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Abu Dhabi Art (ADA) held its final edition at Manarat Al Saadiyat before transitioning into a Frieze franchise in November 2025. The fair featured 53 new galleries, a Focus sector highlighting art scenes from Nigeria, Turkey, and South Asia, and a new Emerge section offering discounted booth prices for works under $3,000 to attract emerging collectors. The shift comes as Abu Dhabi’s cultural landscape moves beyond its iconic Saadiyat Island museums—Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum, and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi—toward more grassroots ventures like the MiZa warehouse district, which hosts experimental spaces such as MamarLab and Iris Projects. Mega-gallery Pace returned after a 14-year absence, citing renewed energy in the Gulf market.

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The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced its 2025 class of 22 MacArthur Fellows, each receiving an $800,000 no-strings-attached grant. Among the winners are several visual artists: Garrett Bradley, known for her Oscar-nominated documentary *Time* (2020) and works centering Black resistance; Gala Porras-Kim, whose practice questions how art institutions convey or conceal information about objects; Tuan Andrew Nguyen, whose films and installations explore trauma and colonization; and Jeremy Frey, a seventh-generation Passamaquoddy basket maker whose midcareer survey is on view at the Bruce Museum. Photographers Matt Black and Tonika Lewis Johnson also received fellowships, along with archaeologist Kristina Douglass and non-artists such as novelist Tommy Orange and astrophysicist Kareem El-Badry.

Readymades, replicas, reiterations: MoMA show explores Marcel Duchamp the inventor

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is launching the first major U.S. survey of Marcel Duchamp in over 50 years, organized in collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibition features approximately 300 works, including iconic pieces like "Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2" and "Fountain," organized in a strict linear chronology. This approach highlights Duchamp’s practice of remaking and replicating his own work, presenting replicas only at the point in time they were physically created rather than as stand-ins for lost originals.

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The Ruth Foundation for the Arts has named five artists as recipients of its 2026 Ruth Awards: Yuji Agematsu, Ranu Mukherjee, Will Rawls, Ellen Sebastian Chang, and Anna Martine Whitehead. Each winner receives an unrestricted $100,000 grant disbursed over two years. The artists work across diverse media—from Agematsu's miniature street-detritus sculptures and Rawls's multidisciplinary choreography to Mukherjee's painting and film installations, Sebastian Chang's decades-spanning theater and film work, and Whitehead's performance art. The awards are open to artists across North America and are now in their third year.

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Four works by Francis Bacon and Auguste Rodin will headline Sotheby’s Frieze Week contemporary evening auction in London on October 16. The lots include Bacon’s paintings *Portrait of a Dwarf* (estimated up to £9 million) and *Study for Self-Portrait* (up to £6 million), alongside Rodin’s final bronze iterations of *Pierre de Wissant* and *Jean de Fiennes* (each estimated at £600,000–£900,000). The works come from an important private collection, with the Bacons acquired directly from the artist and held for over 40 years, and the Rodins purchased from the Musée Rodin. Sotheby’s shared previously unpublished audio featuring art historian Eddy Batache, a close friend of Bacon, who noted that *Portrait of a Dwarf* is the only painting Bacon ever kept for himself.

bacon rodin works sothebys frieze week sale 1234754682

Four works by Francis Bacon and Auguste Rodin will headline Sotheby’s Frieze Week contemporary evening auction in London on October 16. The lots include Bacon’s paintings *Portrait of a Dwarf* (estimated up to £9 million) and *Study for Self-Portrait* (up to £6 million), alongside Rodin’s final bronze iterations of *Pierre de Wissant* and *Jean de Fiennes* (each estimated at £600,000–£900,000). The works come from an important private collection; the Bacons were acquired directly from the artist and kept for over 40 years, while the Rodins were purchased from the Musée Rodin. Sotheby’s chairman Alex Branczik highlighted the unexpected connection between the two artists, both known for their transformative depictions of the human form.

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A Nobilified, a start-up that lets customers insert themselves into classic paintings for about $140, has created a series of artworks depicting Super Bowl heroes from the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in historical masterpieces. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady appears as Prometheus (1868) by Gustave Moreau, tight end Rob Gronkowski as Abduction of Ganymede by Jupiter (ca. 1644) by Eustache Le Sueur, while Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is shown in Ideal portrait of a Spanish King (ca. 1643) by Alonso Cano, with other players featured in works by John Singleton Copley and Benjamin West.

