Inspiration

Earlier this month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent five minutes explaining to over 3 billion users that everything was about to change. In ending Meta’s fact-checking program, he ensured that civil society organizations and governments would immediately scramble and miss the subsequent list of reforms that received less attention but are no less significant. Zuckerberg methodically relayed plans to “simplify” policies, roll back content moderation, and “work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world” that he accused of “censorship.” Predicated on what he claims as Meta’s “roots” of “free expression,” a fundamentally debatable statement, the announcement set the scene for politically charged debate over whose expression is favored and why. All are changes that will inevitably affect art and expression on Meta platforms, but the question is: How? Among the swirling array of opinions in the wake of Meta’s announcement, few have taken into account the unique position that many artists find themselves in, particularly those who have struggled against stringent policies and uneven, punitive content moderation. Projects like the Vienna Strips account on OnlyFans an

South Korean comic artist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim has broken my heart before with her graphic novels Grass and The Waiting. She once again delivers a deeply felt, expertly rendered story in her new autofiction, Dog Days.  Get the latest art news, reviews and opinions from Hyperallergic. Unlike many in the art world, we are not beholden to large corporations or billionaires. Our journalism is funded by readers like you, ensuring integrity and independence in our coverage. We strive to offer trustworthy perspectives on everything from art history to contemporary art. We spotlight artist-led social movements, uncover overlooked stories, and challenge established norms to make art more inclusive and accessible. With your support, we can continue to provide global coverage without the elitism often found in art journalism. Jesse Lambert is an artist based in, Queens, NY. He makes nonfiction comics about art, politics, public health, travel, and his unconventional childhood. He is currently working on a graphic memoir about...More by Jesse Lambert A group of artists asked the museum to alter their artwork displays with keffiyehs after the institution failed to take a “clear public moral stan

Since 1981, when I first encountered and reviewed the art of Forrest Bess at the Whitney Museum, I have seen every Bess exhibition that I could. I contributed a catalog essay for a 1988 show at Hirschl & Adler that included 62 of the artist’s estimated 150 paintings, and have viewed and written about many other works in multiple shows around the United States. At this point, I did not expect to come across many paintings by Bess that I had not already seen. This inspired me to visit the exhibition Jack was my first art collector.” Forrest Bess – From the Estate of Dr. Jack Weinberg at Franklin Parrasch Gallery. All 10 paintings in the exhibition are dated 1946, the year he began to incorporate his visions into his art — shapes he saw on the inside of his eyelids before waking up. The show consists of three still lifes of vegetables on a table, two abstractions populated by indecipherable symbols and objects on a black ground; and five postcard-sized paintings on wood, mostly of seascapes. Other than the two abstractions, most of the paintings are undistinguished views that I didn’t find interesting. What held my attention was the way Bess painted them — [...]

In her striking New York exhibition, the British designer delves into timeless themes, blending historical echoes with contemporary design. Despite it only being January, the British multidisciplinary designer and artist Faye Toogood has already had a gangbusters year. She just opened a solo show at the influential New York design gallery Friedman Benda. Meanwhile, the Paris-based furniture and design fair Maison & Objet, where Toogood was featured as the “Designer of the Year 2025,” wrapped yesterday. She showcased a multi-room solo presentation dubbed “Womanifesto!” Both diverse projects were deeply personal. “Assemblage 7: Lost and Found II” runs through March 15, and at first glance, is like stumbling into a history museum. It’s a chic Flintstones-goes-druid take on design. Toogood has transmuted chairs, benches, and dining and side tables into monolithic forms that often look like antiquarian finds. The functional sculptures have archaeological titles like Cairn, Hoard, and Lode. Toogood staged the pieces atop plinths, behind them are dramatic shadowlike lino-prints from the planning stages. The monochromatic scenography was painted “Toogood Earth No. BC3,” a bespoke Farrow &

The fair, which will have 240 exhibitors this year, including 23 first-timers, is planning a series of curated programs, including Encounters, dedicated to large scale projects; Kabinett, where participating galleries present thematic exhibitions with a focus on presentations from Asia; a film program; and more. Last year, ahead of the opening of the 2024 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, director Angelle Siyang-Le told ARTnews that she was focused on deepening the connection between the fair and the city’s art scene. She appears to have furthered that goal this year, based on the programming. The fair’s film program, which will feature seven screenings representing the work of 30 artists, is curated by Para Site, a beloved independent Hong Kong arts center. The program features collaborations with Videotage, another beloved Hong Kong arts nonprofit, which focuses on new media, and Nowness Asia, an arts and culture video platform. Additionally, the fair’s culture partners include a wide gamut of Hong Kong institutions, including 1a space, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, HASS Lab, the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association, and Tomorrow Maybe, an experimental art space we named as a “galler

FRIEZE LA PLOUGHS AHEAD. Frieze Los Angeles will go ahead with its sixth edition from February 20 to 23, despite the devastating wildfires and continued warnings of “extreme fire weather,” reports Daniel Cassady for ARTnews. The Friday announcement came as locals increasingly made the case for supporting the city’s art scene in good times, as in bad, and was followed by an open letter from the Gallery Association Los Angeles (GALA) calling for solidarity in the art world, reports Harrison Jacobs for ARTnews. “In moments like these, the art world’s unique strength as a close-knit and interconnected community becomes especially clear,” read the letter, which added that local art workers “will be back to work. Most already are.” It was signed by leading local galleries and institutions. While visitors to the February week of art events in and around the fair may not find business as usual, they may very well experience something far more meaningful.GOLDEN GATES OPEN FOR ART WEEK/FOG FAIR. Those seeking some respite from the smoke in southern California can head to the fog in San Francisco. Its appropriately named FOG Design+Art fair opens this week, along with art events around the Ba

