Arts news

• Art Basel 2016

  31-05-2016 23:00
  Our daily papers from Art Basel, including news, analysis, interviews and live reporting from the fair
  
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• Check Out the Celebrities at the 2026 Frieze Los Angeles Art Fair

  27-02-2026 19:42 via artnews.com
  The 2026 edition of Frieze LA kicked off yesterday with an invitation-only VIP day. The art fair, held in a tent on the grounds of the Santa Monica Airport, features about 100 exhibitors from around the world and runs through Mar. 1. ARTnews attended the opening, where dealers excitedly reported a “frenzy” of sales.But! Frieze LA is not just about the sales. This edition of Frieze (which also hosts fairs in New York, London, and Seoul) is an easy draw for celebrities, whether to the
  
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• Director of Poland’s Jewish Museum Reinstated After Defeat of Far-Right Government

  27-02-2026 19:41 via artnews.com
  Seven years after being ousted by the nationalist government, Dariusz Stola will return as director of Poland’s premier Jewish museum, reflecting a broader cultural renaissance in the country.Sola led the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw from its founding in 2014 to steady acclaim, until the newly ascendant right-wing nationalist Law and Justice party began a purge of museum leaders unwilling to accept their revisionist history. Law and Justice’s eight-year rule w
  
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• 6 Must-See Artworks on Digital Art Streaming Platform CIFRA

  27-02-2026 18:59 via artnews.com
  Editor’s Note: This article was produced in partnership with CIFRA.As the art world continues to grapple with how best to exhibit, preserve, and monetize digital work, a new streaming platform aims to do more than simply replicate the white cube online. CIFRA positions itself as a platform made for artists working in video, sound, and other time-based media. For years, digital artists have been constrained by social media platforms that privilege speed, virality, and short-form display ove
  
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• See the Trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s New Film About an Artist and an Art Forger

  27-02-2026 18:39 via artnews.com
  The art world continues to be Hollywood’s new favorite setting. Following Cathy Yan’s The Gallerist, an art thriller released last month, and Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, a 2025 film about an art heist, comes The Christophers by director Steven Soderbergh. The new film, set to be released April 10 in the US and May 15 in the UK following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last September, stars Ian McKellen as a once celebrated artist who becomes the target of an art
  
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• 350-Year-Old Vrindavani Vastra Tapestry Makes Homecoming to India on Loan From British Museum

  27-02-2026 18:33 via artnews.com
  The Vrindavani Vastra, a 350-year-old tapestry woven in the foothills of the Himalayas and depicting the life of the god Krishna, will make a six-month homecoming, as part of a loan struck between the British Museum and the state government of Assam in northeastern India.The London institution agreed to return the tapestry in 2027 after Assam’s chief minister pledged to construct a new facility at the Assam State Museum in Guwahati, the state capital, to house the fragile textile, which, f
  
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• Jean Widmer, Designer Who Created Logo for Centre Pompidou, Dies at 96

  27-02-2026 18:18 via artnews.com
  Jean Widmer, a French-Swiss graphic designer whose minimalist aesthetic manifested a striking logo for Centre Pompidou upon its opening in 1977, died on February 2 at the age of 96. His death was announced by Centre Pompidou, which said, “Since that day in 1977, Widmer’s logo has travelled the world, weathering the decades without ever losing its graphic force.”The logo—featuring a series of black lines bisected by a zig-zagging diagonal channel connecting the top and bot
  
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• In New LA Show, Takashi Murakami Shows That Influence Flows in Two Directions

  27-02-2026 16:59 via artnews.com
  Takashi Murakami closes his eyes when he speaks. Still, this makes him no less animated: his hands gesture wildly, the pitch of his voice rising and falling. The artist is speaking in Japanese, but even before his translator intervenes, I can glean some of the sentiment from the proper nouns and the range of intonations. We are sitting in the center of Perrotin’s Los Angeles gallery amid a crowd of stylists, videographers, and representatives from both the gallery and Kaikai Kiki, Murakami
  
