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On Thursday, the School of Visual Arts announced that starting next year, it will no longer offer a masters of arts degree in curatorial practice. The update was shared with faculty via an email from Steven Henry Madoff, who founded the department in 2013 and has been chair of the two-year program for the past 14 years. The sudden announcement follows years of financial difficulty for the New York art school. And, earlier this month, David A. Ross, chair of the MFA art practice program at SVA, abruptly resigned after  ARTnews   revealed that he had a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and appears a number of times in newly-released emails. In his letter to faculty, Madoff explains that he informed SVA president David Rhodes a year and a half ago that he plans to retire in May 2027, and that Rhodes decided to end the masters program upon Madoff’s retirement. “We call this ‘teaching out the program,’” he wrote, while also referencing the school’s “financial challenge...

On Wednesday morning at 11 a.m., the VIP line for Felix Art Fair extended from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Blossom Ballroom out onto Hollywood Boulevard. And, as is always the case with this fair, the line for the elevators to ascend to the 12th floor was equally lengthy. For this reason—unlike the other fairs taking place during LA Art Week—the opening half hour was relatively quiet for exhibitors, as collectors, advisers, curators, and critics trudged through lines to reach the exhibition floor. When I finally exited the elevator bank, I found myself in front of Amsterdam-based gallery Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, participating in Felix for the second time. “Last year went really well,” founder Jeanine Hofland told ARTnews , noting that they had shown a solo presentation of Masao Nakahara, who this year shares the room with Karel Dicker. Dicker’s intimate genre paintings in artist-made wood frames are especially charming. The gallery had pre-sold several works ahead of the fair, ...

The 2026 edition of Frieze LA kicked off yesterday with an invitation-only VIP day. The art fair, held in a tent on the grounds of the Santa Monica Airport, features about 100 exhibitors from around the world and runs through Mar. 1. ARTnews attended the opening, where dealers excitedly reported a “frenzy” of sales . But! Frieze LA is not just about the sales. This edition of Frieze (which also hosts fairs in New York, London, and Seoul) is an easy draw for celebrities, whether to the main fair, satellite fairs like the Felix Art Fair and the Butter Fine Art Fair (new on the scene and spotlighting local Black artists), or any number of fashionable parties. Take a look at some of the celebrities—among them Heated Rivalry ‘s François Arnaud, television host Bill Maher, and actor Orlando Bloom—who made their way around Los Angeles for Frieze Art Week.

Callum Harkin – big fantasy competition points last week and starts his first game for the Hurricanes on Saturday against the Fijian Drua. Photo: Caroline Lewis. By Kevin McCarthy I’m sure the Crusaders can’t wait to get their new stadium open – and they can say farewell to their temporary home, which then became a...

Rena Bransten, an art dealer whose gallery was a fixture of the San Francisco art scene for over 50 years, died Wednesday at the age of 92. Bransten died following a fall after a recent heart attack, her daughter, Trish, told the San Francisco Chronicle . Bransten’s eponymous gallery was founded in 1975 as the successor gallery to Quay Ceramics, which Bransten and Ruth Braunstein launched the year prior. Originally located in a 3,400-square-foot space in Union Square, the gallery became known for elevating artists from California, with a particular emphasis on women artists and artists of color. Among the most high-profile artists represented by Bransten over the years include filmmaker John Waters, photographer Dawoud Bey, conceptual artist Fred Wilson, poet and artist Lawrence Ferlinghetti, painter Hung Liu, and multidiscplinary artist Lava Thomas. The gallery was forced out of its long-time space in 2015, when a tech company offered triple the rent, according to San Francisco St...

The scheduled kick-offs of major club rugby competitions in Wellington (4 April), Manawatu (28 March), Hawke’s Bay (21 March) and Wairarapa-Bush and Horowhenua-Kapiti (both TBC) are in sight. All matches that have been collated below and ordered by date are assumed to be between ‘Premier [Senior A]’ squads unless stated, although many are Premier/Premier Reserve...

