notable shows feature Jesse Wiedel’s expressionistic Americana at Serious Topics and Lauren Quin’s formalist abstractions at Pace Los Angeles.

‘Everyone can talk about a cabinet or a chair’: Ryan Preciado on his show at Hollyhock House in Los Angeles

Artist Ryan Preciado has launched a new exhibition titled "Diary of a Fly" at Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic Hollyhock House in Los Angeles. The show features a mix of high-gloss steel sculptures, woven tapestries, and furniture that Preciado calls "insecure sculptures"—objects that blur the line between functional craft and fine art. By placing these contemporary works within the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Preciado creates a dialogue between his own carpentry-based practice and Wright’s iconic Modernist architecture.

How four Los Angeles artists are doing a year after the wildfires

Four Los Angeles-based artists—Kelly Akashi, Christina Quarles, Adam Ross, and Kathryn Andrews—are navigating the long-term recovery process one year after devastating wildfires destroyed their homes, studios, and archives. Despite significant losses, including Adam Ross’s archive of 5,000 drawings, the artists have demonstrated remarkable resilience by securing temporary workspaces and continuing to produce new work for major events like Frieze Los Angeles and the Whitney Biennial.

New York’s Eclectic Francis Irv Gallery Shutters after Three Years

Francis Irv, a young New York gallery known for showcasing an eclectic mix of established and emerging artists from the US and Europe, has closed after just over three years in business. Founded by Shane Rossi and Sam Marion Wilken, who met as studio assistants, the gallery launched in 2022 under the name Kinder in a Chinatown mall beneath the Manhattan Bridge before relocating to a TriBeCa space. Its inaugural exhibition was a group show in Los Angeles co-curated by artist and writer Aria Dean, featuring artists such as Hannah Black, Jordan Wolfson, and Benjamin Echeverria. The gallery never formally announced a roster but showed artists including Sophie Gogl, Karla Kaplun, Megan Marrin, Win McCarthy, Ahgharad Williams, and German sculptor Reinhard Mucha. In December, it helped mount an experimental play by Georgica Pettus. The founders posted a farewell on their website, reflecting on their run.

Exhibitions Coming to West Texas & the Panhandle in Spring 2026

Art museums and institutions across West Texas and the Panhandle have announced their spring 2026 exhibition seasons. Highlights include the LHUCA Review (formerly the LHUCA Members' Show) and Laura Veles Drey's installation "Passerby: Americana" at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in Lubbock; "A Texas Legacy: Gifts from the Bill and Mary Cheek Collection" and the San Angelo North American Ceramic Competition featuring Marc Leuthold at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts; and three exhibitions at the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at UTEP in El Paso, including "The Edge is a Center" showcasing graphic design from the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, "Les Sembrantes" by artists from La Semilla Food Center's fellowship, and Cynthia Gutierrez-Krapp's solo show "Strangers In Our Own Land."

Comment | As the US’s 250th anniversary approaches, museums must keep pushing the American story forward

The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, is launching a new strategic plan and an upcoming exhibition titled "Out of Many: Reframing an American Art Collection," timed to the US's 250th anniversary. The museum's director reflects on founder Duncan Phillips's original vision of the museum as a space for civic dialogue and shared inquiry, arguing that this model is urgently needed amid current political pressures, loss of federal funding, and debates over historical narrative.

Alexander Morrison

Alexander Morrison, a prominent figure in the art world, has passed away. The article, published by The Art Newspaper, reports on his death and likely includes tributes to his contributions, though the provided text is limited to subscription prompts and footer information, lacking full details on his life and career.

16 Hidden Art Gems You Can Visit for Free During Open House New York

Open House New York returns for 2025 from October 17 to 19, offering free or low-cost access to over 340 venues across all five boroughs, including architectural landmarks, cultural institutions, and hidden spaces not normally open to the public. Highlights include the filtration system at Astoria Pool, behind-the-scenes tours of a Goodwill in Brooklyn, a passive house in Harlem, and art-focused sites such as MTA Arts and Design subway tours, the Whitney Museum's flood mitigation system by Renzo Piano, and the Morbid Anatomy Museum. The event features 164 drop-in venues and 178 ticketed sites at $7 per person, with tickets released on October 3.

