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.

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

nan goldin the ballad of sexual dependency why so important 1234773582

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.

times square statue thomas j price statue debate 1234741944

A 12-foot-tall bronze statue of a Black woman by British sculptor Thomas J. Price, titled *Grounded in the Stars* (2023), has been installed in Times Square, sparking a polarized public reaction. Online, conservative commentators and social media users have labeled the work a sign of a "very sick society" and a "death of civilization," with racist AI-generated and Photoshopped images circulating. In person, the sculpture has drawn both affirming responses—such as a Black woman mimicking its defiant pose—and disrespectful acts, including a white man groping the statue's buttocks for a photo. The work, which stands near permanent monuments to white male figures, will be on view until June 17.

art collector questionnaire geoff snack rare books design

Geoff Snack, a brand strategy director and paper dealer, shares his approach to collecting rare books, design objects, and paper ephemera in an interview with CULTURED. His collection includes a signed copy of Andy Warhol's "Exposures," works by Barbara Kruger, Lawrence Weiner, and Chris Burden, and flyers from the 1980s New York art scene. Snack sources his finds through flea markets, Craigslist, and instinctive hunts, and runs the consultancy Wrong Answer and co-organizes the book fair Available Works at WSA in downtown New York.

creative time appoints jean cooney executive director 1234769371

Creative Time, a New York-based nonprofit known for large-scale public art, has appointed Jean Cooney as its executive director. Cooney previously served as vice president of arts and culture at the Times Square Alliance and director of Times Square Arts since 2019, and before that spent seven years at Creative Time, rising to deputy director. She worked on major projects including Kara Walker's 'A Subtlety' at the Domino Sugar Factory. Cooney succeeds Justine Ludwig, who stepped down in September to join PST ART as inaugural creative director. Cooney begins her role on February 23, and the organization will celebrate her return at its annual spring gala on April 28.

rosa barba moma times square moynihan 1234746109

Rosa Barba's exhibition "The Ocean of One's Pause" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York surveys 15 years of her work, featuring over a dozen cinematic sculptures arranged as a single installation. Central to the show is her latest 25-minute film *Charge* (2025), co-commissioned by MoMA and the Vega Foundation, shot at CERN in Geneva. The film will also screen at Moynihan Train Hall and in Times Square as part of the "Midnight Moment" program throughout July. Barba transforms a black box gallery into a cello-like space, with long wires and film projectors creating a celluloid symphony through mechanical clicks and analog apparatuses.

venice biennale curator koyo kouoh dies 1234741881

Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroonian-born curator appointed to lead the 2026 Venice Biennale, has died unexpectedly at age 57. The Venice Biennale announced her passing on Saturday, describing her as a figure of “passion, intellectual rigor, and vision.” Her husband, Philippe Mall, stated that a recently diagnosed cancer was the cause of death in a hospital in Basel, Switzerland. Kouoh had served as executive director and chief curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town since 2019, and was the second African-born curator to lead the Venice Biennale.

Toronto Biennial takes waterways as inspiration for its fourth edition

The Toronto Biennial of Art has announced the details for its fourth edition, titled "Things Fall Apart," scheduled to run from September 26 to December 20. Curated by Allison Glenn, the exhibition will feature 30 artists and collectives, including Kent Monkman, Rebecca Belmore, and Dawoud Bey, with a heavy emphasis on new commissions. For the first time, the biennial is expanding its footprint beyond the Greater Toronto Area to include partnerships with institutions across Canada and international sites like Times Square in New York and the Anchorage Museum in Alaska.

