Inspiration

Spring has sprung in New York—and so has the art world’s busy fair season. Whether you’re a local or in town to visit the more than half dozen fairs alighting in the city this May—including Frieze, NADA New York, and TEFAF, as well as newcomer Esther—you’ll also want to make room on your calendar (and take advantage of the spring weather) to also visit some of the gallery shows debuting this month. From a New York-native artist taking over a gallery space with site-specific installations to a painter bringing the culture of Aboriginal Australia to a wider audience, these five artists starring in solo shows across the city are not to be missed. Daniel Walbidi, Winpa (2023). Courtesy of the artist and D’Lan Contemporary. Hailing from the Northwestern coast of Australia, Daniel Walbidi (b. 1983) is a Mangala/Yulparitja artist whose practice is centered around learning about and expressing both his culture as well as the natural landscape of his community’s ancestral homeland. A rising star within Australian First Nations artists, the exhibition features 10 recent works by Walbidi that are larger in scale than his previous (and sold out) exhibition with D’Lan Contemporary in May 2023.

One of the most notable lots of Phillips Modern and Contemporary evening sale on May 14, a small Noah Davis painting Untitled (Boy with Glasses), belongs to Aryn Drake-Lee, the ex-wife of actor Jesse Williams. The small 10-inch by 10-inch figurative portrait was included in an exhibition of work by Davis and his older brother, artist and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph called “Young Blood” at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, WA in 2016. In installation photos of the exhibition, a photo credit line for Untitled (Boy with Glasses) reads “Collection of Aryn Drakelee-Williams and Jesse Williams“. Williams and Drake-Lee began collecting art in 2009, separated in 2017 and officially divorced in 2020. After the divorce, the painting went into the possession of Drake-Lee, a spokesperson for Williams told ARTnews. Before Davis died at the age of 32 in 2015, the Seattle-born artist was known for his large figurative paintings of surreal, post-racial images, as well as founding The Underground Museum cultural space in Los Angeles. In 2021, Williams spoke to ARTnews about his approach to collecting art from the African diaspora, what he learned from artist Cheryl R. Riley about how to be a patron, and

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday. The annual May auction sales in New York are always an important indicator of the market’s health, and next month’s sales appear all the more notable after a year most art dealers would rather forget. And you can add to that more than a little pearl-clutching that the art market is all but ready to collapse. Even so, auction performance almost always comes down to the material, and this May’s sales are conspicuously lacking in major estates, apart from the Rosa de la Cruz collection, which goes on offer at Christie’s on May 14 before its general 20th/21st Century Art sale. Perusing the provenance of the major evening sales indicates that a great many of the works are fresh to market or close to it, with quite a few having spent a fair amount of time within one collection after having been bought from a gallery, estate, or directly from the artist. The general composition of the lots suggests hard work on the part of the specialists, who no doubt had to comb through their Rolodexes for novel material that could get collector

New York is hardly in need of another art fair, but that’s what we got this week in the form of Esther, which feels more like an ambitious group show than a selling event. That’s something to be thankful for, since the art market in this city tends to be pretty risk-averse. And, despite the fact that Esther is designed to peddle art, this show has character, which is more than you can say for all the other interchangeable fairs that pass through the Big Apple annually. Notably, there are no booths. The 25 galleries on hand have instead elected to intersperse their varied offerings, largely without any signage to delineate who’s brought what to Esther. Perhaps for that reason, Esther feels more like a dealers’ hangout than an art-market shark tank. Experiments in New York like Esther largely went extinct during the pandemic. It’s a pleasure to have that spirit back. How’s the art itself? On the whole, it’s good, not great. There’s a lot of painting, and little of everything else, but at least the paintings at Esther largely aren’t the figurative kind seen at the Friezes and Art Basels of the world. And many of the artists [...]

UNIVERSITY PROTESTS. As pro-Palestinian student protests intensify today, art students and faculty continue to join in demonstrations across US campuses and cities. Late last week, Rhoda Rosen, a curator and adjunct art history professor at the SAIC told gathered demonstrators: “We support your vision of the School of The Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), and we believe that it’s achievable, a vision that imagines what it would be like to be a part of a community that divests from those funds that support the destruction of Palestinian culture.” Rosen is also a member of the Advisory Council of the European Shoah Legacy Institute. Members of Columbia’s Visual Arts and Music faculty also reportedly issued a letter in support of students’ rights to assembly and free speech. ARTIST ARREST. A Saudi Arabian artist and activist who advocated for female empowerment was secretly sentenced to 11 years in prison following her November 2022 arrest. She was convicted for what the Saudi government called “terrorist offenses,” and urging an end to male guardianship rules. Manahel al-Otaibi is described as an artist and fitness instructor, who used social media to promote feminism. The Saudi gover

