Song Burnsoo, pioneering Korean fiber artist, dies at 83. https://ift.tt/btSiumH

Song Burnsoo, whose decades-long investigation into textile, symbolism, and spiritual form made him one of the defining figures of Korean contemporary art, died on June 15th. He was 83. Gallery Baton, which represented him since 2019, announced his passing on June 18th.

Song was born in 1943 in Gongju, South Korea, and studied at Hongik University in Seoul, where he would return as a faculty member from 1980 to 2008 and later held the title of professor emeritus. He also founded the Maga Art Museum in 1998, dedicated to supporting artists working in fiber and textile crafts, and served as director of the Daejeon Museum of Art.

His early career centered on printmaking, with works that engaged directly with the sociopolitical landscape of postwar Korea, such as Consultation of General Rule about Unification of Korea (1972/2001), which addressed the division of the peninsula. Later, he moved to Paris to study lithography, where his works became increasingly religious in tone.

From this point onward he began using the motif of the rose thorn and its shadow, to stand in for the realities of human suffering in the context of religion. These pointed edges were often set against backgrounds of primary red or blue, as in the works for his 2023 show with Gallery Baton, “Know Yourself.” “The thorn has become both a religion and art as my life. After all, it is all about me,” he said in the materials for that exhibition.

Possibility 023-CV, CVI, CVII, 2023
Song Burnsoo
Gallery Baton

Song was included in the major 2024 traveling exhibition, “Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s,” which toured the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. He received the Order of National Service Merit in Korea in 2000.

“Song Burnsoo belonged to a generation of artists who fundamentally expanded the language of Korean contemporary art,” Gallery Baton said in a statement. “Through more than five decades of experimentation across media, he developed a singular artistic vocabulary that moved fluidly between material, gesture, and philosophical inquiry. His legacy extends beyond his artworks themselves: it lives on through the generations of artists he taught, the institutions he helped build, and the expanded horizons he opened for Korean art internationally.”

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An Art Lover’s Guide to Philadelphia https://ift.tt/bXY6ORv

Philadelphia’s art scene has sharpened in the last few years into something distinctive: institutionally serious, community-driven, and unusually porous between artists, curators, designers, musicians, and chefs.

Proximity to New York and relative affordability are part of the story—Philly can sustain experimentation in ways many cities increasingly can’t.

New spaces dedicated to contemporary art and design have opened alongside artist-run collectives, while a younger generation of galleries has turned the city into a place to encounter work before it reaches the market machinery of New York or Los Angeles.

“What I love most about the art scene in Philadelphia is its authenticity,” said Katherine Sachs, a collector and founder of ArtPhilly, the nonprofit that launched its inaugural citywide biennial this year. “Artists and institutions can take risks and do things here they can’t do elsewhere.”

Philadelphians love their city, and the art community is quick to embrace outsiders. From arty watering holes to experimental nonprofits, here are the top spots from some of Philly’s creative leaders—click the links to see their Google Maps or Artsy pages.

The key neighborhoods for art lovers in Philadelphia

Old City: Philadelphia’s traditional gallery district revolves around Old City, where cobblestone streets and converted industrial buildings hold commercial galleries from emerging to blue-chip. “I love moving between places like Stickball, Dudd Haus, Paradigm, and other smaller spaces,” said Lindsey Scannapieco, founder of the development firm Scout.

The neighborhood still carries traces of its mercantile past—brick warehouses, iron shutters, narrow streets—but now those buildings house studios, bookstores, and design shops.

Fishtown and Kensington: Where Philadelphia’s younger art scene feels most alive. Former industrial spaces like the historic Crane Company plumbing warehouse have become galleries, music venues, studios, and hybrid creative spaces that blur the line between exhibition and social gathering. Ray Philly, an arts-driven luxury apartment building designed with artists’ needs in mind, sits nearby, as does the famous Johnny Brenda’s restaurant and indie rock venue.

The area feels unmistakably lived-in: murals fading into loading docks, music leaking from bars before sunset, cyclists weaving past old factories painted with fresh signage.