As the war raged on in Gaza, with its impact spilling over into the West Bank and Lebanon, the art world was left reeling, as artists, curators, writers, and more all faced extreme consequences for voicing support for Israel or Palestine. Photographer Nan Goldin put it most succinctly when, in October 2023, she told the New York Times, “I have never lived through a more chilling period. People are being blacklisted. People are losing their jobs.” Art exhibitions were canceled. Curators departed their jobs. Donors pulled funding. Open letters were signed. And the art world was upended, creating divisions that may be long-lived. Below is a look back at 21 events that defined the art world’s response to the October 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s war in Gaza. Well-known members of the art world responded almost the October 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s subsequent air strikes in Gaza—some in the form of widely read letter calling for a ceasefire, others in a separate missive that urged “empathy” for those killed and taken hostage by Hamas. After circulating online, the first letter was published by Artforum, where it was accompanied by an image of a work by Palestinian artist Emily Jacir, [.

The National Cathedral of Ghana, a $400 million building in Accra that is being designed by architect David Adjaye‘s firm, will reportedly be investigated after concerns were raised about its cost. The Ghanaian British architect first revealed designs for the National Cathedral of Ghana in 2018. In the years since, the cathedral has been fiercely debated among Ghanaian politicians, who have raised questions about its funding. In 2022, one Ghanaian politician even implored Adjaye to personally return the $21.4 million fee his firm received for the project.

De Groft assumed leadership of the Orlando Museum in 2021, following stints at helm of the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. But his tenure at the Orlando Museum would define his career—especially after the FBI seize a suite of paintings attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat that were on view at the institution in 2022. Those paintings were on display in the show “Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat.” An FBI affidavit revealed that De Groft was under investigation for the paintings, which were thought to be forgeries. De Groft claimed that the paintings were created around 1982 by Basquiat while he lived and worked with dealer Larry Gagosian in Los Angeles. The affidavit, however, offered evidence to the contrary, and in 2023, Los Angeles auctioneer Michael Barzman admitted to making the fake Basquiat paintings. In the wake of the raid, De Groft was fired and the chairwoman of the Orlando Museum of Art at the time, Cynthia Brumback, departed amid scrutiny over how the exhibition was green-lit, despite FBI queries as early as July 2021. In August 2023, the museum filed a lawsuit accusing De Groft

The newly issued policy, officially titled the Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture executive order, is aimed at promoting a kind of civic architecture that “commands public admiration.” When it was first introduced in 2020, many US architects critiqued the move as regressive, viewing it as an attempt by the Trump administration to impose a uniform style on public buildings and to promote nationalist ideals. The executive order, which was signed alongside others focused on the US-Mexico border, directs federal agency heads and the General Services Administration, the organization that manages federal buildings and real estate, to provide recommendations within 60 days for aligning federal architecture with traditional and “classical” principles. The aim of the order is to “beautify public spaces” by emphasizing architectural designs that “respect regional heritage and align with America’s classical traditions.” The term “classical” refers to Neoclassicism, the Georgian style, the Greek Revival, Gothicism, and other architectural modes that came prior to the modernist era. The Trump administration directive is an updated on a 1962 policy on federal architecture, which focused on sha

Editor’s Note: This story is part of Newsmakers, a new ARTnews series where we interview the movers and shakers who are making change in the art world. In 2021, while an associate curator at one of New York City’s temples of experimental contemporary art, the Swiss institute, curator Daniel Merritt said that art history played a role is his practice, but was not a hill to die on. “What I think builds interesting curatorial work,” he said at the time to Cultured, “is not entrenching yourself too much in a certain discipline. You have to remain flexible to current events.” It’s not art history that drives his practice, he added, but rather “knowing when to present the work and having the audience want to hear from or engage with the subject at hand.” Like that of a performer, Merritt’s north star has more to do with timing and knowing his audience than museum catalogs and scholarly texts. While he is no longer at the Swiss Institute, Merritt’s ethos hasn’t changed, even if the backdrop has. In 2023, he left New York City to become the director of curatorial affairs at the Aspen Art Museum, which sits at the center of the art world’s Rocky Mountain Mecca. [...]

Jancsó said Generative AI was also used for a sequence at the end of the film, as part of the inspiration for a series of architectural drawings and finished buildings supposedly designed by Brody’s character, the fictional architect László Tóth. The designs themselves were hand-drawn.

Last week, Taiwan’s Pingtung District Court sentenced Sakuliu Pavavaljung, a Paiwan artist, to four and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting a female fan in 2021. According to ArtAsiaPacific, the court found Pavavaljung guilty of “violating the victim’s sexual autonomy and inflicting severe psychological trauma,” a verdict that followed a nearly four-year investigation. Pavavaljung can still appeal the decision. Pavavaljung is known for his contributions to Taiwan’s art scene and his anticipated breakout on the global stage. He faced significant professional fallout after the allegations in 2021. He denied the claims, but the controversy led to his removal from high-profile cultural events, including the 2022 edition of Documenta and that year’s Taiwan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Some of the ensuing allegations went back years. A female engineer accused Pavavaljung of attempted rape in 2006. The artist Kuo Yu-ping alleged on social media that a Paiwan artist—now believed to be Pavavaljung—had raped a teenage girl. Prosecutors investigated the claims, but initially found insufficient grounds for legal action.