Former Vogue Fashion Director Lucinda Chambers on Curating Her Eclectic London Home https://ift.tt/T0KN5Sh

Few people have shaped the look and language of fashion quite like Lucinda Chambers. From 1997 to 2022, she served as the fashion director of British Vogue, where she became known for her instinctive eye and bold use of color.

Like all influential fashion tastemakers, Chambers also possesses an innate understanding of how to tell stories through clothes. That understanding and experience now guide Collagerie, the digital platform she co-founded in 2018 with former Vogue colleague Serena Hood. The finely curated site for fashion and interiors reflects Chambers’s ethos of democratizing style: She believes that beauty should be approachable and accessible to anyone.

Home, for Chambers, is an extension of this ethos. Her spaces are layered and playful, marked by small details—scribbled height charts, postcards from friends, travel mementos—that speak to a life lived visually.

For Chambers, art is never an afterthought when it comes to living; it is the core that enlivens both her domestic and creative worlds. Just as she once animated the pages of Vogue, she now delights in reshaping her own rooms and encouraging others to see art collecting as an everyday joy. Here, Chambers shares with Artsy how anyone can live with art.

Tell us a bit about your home.

Our house is in West London, and we have lived in it for over 30 years, which is hard to believe! It has gone through quite a few transformations over the years; it evolves and changes according to how the family has grown up and out. For instance, the playroom was full of toys and has now migrated happily into a TV room. The last son to leave home had a graffiti-filled room; it’s now rather a peaceful lilac-and-blue guest room.

It does feel very personal, as we have decorated it gradually; it has lots of layers to it, both in terms of texture and color. There are many small details like the height chart scribbled on the wall, other walls filled with postcards from family and friends, treasures collected on travels. So it’s the opposite of “one note,” I would say. Each room has a different atmosphere. I don’t think I did that deliberately, but rather because I did different rooms at different times. I love to experiment with color, and that is usually my starting point.

What role does art play in your home?

Art has always played a huge part in the home. It can create an atmosphere, dictate the colors you use, excite and ignite people, because it is often the first thing you and they are drawn to. Art is a deeply personal but very outward sign of what is important to you, both visually and emotionally.

I have based whole rooms on what painting or print is going to be there; it’s often my jumping-off point and leads to making choices about the furnishings, the light, the layout, everything. It is important to me to identify first and foremost what is going to hang on the walls.

Do you have different philosophies about art in different rooms?

I have very different ways of showing the art that I have, depending on the space. For instance, in the hall, it is fairly monochrome, and the walls are a soft gray-blue with shiny chocolate brown. It is calm and welcoming. The pictures reflect that. They are sketches, photographs, drawings, simple and calm.

As you climb the staircase (and there are a lot of stairs!), the colors of the pictures slightly shift and change. They get more colorful, yet there is a flow; they vary between photographs and prints. They hang quite close together, but because there is a slight absence of color, it feels restful and cohesive, calm but interesting. On the top floor, I have gone full-on color!

There is a very different atmosphere between rooms. Our bedroom is really calm with three tiny flower prints that sit in a row and pick up on the room’s tones. It is a pretty space, peaceful and quiet, and the pictures reflect this. In another bedroom, I have hung very modern abstract paintings, less personal and more of a statement. I really like playing around with what atmosphere I can bring into a space.

What’s the first piece of art you ever bought?

An Edward Weston print. It is the smallest picture in the house, but probably the most precious. I have been interested in photography throughout my career, and very early on, I was drawn to Weston’s work.

There’s a simplicity and strength that he brings not only to the women that he photographed consistently, but also to his still lifes. I bought it cheaply and was thrilled to buy it because it set me on a path to go looking at auction houses and photo fairs to discover less well-known photographers.

Can you share a favorite piece in your collection right now?

I love a painting that I inherited from my mother. It’s called Children on the Beach at Dinard by Leslie Porter. Even though we moved 17 times before I was 18, this and two other paintings followed us around.

I can’t look at it objectively anymore because it is so hardwired in my memories, but I know that I love it and have done since childhood.

Can you share any meaningful stories or rituals around art you’ve lived with?

My most meaningful memory about art really changed the course of my life. We always had a tiny oil painting, maybe 5 inches by 3 inches, hanging wherever we lived and hung in random spots. It was blocks of strange color, some brighter and mostly very dark.

One day, I must have been about 13, I asked my mother what she thought it could be. She said, “Darling, it’s Glasgow Airport at night.” Of course it was. It made perfect sense.

From that moment, I began to understand the power and beauty of telling stories, whether through art, or clothes, or anything that wasn’t literal. That you could be expressive with a suggestion—it was like a light being turned on for me.

How has your taste evolved?

My taste has definitely changed over the years and still is! I am endlessly curious, and I like to push boundaries. I have more confidence now.