Fairmount and the Parkway: Benjamin Franklin Parkway is Philadelphia’s museum corridor. Beaux-Arts design gives it a European grandeur, connecting the major institutions through wide, tree-lined avenues.

The anchors are the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation, which were joined more recently by Calder Gardens, the contemplative space dedicated to Alexander Calder.

The galleries and museums to know in Philadelphia

“We have world-renowned legacy institutions,” said Bill Adair, creative and executive director of ArtPhilly. “We also have organizations enormously respected in the contemporary art world and many scrappy, smaller, neighborhood- and community-based spaces. This mash-up of old, new, large, small, and established is the heart and soul of Philly.”

Philadelphia museums

• Philadelphia Museum of Art: The city’s essential institution remains the PMA, which has a collection stretching from works by Marcel Duchamp and Constantin Brâncuși to contemporary installations and design. “One can truly travel the world by visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art,” said Sachs.
• Fabric Workshop and Museum: One of the city’s cultural gems, Fabric Workshop and Museum is part residency space, part museum, part laboratory. Known for ambitious commissions that merge visual art, textiles, and performance, the organization has helped some of art history’s biggest names like Louise Bourgeois and Carrie Mae Weems create textiles, multiples, and other artworks.

• The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia: A space that consistently punches above its weight, with a long history of identifying artists before the broader market catches on. The recent exhibition “A World in the Making: The Shakers” flexed the museum’s design instincts, pairing Shaker objects with contemporary artists inspired by the community’s ideals of equality and collective labor.
• The Barnes Foundation and Calder Gardens: The Barnes Foundation offers a unique, singular encounter with modern art, where masterpieces by the likes of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne are displayed in the idiosyncratic ensembles envisioned by collector Albert C. Barnes. Just steps away, the recently opened Calder Gardens reimagines the museum experience through an immersive environment dedicated to Alexander Calder, inviting visitors to experience the artist's kinetic sculptures in dialogue with architecture, landscape, and light.

Commercial galleries

• Locks Gallery: a Philadelphia mainstay since 1968 which presents established artists including Mary Corse, Robert Rauschenberg, Ellen Harvey, and Hanne Friis.
• PENTIMENTI: the destination for material-forward contemporary practices, with exhibitions that foreground experimentation, process, and craft. The gallery’s roster includes artists Anne Buckwalter and Brandon J. Donahue-Shipp.
• Blah Blah Gallery: champion of emerging artists and adventurous contemporary practices, focusing on women and nonbinary artists.
• Fleisher/Ollman Gallery: a local favorite with global reach that’s centered on self-taught and outsider artists—a compelling alternative to mainstream art histories.
• Bertrand Productions: which quickly became a notable presence in Philadelphia’s contemporary art community, with ambitious exhibitions and an artist-centered approach.

Four art spaces off the beaten path

• Brodsky Center at PAFA: Located within the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts—the nation’s first art school and museum—Brodsky Center is a leading workshop for collaborative printmaking and papermaking.
• Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery: Just outside of the city in the picturesque suburbs is Haverford College’s Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, a space that offers ambitious, thought-provoking exhibitions in an academic setting. Recent programs have ranged from major surveys of feminist and activist artists to exhibitions spotlighting neurodivergent creators.
• InLiquid: InLiquid champions local artists through exhibitions, public programs, and citywide initiatives.
• Woodmere Art Museum: Housed in a grand 19th-century stone mansion in Philadelphia’s leafy Chestnut Hill neighborhood, the Woodmere Art Museum pairs historical depth with a dynamic program of contemporary exhibitions.

Where the Philadelphia art world dines, shops, and stays

The places where Philadelphia’s creative crowd shows up tend to cluster around the city’s theaters, art schools, and converted industrial spaces.

