Latest Visual arts News

Banksy tree mural that sprouted in London is fenced off after apparent vandalism

Mar. 27, 2024 20:36 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — It was nice while it lasted. An environmentally themed mural by elusive street artist Banksy that appeared last week on a London street has been encased in plastic and surrounded by fencing after an apparent act of vandalism. The work is on a four-story...

Famed American sculptor Richard Serra, the 'poet of iron,' has died at 85

Mar. 26, 2024 22:53 PM EDT

Famed American artist and sculptor Richard Serra, known for turning curving walls of rusting steel and other malleable materials into large-scale pieces of outdoor artwork that are now dotted across the world, died Tuesday at his home in Long Island, New York. He was 85. Considered...

Apollo theater and Opera Philadelphia partner to support new operas by Black artists

Mar. 20, 2024 11:20 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Apollo theater and Opera Philadelphia announced a five-year partnership Wednesday to support new operas by Black artists. The two organizations collaborated on the New York premieres of Daniel Schnyder’s “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird” in 2016 and Daniel...

A new Banksy mural sprouts beside a cropped tree in London. Many see an environmental message

Mar. 18, 2024 17:26 PM EDT

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

Mar. 05, 2024 00:20 AM EST

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

Mar. 01, 2024 09:15 AM EST

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

Feb. 29, 2024 21:59 PM EST

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'

Feb. 28, 2024 19:01 PM EST

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

Feb. 28, 2024 13:33 PM EST

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

Feb. 23, 2024 09:44 AM EST

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...