When I was young, I was very “cottage core.” I loved flowers, both in clothes and in and around everything, from cushions to curtains and everything in between. And most of it matched!

Now, I am drawn to things that challenge me: abstract paintings, colors that seem wrong but feel right, ceramics that are a bit Brutalist. I love to change things around, disrupt a bit, and stimulate the eye.

Do you approach collecting art similarly to how you approach your own creative work?

My whole career is about the power of transformation, and this comes from decorating. Whether it’s for the body as in fashion, in homes, or set design, visual narratives and storytelling are innate in me.

A model is a character; the home has a personality, and there are no differences. I just want to tell stories. Art is a very powerful way to start. I have often done shoots where they have been based on a painting, colors, or the woman depicted; it’s a very inspirational place to start.

What’s your process when choosing a new piece for your space?

I tend to fall in love with a piece of art and then see where it could fit. Not always, though. When I was thinking about how to decorate the sitting room, I knew that I wanted the painting that my brother gave me to take center stage. The colors of the walls and everything in them started from that picture.

These days, I like to give artwork quite a lot of space around it, so it can breathe and speak. This wasn’t always the case. I used to hang everything jammed up, cheek by jowl, any old how. I realized over time that you then didn’t see anything! It was too much. Now, art in the house has a flow and momentum that I am much happier with.

Are there any artists or artworks you’re currently excited about?

I am very excited about Collagerie’s new artists. There are 22 new pieces in the collection, and they are absolutely beautiful. We have just shot them and they looked wonderful!

What advice would you give to someone looking to start buying art?

The best thing I ever did—when the pictures reached critical mass and I was hanging them every which way—was to ask a professional picture hanger. I didn’t know one existed, and it was the best money I spent. We had just had the hall and stairs redecorated after 20 years, and I left the house for the day and said, “Hang whatever you like and don’t worry about leaving anything out.”

I came back to a house transformed. There was a flow and an intelligence to it that made total sense, but I wouldn’t have had the vision, distance, or clarity to have done what he did. It was like seeing everything for the first time. I learned a lot from that.

My other piece of advice is to look at the work and not the frame. One of my favorite paintings is a rather crude but beautiful nude in bright red and black. It looked vaguely hideous but fabulous and strong. Awful frame. I framed it with a very modern, stark white one, and it was immediately transformed. Framing can do that, and one of my greatest pleasures is to choose the right one, to take it somewhere else, and put it in a different context.

Those, and don’t be a snob. The humblest of pictures can bring you great pleasure.

What are some of your favorite works on Artsy right now?

Seed Pod Vase II, 2025
Adrienne Belair
Piper J Gallery

NEXUS II Series: Warp 1, Work 1, 2024
Margo Selby
Cynthia Corbett Gallery

Line Painting (03255), 2017
Tanya Ling
Lyndsey Ingram

Grey Yellow Abstract Painting, If you can dream, Neon Yellow, Neon Painting, Dark Grey, Grey, Beige, Yellow, Gold, stripes, lines, Neon Colors, minimalism, geometrical, vibrant, bold, Textured Abstract Painting , 2023
Neon Mary
Gallery Fedoroff

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Major Yoshitomo Nara work, estimated at over $8 million, will be sold at Christie’s. https://ift.tt/noqzaV4

Christie’s will present Yoshitomo Nara’s Haze Days (1998) at its 20th/21st century evening sale in London on October 15th. The work is estimated at £6.5 million–£8.5 million ($8.73 million–$11.42 million).

Between 1996 and 2000, Nara only produced 22 canvases exceeding 5 feet in height, making Haze Days a rare example of the artist’s works. The painting depicts a solitary child in a pool, staring outward with a defiant look and glaring green pupils. This psychological tension and childlike subject is typical of the artist’s practice.

The approximately 5-by-6-foot canvas comes to market shortly after the close of Nara’s retrospective at London’s Hayward Gallery, his first institutional solo exhibition in the United Kingdom and the most comprehensive in Europe to date. Haze Days was not part of the Hayward presentation. Completed in 1998, during Nara’s final years in Germany, the painting is recognized as one of the earliest examples of his mature artistic style.

This is not the first time that Haze Days has come to auction. It was consigned to Sotheby’s “Now” evening sale in 2023 with a low estimate of $18 million, but was withdrawn before the auction began. Nara’s current auction record is held by Knife Behind Back (2000), which sold for $25 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2019.

There have been several major sales of Nara works at auction recently, particularly in Asia. On September 28th, Can’t Wait ’til the Night Comes (2012) sold for HKD 79.9 million ($10.26 million) at Sotheby’s modern and contemporary evening sale in Hong Kong, against an estimate of HKD 65 million–HKD 85 million ($8.35 million–$10.92 million).