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• Catherine Pégard Named French Culture Minister, Frieze Los Angeles Clocks Enthusiastic Sales: Morning Links for February 27, 2026

  27-02-2026 14:18 via artnews.com
  To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter.The Headlines
  MACRON PICKS PÉGARD. Catherine Pégard, former president of the Chateau de Versailles and a close ally of French president Emmanuel Macron, will become the new French culture minister, reports Le Monde. Unconfirmed guestimates that she would replace the outgoing Rachida Dati were making the rounds for weeks. Pégard, 71,
  
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• Former Château de Versailles President Catherine Pégard Replaces Rachida Dati as France’s Culture Minister

  27-02-2026 14:10 via artnews.com
  Emmanuel Macron has appointed his close ally Catherine Pégard as France’s new culture minister, replacing Rachida Dati, who is stepping down to run for mayor of Paris in March’s municipal elections.Pégard is far from a surprise pick. She ran the Château de Versailles for 13 years and has been President Macron’s culture adviser since 2024. Before that, she was a political journalist, editing the magazine Le Point, and also worked as a speechwriter for former
  
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• Tracey Emin’s lust for life, gaudy Egyptian treasure and Don McCullin hits 90 – the week in art

  27-02-2026 13:18
  Emin reminds us of the deep power of art, Ramses II parades his megalomaniac gold and Rose Wylie’s witty paintings finally get their due – all in your weekly dispatchTracey Emin: A Second Life
  The most serious and intelligent, as well as passionate, artist of her generation proves art can still touch us all and express what it is to be alive.• Tate Modern, London, until 31 August Continue reading...
  
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• The Best Booths at Frieze LA, From a Textile Trunk Show to Poignant Commentaries on ICE Raids

  27-02-2026 04:49 via artnews.com
  VIP day for this year’s edition of Frieze Los Angeles took place on Thursday morning, and the sunny weather seemed like a good omen. Gone was the glum cloud cast by last year’s wildfires.From the beginning, the fair was packed with visitors. There’s a slightly new layout this year, which helped make the fair feel less claustrophobic. The fresh layout also created the sense that the fair was well-attended. Certainly, the energy was buzzing.The 95 exhibitors at the fair brought a
  
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• Dealers Are Abuzz at Frieze LA’s VIP Day: ‘It’s a Frenzy’

  27-02-2026 03:39 via artnews.com
  First-day sales reports from galleries at the latest edition of the Frieze Los Angeles art fair indicate an abundance of enthusiasm. Enough New Yorkers escaped the snow to be everywhere in the aisles, and major California collectors and cultural figures were spotted in numbers.“It’s a frenzy,” said clearly harried LA dealer Charlie James, standing amid works by Kristopher Raos, Manuel López, and other gallery artists.“We’ve already sold three times as much as
  
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• Ulysses Jenkins, Video Art Trailblazer with an Eye on Mass Media, Has Died at 80

  27-02-2026 01:16 via artnews.com
  Ulysses Jenkins, a muralist, performer, and trailblazer of video art, has died at 80. His death was confirmed by the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, his hometown and first collaborator in a lifelong examination of the connective and destructive potential of mass media.The museum mounted a retrospective of Jenkins’s work in 2022, titled “Without Your Interpretation,” and wrote in a remembrance shared on social media that he was “a true video griot whose work and spirit touch
  
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• Ulysses Jenkins, Video Art Trailblazer with an Eye on Mass Media, Has Died at 79

  27-02-2026 01:16 via artnews.com
  Ulysses Jenkins, a muralist, performer, and trailblazer of video art, has died at 79. His death was confirmed by the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, his hometown and first collaborator in a lifelong examination of the connective and destructive potential of mass media.The museum mounted a retrospective of Jenkins’s work in 2022, titled “Without Your Interpretation,” and wrote in a remembrance shared on social media that he was “a true video griot whose work and spirit touch
  
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• SoCal’s Bunny Museum Receives Gift of Rabbit Sculpture