OSCAR MURILLO: PAINTING AS A WELL OF ACCUMULATION

ÓSCAR MURILLO: LA PINTURA COMO POZO DE ACUMULACIÓN

The article profiles Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo and his expansive, socially-engaged practice. It details his rise to international prominence in the early 2010s with large-scale paintings that incorporate text, textiles, and studio detritus, and highlights his ongoing, collaborative project 'Frequencies,' which involves students from over thirty countries creating works on canvases attached to school desks. The piece also references his major solo exhibitions, including 'El pozo de agua' at kurimanzutto in Mexico City (2026), 'Masas' at WIELS in Brussels (2024), and 'The flooded garden' at Tate Modern (2024).

Honoring Frederic Church: Beyond the Hudson River School

Art historians and curators are re-evaluating the legacy of Frederic Church, arguing that his contributions extend far beyond his traditional classification as a Hudson River School landscape painter. New research highlights his sophisticated engagement with 19th-century science, his architectural achievements at his estate, Olana, and his role as a global traveler who captured the spirit of the Andes and the Arctic.

‘Reality Decay’ Is at the Root of All the Bad News

The article connects a 2009 artwork by Paul Chan, 'Sade for Sade’s Sake,' to the recent release of the Jeffrey Epstein emails. The artwork, a shadow puppet projection based on the Marquis de Sade's violent text, was referenced in a 2010 email from an art adviser to Epstein, suggesting artists who could realize his desires for his private island. This link places a contemporary artwork directly into the evidence of a high-profile criminal conspiracy.

‘We’re attached to this land like a tree is rooted in soil’: unexpectedly timely exhibition speaks up for the people of south Lebanon

An exhibition titled 'Forget Me Not: South Lebanon in Memory and Motion' was held at London's Palestine House earlier this month. It featured archival news footage from 2000, photographs, audiovisual materials, and children's drawings to document the history, culture, and resilience of southern Lebanon, a region experiencing renewed conflict.

The Top 5 Exhibitions to see before the end of 2025

Art critic Tabish Khan selects five must-see exhibitions closing before the end of 2025. Highlights include "Paradigm Shift" at 180 Studios, featuring video works by Pipilotti Rist, Gillian Wearing, Arthur Jafa, and Cao Fei; Alison Wing Yin Poon's "A Constructed Home" at Tache, exploring Malayan-Chinese heritage through lacquered vases and ceramics; Noemie Goudal's "The Story of Fixity" at Borough Yards, a layered projection installation by Artangel; Mircea Teleaga's "Paradise" at LBF Contemporary, with glowing surreal landscapes; and Arch Hades' "We're all just passing through" at 8 Berkeley Square, blending poetry and sculpture.

Seattle May art shows include speakeasy-style gallery attached to house

A series of diverse art exhibitions are opening across Seattle in May. Highlights include a show exploring the influence of Japanese woodblock prints on Northwest artists at the Cascadia Art Museum, a site-specific installation in a private garage gallery called Double Garage, and a large-scale display of drawings on sticky notes by Clare Johnson at Gallery 4Culture. Other featured shows include Emma Bergman's surreal multimedia installation at Specialist Gallery and a landmark retrospective of light artist Tom Lloyd at the Frye Art Museum.

Christie’s $700M Night, Trump’s $7.25M Rockwell & Bonhams’ Big Names

Christie’s held a major evening sale generating $700 million, while a Norman Rockwell painting sold for $7.25 million under the Trump name. Bonhams also featured high-profile consignments in the same auction cycle. The article reports on these auction results and the notable names attached to the sales.

François Ozon’s 'The Stranger': A Film Between Surface Aesthetics and Political Reinterpretation

“Lo straniero” di François Ozon. Un film tra estetica delle superfici e rilettura politica

Director François Ozon has adapted Albert Camus’s existentialist masterpiece 'The Stranger' into a new feature film, premiering at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. Shot in stark black and white by cinematographer Manuel Dacosse, the film departs from the 1967 Luchino Visconti adaptation by leaning into a cold, clinical aesthetic inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni. The narrative follows Meursault, an emotionally detached clerk in colonial Algiers, whose impassive reaction to his mother's death and the subsequent senseless murder of an Arab man leads to his legal and moral condemnation.

