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At TEFAF 2025 in New York, held at the Park Avenue Armory, a panel titled "Thrill of the Chase" brought together three cultural tastemakers: gallerist Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, designer Adam Charlap Hyman, and curator Alexandra Cunningham Cameron. Moderated by Artnet's William Van Meter, the discussion explored what makes an object irresistible—whether beauty, rarity, mystery, or narrative—and how these figures curate their lives and work across art, design, and interiors.

Raghu Rai obituary

Raghu Rai, the renowned Indian photographer known for capturing his country's post-independence history through singular, enduring images, has died at age 83 from cancer. Rai's career spanned six decades, during which he documented events from the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster to the Bangladesh war of independence, and photographed figures including Indira Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama. He joined Magnum Photos in 1977 after being invited by Henri Cartier-Bresson, and worked as a staff photographer for the Statesman and as picture editor for India Today.

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British photographer Martin Parr, known for his highly saturated and often humorous snapshots of everyday life, died on December 6 at age 74 after a four-year battle with cancer. Parr's work, from his early black-and-white images of rural Yorkshire to his iconic color series like "The Last Resort" (1982–85) and "The Cost of Living" (1987-89), captured British eccentricities and social pretensions with a sharp, affectionate eye. He was a full member of Magnum Photos and his images, including those of mass tourism and consumerism, have been widely exhibited and collected.

At Home at Hong Kong Art Week

During Hong Kong Art Week, beyond the dominant Art Basel Hong Kong fair, a series of intimate interventions and installations across the city explore the boundaries between art, design, and everyday life. One notable event is a 'Listening Session' organized by Guangzhou's Vitamin Creative Space in a private home in the New Territories, where Lebanese artist-composer Tarek Atoui debuted two new 'instruments' that transform the living room itself into an interactive sound sculpture. The gathering of about 30 people, mostly in town for art week, blurred the lines between performance, installation, and domestic space.

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Artnet News profiles five ultra-contemporary artists working in China today, highlighting their practices amid shifting cultural narratives, economic pressures, and technological change. Featured artists include Xia Yu, known for tempera paintings of everyday life, and Ye Linghan, who creates monumental "data portraits" from smartphone screenshots. The article details their backgrounds, notable exhibitions, market prices, and upcoming projects, emphasizing their growing appeal to collectors and curators.

Ripple: Furniture Sculpture and Painting after 1982

David Kordansky Gallery is presenting "Ripple: Furniture Sculpture and Painting after 1982," an exhibition of historic works by Swiss artist John Armleder, on view from May 7 to June 13, 2026. The show focuses on Armleder's Furniture Sculpture series from the 1980s, which incorporates functional or decorative objects alongside paintings, exploring the intersection of art, design, and everyday life. Works like FS 156 (1987) and Untitled (FS) (1987) exemplify his interest in collectivity, chance, and the viewer's role in assigning meaning, influenced by experiences such as a prison stint for refusing conscription and his time on a rowing team, as well as the experimental compositions of Erik Satie and John Cage's writings on chance.

Lucas Museum Reveals First Set of Exhibitions Curated by Founder George Lucas

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has announced its inaugural exhibitions, curated by founder George Lucas, ahead of its September opening. The initial hang will feature around 12,000 objects from the museum's collection of over 40,000, displayed across 30 galleries in the 300,000-square-foot building. Thematic galleries will highlight specific artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, Norman Rockwell, and N.C. Wyeth, as well as mediums like cinema, photography, muralism, and comics. Broader themes include "Everyday Life," "Narrative Forms," and "Western Stories."

The curator awakens: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art reveals inaugural exhibition lineup

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, will open in Los Angeles on 22 September with 18 inaugural exhibitions featuring over 1,200 objects. Curated by Lucas himself, the shows span media like photography, architecture, and cinema, as well as genres such as manga, anime, comics, and children's stories. Six solo exhibitions will highlight American artists including Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Frazetta, and Norman Rockwell. The museum's collection now exceeds 40,000 works, including the Separate Cinema Archive and Lucas Archives of film memorabilia.