An Intimate Portrait of Basquiat’s Early Life Returns to Brooklyn

The exhibition “Our Friend, Jean” returns to Brooklyn this May at The Bishop Gallery, coinciding with Frieze Week. The show features twenty artworks alongside personal ephemera and photographs from Jean-Michel Basquiat’s formative years between 1979 and 1980, primarily sourced from the collection of his former roommate Alexis Adler. This iteration includes previously unseen items from Adler’s trove, such as hand-painted garments and postcards, and will be activated by panels featuring Basquiat’s early collaborators.

ruckus manhattan red grooms and mimi gross 2712284

In 1975, artists Red Grooms and Mimi Gross created "Ruckus Manhattan," a monumental multimedia recreation of New York City landmarks from Lower Manhattan to Times Square, built in a vacant lobby at 88 Pine Street with a team of 20 to 30 artists called the Ruckus Construction Co. Half a century later, the Brooklyn Museum is exhibiting excerpts from the project, and for the first time properly credits Gross as co-creator, correcting decades of obscuring her role when the work was shown at Marlborough Gallery, which represented only Grooms.

yvette mayorga times square arts magic grasshopper 2669062

Artist Yvette Mayorga will unveil her largest public artwork, "Magic Grasshopper," in New York's Times Square in October. The 30-foot sculpture features a pink Baroque carriage with gold-rimmed wheels, drawn by four carousel horses wearing Hello Kitty backpacks, and is covered in Mayorga's signature faux frosting piped from pastry bags. The work draws on the artist's Mexican-American heritage, incorporating references to low-rider culture, the royal carriage of the Second Mexican Empire, and the Nahuatl origin of the name Chapultepec, which means "hill of the grasshopper."

A Thomas J Price Bronze Opens Door to London’s V&A East

British artist Thomas J Price has unveiled a monumental bronze sculpture at the entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new outpost, V&A East, in Stratford, East London. The large-scale work depicts an anonymous Black figure, continuing Price's practice of utilizing the traditional language of monumental sculpture to celebrate everyday individuals who are often marginalized in public spaces.

British artist Thomas J Price brings a contemplative colossus to Times Square

British artist Thomas J Price has installed a 12-foot-tall bronze sculpture titled *Grounded in the Stars* (2023) in New York’s Times Square, on view until 17 June. The work depicts a fictionalized woman in a contemplative contrapposto pose, finished in matte black, and is placed at street level rather than on a pedestal. Concurrently, Price’s *Man Series* (2005–present) will be shown on the square’s 95 giant screens every night in May as part of Times Square Arts’ *Midnight Moments* series. The sculpture was previously featured in Price’s 2023 solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth’s Downtown Los Angeles location, and his New York gallery show *Resilience of Scale* runs until 14 June.

Tania Bruguera on Why Today’s Art Must Be Political

Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera will stage her performance "Tatlin’s Whisper #6" in Times Square on May 1, International Workers' Day. Originally created for the 2009 Havana Biennial, the work invites participants to speak freely on a platform for one minute, highlighting the conditional nature of free expression under authoritarian rule. Bruguera discusses the performance's relevance amid rising authoritarianism in both Cuba and the United States, noting that when she attempted to restage the work in Havana, she and other participants were arrested.

iconic photos leica photojournalism 2654829

This article marks the 100th anniversary of the Leica I camera, first unveiled in 1925 after Oskar Barnack's proposal to create a lightweight, portable camera using 35mm cinema film. It highlights seven era-defining photographs made with Leica cameras, including Alfred Eisenstaedt's iconic V-J Day in Times Square (1945) and Ilse Bing's Self-Portrait in Mirrors (1931), and notes that Leica is staging exhibitions across its 29 galleries worldwide to celebrate the centenary.

This sprawling free NYC art show just opened at MoMA PS1

MoMA PS1 has officially launched "Greater New York 2026," a massive building-wide exhibition featuring over 150 works by 53 artists and collectives. This quinquennial survey, which coincides with the institution’s 50th anniversary, showcases a diverse range of mediums including large-scale installations, painting, animation, and performance art. For the first time, the exhibition was organized by the museum’s entire curatorial team, resulting in a broad cross-section of the city's contemporary creative output.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Crowns (Peso Neto)To Star in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1981 painting *Crowns (Peso Neto)* will headline Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Sale this November, carrying an estimate of $35–45 million—the highest ever for a Basquiat work from that year. The painting, never before offered at auction, debuted at Annina Nosei Gallery in 1982 and was later shown at documenta 7. It will be publicly exhibited in London, Paris, and New York before the sale, which coincides with the opening of Sotheby's new global headquarters in the former Whitney Museum's Breuer Building.

