Art News

Currently at Carl Hammer Gallery, Vivarium is Mary Lou Zelazny’s immersive exploration of surreal plantlife. Zelazny combines painting and collage in striking, dreamlike images of technicolor trees and zebra-striped bouquets. At first glance, what seems to be merely exuberant plein air studies and still-lives, are revealed upon closer examination to be surreal and mysterious reconfigurations. Zelazny reimagines flora, creating new and unusual botanical studies collaged from monoprints.

The Case for Museums | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios The powerful and privileged have hoarded precious artifacts in museums for centuries, and it's only recently that these treasures were made available to the rest of us. What purpose did museums serve? And why does every city have one today?

In Chris Schanck’s solo exhibition at Friedman Benda, furniture seems capable of taking on a life of its own. The show's title, ‘Unhomely’, warns us not to get too comfortable. The play on 'home' and 'homely' advises us to look beyond the beautiful exteriors of the objects that inhabit our homes. While Schanck’s sculptural furniture could be reassuring objects of convenience, its otherworldly forms suggest it might have its own plans once we turn our backs.

Discover Picasso’s pivotal year of wonder, Van Gogh’s love of Japanese art, and Tacita Dean’s examination of portraiture in our list of this month’s top exhibitions.

Bernard Cohen is a British artist whose paintings tell stories about everyday existence and experience. Often described as an abstract artist, he explains why he does not consider his paintings to be abstract. At his home in London, he shows us his sketchbooks and talks about the importance of drawing as a lifelong activity. He explains how he uses his drawings as a way of going back in time, often using a drawing from an old sketchbook as the starting point for a new painting.

The Seattle Art Museum announces the West Coast’s first museum presentation of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s famed work, Untitled (1982). The special one-painting exhibition, Basquiat—Untitled (March 21–August 13, 2018) offers a rare opportunity to see this painting, which has never been publicly exhibited since its unveiling in 1982. 

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents the first exhibition dedicated to the stunning textile work of Baltimore-based artist Stephen Towns. Stephen Towns: Rumination and a Reckoning, on view March 7 through September 2, 2018, features 10 luminous quilts constructed in fabric, glass beads, metallic threads, and translucent tulle that delve into the perspectives of women, people of color, and the institution of slavery in American history.

The outcome of what may be the most revolutionary Super Bowl bet ever made will be presented in the hometown of the victorious Philadelphia Eagles beginning March 7, when one of Boston’s most distinctive patriots makes a striking appearance in the American Galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Artist. Citizen. Activist. Howardena Pindell, Naomi Beckwith, and Valerie Cassel Oliver reflect on Pindell's life and legacy. Visit in person: Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen Feb 24–May 20, 2018 https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/20...

A pair of Original Self Portrait Sketches by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis—drawn in 1949 when she was an American art student in Paris—will highlight Heritage Auctions' March 7 Rare Book Auction in New York.