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Swatch has announced a new collaboration with the Guggenheim, releasing a collection of watches featuring artworks from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. The collection includes designs based on works by Edgar Degas, Paul Klee, Claude Monet, and Jackson Pollock, and is part of Swatch's ongoing Art Journey series, which has previously partnered with institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

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The fourth season of the FX series *The Bear* features two photographs by Tyler Mitchell in an episode centered on the character Syd. The works shown are *Untitled (Kiki and Stephan Dancing)*, a grid of shots commissioned by *Vogue* featuring actors KiKi Layne and Stephan James, and *Untitled (Group Hula Hoop)*, a 2019 image of children hula hooping in Brooklyn. Mitchell, who rose to fame for photographing Beyoncé, is now represented by Gagosian and has seen his market prices climb above $24,000 at auction.

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Yasunao Tone, a composer, theorist, and artist associated with the Fluxus movement, has died at age 90. Artists Space, which hosted his first US retrospective in 2023, announced his passing due to age-related complications. Tone was known for experimental music that used unorthodox methods such as altering instruments with ice, scratching CDs to create white noise, and producing graphic scores that resembled abstract artworks. He co-founded Group Ongaku in 1961, collaborated with key figures like Nam June Paik, George Maciunas, and Yoko Ono, and later explored digital corruption of audio files and AI. His work influenced experimental music and sound art, with a 2023 profile in AnOther Magazine stating he "changed music forever."

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Artnet News offers a lighthearted holiday guide with seven art-historical conversation starters designed to deflect awkward family small talk. The article reveals quirky facts such as a secret apartment atop the Eiffel Tower, the Surrealists' party game 'Exquisite Corpse,' Leonardo da Vinci's role as a wedding planner for Milan's nobility, Marcel Duchamp paying his dentist with a fake check, and Frank Lloyd Wright inspiring Lincoln Logs.

V&A East architecture review – from ceramics to codpieces, this is a honey-coloured treasure trove of human ingenuity

V&A East has officially unveiled its new museum building in London’s Olympic Park, a striking architectural addition to the city's burgeoning 'East Bank' cultural district. Designed by O’Donnell + Tuomey, the structure features a faceted, honey-colored concrete exterior inspired by the intricate folds of a sleeve in a Vermeer painting and the structural tailoring of Cristóbal Balenciaga. The interior houses a diverse collection of human ingenuity, ranging from Leigh Bowery’s sequined codpieces to historical ceramics, all organized within a framework that emphasizes the process of making.

The Best Art Exhibitions To Visit In Hong Kong This May

This article highlights three art exhibitions in Hong Kong for May 2026. 'Seeds of Wishes' at JPS Gallery features black-and-white and colorful drawings by thirteen-year-old artist Yat Long, created after his diagnosis with a life-threatening disease, with a related CASETiFY phone case collection. 'Dial-A-Poem Hong Kong' at M+ presents an interactive installation based on John Giorno's 1969 project, offering newly recorded poems in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin by thirty local poets. 'Fallen Angels' at Hauser & Wirth showcases Nicole Eisenman's paintings and sculptures exploring middle-class life, departing from her usual crowded scenes.

Van Gogh’s family used an erotic Gauguin ceramic as a flower vase

A researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, Joost van der Hoeven, has revealed that Paul Gauguin's erotic ceramic, the Cleopatra Pot (winter 1887-88), was used as a flower vase by Vincent van Gogh's family. Gauguin brought the pot to Arles when he stayed with Van Gogh in 1888, and after Van Gogh's ear incident, Gauguin gave the pot to Vincent's brother Theo as a gift. The pot later remained with Theo's widow, Jo Bonger, and a photograph from 1925-26 shows it on her piano holding flowers, surrounded by still-life paintings.