For dinner and drinks

• Frankie’s Summer Club: Located in the courtyard of what used to be the storied University of the Arts (UArts), this quirky bar is named after visionary architect Frank Furness who designed nearby buildings.
• Mish Mish: This cozy, Mediterranean-inspired haunt in South Philly earned a Michelin guide recommendation for elevating simple dishes with bright, refreshing flavors. The charming interior blends Shaker-inspired furniture with contemporary flair, all while championing local businesses, including candles from the Philly brand Dilo.
• Honeysuckle: Scannapieco and ICA director Johanna Burton both recommend Honeysuckle. “It’s much more than a restaurant,” Burton said. “Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate have created a space where food, history, storytelling, and culture come together in a way that feels deeply connected to Philadelphia's creative community.”
• Bok Bar: Bok is a bustling hub for artists, designers, nonprofits, and a host of businesses. On the top floor is Bok Bar, a popular outdoor spot with furniture made from old-school desks and chairs that boasts stunning views of the city skyline.

For shopping

• Books: “I love perusing the shelves at BrickBat Books and Giovanni’s Room, the oldest running queer and feminist bookstore in the country,” said Scannapieco. Another local favorite is Harriett’s Bookshop, a Black-owned store named after Harriett Tubman that specializes in Black women authors. Adair recommends Uncle Bobbie’s Cafe and Bookstore in Germantown: “It’s the perfect place to grab a cup of java and listen to an author reading their new book.”
• Design: For unique gifts and small objects like handmade plates and quirky, bulbous oil cruets, Scannapieco recommends the store at Hotel Yowie. She also suggests Quail Store, Moon & Arrow, and Dudd Haus. And for those looking for inspiration, Philly is home to Rarify, the designer-led store that specializes in sourcing unique and coveted furniture and lighting.
• Records: For virtually any record under the sun, Molly’s Books and Records is a true gem. For more of a relaxing, domestic setting, stop by Clubfriends Radio and Records, a pop-up by designer and cultural producer Alexa Colas that includes a replica of her living room.

Top tips for art lovers visiting Philadelphia

When to go: Philadelphia is a year-round city, but spring and fall offer highlights: “the city comes alive with exhibition openings, performances, and public programs,” said Burton. June welcomed a new art fair called Elsewhere in the rooms of Hotel Yowie. The event coincided with the inaugural ArtPhilly festival, a biennial that transformed the city into a stage for art and events. October is the strongest month. DesignPhiladelphia brings the city’s architecture, design, and creative communities into focus. September is also strong: the Fringe Festival and the Making Time sound festival at Fort Mifflin.

How to navigate: Philadelphia is geographically manageable with three core districts within reach of one another. Rideshares and public transportation are easy, but walking between galleries within each district, stopping by shops, cafes, and restaurants along the way, remains part of the experience. Build the day by neighborhood rather than crisscrossing.

What locals know: The collaborative ethos is the real local insight. “Artists, curators, writers, musicians, chefs, and organizers often move through the same spaces and conversations," said Burton. “There is a tangible spirit of collaboration and experimentation here that feels both ambitious and accessible.”

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The 5 Best Booths at CAN Ibiza 2026 https://ift.tt/FiqmWjZ

CAN Art Fair Ibiza turns five this year, and the anniversary fits its age. Running June 25th to 28th at the FECOEV exhibition center on the outskirts of Ibiza Town, the fair has expanded to match its rising visibility on the crowded fair circuit. A record 32 international exhibitors made the trip to the Spanish island this year, with a strong showing of local Spanish galleries settling in next to spaces from as far afield as Bucharest, Romania; Los Angeles; and Shanghai.

As a surprisingly thick throng of people filtered in for VIP day on Thursday, the mood matched the locale: There was a relaxed atmosphere almost as soon as the doors opened, with the colorfully dressed mix of collectors, locals, and visitors blending with booths that often leaned fully into the Ibiza vibe, with a far more vibrant, cheeky selection of works than you’d often see cruising other, more buttoned-up art fairs.

“You can't overlook that CAN is a cultural intermezzo in people's holidays, which is an element that shapes the relaxed atmosphere we experience year after year and has truly become our trademark,” the fair’s curator, Saša Bogojev, told Artsy.

