On View: “Africa & Byzantium” at the Metropolitan Museum
A display of manuscripts in the Met’s “Africa & Byzantium” show. Photo by Anna-Marie Kellen, courtesy of The Met In the 14th Century, Ibn Battuta left his native Tangiers to …
Visual Art
On View Now: The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Triennial
A ripe banana taped to a wall. An apocalyptic classroom. A rabble of painting robot dogs. Installation view of Agnieszka Pilat’s work ‘Heterobota’. Photo: Sean Fennessy These are the three …
‘The World Made Wondrous: The Dutch Collector’s Cabinet’ at LACMA
Welcome to One Fine Show, where Observer highlights a recently opened exhibition at a museum outside of New York City—a place we know and love that already receives plenty of …
What’s the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Selection Process?
Shawn Michael Warren, Oprah Winfrey, (2023). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Joining the ranks of countless U.S. presidents, billionaires and cultural icons, Oprah Winfrey is the latest figure to be …
Why Inflatable Art Is Blowing Up in the Art Scene
A Designs in Air installation in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Photo: Andrew Weiss Colossal green tentacles bursting out of a building’s windows is not something you’ll see every day in …
The Five Best Artworks at Art Basel Miami Beach
The Pequod booth at Art Basel Miami Beach. Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach offered plenty of parties and “inspiration” but what about the art? …
An Interview with Curator Katerina Gregos
Since the Greek curator Katerina Gregos was appointed the artistic director of Athens’ National Museum of Contemporary Art in 2021, she has not only helped transform it and build its …
A $1M Scholarship Fund Honors Late Artist Mike Kelley
The late Mike Kelley, renowned for his influential multi-media explorations of memory and transgression, was more than an artist. For two decades, he was also a beloved professor at the …
Don’t Miss: Nina Chanel Abney, Tyler Mitchell, Erin Wurm at SCAD MOA
Museum visits during the holiday season can be fraught, as major institutions tend to be significantly more crowded than usual with tourists and revelers of all ages, regardless of day …
Chance and Chaos: A Q&A with Artists Ciarán Murphy and Niamh O’Malley
The works of Irish artists Ciarán Murphy and Niamh O’Malley couldn’t be more dissimilar at first glance. Murphy specializes in dreamy and melancholic paintings, while O’Malley uses materials like steel, …