The family stored the painting and other belongings in a shipping company warehouse in Vienna. Though they planned to fetch the possessions after the war, German authorities seized the property in 1940. The following year, it was auctioned by the Dorotheum auction house, which ultimately sold it to another auction house owned by Nazi Party member and known trafficker of looted art Adolf Weinmüller. When the war ended, the family and heirs appealed to the German and Austrian governments for the return of the artwork, but were unsuccessful. In 2016, the work was included in an exhibition in Ornans, France, where it was on loan from the Paris–based Galerie Helene Bailly. In 2017, it was purchased from Galerie Helene Bailly by Rau, who sold it on, according to a lawsuit filed by the federal government with U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana last week. According to court documents, Vita and Schlamp waived their rights to the painting at the time of the FBI seizure. The federal government is asking the court to decide the proper owner of the painting.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently signed a memoradum of understanding (MOU) with Thailand formalizing collaborative efforts to study and display Thai art. A signing ceremony took place on April 25 at the museum in New York with Phnombootra Chandrajoti, director-general of Thailand’s Fine Arts Department, and Max Hollein, the Metropolitan Museum’s director and CEO. Thailand’s consul general in New York, Somjai Taphaopong, and the Ministry of Culture’s executive director of its national museums office, Nitaya Kanokmongkol, also attended the signing ceremony. “This agreement reaffirms our commitment to furthering the world’s understanding and appreciation of Thai art and culture,” Hollein said in a press statement. “We value our open and ongoing dialogue with the Kingdom of Thailand, and look forward to future collaborations.”   Two Thai sculptures from the 11th century, Kneeling Female Figure and Standing Shiva, were also on display at the signing ceremony. They are both being returned to Thailand after the institution announced their repatriation last December. The sculptures were associated with the art dealer Douglas Latchford. The returns were the result of an agreement bet

The for-profit art school system, which had locations across the United States, shuttered last year. Students who were enrolled at any Art Institute branch from January 1, 2004 through Oct. 16, 2017, when the Education Management Corp. (EDMC) oversaw the organization, are eligible for debt forgiveness.  

you’d like to list an opportunity here, please get in touch at hello@colossal.art. You can also join our monthly Opportunities Newsletter.   $3,500 Artist Grants | The Hopper PrizeFeatured The Hopper Prize is accepting entries for Spring 2024 artist grants. The

Quick, name a museum that’s open 24 hours and visited by more than four million people every day. You probably weren’t thinking of the New York City Subway, but a staggering 400 permanent artworks have been commissioned across the system over the past four decades, earning it the moniker of “New York’s underground art museum.” More than 100 were completed in the past decade and now star in Contemporary Art Underground: New York MTA Arts & Design (Phaidon), a book that journeys across the city’s five boroughs to survey the blue-chip art by the likes of Nick Cave, Sarah Sze, Derrick Adams, and Yayoi Kusama that have made museum-quality experiences part of the daily commute. Encompassing miniature sculptures to monumental murals and years-long reconstruction initiatives, the book highlights how each work engages with and informs its surroundings. With chapters focused on materials and behind-the-scenes studio visits, it also reveals how artworks are interpreted in mediums chosen for their resilience in a transit environment, like colorful mosaics and dazzling stained glass windows. Remember, the New York City Subway is the Western Hemisphere’s busiest rapid transit system and carried

Infórmanos si has visto algún error en este contenido o eres este artista y quieres actualizarla. ARTEINFORMADO te agradece tu aportación a la comunidad del arte. Exposiciones de Pintura recien inauguradas en Barcelona · Premios de Pintura a los que puedes presentarte en España · Premios de Fotografía a los que puedes presentarte en España · Exposiciones cercanas a este evento · Ver todas las exposiciones propuestas en Barcelona · [...]

Ghanaian polymath Joseph Awuah-Darko discusses Accra's art scene, what he collects, and why painters are moving away from figuration. At the age of 27, Ghanaian collector Joseph Awuah-Darko already has many strings to his bow. He is also a practicing artist, musician, writer, curator and entrepreneur, and his self-described “precocious attitude” has helped him pushed the envelope of what it means to be a patron of the arts in the nascent and decidedly grassroots art scene of Accra. Among the new generation of African collectors on the continent, he is a leading figure that bridges disciplines and demographics. “I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t come from a family that collects art,” Awuah-Darko said. “I was something of an outsider.” Born in London in 1996, to an influential family of Ghanaian financiers, he relocated to Africa with his parents when he was a child and now lives and works in Accra, while also maintaining a home in the British capital. A defining moment that set him on his path to joining the art world happened while he was studying at Ashesi University, in Accra, in 2016. The award-winning Belgian-Beninese photographer Fabrice Monteiro paid a visit to the school,

As art fairs flood New York—starting with Frieze and followed by Independent—with a myriad of notable auctions, as well as the Whitney Biennial, the scene is definitely bustling this spring. Though there are a sizable amount of well-planned museum shows to add to that mix too, galleries have slowly been taking over the Tribeca neighborhood and their presence has not gone unnoticed. As such, below is a list of six must-see shows during Frieze week in New York. A battle between the inner self and the external world are at play in Peter Nadin’s latest show, “The Invisible World” at Off Paradise. Inspired by the secluded farm in the Catskills where Nadin lives, his newest paintings and sculptures weave together Biblical narratives and personal memories. The pleasantly ridiculous Adam Installing Utilities in the Garden of Eden Under the Devil’s Fire (2023), for example, features maintenance workers performing their labor while a naked Adam and Eve wander through the landscape. This irreverent work is paired with equally amusing ones like Three Self Portraits with a Ripening Lemon (2023), featuring the artist’s image render on the inside of the sole of a worn brown dress shoe, which is s