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How to Buy Street Art https://ift.tt/WP23RMn

Love is in the air, 2006
Banksy
Canvas Tube

Olaolu Slawn "Batman" Print Contemporary Street Artist , 2025
Slawn
New Union Gallery

Street art has come a long way since its origins as spray-painted graffiti on alley walls. What once carried the stigma of vandalism and a spirit of rebellion is now recognized as a vital part of contemporary art and culture. Murals, stencils, paste-ups, and temporary installations still line city blocks worldwide, but today they’ve also become fixtures of museums, highlights of gallery programs, and regulars on the auction block.

While the process of purchasing street art works is similar to acquiring a painting or sculpture, there are unique nuances. Born from a tradition of public intervention and often meant to be temporary, it carries its own quirks and challenges when brought into the home. Questions of authenticity and legality are central concerns when making an informed purchase. Understanding the artist’s story is often inseparable from understanding the value of the work. Perhaps the most important clarification is that street art does not exclusively refer to art made on the streets.

BM #7, 2022
Tim Conlon
BEYOND THE STREETS

“Street art in the gallery isn’t about reproducing the street; it’s about channeling the same energy, urgency, and cultural relevance that defined the work in public space,” Dante Parel, director of Los Angeles gallery Beyond the Streets, told Artsy.

Before exploring how to collect street art, it’s worth asking what exactly falls under its banner. Here, Artsy speaks to experts to help understand the art form and how to start collecting.

What is street art?

Intercontinental, 2023
Futura
Urban Spree Galerie

Sad Skater, 2017
Alias
Urban Spree Galerie

Street art, while often understood as art made on the street, isn’t a neat category. Some of the most common types that fall under the term include:

• Graffiti: This is perhaps the most common—spray-painted words or symbols, often used for tagging or self-expression.
• Stencils: These are designs cut into templates and quickly spray-painted onto surfaces for repeatable images.
• Murals: These are large site-specific paintings on building facades or interior walls.
• Paste-ups: Paper or printed artworks that use adhesives to stick onto walls.
• Sticker art: Small, portable graphics that are often placed in public spaces.
• Installations: These three-dimensional works are temporarily staged in outdoor environments.
• Mosaics: Small tile or glass pieces that are arranged to create mural-like, wall-sized compositions.
• Yarn bombing: Fabric is wrapped around street fixtures like poles or benches.

What unites the various media that encompass street art is a history of being made outside the market—spirited, personal gestures intended for the public. Yet as interest in the culture has grown, the market has sought ways to engage with this energy without stripping it of its essence.

Motion Impact, 2022
Soklak
Ellia Art Gallery

“Street art, by its nature, is rooted in the public realm, accessible, and often site-specific,” said Finn Brewster Doherty, founder of London’s Camden Open Air Gallery. “In a gallery or sales context, we’re not trying to ‘remove’ that essence, but to present works that the artist has consciously created for collection: studio pieces, editions, or fragments that have entered the market legitimately.”

Many street works are inseparable from their environment. A stencil gains force from the crumbling wall it sits on; a wheatpaste poster resonates differently on a crowded corner than in isolation. When artists produce Street art intended for the gallery or home display, whether a painting or print, the context of their public-facing practice is useful to understand.

Pascal Feucher, founder of Berlin-based Urban Spree Galerie, noted, “Usually, studio fame is derived from street credibility; there is a link between both, at least at the beginning.”

Key considerations for buying street art

Final Days, 2017
KAWS
Joshua Liner Gallery

ENKI BILAL (Revue Portfolio), 2023
Invader
MK CONTEMPORARY LTD

Street art doesn’t come with a set rulebook. Yet, to collect responsibly, you need to know what can be bought, what should be left alone, and how to trace a work back to its source.

What street art can you buy?

Not every piece of street art can—or, really, should—be bought. “A mural on a city wall was meant for the community and doesn’t translate to ownership,” said Parel. “But when artists adapt their practice—whether on canvas, sculpture, photography, or mixed media—the work still carries the DNA of the street, yet it’s created to live in a collection. We look for that throughline: the artist’s authentic voice and connection to the culture.”

Portable works, such as spray-painted panels, experimental sculptures, and commissioned murals for private spaces, are common. Many artists also produce limited-edition prints, photographs, or multiples that can be an affordable entry point for buyers.

Lady pink with her cans in her basement, 2/5, 2022
Martha Cooper
BEYOND THE STREETS

TROPICAL CATS, 2023
CHANOIR (Alberto Vejarano)
Ellia Art Gallery

Get to know the artist

Street art is about culture. Considering this, the artist’s background is arguably the most important part. A sustainable practice is often signaled by a balance of street presence and credible gallery representation.

“Community recognition is a strong sign—if an artist is respected by their peers, that means a lot,” said Laurence Ellia, founder of Paris-based Ellia Art Gallery. “We also look at their projects: public commissions, collaborations, or institutional partnerships. And beyond the résumé, there has to be a clear, coherent visual language that shows the artist isn’t just experimenting, but truly contributing to the culture of the street.”