A brush with… Wolfgang Tillmans—podcast

The article is a podcast transcript featuring an in-depth conversation with Wolfgang Tillmans, the influential German photographer born in 1968. It covers his four-decade career, his experimental approach to photography—spanning portraiture, still life, landscape, political subjects, and abstraction—and his innovative installation methods that respond to specific exhibition spaces. Tillmans discusses early influences like Kurt Schwitters, Francisco de Zurbarán, Isa Genzken, Laurie Anderson, and Jiddu Krishnamurti, and reflects on his expanding practice into video, text, sound, and music. The piece also lists current and upcoming exhibitions, including a solo show at Maureen Paley in London and his participation in the 36th Bienal São Paulo.

Thaddaeus Ropac opens its first gallery in Milan.

Thaddaeus Ropac opened its first gallery in Milan on September 20, 2025, located in the neoclassical Palazzo Belgioioso near Via Monte Napoleone. The inaugural exhibition, “L’aurora viene,” features works by Georg Baselitz and Lucio Fontana. The 280-square-meter space is the mega-gallery’s seventh location worldwide. Elena Bonanno di Linguaglossa, a veteran with experience at Lévy Gorvy Dayan, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, and Blain|Southern, will lead the Milan branch.

2025 Fall Arts Guide: The Season’s Best Visual Art Exhibits From Big Museums to Small Galleries

The 2025 Fall Arts Guide highlights three visual art exhibits in Washington, D.C. 'Arab Pop Art: Between East and West' at the Middle East Institute features 35 works by 14 Arab and diaspora artists, blending Western pop art with SWANA cultural motifs. 'Vincent Ricardel: Chasing Light' at gallery neptune & brown presents 15 photographs spanning diverse styles and locations. 'Rik Freeman: Wade in the Waters' opens Sept. 24, showcasing oil paintings.

Art for fall 2025: From the Art Institute to the Architecture Biennial, 10 exhibits for all kinds of realities

A Chicago-based art critic presents a curated guide to 10 exhibitions for fall 2025, ranging from a major traveling survey of activist artist Elizabeth Catlett at the Art Institute of Chicago to a textiles show exploring mourning and survival, a Helen Frankenthaler printmaking exhibit at the Block Museum, and the final programming at the Roman Susan Art Foundation in Rogers Park. Other highlights include a collaborative museum debut by artists Mayumi Lake and Bob Faust inspired by the Japanese design principle shakkei.

Remembering Koyo Kouoh, one of the most influential curators in the global art world, and one of its most original thought leaders

Koyo Kouoh, the influential curator and executive director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz Mocaa) in Cape Town, has died at age 57, just ten days before she was to announce the title and themes of the 2026 Venice Biennale, for which she had been appointed curator of the international exhibition in December 2024—the first African woman to hold that role. Kouoh transformed Zeitz Mocaa from a fledgling institution into a globally respected museum, securing the donation of Jochen Zeitz's collection, expanding the board, and launching community-focused initiatives like the exhibition *Home is Where the Art is* (2020-21) and the online summit Radical Solidarity.

Tefaf New York: determination in the face of Trump’s tariff chaos

Tefaf New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory with 91 exhibitors from four continents, presenting 7,000 years of art amid uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump's recently announced tariff regime. The fair's director, Leanne Jagtiani, sent a letter to exhibitors acknowledging the "significant impacts" on the industry, assuring them of close communication with shippers and legal advisers, and advocating for the exclusion of artworks from potential EU reciprocal tariffs. While artworks are understood to be exempt, antiques and contemporary works in unconventional materials may be subject to the new tariffs, creating confusion among dealers and collectors.