Sales began within hours, with Madrid’s VETA by Fer Francés reporting that over half of the works in its solo booth of works by Javier Ruiz, made specifically for the fair, had sold out. And though there were some higher-priced works for sale (like those at IOMO Gallery)—most pieces fell into the four- and five-figure range, making for an accessible selection.

It was a packed house this year, even though it’s an island more known for parties than contemporary art (one gallerist told us they had changed their evening plans, abandoning an art dinner to go see 50 Cent perform). For collector Domenico Positano, CAN’s modest size was a welcome relief after a week spent at the supersized Art Basel in Switzerland.

More of a laid-back side quest than an overstimulating art-world obligation, CAN proved its worth as a place to buy into a new discovery—or simply enjoy the Spanish club music played at a reasonable volume next to the free champagne bar.

Here, we share our five best booths.

VETA by Fer Francés

Booth B2

With works by Javier Ruiz

Las flores de tu atardecer III, 2026
Javier Ruíz Pérez
VETA by Fer Francés

With walls painted in a deep terra-cotta and in pole position right at the fair’s entrance, VETA’s booth is impossible to miss. The solo presentation of works by Javier Ruiz, a Spain-born, Amsterdam-based painter, felt immediately at home against the warm walls; his canvases, populated with vivid floral arrangements, ceramic-filled shelving units, and parrots set against burnt-orange Mediterranean horizons, were elevated by the booth’s reddish hue.

“We felt his paintings would fit in very well with the Ibiza ambiance and feeling of the island,” explained the gallery’s founder, Fer Francés. Two standout large-scale works, Compleja naturaleza (2026) and Dejé mi cabeza al amparo de la nada (2026), provide anchor points, while smaller floral compositions radiate outward. Ruiz painted the new series with the terra-cotta booth in mind—he’d originally envisioned a fuller floor installation—and the effect gives the presentation a warmth befitting the Balearic island atmosphere.

VETA, founded in 2021 by Francés in a converted 1,200-square-meter Carabanchel, Madrid, space, has put its full weight behind the rapidly rising painter: Ruiz’s previous solo there in March sold out entirely. At CAN, all the smaller landscape works had sold within hours, while the larger painting, Compleja naturaleza (2026), was purchased by “an important collector in NYC,” according to the gallery.

Bodegón con estampa antigua, 2026
Javier Ruíz Pérez
VETA by Fer Francés

Las flores de tu atardecer II, 2026
Javier Ruíz Pérez
VETA by Fer Francés

Dejé mi cabeza al amparo de la nada, 2026
Javier Ruíz Pérez
VETA by Fer Francés

Compleja naturaleza, 2026
Javier Ruíz Pérez
VETA by Fer Francés

Albert Contemporary

Booth C6

With works by Juan de la Rica and Luca Bjørnsten

Albert Contemporary director Jonathan Kvium curates one of the fair’s most cleverly installed booths, turning a structural pillar sideways to segment the space and installing a pair of cheeky works by Luca Bjørnsten at its base: a crayon drawing of a sailboat, its crayons affixed over top, hangs on the narrow strip. If you look up, you’ll find a ceramic seagull clutching the stolen keys to a Ferrari higher up—sold for €1,200 ($1,370) by the end of the preview day. The humor feels almost childlike—until you notice the two nude female works in the foreground flanking the pillar, one by Bjørnsten and one by Juan de la Rica, which reframes the whole thing as something more mischievous.

The walls are hung salon-style, one side per artist, with both artists showing oil on canvas works and works on paper, priced from €1,200 to €9,000 ($1,367 to $10,256). On Bjørnsten’s side, thick, pastel-frosted oil paintings and colored-pencil-on-paper works map the consumer landscape with the candy-crush cheerfulness of 1950s American diner graphics, framed in pink. On the other wall, de la Rica’s flat, saturated portraits and mythological scenes are all framed in cobalt blue.