Street credibility is no laughing matter. But this recognition is multifaceted. “Credibility comes from multiple signals: consistent practice, recognition within their community, reputable collaborations, institutional shows, or well-documented public commissions,” said Brewster. Personally, the gallerist noted he looks for “authenticity—artists who balance street presence with studio/commercial practice, and who are building a career rooted in more than fleeting vitality.”

Miami, 2023
RISK
BEYOND THE STREETS

Authenticity and provenance

Because street art can be copied or forged, documentation is critical. Provenance may include photos of the piece in its original location, certificates of authenticity, or records from the artist’s studio. Buyers should look for works that clearly align with the artist’s style, tags, or known practice. Established galleries typically provide this supporting material.

“At minimum, provenance and a signed certificate from the artist are essential,” said Ellia. “But often, photos of the creation process or the original context are just as valuable, because they root the piece in its history. Street art is by nature moving and evolving, so this kind of documentation becomes part of the work’s identity and its value.”

American Dreamers, 2020
Shepard Fairey X Vhils Collab
Urban Spree Galerie

Legal and ethical ownership

Owning the object does not necessarily mean owning the copyright. In many cases, artists retain rights to reproduce or license their images. Buyers should clarify whether they can resell, publish, or display the work commercially if that is their intention. What matters most, experts stress, is legality and consent. Ellia noted that removing something from a wall without permission is effectively “stealing from the public and from the artist’s intention,” and urges collectors to focus on pieces either created for sale or directly authenticated by the artist so that transactions remain transparent.

This distinction comes down to “intent and context,” according to Brewster. He said that a mural ripped from a wall was never meant for private ownership.

“Ethically, collectors should be wary of works stripped from walls, which can erase context and exploit artists,” he said. “I always stress the importance of transparency: knowing how the work entered the market and whether the artist recognizes it as part of their oeuvre, and most importantly, provenance from the artist.”

Reclaim the Streets, 2017
Martha Cooper, 1UP Crew, Ninja K.
Urban Spree Galerie

Condition and conservation

Street art materials are rarely designed for longevity. Spray paint fades, wheatpaste peels, stickers crack. Studio works may employ better materials, but the buyer should never take longevity for granted and should ask the artist or gallerist about conservation. “Many artists work with the same materials they use on the street within their studios. Many collectors are surprised by how raw these materials can be. Spray paint on metal, wheatpaste on paper, found objects—all were never intended to last decades,” said Parel. That impermanence is the point: “I’m upfront: part of the beauty of street art is impermanence. When you acquire a work by an artist rooted in the street, you’re not just buying an object—you’re buying into the narrative of temporality and risk.”

Indeed, part of collecting street art is understanding its fragility. “We explain to collectors that an imperfect surface, or the trace of time, can actually be part of the artwork’s authenticity,” said Ellia. “Our role is to guide them toward conservation methods that protect without erasing that ephemeral quality, because that tension is exactly what makes street art unique.”

How (and where) to buy street art

Beautiful Fiction (Hand Coloured) Small, 2024
The Connor Brothers
ARTE GLOBALE

Many galleries now specialize in street and urban art, offering a curated selection of works. These dealers provide authentication and handle logistics, giving buyers confidence that they’re acquiring legitimate pieces.

Prints are one of the most common entry points for new buyers. Signed, limited-edition runs allow collectors to engage with big-name artists at more approachable prices. For emerging artists, editions also help expand reach while supporting their practice. Meanwhile, as digital tools become more prevalent, some street artists experiment with blockchain-based systems to authenticate their works.

NFTs and other digital certificates can preserve the record of an ephemeral mural, or allow collectors to “own” a digital reproduction linked to the artist. This space is still evolving, but it offers another pathway into collecting.

Secondary market dealers and auction houses are another viable way to secure a work of street art, but prices may skew higher.

Three tips for first-time buyers

Balcony in Kreuzberg, 2019
CPT.OLF
Urban Spree Galerie

Street art occupies a fascinating position in the art world: It’s simultaneously rebellious and celebrated.

For first-time buyers, the best approach is curiosity mixed with the prudence associated with buying other types of art. Remember that context—the wall, the neighborhood, the moment—will always be part of what makes street art so powerful. Here are three additional tips from experts:

• Take the time to learn. Parel emphasizes that due to street art’s unique characteristics, it’s crucial not to jump in headfirst. “Slow down, spend time learning the history, meet the artists where possible, and understand the ethos behind the work,” he said.
• Find what you love, then find a trusted dealer. There is so much street art on the market. Spend the time finding what aesthetic calls you, then start thinking about buying. “Buy from credible sources, prioritize condition and provenance, and, above all, buy something you genuinely connect with rather than purely as speculation,” said Brewster.
• Start small. Many street artists have prints available at accessible prices. Build your collection gradually at this lower price point. “Get a solid foot in the market by buying affordable prints of artists you like, study the market, take your time, make some relationships with experts, and then you can spend a sizable amount of money on a work,” said Feucher.