Whether deep in slumber or perched on ornamental pedestals, Willy Verginer’s bold, whimsical sculptures (previously) invite us into a surreal dream near the artist’s home in northern Italy. Verginer uses linden, or basswood, to chisel life-size sculptures of birds, bears, and human figures

 Chefs d’œuvres des collections du musée de l’OrangerieDu 19 mars au 30 juin 2024Paul CézannePortrait de Madame Cézanne, entre 1885 et 1895Musée d'Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) conservées au musée de l’Orangerie et rassemblées par le marchand d’art Paul Guillaume (1891-1934), puis par son épouse Domenica (1898-1977) après son décès, constituent le cœur de cette exposition. Le corpus permet un panorama couvrant une grande partie de la carrière des deux peintres, des années 1870 jusqu’à leur mort. L'ensemble est complétée par quelques apports provenant de la collection du musée d’Orsay ainsi que par trois peintures modernes de Picasso et Kees Van Dongen de la collection de l’Orangerie.Paul Cézanne et Auguste Renoir s’affirment comme deux grands maîtres de la peinture française durant le dernier quart du XIXe siècle et au tout début du XXe siècle. Du creuset impressionniste de leurs

Infórmanos si has visto algún error en este contenido o eres este artista y quieres actualizarla. ARTEINFORMADO te agradece tu aportación a la comunidad del arte. Exposiciones de Fotografía recien inauguradas en Madrid · Premios de Fotografía a los que puedes presentarte en España · Exposiciones cercanas a este evento · Ver todas las exposiciones propuestas en Madrid ·

Infórmanos si has visto algún error en este contenido o eres este artista y quieres actualizarla. O si lo prefieres, también puedes ponerte en contacto con su autor. ARTEINFORMADO te agradece tu aportación a la comunidad del arte. Exposiciones de Pintura recien inauguradas en Madrid · Premios de Pintura a los que puedes presentarte en España · Exposiciones cercanas a este evento · Ver todas las exposiciones propuestas en Madrid · [...]

The scene amuses Bushwick-based artist Ad Deville. He and Droo, his identical twin brother, have been making sculptures and installations that they affix in cities across the world for nearly 30 years. Sometimes, if the tour group is fortunate, their guide leads them to Deville’s brightly painted primary-color-palette townhouse that is also home to Skewville, one of the city’s only galleries dedicated to street art, operating out of his garage.  Artists started tagging the exterior walls of buildings, telephone polls, and subway cars in cities six decades ago, but the peak of street art remains hotly debated. In the 1980s, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat broke into the mainstream art world with gallery and museum exhibitions. Then Banksy, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, and JR were the toast of the art market at the beginning of the new century. Sign up for our free newsletters to get the latest art news, reviews, and opinions from Hyperallergic. Like many other street artists, Deville navigated his way into the art world as an outsider. He grew up in a house on one of the last farms in Whitestone, Queens, in a family of 11, which included his grandmother, three other sib

LONDON — The question hanging over the Royal Academy’s survey of Swiss-born artist Angelica Kauffman, one of its founding members and, as the press release states, “one of the most acclaimed artists of the 18th Century,” is why — despite this recognition — many visitors today have never heard of her. As this display spanning her life and work evidences, she enjoyed popularity and consistent patronage as a working artist, spending time in Rome and London, where apparently one contemporary noted “the whole world is Angelicamad.” Similarly, a letter from sculptor Joseph Bonomi to the RA director, Benjamin West, describing her funeral in Rome in 1807, details how her paintings were triumphantly carried in procession, and the service was arranged by sculptor Antonio Canova. The answer may lie in artistic innovation and skill.  It is unfortunate to Kauffman to compare her with Artemisia Gentileschi, who lived more than a century earlier and has received an explosion of attention in recent years; nonetheless, doing so may go some way to explain why, despite success in her lifetime, Kauffman has since been overlooked in art history. Putting aside the dramatic personal story that tends to u

VENICE — Two imposing pavilions in the Venice Biennale’s Giardini, the Polish and Russian, made dramatic changes late in the game, both opting to exhibit foreign artists. The first is excellent, the second exceptionally problematic.  Figurative painter Ignacy Czwartos was originally selected to represent Poland. His themes of Polish nationalism, victimization, history, and religion meshed with the conservative and populist ideology of the right-wing government then in power, headed by former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Law and Justice party.   Crying censorship, Czwartos has staged his own sparsely attended protest/vanity show of 15 paintings a stone’s throw from the back of the pavilion. It is awful, including the cringeworthy “Nord Stream 2” (2024), which one can see here.  Together with Polish curator Marta Czyż, Open Group fashioned at warp speed the profoundly moving video installation “Repeat After Me II” (2024), in which Ukrainian refugees, filmed individually and head on, briefly recount their experiences of Russian attacks and then vocalize the sounds of specific weapons; textual information on each weapon is provided in the videos.   Sign up for our free new