The chief operating officer of Atlanta’s High Museum of Art has resigned after an internal investigation found that approximately $600,000 was allegedly misappropriated over several years and the matter was referred to federal prosecutors, according to the  Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Brady Lum, who had served as COO since 2019, tendered his resignation on Dec. 9 amid the probe. On Tuesday, the board of the Woodruff Arts Center, which oversees the High, voted to refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia for possible criminal prosecution, the newspaper reported. Woodruff Arts Center President and CEO Hala Moddelmog told the  AJC  that Lum allegedly misappropriated the funds over a period of three to four years. The organization believes he acted alone, she said. The Woodruff board approved Atlanta law firm King & Spalding to refer the case to federal authorities. The organization also retained the firm and an independent...

A partially dismantled sculpture by Alexander Calder in Washington, D.C. is, at long last, in the process of being restored, according to Roll Call , a publication that focuses on Capitol Hill-based news. The sculpture in question, Mountains and Clouds , fills the 90-foot-high, skylit atrium of the Hill’s Hart Senate Office Building, which was constructed in the 1970s and first occupied in 1982. Calder’s proposal was chosen from a group of five sculptors who were tasked with designing “a work that would harmonize with the atrium’s surrounding white marble architecture and yet stand apart from the cluttering distraction of adjacent doors, windows, and balconies,” according to the Senate website .  Calder made the final adjustments to his sheet-metal maquette on November 10, 1976; he died the following day in New York City. Construction on Mountains and Clouds began a decade later, in 1986, and the monumental sculpture, made out of black-painted aircraft aluminum, was dedicated ...

The decision to cancel a solo exhibition featuring anti-ICE art at the University of North Texas art school was an “institutional directive,” Dean Karen Hutzel said in newly leaked transcripts of a faculty meeting. First reported by the Denton Record-Chronicle , the transcripts show Hutzel declining to identify the directive’s source while warning colleagues to expect a “media storm.” The College of Visual Arts and Design (CVAD) at the University of North Texas made national headlines earlier this month after abruptly canceling a solo exhibition by artist Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez, who quickly alleged censorship. The decision sparked a student protest against university leadership and prompted an open letter from UNT faculty demanding transparency about why the show was shut down. In the leaked transcripts, Hutzel reportedly told employees that while the school’s administration might survive the reputational fallout, the college itself could become a target of elected officials with...

Butter, the Indianapolis-founded art fair that returns 100 percent of sales proceeds to artists, will make its Los Angeles debut this week, expanding for the first time beyond its Midwest base as the city fills with collectors and dealers for Frieze week. Founded in 2021 and organized by Indianapolis-based cultural development firm GangGang, Butter positions itself as a no-commission alternative to the traditional art fair model, centering Black visual artists from California and across the country. Butter LA marks the sixth iteration of the fair. The fair will take place at Hollywood Park in Inglewood from February 26 through March 1. Organizers say that since its launch, Butter has generated more than $1.2 million in direct sales for Black artists. Unlike most commercial fairs, where galleries typically take a commission on works sold, Butter operates under an artist-first model in which participating artists retain 100 percent of sale proceeds. Works at the Los Angeles edition w...

After a prolonged period of internal turmoil that has included a widely publicized heist, striking workers, two structural leaks, and a ticketing scam, the Louvre has lost its director. On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had officially accepted the resignation of Laurence des Cars, who had led the Louvre since 2021. “Ms. Laurence des Cars has submitted to the President of the Republic her letter of resignation from the presidency of the Louvre Museum,” a short statement from Macron’s office said. “The head of state accepted it, welcoming an act of responsibility at a time when the world’s largest museum needs calm and a strong new impetus to carry out major security and modernization projects and the ‘Louvre – New Renaissance’ project.” Macron’s office said he had “thanked her for her work” and praised des Cars for “her undeniable scientific expertise.” In a statement , des Cars said, “Through both hardship and success, directing the Louvre has been the honor of...

