Arts

Arts

Taking time to take a closer look is always worthwhile,

Suddenly, on walks around London, I noticed that these poisonous plants were growing everywhere. Near my studio, I saw thorn apple, which is one of the most poisonous plants that grows wild in the U.K. Its sap is really poisonous. The plant was taller than me with these amazing, architectural, spiky seed pods. It looked so monstrous and intriguing, but I'd never noticed it until having done this reading.

This year's Art SG, which closed last month, featured an intriguing debut: South Asian Insights, a modest pavilion dedicated to contemporary art from the region. Part of the TVS Initiative for Indian and South Asian Contemporary Art, it was backed by India's TVS Motor Company, one of the world's largest two-wheel manufacturers, which has its global headquarters in Singapore. Eight galleries-five from India-were each given a wall to showcase art.

"In the past few months, the real-estate developer turned politician has torn down the East Wing of the White House in order to build a flashy $400m ballroom, added his name to the façade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (which he announced would for major renovations starting this summer), suggested painting the exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) all white to "beautify" it, and pushed plans to build near the capital's historic centre."

Designed by Boston-based sound and installation artist Ryan Edwards and his team at MASARY Studios, the installation doesn't just sit there looking pretty. Every shift in color and geometry is triggered by audio recorded on Fulton Street itself, whether it be traffic rumbling past, snippets of conversation, subway noise, pigeons, crosswalk signals or devotional music drifting in from Brooklyn Tabernacle down the street.

The Senate passed a federal funding bill package on Friday, but temporarily blocked any additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), triggering another government shutdown. But unlike the shutdown that began in October, which lasted a record 43 days, this one won't force the Smithsonian Institution or the National Gallery of Art to close-and it's expected to be resolved quickly.

After a decade of big spending, Saudi Arabia is scaling back some massive Vision 2030 "gigaprojects" due to falling oil prices and budget constraints. What does this mean for the nation's big cultural projects and investments? Plus, all eyes are on the Gulf this week as the first edition of Art Basel Qatar gets underway. Plus, the NFT platform Nifty will shut down this month.

- Outsider Art Fair has announced 68 exhibitors for its 34th edition at Manhattan's Metropolitan Pavilion this March 19-22. First-timers include Gagné Contemporary (Toronto), Embajada (San Juan), and Nanjing Outsider Art Center. - A long-lost Renaissance portrait has resurfaced at the Winter Show at New York's Park Avenue Armory. The portrait of a preacher by Sofonisba Anguissola can be found on the booth of Old Master dealer Robert Simon. ( Artnet News)

One of the most influential writers of the 20th century, he inspired many, including a young John Wilson, born in 1922 to Guyanese immigrants in the working-class neighborhood of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Wright, who established himself in the literary world in the decade before Wilson emerged in art, profoundly impacted the modern artist - his words appear in the political prints and paintings Wilson would go on to make.

"The four large-scale canvases that constitute the core of ' Misfits' maintain the fundamental elements of the artist's visual lexicon while radically reconfiguring compositional structure and spatial organization. These works advance a design freedom that is simultaneously forceful and controlled, achieving a balance between expressive intensity and formal restraint. As such, the series marks a decisive moment in Nuñez artistic evolution and possibly an initial step toward a more profound and transformative reorientation of his practice."

Today, we bring you another focus challenge, inviting you to spend uninterrupted time looking at a piece of art. This one, a painting by Elisheva Biernoff of a found photograph, is called Advent. It's small, just five inches wide, matching the dimensions of the original photo. She painted it last year. (These challenges are published on the first Monday of each month. Sign up here if you'd like to be notified.)

The 10ft sculpture depicts a confident woman of colour striding in a blue dress and heels and is meant to represent a contemporary everywoman that 'many can relate to'. She is not an idol to venerate or a historic figurehead to commemorate. She is a woman striding forward into our collective future with ambition and purpose. She is a Londoner who represents the city's spirit.

Nieves González recomposes the story of Mary Magdalene through the symbols that always surrounded her: hair, chalice, cave, blood. She thus recovers the disciple, the messenger, the spiritual force that history preferred to silence.Sacred Hair / Capelli Sacri is conceived as an altarpiece where the classical and the contemporary dialogue to reveal the hidden. Structured from pictorial tradition, González remakes established canons from her perspective as a contemporary woman:

Just in time for Lunar New Year, the critically-acclaimed SF Neo-Futurists are thrilled to premiere 99 Wrench Market, a brand-new specialty show featuring 30 original plays in 60 minutes by an all Asian-American cast! For two nights only, the Asian-American members of "SF's premiere performance art troupe" (48 Hills) will race against the clock to translate our lived experiences in the Bay Area into a bold, joyful, chaotic mix of microplays ranging from personal storytelling, audience games, and surrealist antics, as we explore wtf it means to be Asian.