Oregon artist’s ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ exhibition makes complying impossible

Ashland artist Crystal Proffitt's interactive installation 'Don't Touch My Hair: An Interactive Crowned Experience' at the Langford Art Gallery in Phoenix, Oregon, invites viewers to touch the braids and locs attached to portraits of local Black models while listening to voice recordings about hair as cultural identity and resilience. The work, supported by the Oregon Cultural Trust and the Black Alliance & Social Empowerment (BASE) Southern Oregon, debuted January 3 and runs through January 24, after which it will join BASE's Black Cultural Legacy Series at the Rogue Gallery & Art Center in Medford. Proffitt intentionally allows the hair to show wear from handling, treating the erosion as part of the artwork's meaning.

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The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has pledged $7 million for 2026 to fund 21 new heritage preservation projects globally. These projects, selected from its 2025 Watch List and other sites, range from restoring mural paintings at the Church of Saint-Eustache in Paris and gardens at Safdar Jang’s Tomb in New Delhi, to repairing earthquake damage in Japan and supporting community-led stewardship at Bear’s Ears National Monument in Utah.

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The UK's National Trust has received the largest donation in its 131-year history: a £10 million ($13.4 million) no-strings-attached gift from private-equity investor and philanthropist Humphrey Battcock. Unlike most major donations, which come with stipulations on how funds must be used, this gift is unconditional, allowing the Trust to allocate the money as it sees fit. Battcock stated he trusts the organization to know best how to use the funds, inspired by visits to Trust properties including Osterley Park and House and Trust-owned farms in north Devon.

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Archaeologists working on the controversial Maya Train project in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula have discovered a 2,000-year-old limestone face carving. The 18-inch-tall sculpture, featuring deep-set eye sockets, a flat nose, and a cleft lip, was found in Sierra Papacal near Mérida during construction of the Mérida-Progreso Railway Bypass. The carving was attached to the foundation of an ovoid building with a west-facing entrance, suggesting it served as a ceremonial marker. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is overseeing the excavation of 15 other nearby structures, and the artifact will be transported to a laboratory for conservation.

Historic Watch Recovered From Titanic’s Wealthiest Passenger Heads to Auction

A Patek Philippe pocket watch recovered from the body of John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest passenger aboard the RMS Titanic, is heading to auction. The watch, sold by Tiffany & Co. in 1904, will be the leading lot in a Freeman's Auction sale in Chicago on April 22, carrying an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. A gold pencil found with it will also be sold.

‘The doorbell went at 5am. Six masked men were outside’: Belarus Free Theatre bring totalitarian terror to the Venice Biennale

Belarus Free Theatre (BFT), an exiled troupe based in London, is presenting its first major visual art project, titled 'Official. Unofficial. Belarus.', at the Venice Biennale. The installation, masterminded by the founders' daughter Daniella Kaliada, features contributions from former political prisoners, painters, sculptors, composers, and world-renowned chef Rasmus Munk, who created a dish evoking detention under an authoritarian regime. The work includes a giant ball of banned books, surveillance cameras attached to an iron crucifix, and a custom scent of a freshly dug grave, all reflecting the terror of life under Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

Rome and its visions in contemporary photography: from Carbone to De Angelis, to Hervé Gloaguen

Roma e le sue visioni nella fotografia contemporanea: da Carbone a De Angelis, fino a Hervé Gloaguen

The article critiques a recent trend in contemporary photography of Rome, exemplified by a 2020 exhibition at the Mattatoio (Nuove produzioni 2020 per la collezione Roma) that presented black-and-white images reducing the urban landscape to a dark, lifeless mass. The author contrasts this with a personal photograph of a horse taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, which captures Rome's periphery with warmth and specificity, and praises the 2024 exhibition "Roma 1975, città, volti e storie dell'anno giubilare" featuring photojournalist Fabio De Angelis's rediscovered work as a vital counterpoint.

