All articles tagged with #contemporary art
Lucien Smith, a pivotal figure in New York’s early-2010s art scene known for his Rain Paintings, has died at 37 in New York; his career included rapid rise, record auction prices, gallery shows, later phases exploring NFTs and nonprofit work, and a return to painting, with no public cause of death disclosed.
Lucien Smith, a leading NYC artist whose practice spanned painting, sculpture, NFTs, film, and a neighborhood restaurant, has died at 37 (cause undisclosed). A Cooper Union alumnus who rose with blue‑chip galleries, he created influential bodies like the Rain Paintings, founded Serving the People to support younger artists, and pursued ventures beyond the gallery system. He was planning a comeback with a new collection and a Tripoli Gallery show, and friends remember him as witty, thoughtful, and deeply connected to the downtown art world.
Yayoi Kusama spent the last seven years of her life in isolation and declining health, yet this final chapter proved to be her most prolific and commercially successful, with record auction prices, a Louis Vuitton partnership, a New York exhibition of her late works, and rising demand that cemented her status as a leading figure in the art world before her death at 97.
Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul continue to dominate Seoul’s art calendar, expanding openings and events beyond the Coex center as galleries proliferate around the city. Kiaf will host about 175 galleries and Frieze Seoul more than 130 from 30 countries, building on last year’s roughly 70,000 Frieze visitors and 82,000 Kiaf visitors. Insiders say this signals a shift from a single fair to a month‑long, city‑wide art season with happenings spreading through neighborhoods and beyond the weekend.
Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, famed for her polka-dot motifs and immersive installations, died at 97 in Tokyo. A towering figure in global art, Kusama helped redefine contemporary art through expansive, experiential works and influenced generations of artists worldwide.
Renowned British painter David Hockney, famed for his bright California pool scenes and evolving techniques, has died at 88, capping a seven-decade career that shaped contemporary art across London, Los Angeles and Paris.
The 2026 Venice Biennale offers a spectrum of provocative pieces—from Florentina Holzinger’s nude, postapocalyptic pavilion to Lydia Ourahmane’s coin-operated, Venice-inspired installation and Ukraine’s journey of an origami deer—alongside Sanya Kantarovsky’s seance-like paintings and a wave of AI-inspired works in the Arsenale; the mood weaves stark political and personal mourning with bursts of inventive, boundary-pushing art under the In Minor Keys banner.
Venice Biennale 2026’s main exhibition, 'In Minor Keys,' curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, centers six artists—Cauleen Smith; Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons; Tiona Nekkia McClodden; Alfredo Jaar; Walid Raad; Kaloki Nyamai—whose restrained, atmospheric works explore memory, loss, and cross-generational bonds while reflecting on the geopolitics of minerals, with installations and multimedia pieces that emphasize quiet resilience amid global disruption.
Loie Hollowell’s Overview Effect at Pace Gallery London pairs large twin-circle canvases with pastel drawings to explore birth, abortion, pregnancy and breastfeeding through a cosmic, abstract lens inspired by her own experiences. The works fuse bodily imagery with outward, planetary forms—reflecting a developmental arc from her first birth’s diagrammatic representations to a more internal, space-inspired approach. Influences range from Louise Bourgeois and O’Keeffe to home-birth photos and Ina May Gaskin, and Hollowell discusses how shifting reception and female curators have allowed her to speak more openly about abortion and sexuality. The show, timely with Artemis II, situates the body within abstract art and questions market-driven pigeonholing, running at Pace Gallery, London, through May.
Critic Holland Cotter frames the 2026 Whitney Biennial as a modest, personal, crafts‑driven survey curated by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer. It foregrounds present fragilities—climate disaster, border policing, technological dominance and moral anxiety—woven together by an ambient, floor‑through soundscape. Highlights range from Michelle Lopez’s Pandemonium to Pat Oleszko’s Blowhard, Zach Blas’s CULTUS, Abbas & Abou‑Rahme’s Until We Became Fire and Fire Us, Oswaldo Maciá’s Requiem for the Insects, and Precious Okoyomon’s forthcoming Everything Wants to Kill You and You Should Be Afraid, among many intimate works that emphasize community, family, and cross‑species belonging over a single political thrust or star turn.
Art Basel Qatar 2026 opened in Doha across three venues (M7, Barahat Msheireb, and the Doha Design District) with 87 galleries, emphasizing solo 'special projects' under the Becoming theme. The VIP opening drew figures like Angelina Jolie and Hans Ulrich Obrist, highlighting Qatar’s cultural push, while early sales were muted. The curated top booths ranged from Maha Malluh at Galerie Krinzinger and Lina Gazzaz at Hafez Gallery to Otto Piene at Sprüth Magers, Imran Qureshi at Nature Morte, Lynda Benglis at Pace Gallery, Ahmed Mater at ATHR, Matthew Wong at MASSIMODECARLO, Hazeem Harb at Tabari Artspace, Olga de Amaral at Lisson Gallery, and Jannis Kounellis at Cardi Gallery.
This article highlights five notable art exhibitions at small galleries around the world in January 2026, featuring diverse works from artists Justus de Rode, Gwen Evans, Sera Holland, Morgan Lehman Gallery, and Francesco Pantaleone, showcasing themes from nature and domestic unsettling to textured abstraction and precarious sculptures.
The article previews major museum exhibitions in 2026, highlighting retrospectives of renowned artists like Tracey Emin, Raphael, Marcel Duchamp, and Anish Kapoor, as well as thematic shows on masculinity, Black life, and the intersection of art and science, set against a backdrop of ongoing political and economic challenges.
A retrospective of Kerry James Marshall in London showcases his innovative approach to painting, emphasizing the idea of paintings as 'machines' and highlighting his influence in contemporary art.
Ceal Floyer, a renowned contemporary artist known for her minimalist and humorous works, passed away at 57 due to a brain tumour. Her notable performances and installations, such as 'A Nail Biting Performance' and 'Mousehole,' challenged perceptions and explored everyday phenomena with wit and ingenuity. Floyer's career included exhibitions at major international venues and awards, and she was celebrated for her unique approach to art that combined skepticism, humor, and a keen sense of perspective.