Sotheby’s is about to turn a pair of very polished lives into a two-part auction season. In April and May, the house will present roughly 135 works from the collection of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg, carrying a combined estimate of $67 million to $99 million. The first chapter arrives on April 22 with a dedicated design sale in New York, estimated at $30 million to $44 million and described by Sotheby’s as “the most valuable single-owner design sale in its history.” A selection of modern and contemporary art will follow in the May evening sales. The de Gunzburgs’ Upper East Side apartment has been widely admired for its blend of Parisian-chic detailing and museum-caliber art and design. Ornate moldings and parquet floors frame Art Deco furniture alongside works by Rothko, Picasso, Calder, and others. It is a lived-in but carefully composed interior. One of the highlights of the May sales will be Mark Rothko’s  Untitled  (1969), estimated at $10 million to $15 million. Exec...

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from  On Censorship by Ai Weiwei. It releases in March from Thames & Hudson .   In 2025, the rapid development of artificial intelligence pushed a group of young Chinese entrepreneurs to the forefront with DeepSeek, which propelled its search technology into new territories. This triggered panic within the highly competitive AI landscape, sparking strategic shifts in western-dominated technology ecosystems and causing significant market disruptions. Once again, it forces us to reflect deeply on the rise of AI in the information age. At its core, AI represents a mythical level of information control, which is also the very foundation of any censorship system.   An interesting incident occurred when people tested this new AI tool by asking about me. The AI’s response was blunt: “Let’s talk about something else.” This is precisely the problem. For decades, the Chinese regime has employed similar strategies—refusing to acknowledge th...

On Canada’s Pacific coast, where shipyards hum and warships take shape against a backdrop of mountains and sea, the federal government’s new defence agenda is moving from policy to practice. From February 18 to 20, 2026, the Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence, concluded a visit to British Columbia aimed at advancing Canada’s newly released Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) and reinforcing the province’s central role in the country’s maritime and industrial future. At the heart of the visit was a clear message: Canada’s defence renewal is not abstract. It is being built—in steel, systems, and skills—by Canadian workers. Shipbuilding at Scale: Seaspan and the National Mission On February 18, Minister McGuinty toured Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards, observing progress on major projects under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy. The visit marked his first to the shipyard. Inside the vast facilities, work continues on the Royal Canadian Navy’s Joint Support Shi...

Above: General scene at Massey on Saturday in the first week of the Academy Series between Wellington, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay. The first weekend of 15s rugby is in the can, many more to come. Nice for many to be back at the stadium, an official crowd of just shy of  14,000,  but it will...

Jasmine Little, a Los Angeles–based painter who made lush still lifes and etched ceramic vessels dense with historical references, has died at 41. La Loma, her Los Angeles gallery, announced her death on Friday. No cause of death was provided. In a statement, gallery owner Kirk Nelson, who worked with Little since 2019, described her as “a force of nature” and her work as “a reflection of her essence–at times tender, at times emotional, often naughty, always curious, and filled with wonder, beauty, pain–the whole astonishing rainbow of feeling, being.” “Even though I worked alongside her for years, I don’t know how this young artist from Joshua Tree sgraffito ’d mythologies onto stone as if she was beamed in from Pompeii A.D,” Nelson said. “She worked in divine, painful frenzies for days and weeks on end. Monuments emerged. Five-hundred-pound sculpture inlaid with obsessively, beautifully detailed linework and whole narratives. I was awed by her art and prodigy, but what I will miss ...