domingo zapata worlds largest mural saudi arabia 2746229

Spanish artist Domingo Zapata has been commissioned by Saudi Arabia to create the world's largest mural, a 540,000-square-foot work the size of nine football fields. The project, part of the $63 billion Diriyah cultural zone in Riyadh, will take five to six years to complete and involves a team of about 100 artists, engineers, and architects. Zapata describes it as a "Middle Eastern version of the Sistine Chapel."

The Metropolitan Museum of Art to Host “P.S. Art” Exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will host "P.S. Art 2025: Celebrating the Creative Spirit of NYC Kids" from June 10 through October 19, 2025, a juried exhibition featuring 138 artworks by prekindergarten through grade 12 students from New York City public schools. The works were selected from over 950 submissions by a panel including the late artist Tony Bechara and Met staff, spanning painting, mixed-media, and sculpture. A ceremony at The Met Fifth Avenue on June 10 will coincide with the Museum Mile Festival, and the Times Square Advertising Coalition will display 43 of the works on OUTFRONT's screen, The Cube, starting June 17.

Grinnell College art museum showcases dual exhibits of student and faculty curated works

The Grinnell College Museum of Art has opened two new exhibitions. 'Unruly Lines: The Art of Sonia Sekula,' curated by professor Jenny Anger and museum curator Dan Strong, occupies the east gallery, while 'Rhizomatic Intimacies: Photography from the Collection of Keith Jantzen and Scott Beth,' curated by students from Michael Mackenzie's Exhibition Seminar, is on view in the west gallery.

yuge zhou midnight moment 2656704

Artnet is co-presenting Midnight Moment in partnership with Times Square Arts this June, featuring Yuge Zhou's video work *Trampoline Color Exercise*. The piece uses archival Olympic footage to show gymnasts tumbling on pink-gridded trampolines in a seamless collage, exploring themes of globalization, geopolitical tension, and humanity's pursuit of perfection. Zhou, a video artist with a background in computer science and a former child singer in China, discusses her creative journey and the inspiration behind the work in an accompanying interview.

art mimosa echard amant show france

French artist Mimosa Echard presents "Facial," a new exhibition at Amant in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, running through February 16, 2026. The show features a series of palimpsest-like canvases and a video work of Times Square, inspired by Echard's pedestrian observations of New York City. Key motifs include ginkgo trees—which she links to survival, ancient sexuality, and the city's olfactory character—and the repetitive eye imagery found on beauty salon facades, which she interprets as a form of "sweet surveillance." Echard, who won the Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2022, created the works during a two-month residency in the neighborhood, drawing on her characteristic blend of botanical and digital themes.

Manhattan block where Basquiat lived and worked renamed in his honour

A block of Great Jones Street in downtown Manhattan, between Bowery and Lafayette Street, has been officially renamed Jean-Michel Basquiat Way in honor of the late Neo-Expressionist artist. Basquiat lived and worked at 57 Great Jones Street from 1983 until his death from a heroin overdose at age 27 in 1988, renting the space from his friend Andy Warhol. On October 21, New York city council members and Basquiat's family, including his sister Lisane Basquiat, unveiled the street signs. The building now features a commemorative plaque and has been rented by actress Angelina Jolie as a showroom and curatorial space for her fashion brand Jolie Atelier.

Nostalgia and Decay Meet Theatricality in Andrew Moore’s Dramatic Photos

Photographer Andrew Moore has opened a solo exhibition titled 'Theater' at Jackson Fine Art. The show features his large-format, atmospheric photographs of aging theaters, grand staircases, and other architectural spaces in locations like New York, Cuba, and Russia, which evoke a sense of timelessness and a bygone era.