  26-02-2026 22:13 via artnews.com
  Once dubbed “one of the weirdest, wildest, places you can visit” by SFGate, the Bunny Museum in Altadena, California, burned to the ground in 2025’s Greater Los Angeles Wildfires. Founded by Candace Frazee and her husband Steve Lubanski and dedicated to all things bunny, the beloved SoCal institution had been open to the public since 1998. During those years, it had gained a cult following and appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records three times.  Prior to its destru
  
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• Rena Bransten, Legendary San Francisco Art Dealer, Dies at 92

  26-02-2026 21:06 via artnews.com
  Rena Bransten, an art dealer whose gallery was a fixture of the San Francisco art scene for over 50 years, died Wednesday at the age of 92. Bransten died following a fall after a recent heart attack, her daughter, Trish, told the San Francisco Chronicle.Bransten’s eponymous gallery was founded in 1975 as the successor gallery to Quay Ceramics, which Bransten and Ruth Braunstein launched the year prior. Originally located in a 3,400-square-foot space in Union Square, the gallery became know
  
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• Sagrada Familia’s Central Tower Is Finished, 144 Years After Construction Began

  26-02-2026 18:04 via artnews.com
  Long-gestating construction on Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia reached a milestone this week when workers completed the upper section of its highest tower—a monument to Jesus Christ that makes the fantastical building the tallest church in the world.Work on the architect Antoni Gaudí’s masterpiece commenced in 1882, and only one of its towers reached completion by the time he died in 1926, at the age of 73.But as reported by The Guardian, the chief architect for the pr
  
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• Chicago’s DePaul Art Museum to Close After 40 Years

  26-02-2026 17:07 via artnews.com
  The DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, founded in 1985 and part of DePaul University, will close at the end of its current fiscal year, on June 31. The school, which faces considerable financial challenges, announced the closure in an announcement to the community Thursday morning.In December, the school laid off 114 out of 1,493 staffers, a greater than 7 percent cut, due to what it called a significant drop in international enrollment, according to WTTW News, which noted that the school had sought
  
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• Judy Baca Denies Allegations She Improperly Profited From $5 M. Grant for ‘Great Wall’ Expansion

  26-02-2026 17:04 via artnews.com
  Artist Judy Baca is pushing back against allegations from former employees who claim she improperly benefited from a $5 million grant tied to the expansion of her landmark mural, The Great Wall of Los Angeles, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.The accusations come from 10 former employees of the Social and Public Art Resource Center, or SPARC, the Venice-based nonprofit Baca co-founded in 1976. Several former staff members, including two managers, told the Times that Baca blurred th
  
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• Controversial Right-Wing French Culture Minister Stepping Down to Run for Mayor of Paris

  26-02-2026 16:35 via artnews.com
  Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister, is stepping down from her post to run for mayor of Paris in next month’s election, she told the Financial Times in an interview Wednesday.Dati was appointed minister of culture by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in 2024 as part of President Emmanuel Macron’s new-look centrist cabinet, following an election that saw Macron pivot to the right. Le Monde‘s read of her term at culture minister was scathing, writing that it “resembled
  
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• Flamm arts festival aims to spark interest in unsung Cornish town of Bodmin

  26-02-2026 16:00
  Eclectic event to bring contemporary art to part of peninsula usually bypassed by tourists and art loversArt lovers usually bypass the Cornish town of Bodmin as they head to the more obvious delights of seaside galleries in places such as St Ives and Newlyn.But an eclectic festival called Flamm – Cornish/Kernewek for flame or spark – is bringing contemporary art to the hinterland of the peninsula this weekend. Highlights range from a clay sculpture of jackdaws, a reference to the loc
  
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• David Hockney’s first English landscape on show for first time in almost 30 years