2026 UPDATE: Sadly, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has confirmed that its Free First Thursday program is temporarily paused beginning February 2026. The museum says the program will be re-envisioned and relaunched at a future date, with updates to be shared once plans are finalized. As of January 15, no additional Free First Thursday dates are scheduled. The change affects the long-running program that provided free general admission to Bay Area residents on the first Thursday of each month from 4 to 8 pm.

I have always had a keen interest in South Asia and in India in particular for both its cultural richness and its institutional life. I am excited to be part of a project that will change the museum landscape of the subcontinent. My role will be transversal to the full life of the museum, engaging with all its activities, with the primary focus on ensuring readiness to operate at the highest international and regional standards, to serve India and its communities and its visitors.

With those bricks, you and your friends or family will create an eye-catching three-dimensional scene where a Chinese-inspired red and gold scroll unfurls and its four illustrated horses appear to come to life, galloping off the page. (The horses also actually "gallop," thanks to a hand crank.) Nearby, two "minifigures" (aka small people-shaped pieces) watch the scene unfold. One is a festival-goer with black styled hair, and one is wearing a large horse mask and painting miniature scrolls.

I'm going to give you some clues. The answer to each one rhymes with the last word in the clue. Ex. The sky's hue --> Blue 1. Toy that flies to great height 2. Pistol, for one 3. Funeral fire 4. Things you count when you have trouble getting to sleep 5. Friars event with a celebrity host 6. Brand of pen that you can click 7. Place to acquire knowledge 8. Have uncertainty about 9. Not go away

Dad Gets Tattoo So His 6-Year-Old Daughter Wouldn't Feel Different Man Spent $13,000 To Turn His Apartment Into A Baked Beans Museum "Strength": Street Artist Painted 3 Murals On A Local Hospital As A Tribute To Spain's Health Workers Colombian Makeup Artist Creates Mind-Boggling Optical Illusions Artist's Gorgeous Mural on Sunken Ship Changes with Tide Levels Chris Keegan by Cosmic Creatures "The Traveler Saga": Explore The Beautiful Outworlds And Creations With Gorgeous Concept Art Of Tyler Smith

This sprawling installation (or in the New York gallery's parlance, "spatial collage") had transformed the Wooster Street space into a warren of rooms and hallways that resembled a series of stage or film sets, including a "clandestine drug lab," a Chinatown basement store, and a pirate radio station. I gingerly navigated through half-destroyed walls and over uneven floors strewn with detritus, escaping with vivid memories of one of the strangest contemporary art experiences to be had in those years.

Alg Eventual is an Ohiobased audio/visual new media artist creating glitch art, digital collages and abstract mixed media works with a reference to the roots of the early 2000s. His works feature scanner experiments, layered textures and titles like Exterior, Interwind, Articulation, Overthinking and Everything leads back to you, blending digital manipulation with tactile, fragmented aesthetics. More: Instagram

In the future world, America, with its energy and vitality, must play a leading role,

The Sources of Music and The Triumphs of Music are each 30 by 36 feet, and they look magnificent through the glass walls of the opera company's home, day and night. The pair have been appraised at $55 million by Sotheby's, according to Peter Gelb, the Met's general manager, who told the New York Times last week that the company may sell them, with the condition that the buyer "would have to agree to leave them in place, with a donation plaque."

This week's show was recorded in Chicago with host Peter Sagal, judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Jon M. Chu and panelists Negin Farsad, Peter Grosz, and Annie Rauwerda. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show. Who's Bill This Time Let the Games Begin, Flotus on Film, Tree-N-Tree Panel Questions The Back Door to Heaven Bluff The Listener Our panelists tell us three stories about a surprising new international tourist attraction, only one of which is true.

A South African artist is suing the arts minister after he blocked her from representing the country at the Venice Biennale, having called her work addressing Israel's killing of Palestinians in Gaza highly divisive. Gabrielle Goliath filed the lawsuit last week, with Ingrid Masondo, who would have curated the pavilion, and the studio manager, James Macdonald. It accuses Gayton McKenzie of acting unlawfully and violating the right to freedom of expression and demands the high court reinstates her

Being called the best assumes lightning will strike twice, on schedule, and then strike again. I think that's life at the San Francisco Ballet. I heard about many bests recently at its 93rd opening gala. Everywhere I looked, people chattered in polite gossip, and a new room waited for me to find reasons to linger, from macarons and photo stations; or I was catching up with my favorite performer while waiting in line for cocktails.

Leading the sale was the first check the company cut on March 16, 1976. "This is the most important financial document in Apple history," Bobby Livingston, the auction house's executive vice president, said about the check. "It captures Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak's first true business transaction, and the final result shows that collectors recognized its significance above any other Apple material ever brought to market."