Adam Dressner’s Portraits Are for the People

Adam Dressner, a self-taught former corporate lawyer, opened his debut solo gallery exhibition "Hello Stranger 2" at 1969 Gallery in Tribeca. The show features large-scale oil paintings and a salon wall of 60 small acrylic portraits, many painted live in public spaces like Washington Square Park and Grand Central Terminal. Subjects range from celebrities like Joyce Carol Oates and Anna Delvey to everyday New Yorkers such as a neighborhood waiter and a 90-year-old park acquaintance. Dressner painted 18 works on-site in the days before the opening, continuing his practice of wheeling an "art cart" of supplies to make expressive plein-air portraits.

Pinta Panama Art Week 2026 Reaffirms the Country as a Hub for Regional Contemporary Art

PINTA PANAMA ART WEEK 2026 REAFFIRMS THE COUNTRY AS A HUB FOR REGIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART

The second edition of Pinta Panamá Art Week will be held from March 18-22, 2026, featuring works by Panamanian artists like Cisco Merel, Lulu Molinares, Arístides Ureña Ramos, and Isabel de Obaldía. Their projects, ranging from sculpture and textiles to immersive installations and studio visits, explore themes of memory, territory, and everyday life through the manipulation of materials and space.

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.

Rhythm, Space, and Memory. 10 Artists to Discover at “The Subtle Charm of Obsessions” Exhibition.

The article announces "The Subtle Charm of Obsessions," a multidisciplinary exhibition opening April 25, 2025, at the City Museum of Wrocław – Royal Palace. Curated by Jerzy Zajączkowski, the show explores Sigmund Freud's concept of the compulsion to repeat through works by artists based in Wrocław and across Poland, including Tamara Berdowska, the collective Monomoka (Katarzyna and Monika Gwiazdowskie), and Michał Misiak. The exhibition features painting, glass, fabric, and crocheted works, emphasizing rhythm, memory, and the cyclical return to familiar motifs placed in new contexts.

Welcome to Venice: the shows you won’t want to miss at the 61st Biennale

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," opens with a keynote exhibition conceived by the late Koyo Kouoh and realized by her team after her sudden death in May 2025. The show spans the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the Arsenale, featuring 110 artists and collectives. Highlights include Bracha L. Ettinger's installation at the Hotel Metropole, where she transforms a room where Sigmund Freud wrote part of *The Interpretation of Dreams* into a feminist 'borderspace,' and works by artists such as Arthur Jafa, Richard Prince, Issa Samb, Beverly Buchanan, and Daniel Lind-Ramos. The exhibition explores themes of history, colonialism, war, and environmental destruction, aiming for a 'sotto voce' tone that nonetheless delivers powerful, liberating statements.

A Vienna una grande mostra dedicata a Daumier, l’artista della satira

The Albertina Museum in Vienna is hosting a major retrospective titled "Honoré Daumier – Mirror of Society," dedicated to the French artist Honoré Daumier (1808–1879). The exhibition features lithographs, drawings, paintings, and sculptures, with significant loans from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. Daumier, known for his sharp satire and acute social observation, critiqued political abuses and social injustices of 19th-century European society. The show also recalls a previous Daumier exhibition held at the Albertina in 1936, which served as a political statement against Nazi oppression.

tschabalala self painting sculpture trafalgar square

Tschabalala Self, the Harlem-born artist known for vibrant paintings and sculptures of everyday life, discusses her upcoming public commission "Lady in Blue" for the Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square. In an interview with Cultured, she reflects on her childhood, her love of storytelling, and her recent move to upstate New York, while also citing influences like Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino.

architecture artists playground design noguchi

The article explores the intersection of art and playground design, highlighting how artists have created inspiring play spaces that double as works of art. It begins with the 1954 Museum of Modern Art competition for creative playground equipment, won by Virginia Dortch Dorazio's Fantastic Village, and discusses Isamu Noguchi's Playscapes, including his only U.S. installation in Piedmont Park, Atlanta, commissioned by the High Museum of Art in 1975. The piece then profiles four artist-designed playgrounds: Carsten Höller's Pink Mirror Carousel in St. Moritz, Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam's Woods of Net in Japan, Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden in Italy, and others, each blending sculpture with interactive play.