  26-02-2026 15:18
  English Garden, painted in 1965, is on display before it goes under the hammer with estimate of £2.5m-£3.5mDavid Hockney’s first English landscape, depicting a perfectly manicured Oxfordshire garden, is on show for the first time in three decades before being auctioned.Sotheby’s said the 1965 painting, English Garden, which was completed in Boulder, Colorado, was pivotal for Hockney as well as holding an important place in wider art history. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘The sky’s the limit’: Newcastle Art Gallery unveils its ‘divisive’ $48m expansion with a blockbuster opening show

  26-02-2026 15:00
  Now the largest public gallery in NSW outside of Sydney, NAG’s new exhibition marries big names with local artists – and celebrates a changing cityGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailOn Friday night, the Newcastle Art Gallery (NAG) is throwing open its doors and filling the road and park with giant fluffy doughnuts, live music, dancing and art in a free-for-all street party – themed “industrial disco” – that has been 16 years in the making.For the NAG t
  
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• ‘Let me in!’ The artist inviting you to protest outside major art venues he can’t access

  26-02-2026 15:00
  In Let Me In, Let Me Out, Hugo Flavelle takes audiences on a tour of galleries and theatres he has struggled in around Perth – creating a protest crossed with a mobile raveGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIt’s just after 8pm in Perth on a balmy Tuesday night and I’m yelling at a building: “WHERE IS YOUR AUDIO DESCRIPTION?” I’m not alone – 20 or so people are part of this alfresco protest. There’s a general feeling of low-key jubilation; s
  
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• Pace Prints Heads West With a Hollywood Hub, a Chuck Close Deep Dive, and a Case for Why Prints Matter Now

  26-02-2026 14:00 via artnews.com
  Pace Prints is heading to Hollywood.The New York–based print publisher and workshop has taken a space in Los Angeles and plans to open a production facility this fall with a small accompanying gallery, expanding its footprint at a moment when the L.A. art scene feels, to some, unsettled.Unlike a traditional gallery outpost, the L.A. location will function first as a production facility. The goal is to give West Coast artists time and space to experiment rather than flying in for quick, tra
  
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• LA Artist Judy Baca Accused of Misusing Funds For Historic Mural, French President Stung by Louvre Chaos: Morning Links for February 26, 2026

  26-02-2026 13:35 via artnews.com
  To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter.The HeadlinesCRACKS IN THE WALL. Ten former employees, including two managers, who worked on The Great Wall of Los Angeles public collaborative mural, allege the revered Chicano artist Judy Baca has been misusing millions of dollars in grants.She designed and leads the project, and the grants were earmarked for expanding the mural, according to an invest
  
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• ‘Our blood, our sweat, our tears’: how textile artist Tabitha Arnold weaves the US labor movement

  26-02-2026 13:00
  The Tennessee socialist and labor organizer creates art that reflects and inspires organizers and workersThe crowd lining up to get into Tabitha Arnold’s exhibition in New York City last fall wasn’t full of the older, moneyed types one might expect to find at a Chelsea gallery opening. Instead, the small space was packed with twenty- and thirtysomethings wearing Zohran Mamdani pins, Democratic Socialists of America hats and SEIU T-shirts.If the crowd might have seemed unusual in the
  
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• Capturing a Queen review – you’ll lose your head looking at so many pictures of Anne Boleyn

  26-02-2026 12:38
  Hever Castle, KentHistorians have amassed the largest group of portraits of Henry VIII’s second wife, whom he began courting 500 years ago (and beheaded 10 years later). But do we really need a public vote on the best likeness?Royal portraits are enjoying a spike in attention at present. While art historians are salivating over the recent discovery of the Catherine of Aragon pendant, Hever Castle, the childhood home of her successor as queen, is capitalising on its Tudor connection by moun
  
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• Shakespeare’s Globe launches environmental playwright prize

  26-02-2026 11:00
  Theatre says it will harness art ‘to inspire societal shifts towards restorative relationship with nature’From “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” to “one touch of nature made the whole world kin”, some of the most famous lines in William Shakespeare’s works are about the relationship between humans and the environment.It is this connection with the bard’s work that has inspired Shakespeare’s Globe to launch its first climate playw
  
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