Latest Visual arts News
A new Banksy mural sprouts beside a cropped tree in London. Many see an environmental message
LONDON (AP) — A new Banksy mural drew crowds to a London street on Monday, even before the elusive graffiti artist confirmed that the work was his. The artwork in the Finsbury Park neighborhood covers the wall of a four-story residential building and shows a small figure holding a...
Like Banksy, France's mystery 'Invader' marks cities with art. He could surprise the Paris Olympics
PARIS (AP) — For the Paris Olympics, it could almost be a new sport: Score points by hunting down mosaics that a mystery artist who calls himself “Invader” has cemented to walls across France’s capital, the world and even had carried aloft to the International Space Station. ...
Artists outraged by removal of groundbreaking work along Des Moines pond
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines arts organization is preparing to rip out a groundbreaking artwork that lines a pond in a historic city park, surprising the New York artist who created the work decades ago and leading to an outpouring of opposition by other artists and local residents. ...
Oscar winner John Williams among 19 new members of American Academy of Arts and Letters
NEW YORK (AP) — After composing some of the most famous soundtracks in history, and winning multiple Academy Awards, John Williams has been welcomed into a more rarefied institution: the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The academy announced Thursday that Williams was among...
Movie Review: Writer-director Julio Torres proves a storyteller to cheer with awesome 'Problemista'
The hero of “Problemista” sees the world differently. He's an aspiring toy designer named Alejandro who thinks today's toys are too fun. He proposes a toy truck with a deflating tire to teach kids they’re running out of time. Alejandro is the creation of Julio Torres, who...
Open letter urges Venice Biennale art show to exclude Israel. Italy's culture minister pushes back
MILAN (AP) — Thousands of artists, curators and critics have signed an open letter calling on the Venice Biennale to exclude the Israeli national pavilion from this year’s contemporary art fair due to the war in Gaza, but Italy’s culture minister firmly backed Israel’s participation. ...
Ukraine's most famous sculptor turns war debris into art, expressing the inexpressible
PARIS (AP) — From within the debris of Russia’s war, Ukraine’s most famous sculptor was compelled to make a dark artistic pivot the day his own country house was ravaged by a Russian strike. “It happened by accident, it happened when a missile came into our house, our dacha...
Q&A: Vince Staples redirects offbeat impulses from familiar territory of rap to new Netflix series
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Although Vince Staples has been in the limelight for more than a decade, he still thinks fame is a weird thing. And while the Southern California rapper isn’t necessarily concerned with “making the best thing” or reaping critical praise, he’s willing to...
Ben Affleck inspired J.Lo's first album in a decade. She's using it to poke fun at her romantic past
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Throughout her career, Jennifer Lopez has been hailed as an epochal, prolific and hard-working artist. One adjective not often associated with the pop icon-turned-actor and movie producer, however, is self-deprecating. But as she readies to drop her first studio...
A new exhibition aims to bring Yoko Ono's art out of John Lennon's shadow
LONDON (AP) — Before there was John and Yoko — and after — there was just Yoko Ono. The Japanese-American artist became a global celebrity through her marriage to John Lennon, her partner for more than a decade until his murder in 1980, as well as her collaborator on...