art cherrie yu young artist

Cultured magazine profiles Cherrie Yu, a 30-year-old artist based in New York who grew up in Xi'an and Wuxi, China. Yu creates videos, performances, and prints that examine the relationship between everyday movement, dance, labor, and play. Notable works include 'Trisha and Homer' (2018), which juxtaposes a 1986 solo by choreographer Trisha Brown with the movements of a mopping maintenance worker, and 'Wrestling Study' (2017), a video reenacting a wrestling match in Chicago traffic. Yu cites mentor Bryan Saner, a woodworker and performer, as a key influence on their understanding of the laboring body as the dancing body.

art james frey author art collection

James Frey, the controversial author of "A Million Little Pieces" and "Bright Shiny Morning," opens his home in Pound Ridge, New York, to discuss his personal art collection. The collection includes works by Rashid Johnson, Robert Colescott, Nate Lowman, Richard Prince, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Auguste Rodin, among others. Frey describes his art-buying philosophy as driven by emotion rather than market trends, and recounts purchasing his first pieces—a Picasso drawing and a Matisse drawing—for cash in 1994.

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Artist Christina Zimpel has released a new limited-edition print titled CLAP (2025) through a collaboration between Artspace and Lincoln Center Editions. The work, an edition of 36 with unique hand-embellishments in gouache, features a female figure clapping against a vibrant pink field, exploring themes of gesture, sound, and individuality.

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Homeowner Etienne Constable of Seaside, California, was ordered by the town to build a fence to hide the boat in his driveway. Instead of simply concealing it, he hired his neighbor, artist Hanif Panni, to paint a photorealistic mural of the boat on the fence. The story went viral, with Constable paying more for the artwork than the original fine would have been, and local officials praising the creative compliance.

‘It’s a world heritage site, but it’s my home’: the last resident of Casa Milà on life in Gaudí’s masterwork

Ana Viladomiu, a 70-year-old writer, is the last remaining tenant of Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Milà (La Pedrera) in Barcelona, a UNESCO World Heritage site that receives about a million visitors annually. She has lived in the luminous apartment since 1988, originally moving in with her then-husband Fernando Amat, owner of the iconic design store Vinçon. Viladomiu holds a rare renta antigua (fixed-rent contract) that allows her to stay until she or Amat dies, after which the not-for-profit foundation managing the building will take ownership. The rest of the building now houses offices and cultural event spaces.

'Stray Birds': An art exhibition

Indrapramit Roy and Mark Cazalet are coming together for a duo exhibition titled 'Stray Birds' at the Shridharani Gallery in New Delhi. Curated by Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya and organized by Art Magnum, the show explores the parallel trajectories of two artists who met during their formative years in Baroda under the mentorship of Gulam Mohammed Sheikh. The exhibition features works that document lived experiences, memory, and movement through drawing and painting, often rooted in their personal sketchbooks and visual journals.

In London, you can discover an unpublished Luigi Ghirri in an exhibition made of photographs and words. Review

A Londra si può scoprire un Luigi Ghirri inedito in una mostra fatta di fotografie e parole. Recensione

A new exhibition titled "Felicità" at Thomas Dane Gallery in London presents previously unseen works by Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri (1943–1992). Curated by Alessio Bolzoni and filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, the show features unpublished photographs, fragments of atlases, postcards, posters, and mirrors, exploring Ghirri’s unique vision of everyday life as visual discovery. The exhibition spans two gallery spaces on Duke Street, juxtaposing interior and exterior scenes, and includes works by conceptual artists Félix González-Torres and Giorgio Morandi. A bilingual book, "Luigi Ghirri. Felicità" (MACK), accompanies the show, collecting the exhibited works and three essays by the artist.