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Photographer Talia Chetrit tapped for incoming Loewe designers’ inaugural campaign. https://ift.tt/9RJVCXe

Loewe has unveiled a teaser campaign ahead of its spring/summer 2026 women’s collection, the first under incoming creative directors Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. The pair selected American photographer Talia Chetrit to shoot a cast of models chosen for their position at the cutting edge of contemporary culture. These images are intended as an opening signal before the duo’s debut runway show for Loewe on October 3rd in Paris.

According to a statement from the designers, the photos were intended to mark the “outset of a new dialogue” for the Spanish fashion house. “The campaign begins to define a tone, a spirit, and the beginnings of an intent,” the designers said in a joint statement shared with Artsy. “In it lies a vibrancy and tactility rooted in craft that feels fundamental to the House, a sunniness and sensuality that feels inherent to its Spanish roots, and ultimately an optimism and spirit that we recognize as deeply personal to us as individuals.”

Shot in and around a swimming pool, the portraits highlight a group of emerging actors and performers cast for what the designers described as their “fresh and nascent quality.” Among those featured are Lewis Gribben, who will appear in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner 2099 series on Prime Video; Isla Johnston, who has been selected to star in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming Joan of Arc biopic; and Eva Victor, whose A24 directorial debut Sorry, Baby received praise at Sundance this year. All are under the age of 35 and many are based in Europe.

Chetrit, who is based in New York, is known for her intimate style of mostly portrait photography, which explores identity. An alum of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Rhode Island School of Design, the artist has presented solo shows at Sies + Höke in Düsseldorf and kaufmann repetto in Milan and New York. Earlier this year, Chetrit photographed Lorde for the New Zealand–born singer’s new single, “What Was That.”

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Tarka Kings’s Radiant Drawings Capture the Magic of Wild Swimming https://ift.tt/oBCmDHh

Green Towel, 2025
Tarka Kings
Offer Waterman

Five years ago, Tarka Kings discovered a blissful sanctuary in the middle of London’'s bustling shops and skyscrapers. Situated in Hyde Park, the Serpentine Lido is a natural oasis in one of the world’s busiest cities, visited by wild swimmers and dazzling white swans alike. For her new London exhibition, “Mornings at the Lido,” on view at Offer Waterman, through October 24th, the British artist’s colored pencil and graphite drawings provide an intimate view into moments of transition by the water.

“I have always loved that kind of swimming,” Kings told me ahead of the exhibition opening. For years, she would swim in rivers around Scotland and England, a pastime for every now and then rather than a regular hobby. But when she began to visit the Serpentine “more seriously” with a friend during the pandemic, she became hooked. “After a while, it becomes an addictive thing which you can’t stop,” she said. Kings does not see herself as a swimmer with goals. She is not interested in races or personal records. What she is drawn to is the intensity of the cold water and the physical and emotional buzz that follows. This experience is what inspires her recent body of work, which was a change in direction for the new show. Previously, her dramatic graphite renderings of light through windows and abstract paper cutouts have been shown at galleries including the Royal Academy of Arts and London gallery Pippy Houldsworth.

Red Flag, 2025
Tarka Kings
Offer Waterman

There has been a surge of interest in wild swimming in the U.K. over the last decade, which for many, can bring greater understanding of nature and its needs. Yet in many areas, this practice is under threat due to sewage dumping in rivers and seas. For Kings, this only “makes it more precious to people.” She enjoys the community aspect of semi-wild swimming, which she describes as a crucial third space for human interaction. Kings finds herself comforted by being in a group of people silently swimming while enjoying the contemplative, solitary space of the water. “It’s an incredibly ancient, natural environment for human beings,” she said. “Hence why baptism happens in water. I imagine that started because we feel so comfortable in it.” Her studio reflects this belief. It is situated on a pontoon on the Thames with a view of the glistening water and boats passing outside her window.

Given this inspiration, it may come as a surprise that none of her drawings for “Mornings at the Lido” feature people actually swimming. She wanted to avoid the typical clichés, she said: wild seascapes or the glamor of loungers by the pool. She enjoys David Hockney’s paintings of swimming pools, but those feel very different from the experience she wished to evoke. Instead, she photographed a close friend changing clothes by the water, celebrating an everyday act that at times feels clumsy and intimate. These photos were the basis for her soft, mindful drawings, which are cropped closely to her model and occasionally feature the surrounding wildlife.

