The Tabloids Are Fouling Mayor Mamdani Over His Knicks Art. Here’s the Story
Mayor Zohran Mamdani invited artist Tom Sanford to display his hand‑painted Knicks Cutout paintings at New York City Hall, celebrating the Knicks' playoff run and local culture. Sanford, a gallery‑showing painter, created the wooden cutouts originally for a Brooklyn Bowl fundraiser benefiting Food Bank NYC. Tabloid outlets framed the mayor’s involvement as a superstitious “curse” that allegedly caused the team’s loss, while mislabeling the pieces as cheap cardboard. The artist argues the coverage distorts a genuine community moment and overlooks the artwork’s artistic merit.
Matt Dillon’s New Paintings Trace a Journey Across West Africa
Actor Matt Dillon is debuting his first solo exhibition, “Porto Novo to Abomey,” at New York’s Journal Gallery from April 24 to May 23. The show features a series of gestural acrylic paintings inspired by his recent trip to Senegal and Benin...
Re-Air: The Young Painter Curators Are Rushing to Work With
Taina H. Cruz, a 1998‑born Yale MFA graduate, is gaining high‑profile museum exposure after her work was featured in the Whitney Biennial and MoMA PS1’s Greater New York show. The artist’s paintings fuse Black female figures with folklore, horror, and pop‑culture references,...
Philadelphia’s New Art Fair Is Betting Big on Community
Philadelphia’s second‑ever contemporary art fair, Elsewhere, launches on June 4 under local gallerist Megan Galardi. Hosted in the Yowie Hotel’s historic rowhouses, the fair invites 26 galleries from Los Angeles to Toronto, offering 400‑sq‑ft booths for about $3,000 that double as overnight...
Edvard Munch’s Paintings for a Chocolate Factory Get a Rare Museum Outing
Edvard Munch’s twelve‑panel Freia Frieze, commissioned in 1922 for the women’s canteen of Oslo’s Freia chocolate factory, is leaving the factory for the first time. The monumental works have spent a century exposed to cacao dust and cigarette smoke before...
Centuries-Old Love Letter Deciphered With Help From A.I.
MyHeritage’s new Scribe A.I. tool has automatically translated the earliest surviving English Valentine, a 1477 love note from Margery Brews to John Paston. The AI produced a full transcript in Middle English, historical context, key details and research suggestions, eliminating the need...
How Pussy Riot Is Challenging Russia’s Return to the Venice Biennale
Pussy Riot is campaigning to replace Russia's official pavilion at the Venice Biennale with an alternative exhibition, "Resistance Imprisoned," featuring art by roughly 30 current and former political prisoners. The show opened at Strasbourg's Ritsch‑Fisch Galerie on April 19 and runs...
Never-Before-Seen Calder Sculpture Emerges on the Auction Block in Paris
American sculptor Alexander Calder’s newly discovered “Stabile‑mobile,” a five‑and‑a‑half‑inch kinetic piece blending his signature stabiles and mobiles, will be offered at Oger‑Blanchet’s live auction in Paris on May 22. The work, created in 1974 two years before Calder’s death, is expected to...
Which Auction House Led the Pack in 2025?
Christie’s reclaimed the lead in 2025 fine‑art auctions, posting $3.5 billion in sales, a 10.1 percent increase over 2024 but still 9.8 percent shy of its 2023 peak. The house’s marquee sale was Mark Rothko’s _No. 31 (Yellow Stripe)_, which fetched $62.1 million. Sotheby’s followed with...
Diane Keaton’s Iconic Wardrobe and Art Collection Head to Auction
Bonhams, in partnership with the Fine Art Group, will conduct a four‑part, 550‑lot auction of Diane Keaton’s personal belongings, including more than 200 outfits, home furnishings, and over 150 artworks. The sale runs from late May through early June, with three...
Was This Anne Boleyn’s Seat? Rare 500-Year-Old Chair Linked to the Tudor Queen
A 500‑year‑old oak chair, adorned with Tudor roses, dolphins and the initials “AB,” has been identified as possibly belonging to Anne Boleyn during her French court years. The piece was acquired by Devon dealer Paul Fitzsimmons at a U.S. auction...
Thomas J. Price’s Monumental Sculpture Anchors V&A East’s Opening in London—And More Art Industry News
Thomas J. Price’s monumental sculpture headlines the opening of V&A East in London, joining new commissions by Rene Matić, Carrie Mae Weems and Tania Bruguera. Art Dubai rolls out a risk‑sharing booth‑fee model and trims its exhibitor count to 50 after...
What Not to Miss at the San Francisco Art Fair, According to Curator Mara Gladstone
The 2026 San Francisco Art Fair, organized by Art Market Production, opened with 88 exhibitors and 46 regional cultural partners, featuring large‑scale sculptures, immersive installations, and a robust talks program. Independent curator Mara Gladstone highlighted five standout booths, ranging from...
Collector Jennifer Gilbert Is Selling Modernist Masterpieces to Fund Her New Arts Space
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Jennifer Gilbert is auctioning key Modernist works at Sotheby’s New York to raise more than $10 million for Lumana, the Detroit‑based nonprofit arts space she founded in 2025. The sales include Joan Mitchell’s *Loom II* (estimated $5‑7 million) and Kenneth Noland’s...
Pioneering Modernist Fahrelnissa Zeid Returns to the Spotlight in London
Turkish‑Jordanian modernist Fahrelnissa Zeid, a pioneering female avant‑garde figure, returns to London with “Immersion,” her first solo gallery exhibition in the UK this century at Dirimart (April 21–May 30, 2026). Curated by her former student Adila Laïdi‑Hanieh, the show assembles rarely exhibited works from Zeid’s...