On Thursday, President Donald Trump came one step closer to building his $400 million White House ballroom, when an arts commission packed with allies approved designs for the project. Bypassing the usual review process—which at this stage of planning would normally have entailed only a preliminary vote—the Commission of Fine Arts gave its final approval of the proposal. The seven-person commission voted six-to-zero in favor of the plans, meaning they will not be subject to further review; the ballroom’s original architect James McCrery recused himself. The vote came despite mass opposition to the project, with the panel’s secretary Thomas Luebke saying during the meeting that he had received thousands of messages from concerned members of the public across the country. Luebke noted that “The general comments were that they were concerned about the illegal demolition without permits or oversight, inappropriate scale that will dwarf the White House, the violation of historic preserva...

Isaiah Zagar, an artist who created one of Philadelphia’s great public art attractions, died on February 19 due to complications from heart failure and Parkinson’s Disease, which he had been diagnosed with in 2023. His death was confirmed by Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens (PMG), the nonprofit organization that tends to the eponymous artwork. His creations “defined the spirit of Philadelphia,” writes the Philadelphia Inquirer . Zagar’s work is included in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and the Brandywine Workshop and Archives. He received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Born in Philadelphia, Zagar was raised in Brooklyn and earned a BFA in painting from New York’s Pratt Institute. At age 19, he discovered a sprawling art environment created in Woodstock, New York, by untrained artist Clarence Schmidt, which in...

Sevens rugby took the spotlight a fortnight ago, now it is the start of the fifteens game for many players in the wider region. The second annual Sam Doyle Memorial Cup series takes place at Massey University, Palmerston North over the next fortnight. The series sees the Academy sides of Wellington, Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu...

Les Wexner, the billionaire founder of L Brands and a major art collector, gave testimony to the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, in a closed door deposition from his home in New Albany, Ohio. In an opening statement to the House Oversight Committee, which is conducting an investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein case, Wexner said he had been “naive, foolish, and gullible” for trusting Epstein. “I was naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man,” Wexner said in a prepared statement that was made available to media. “While I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.” While Wexner’s testimony was not made public, Democratic lawmakers said that the 88-year-old retail magnate provided few new details and said that he could not remember key events. Primarily, he denied wrongdoing and said he had never witnessed or had knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct. He also rejected claims that he had sexual contact with Epstein...

A rare fossil in the collection of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, is the subject of new research that suggests its shows signs of an attack by a Tyrannosaurus rex. As reported by Phys.org, the skull of an Edmontosaurus—a duck-billed creature that counts among the last dinosaurs to exist—has a Tyrannosaurus tooth lodged within it in a way that indicates a fateful bite to the face. The skull, found in 2005 in eastern Montana and currently on display in the Museum of the Rockies’s Hall of Horns and Teeth, is the subject of a paper published in the journal PeerJ . (Its not-so-snappy title: “Behavioral implications of an embedded tyrannosaurid tooth and associated tooth marks on an articulated skull of Edmontosaurus from the Hell Creek Formation, Montana.”) “Although bite marks on bones are relatively common, finding an embedded tooth is extremely rare,” said Taia Wyenberg-Henzler, a University of Alberta doctoral student who collaborated on the paper with Museum of the...

A look back at how the season panned out 100 years ago. A recap of the 1926 representative season below. As discussed in part 1 of this series looking at the 1926 club and grassroots season, Athletic won the Senior Club Championship with University runners-up, ending the multi-year dominance of Petone and Poneke. The representative season...

A South African high court has dismissed artist Gabrielle Goliath’s last-ditch bid to overturn the cancellation of her Venice Biennale pavilion, rejecting the application just hours before the exhibition’s submission deadline. Goliath’s proposed pavilion, titled Elegy , was selected last month by the nonprofit Art Periodic to represent South Africa at the upcoming Venice Biennale, with Ingrid Masondo as curator. Days later, however, South African culture minister Gayton McKenzie canceled the selection, calling the work “highly divisive.” The decision came just eight days before participating nations must finalize their projects, raising fears that South Africa could be left without a pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, which opens in May. In their application, Goliath and Masondo argued that McKenzie lacked the contractual authority to cancel their selection and that his decision infringed on the artist’s constitutional right to freedom of expression, as first reported by Artnet...