During wild swimming, especially in the winter, the strongest physical sensations are outside the water, Kings explained, as the rush of endorphins surges and the skin begins to feel the cold. This was the moment that was most important for her to capture in her artwork. She sees this as a metaphorical change that happens after swimming. “You really feel your body. In normal life, I don’t feel my body in such a clear way,” she said. Through focusing on this moment of dressing, Kings explores the tension between modesty and exposure that surrounds nudity in art. In Blue Towel (2025), her subject both reveals and conceals her body as she dries herself with a towel.

Kings’s drawings are built up from hundreds of tiny colored marks, creating a hazy aesthetic. These drawings, though focusing on the solid human body, are fluid, their marks dancing before the eyes. This is a time-consuming, meditative process which mirrors the peaceful experience of swimming in wild water.

Kings’s soft style captures the conditions around natural bodies of water as the light shifts or mist hangs over the surface. For this exhibition in particular, Kings was drawn to Post-Impressionist Georges Seurat’s pointillist style, an influence that is obvious from the layered but ultimately individual fine marks of each drawing. Perhaps more surprisingly, she also cited the Op art of Bridget Riley. Kings was fascinated to discover that Riley’s works were informed by watching the sea in Cornwall. “They glitter,” she said. “You look at Riley’s paintings and they are like light on water. They also have a great stillness and clarity.”

By the Lake, 2025
Tarka Kings
Offer Waterman

In the Changing Room, 2025
Tarka Kings
Offer Waterman

Another motif throughout the works on view is swans, which are a key fixture in Hyde Park. A solo black swan appears in By the Lake (2025), for instance, its elegant form reflected in the water, watched over by Kings’s subject as she flicks through a blank book. For Kings, these animals sum up the importance of wild swimming, and the alternative view of nature that it provides. Instead of watching the birds from the banks as a passive and ultimately separate observer, the act of swimming brings people to their level, seeing both the swans and surrounding habitat from their perspective. Crucially, this grants a rare opportunity to be one with nature, tapping into the abundant non-human life that flows even through our busiest cities.

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Mohamed Bourouissa receives 2025 Mario Merz Prize. https://ift.tt/qUdVenZ

French Algerian artist Mohamed Bourouissa has won the Mario Merz Prize, a biannual award promoting emerging and innovative artists and musicians. He received the award’s art prize alongside composer Natalia Domínguez Rangel, who was recognized in the music category. The prize is named after Mario Merz, an Italian artist and key player in the Arte Povera movement who died in 2003. As part of the award, Bourouissa will be commissioned to create a solo exhibition for the Fondazione Merz in Turin, Italy in 2027.

Bourouissa was chosen for his film reflecting on police brutality, Généalogie de la Violence (2024), from a group of artists that included Elena Bellantoni, Anna Franceschini, Voluspa Jarpa, and Agnes Questionmark. The jury was composed of curator Caroline Bourgeois, independent curator and author Manuel Borja-Villel, New Museum and Fondazione Trussardi artistic director Massimiliano Gioni, and Fondazione Merz president Beatrice Merz. Their opinions were considered alongside a public vote.

Born in 1978 and currently based in Paris, Bourouissa is known for projects that focus on marginalized communities. He often focuses on the social dynamic of control and power, particularly by the state. Perhaps his most well-known series is “Horse Day” (2013–17), photographs and a video documenting a low-income community of Black horseback riders in Philadelphia. His recent solo exhibitions include shows at Fondazione MAST in Bologna, Italy in 2025 and Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2024.

According to a statement released by the jury, Bourouissa was chosen because his “art carries an energetic charge.” As the award takes an increased focus on social awareness, the jury noted, “Art, for him, has a social role; it belongs to society, and his projects seek depth of meaning by offering us pathways of listening and observation. He opens our eyes to the aggression that lurks within a society standardized by behaviours and representations.”

Previous winners of the Mario Merz Prize in art include Egyptian artist Wael Shawky, Kosovan artist Petrit Halilaj, French artist Bertille Bak, and French Moroccan Yto Barrada.

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6 Unforgettable Works in Kerry James Marshall’s Major London Show https://ift.tt/eDjQId0

Over the course of 11 themed rooms, “The Histories,” a major survey of Kerry James Marshall’s work at the Royal Academy of the Arts in London, demonstrates why the Chicago-based figurative painter is one of the most respected and well-known artists working today. “All of the paintings show Black subjects, and Kerry, in his own words, is unapologetic about centering Black figures and engaging with the history of art,” said the show’s curator, Mark Godfrey.

For over four decades, Marshall has placed Black bodies in everyday settings, using history painting to challenge how Western art has often excluded and dehumanized Black people. He has since become known for his large-scale works combining art historical and Black cultural references. “When I started out, my goal was to figure out how to make the most sophisticated paintings I could,” he told Artsy. “I want people to come back time and again, and each time to see something new they hadn’t noticed before.”