Based on a true story, 2026
Luca Bjørnsten
Albert Contemporary

Sketch for "Mujer con Cisne", 2026
Juan de La Rica
Albert Contemporary

Flores Rosas, 2026
Juan de La Rica
Albert Contemporary

Sketch for "Naturaleza Muerta con Botella y Jarra", 2026
Juan de La Rica
Albert Contemporary

Sketch for "Mujer de Espaldas", 2026
Juan de La Rica
Albert Contemporary

Bañista con bikini verde, 2025
Juan de La Rica
Albert Contemporary

Andrómeda encadenada, 2025
Juan de La Rica
Albert Contemporary

Echoes of a Sunset, 2026
Luca Bjørnsten
Albert Contemporary

Blurred Intimacy, 2026
Luca Bjørnsten
Albert Contemporary

As If, ALF!, 2026
Luca Bjørnsten
Albert Contemporary

♫ (suspiciously seductive melody) ♫, 2026
Luca Bjørnsten
Albert Contemporary

Two de la Rica works sold first: Mujer con Cisne (2026), a reimagining of the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan, and the small surrealistic sketch Nocturnidad (2026). The cohesive blending helped make the case to buyers that the works of both artists would pair effortlessly. “The languages are very different, but there are similarities,” Kvium told Artsy. “This percussive, colorful explosion of both nostalgia and humor.”

Galeria Mayoral

Booth B4

With works by Oriol Enguany

In Oriol Enguany’s 777 (2026), a yellow, wide-eyed figure assembled from rough timber and painted boards leans against its own easel, transplanted into the far wall of Galeria Mayoral’s booth. The 31-year-old artist’s works can also be found on the FECOEV grounds outside, his wild forms bringing a raw energy to the fair’s geography. A self-taught sculptor and painter from Reus, Catalonia, he works outdoors on an olive farm where wind, light, and temperature directly shape the pieces.

Another standout is La mà del mag (2026), a large-scale mixed-media work priced at €25,000 ($28,491) that incorporates found objects, its central figure seemingly frozen in the process of coming off the canvas. Paintings and sculptures come from the same physical process, made in the same open air, and the booth reads accordingly: rough, physical, and coherent.

777, 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Compost, 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

A Ple Sol (In Full Light), 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Baix Camp, 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

El pes de les paraules (The Weight of Words), 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Es cert (It's True), 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Flors (Flowers), 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Guàrdia del Can (Guardian of Can), 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

La mà del mag (The Magician's Hand), 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Mollerussa (1), 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Mollerussa (2), 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Petropaisatge, 2026
Oriol Enguany
Galeria Mayoral

Enguany’s Paris debut, “Transmission de pouvoirs,” at Mayoral earlier this year, was his first solo internationally, and CAN provides a clear look at why the gallery, founded in 1989 and best known for its post-war Spanish canon, has bet big on a 31-year-old newcomer. One mixed-media painting, Petropaisatge (2026), featuring two vibrant yellow flowers, was on hold after preview day for €17,000 ($19,374).

Secteur Privé

Booth C13

With works by Ana Monsó, Leila Bartell, Anna Lugovska, Soojin Choi, and Fiona von Fürstenberg

Among passing shadows, 2025
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

For its third appearance at CAN—after one previous Ibiza trip and one Madrid showing—the woman-owned Secteur Privé arrived with a booth that had one of the fair’s clearest points of view: five emerging female artists, one presentation united by intentionally accessible prices, ranging from €2,000 ($2,279) for Anna Lugovska’s “Spaces” series of oil paintings up to the €12,500 ($14,245) ceramic piece What This Could Be (2024) by Soojin Choi.

One of the most hypnotizing additions to the range of works is actually the gallery’s last-minute addition From the Inside Out, the Center Blooms (2026), a kaleidoscopic swirl of color (priced at a reasonable €6,500, or $7,407) by Fiona von Fürstenberg that pulls the eye from across the floor. It’s offset by works from Leila Bartell’s 2025 “Memory Fields” series, priced from €3,600 to €7,200 ($4,102 to $8,205). Rounding out the booth is Ana Monsó’s 2026 “Un silencio en particular” series, adding a further register of deliberate restraint, priced between €6,800 and €9,000 ($7,749 and $10,256).