Sur Arte Radio et dans une expo, l’enquête d’Adrianna Wallis sur les traces de sa grand-mère peintre spoliée par les nazis

Artist Adrianna Wallis (born 1981) discovers that her paternal grandmother, painter Diane Esmond (1910–1981), was a victim of Nazi looting during World War II. After being contacted by historians Patricia Helletzgruber and Sophie Juliard, Wallis learns that much of Esmond's work was systematically destroyed by the ERR, the Nazi organization responsible for art theft in occupied countries. This revelation sparks a personal investigation that becomes a podcast for Arte Radio titled "Il restera la gravité," blending documentary, autobiographical inquiry, and sound installation. Wallis delves into archives, examining microfilms and lists that detail 46 of Esmond's paintings—each methodically described and declared destroyed, such as "Woman in blue evening dress: annihilated."

“Gaza Love” Monument Unveiled in Paterson, NJ

Artist and activist Kyle Goen's sculpture "Gaza Love" (2014) was permanently installed outside the South Paterson Library Community Center in Paterson, New Jersey, as part of the city's newly dedicated Gaza Square on Main Street. The unveiling took place on Palestine Day, May 17, and commemorates Paterson's large diasporic Palestinian community. The sculpture, which borrows the typography of Robert Indiana's LOVE series and the colors of the Palestinian flag, originated during protests against the 2014 Gaza War and has been used in organizing spaces for over a decade, including during the 2021 Strike MoMA movement.

First US Survey of Mexican Artist Teresa Margolles Coming This Fall

MoMA PS1 in New York City will host the first United States survey of Mexican artist Teresa Margolles this fall. Trained as a forensic pathologist, Margolles creates works using organic and bodily materials from homicide victims, morgues, and crime scenes. The exhibition will feature pieces confronting murder and violence along the US-Mexico border, including a 2026 evolution of her ongoing series "Air" (2003–), where a gallery will be humidified with water carrying degradable material from homicide sites. The Museum of Modern Art will also present a new experiential installation, "Aproximación al lugar de los hechos (Approaching the Scene)" (2026), starting September 17, which drips water carrying evidence of violent death onto heated steel plates.

Remembering Agosto Machado, Keeper of Queer Histories

Agosto Machado, a seminal performer, archivist, and fixture of New York’s downtown queer arts scene, has passed away. Known as a "keeper of secrets" and a vital connector within the avant-garde community, Machado was a muse to filmmaker Jack Smith and a lifelong friend to Warhol superstar Mario Montez. His life spanned the height of the East Village performance era, where he transitioned from a quiet observer to an essential participant in the preservation of underground history.

Remembering Nathan Farb, Thomas Zipp, and Christine Ruiz-Picasso

The art world mourns the loss of several influential figures, including photographer Nathan Farb, known for his large-format captures of the Adirondacks and 1960s Manhattan, and Christine Ruiz-Picasso, who was instrumental in establishing the Museo Picasso Málaga. Other notable passing include German interdisciplinary artist Thomas Zipp, prolific art forger William "Billy The Brush" Mumford, and Hassen Soufy, the last living member of the L'École de Tunis movement.

Counterpublic Triennial Names 47 Artists and Collectives for Upcoming Third Edition, Including Glenn Ligon, Rebecca Belmore, Rirkrit Tiravanija

The St. Louis-based triennial Counterpublic has unveiled the artist list for its third edition, titled "Coyote Time," scheduled to run from September 12 to December 12, 2025. The exhibition features 47 artists and collectives, including major figures such as Glenn Ligon, Rebecca Belmore, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, alongside posthumous presentations of works by Juanita McNeely and Benjamin Patterson. Curated by a five-person international team, the triennial will activate various sites across the city, including the Mississippi Riverfront and the historically Black neighborhood of The Ville.

Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds

The Jewish Museum in New York has launched "Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds," the first U.S. museum exhibition dedicated specifically to the artist’s late-period works. Featuring 100 paintings and drawings, the show focuses on the final decade of Klee’s life (1930–1940), a period marked by his dismissal from the Düsseldorf Academy by the Nazis, his exile to Switzerland, and his battle with a fatal autoimmune disease.

Fastest Art Heist in History?

Thieves stole three valuable paintings by Cézanne, Matisse, and Renoir from a small museum in northern Italy in a heist that reportedly took less than three minutes. The combined value of the artworks is estimated at around $10 million.