To celebrate the exhibition, which is on view through January 18, 2026, Artsy highlights some of Marshall’s most iconic works on display in the London show.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self (1980)

At just eight inches tall, A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self (1980) is considered a pivotal turning point in Marshall’s artistic career. The piece marks Marshall’s shift from mixed-media abstract collages to painting Black figures in everyday settings.

Taking cues from painters such as Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt, Marshall used the practice of self-portraiture to signal his new direction. As he told art historian Benjamin H. D. Buchloh in the exhibition catalogue for “The Histories,” the piece exemplifies “my escape from the limitations and the projections that accompany stereotypical representations of Black people.”

Created on paper in egg tempera when he was only 25, the piece depicts the artist himself as a jet-black figure in a black coat against a black backdrop. Almost invisible, the man is brought to life by the whites of his eyes, his mischievous wide-toothed grin revealing one missing tooth and pink gums, and a white shirt underneath.

Decades after he created this work, the artist is still painting figures with pure black skin, though they are now rendered with more depth and dimension. “Black [in this way] is not reductive,” he told Artsy. “It’s a statement of complexity, because I make the blacks as rich as I possibly can.” For Marshall, using black in this way works to emphasize that his subjects are not real but “rhetorical figures” in realist spaces.

In 1984, the collector Steven Lebowitz bought the painting for $850, hanging it in a bar at his home. As a painting reflecting on historical racist stereotypes, many guests found it offensive out of context, prompting him to move the piece to a bathroom. It stayed there for over 25 years, until he and his wife gifted it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2019.

De Style (1993)

De Style (1993) was the first of Marshall’s works to be acquired by a major museum, also purchased in 2019 by LACMA for around $12,000, according to the artist. This milestone aligned with Marshall’s intentions to insert Black figures into the Western canon of art history. At nearly 8 and a half by 10 feet, it was his largest work to date and set a precedent for many of the works he would later become known for.

Set in a Los Angeles barbershop (named Percy’s House of Style, according to the window sign), De Style depicts five Black men, four of them facing the viewer. Three wait, and one sits in a chair as the barber cuts his hair. Like many of his works today, the piece draws on several aspects of Western art history. The men’s placid stares echo Rembrandt’s De Staalmeesters (1662), where six men—five drapers and an attendant—look up from their work to acknowledge the viewer. The large mirror behind Marshall’s figures echoes Édouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882), and the primary colors of the barbershop cabinet alongside the piece’s title nod to Piet Mondrian’s De Stijl movement, founded in 1917.

For many Black communities across the globe, a barbershop is a haven. In an interview with The New Yorker, Marshall noted that young Black men of his generation were enchanted by the blaxploitation movies of the ’70s, low- to mid-budget films featuring black protagonists in action-oriented roles. He recalled that this meant “guys were spending as much on their hair as girls did.” “My brother and I did each other’s hair,” he noted. Marshall brings the piece into contemporary events by depicting a calendar marking April 1991. This was the month after Rodney King, a Black man, was brutally beaten by the Los Angeles police.

Great America (1994)

In the early 1990s, Marshall created several works about the transatlantic slave trade, focusing on its enduring impact often through metaphor and depicting contemporary settings. In Plunge (1992), for instance, a woman in a bikini prepares to dive into a pool where a swimmer appears to be drowning. Voyager (1992) shows two partially obscured figures aboard a small vessel called Wanderer, which was named after a slave ship that illegally transported people from Africa to Georgia in 1858. Meanwhile, Great America (1994), which takes its name from a Californian theme park, illustrates a group of figures on a boat ride heading towards a haunted tunnel.

In 2011, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., acquired Great America, and two years on, it became the centerpiece for their solo exhibition “In the Tower: Kerry James Marshall.” The idea for the piece emerged from the 1993 film Sankofa, directed by the Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima. Marshall worked on the movie as a production designer. The story follows an African American model on a photoshoot in Ghana who is transported to the 18th century and forced aboard a slave ship.

In this work, Marshall reimagines the Middle Passage of enslaved Africans traveling to the Americas in an amusement park setting, featuring a dinghy and haunted house ghouls. One man, submerged in the water, appears to have fallen out of the small boat—a scene often likened to John Singleton Copley’s Watson and the Shark (1778), depicting a true account of a 14-year-old, Brook Watson, being mauled by a shark after falling overboard.

Past Times (1997)

When Past Times was sent to auction in 2018, the piece sold for nearly 800 times more than the Chicago Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) had originally paid. The corporation bought the piece directly from Marshall in 1997 for $25,000 and consigned it to Sotheby’s with an estimate of $8 million–$12 million. The painting ultimately sold for $21 million, making it the highest auction price ever achieved for a work by a living Black artist at the time.