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Shanti Escalante-De Mattei launches a new column called "Link Rot" in ARTnews, exploring the intersection of art, technology, and the internet. The first edition focuses on the fragility of digital and new media art, which faces rapid obsolescence as hardware and software evolve. New media art dealer Kelani Nichole, founder of Transfer Art Gallery (2013), has launched the Transfer Data Trust, a data cooperative designed to preserve digital artworks for up to 100 years. The Trust uses a combination of network-attached storage, decentralized file storage (IPFS, Filecoin), and a user-friendly browser to archive artist intent and conservation data, with pooled sales proceeds funding conservation efforts.

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The Gold Art Prize, a biennial award series for AAPI and Asian diaspora artists, has announced its 2025 winners: Dan Lie, Stella Zhong, Morehshin Allahyari, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, and Kenneth Tam. Each receives an unrestricted $25,000. The prize, now in its third iteration, was launched in 2021 by adviser Kelly Huang and Gold House, a Los Angeles-based organization focused on the AAPI community. The 2025 edition is funded by the Kahng Foundation. Finalists included Trisha Baga, CFGNY, Ajay Kurian, Sa’dia Rehman, and TT Takemoto.

Review: “Mark Me, Too: Five Artists” at Hyde Park Art Center

The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago presents “Mark Me, Too: Five Artists,” a group exhibition curated by Dr. Rikki Byrd, the center’s inaugural Radicle Curatorial Resident. The show features works by Lisa DeAbreu, Lex Marie, Natasha Moustache, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, and Ciarra K. Walters, each exploring mark-making as a conceptual and material practice. Highlights include Walters’ video “Eileen’s Daughters,” which uses fragile eggshell-covered suits to evoke familial intimacy and vulnerability; DeAbreu’s textile works that transform household items into visual heirlooms; Ogbara’s sculptural piece “Hopscotch (A Safe Space to Land),” combining bronze and soil to address Black beauty and West African heritage; and Marie’s reimagined American flags made from hospital blankets and beads, critiquing the nation’s relationship with Black maternity and childhood.

Hertel guides student team to create sail cloth art exhibition in Erie

Heather Hertel, a professor of art at Slippery Rock University, led a team of students to create a floating art exhibition at the Erie Yacht Club on August 14. The artworks were painted directly onto recycled J22 yacht sails, attached to working yachts, and sailed out on Presque Isle Bay. The project began in 2015 when Hertel, an experienced sailor, wondered why she had never painted on sails. The team conducted material investigations to find paint that would stick to sail cloth, ultimately producing nine large-scale paintings. The exhibition also involved cross-disciplinary learning, with engineering professor Louis Christensen giving a presentation on sailboat physics to ensure the sails moved correctly.

Climate protestors install Anish Kapoor work on North Sea gas platform

Climate activists from Greenpeace installed a new artwork by Anish Kapoor on a Shell gas platform in the North Sea. Titled "BUTCHERED," the 12m by 8m canvas was attached to the platform and drenched with a blood-red liquid made from seawater, beetroot powder, and non-toxic pond dye to symbolize the environmental destruction caused by fossil fuel companies. The protest coincided with record-breaking heatwaves in Europe. Kapoor described the work as a tribute to activists and a "visual scream" against the climate crisis, while Shell condemned the action as dangerous and illegal trespassing.

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The Yale University Art Gallery has withdrawn two federal grant applications totaling $200,000 for an upcoming exhibition on the migration of Nguni peoples from southeastern Africa, scheduled to open in fall 2026. The museum rejected new anti-DEI stipulations attached to grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which require applicants to certify they do not operate programs promoting diversity, equity, or inclusion that violate federal anti-discrimination laws. The gallery will instead use its endowment to fund the show, marking the second time it has forfeited NEA grants under similar circumstances.

‘Free art, with strings attached’: Zero Art Fair’s first edition in New York City puts a new spin on the old fair format

Zero Art Fair held its first New York City edition at the Flag Art Foundation, offering artworks for free under a novel contract system. Instead of paying upfront, collectors took home 179 works valued at $537,500 by presenting a paper card, with artists retaining certain rights. The fair, co-founded by artists William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton, involved over 300 applicants and 90 participating artists, with costs underwritten by Flag Art Foundation and Gagosian.