Spaces 3, 2026
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

De dentro para fora, o centro se aflora (From the Inside Out, the Center Blooms), 2026
Fiona Von Furstenberg
Secteur Privé

What This Could Be, 2024
Soojin Choi
Secteur Privé

You Never Knew, 2022
Soojin Choi
Secteur Privé

Un silencio en particular 1, 2026
Ana Monsó
Secteur Privé

Un silencio en particular 9, 2026
Ana Monsó
Secteur Privé

Un silencio en particular 5, 2026
Ana Monsó
Secteur Privé

Amber air, 2025
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

Spaces 1, 2026
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

Spaces 2, 2026
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

Da bruta rocha; a gruta desbrocha (From the brute rock; the grotto emerges), 2025
Fiona Von Furstenberg
Secteur Privé

A flor há secar-se para reflorescer (the Flower Must Dry in order to Bloom Again), 2026
Fiona Von Furstenberg
Secteur Privé

Shadows 1, 2025
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

Shadows 2, 2025
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

Shadows 3, 2025
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

Morning Light, 2026
Anna Lugovska
Secteur Privé

Endless Maybe, 2025
Leila Bartell
Secteur Privé

Memory Fields 8, 2025
Leila Bartell
Secteur Privé

Memory Fields 13, 2025
Leila Bartell
Secteur Privé

Memory Fields 11, 2025
Leila Bartell
Secteur Privé

The London and L.A. gallery—whose home base is a converted private residence, a concept they carry into every fair—dressed the booth with tropical plants, a woven rattan bench, and a reed diffuser tucked beside a bird of paradise, giving it a more living-room than white-cube feel. It works immediately, disarming the sometimes sterile booth structure, and speaks to Secteur Privé founder Colette Gibson’s confidence in CAN. “I said this last year, but I think this is going to be a really important fair,” she told Artsy. “It’s new, but it’s already shifted the culture in Ibiza, which is fantastic.”

IOMO Gallery

Booth A8

With works by Billy Gibney, Graham Silveria Martin, Mircea Roman, Nathan Ritterpusch, and Zoe Schweiger

IOMO made its CAN debut with one of the fair’s most quietly confident bets. Anchoring the booth are three monumental wood sculptures by Mircea Roman—the reclining two-figure tableau Pieta (2013) on the floor, a standing sphinx-like figure Doamna mâță (2004), and a third with a red-framed television, Coajă de om (2013). Ranging from €60,000–€150,000 ($68,378–$170,946), they give the booth a weight that makes the Bucharest-based gallery stand out.

Roman is 67, a grand prize winner at the Osaka Triennale and a Venice Biennale veteran, but remains largely unknown outside Romania. Framing his works are those by four younger international painters—Billy Gibney, Graham Silveria Martin, Nathan Ritterpusch, and Zoe Schweiger. Ritterpusch’s paintings stand out, with faces rendered in deliberately low-quality haze reminiscent of faded newspaper or television ads.

Pieta, 2013
Mircea Roman
IOMO Gallery

Sunny Afternoon, 2025
Zoe Schweiger
IOMO Gallery

Try Asking Someone Who Cares #14, 2026
Nathan Ritterpusch
IOMO Gallery

Try Asking Someone Who Cares #9, 2025
Nathan Ritterpusch
IOMO Gallery

Cabin II, 2025
Graham Silveria Martin
IOMO Gallery

Private Eye, 2026
Billy Gibney
IOMO Gallery

Home Body, 2026
Billy Gibney
IOMO Gallery

“Mircea Roman is established in Romania but not known internationally,” said gallery director Elena Chirila, “and the opposite is true too—we’re introducing fresh voices from outside to Romanian audiences.” Judging by the foot traffic filtering into the busy booth, the dialogue is landing.

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