Often compared to French Impressionist Georges Seurat’s portrayals of working-class and petit-bourgeois leisure, Past Times offers a scene of Black respite in a Chicago park. In the foreground, his figures play croquet and listen to music on a red-checkered blanket. Around them, people go golfing, boating, and water skiing.

The record-breaking sale not only cemented Marshall’s place as one of the most important artists alive today but also fueled a renewed interest in Black figurative art among artists, collectors, and institutions alike.

Untitled (Underpainting) (2018)

In 2020, two years after Marshall made Untitled (Underpainting), The Washington Post hailed it as “a tour de force by a painter at the top of his game.” The painting, which presents two nearly identical scenes of Black visitors in a gallery space, sold for $7.3 million, three times its high estimate, at Sotheby’s the year prior.

The 10-foot-tall diptych is divided by two white stripes, evoking a gallery wall and creating the effect of two separate panels. On both sides, a busy museum is filled entirely with Black exhibition-goers, including cross-legged children. The scenes contradict the idea of museums and galleries being unwelcome spaces for marginalized groups, transforming them into places where Black visitors feel at home.

The artist first showcased Untitled (Underpainting) at David Zwirner’s London gallery in 2018, in an exhibition of new works titled “History of Painting.” Unlike the vibrant works Marshall was known for at this point, the piece presented a scene almost entirely in shades of taupe. This unique approach harkened back to traditional art academies where students created underpaintings in gray or earth tones. “I’ve always been interested in unfinished underpaintings, like Leonardo’s Saint Jerome in the Wilderness,” Marshall told Apollo Magazine the following year. “That’s how I learned how paintings were constructed, from those sorts of works.”

Haul (2025)

Near the end of “The Histories,” in a section titled “Africa Revisited,” Marshall returns to his exploration of the Middle Passage. On a single wall, three paintings present a new series of works exploring Africans’ role in the transatlantic slave trade. The exhibition wall text describes Outbound, Haul, and Cove (all 2025) as “challenging moments in the recorded history of Africa, not often represented by artists.”

Together, these images illustrate Africans taking Black captives to canoes to be sold, paddling to slave ships and returning to shore with their earnings. In Haul, a woman reclines on sacks holding payments for the slaves. Other items supposedly a part of their bounty are spread across the boat, visible to the viewer, including a Victorian teacup, a clock, and an empty gold frame.

In an essay, Nikita Sena Quarshie, one of the curators of “The Histories,” describes Marshall’s new paintings for the Royal Academy exhibition as “his most conventional approach” used over four decades of “dismantling history painting.” Why Marshall chose a more orthodox style here is unclear, though perhaps the complex subject matter demanded it.

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John Giorno’s experimental “Dial-A-Poem” project goes online. https://ift.tt/DU8tjTA

Once a radical voice on the rotary dial, American artist and poet John Giorno’s Dial-A-Poem is now just a click away. First introduced in 1969, the project invited callers to dial a phone number and hear recorded readings of poems. Now, the phone line has gone global: Audiences can find the project on a newly launched website and localized phone numbers worldwide.

Giorno, who died at 82 in 2019, was a poet and artist who bridged the literary and visual art worlds. Working from downtown New York, he collaborated with artists like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg while building Giorno Poetry Systems, a foundation committed to expanding the reach of poetry.

Dial-A-Poem premiered at Architectural League of New York in January 1969 and was presented at the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) 1970 exhibition “Information.” Visitors could call a number (originally 212-628-0400) and hear Giorno—or popular figures such as novelist Kathy Acker and musician Patti Smith—recite a poem. That initial version drew FBI attention for its inclusion of politically radical ideas. It received more than 1.1 million in four-and-a-half months. Now, the renewed version combines early recordings with contributions from international poets and performers, creating an archive accessible to a global audience.

“When John Giorno first conceived of Dial-A-Poem, he envisioned a new venue for poetry beyond books and magazines, and leveraged emerging answering-machine technology,” Bonnie Whitehouse, archivist for Giorno Poetry Systems, told Artsy. “The Dial-A-Poem website faithfully builds on Giorno’s original concept of encountering randomly selected recorded poems to maintain the spontaneity and serendipity of Dial-A-Poem. By harnessing web-based technology instead of phone lines, Dial-A-Poem can transcend geographical boundaries and increase access.”

In recent years, the project has been reactivated in different forms. In 2012, Giorno recorded new material and created stand-alone rotary telephone sculptures programmed with poems for a MoMA exhibition, “Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language.” However, these were not connected to live numbers. In 2021, Giorno Poetry Systems restored the project’s dial-in service, bringing back the phone-based element for the first time in decades. The number was turned off in 1971, but reactivated several times for various exhibitions.

The current iteration includes five existing live phone lines, including the original and an updated U.S.–based line, as well as numbers in Brazil, Mexico, and France. Giorno Poetry Systems expects numbers to go live in Switzerland, Hong Kong, Italy, and Thailand in 2026.

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