Art Month may be over, but there’s no reason not to keep up-to-date with the art world and the artists fuelling our creativity.
After all, few things inspire well-put together interiors like the influence and aesthetic of our favourite artists. Here, we gather some of the shows firing off on our radar – all worth noting and traveling for, for the seminal artists and their retrospectives featured. Read on – and consider marking your next flight.
Munich, Germany: Alex Katz at the Museum Brandhorst
A retrospective of painter Alex Katz is on show at Museum Brandhorst in Munich, presenting the 91-year-old artist’s works through the decades. Iconic portraits of stylish women, as well as his family – particularly his wife Ada – friends, and collaborators feature in the exhibition, alongside images of landscapes and architecture, social settings and flowers. Two larger galleries display Katz’s landscapes, while a collection of smaller oil paintings, sketches and preparatory drawings contribute to a better understanding of the artist’s process and work. On show until 22 April.
New York, USA: Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Brant Foundation in East Village, New York
In collaboration with Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Jean-Michel Basquiat is the Brant Foundation’s inaugural show at its new East Village location. The show is an expansive survey of the seminal artist’s works through his brief yet prolific career, featuring works loaned from collections of The Brant, private collectors as well as international museums, presenting viewers with some of the artist's most-celebrated works and an insight into his influences and vision. Acrylics and oil, objects and collage, imagery and text come together in the works of Basquiat to present thoughts and ideas pertaining to colonisation, racial inequality and injustice, and many of his time’s issues – that today remain timely. Presented at The Brant’s new location in the East Village, the show likewise serves as a reconnecting of the space with one of its neighbourhood’s most significant artists. On show until 15 May.
Zürich, Switzerland: Sebastiao Salgado’s Genesis at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Throughout his 30+ journeys around the world, French-Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado has captured much of its beguiling natural beauty – that of canyons and glaciers, desserts and wildlife. At the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich in Switzerland, his enthralling black and white images present a survey of the natural world, and invite viewers to consider the ways in which engage with the planet today. On show until 23 June.
Vienna, Austria: Mark Rothko at the Kunsthistorisches Museum
More than 40 of Mark Rothko’s major works are on show at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Austria, the first exhibition in the country to feature the painter. Showcasing key works that span his full career, from early figurative paintings to the iconic rectangular abstract works of the later part of his life, the exhibition sheds light on his stylistic growth as an artist and his contribution to the art world; the influence of classical art on his oeuvre, and the ways with which he channelled this appreciation into his own work. Produced in collaboration with Mark’s own children, Kate and Christopher Rothko, the exhibition displays pieces loaned from the Rothko family; the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; as well as the Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, the Jewish Museum, New York, Kunstmuseum Bern and Kunstmuseum Basel. On show until 30 June.
Bilbao, Spain: Jenny Holzer at the Guggenheim Bilbao
At the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Bilbao, Jenny Holzer’s Thing Indescribable takes visitors through a 40-year retrospective of the American activist-artist’s work. Decades’ worth of texts in pithy nuggets and meditative prose, depicted on everyday objects including t-shirts and condoms, streamed on LED signages, and carved into rock and benches are set on display in several galleries, inviting viewers to consider a spectrum of issues that include the fight against AIDS, war, and domestic abuse. An ‘Inspiration Room’ also houses works by artists that have been influential to Holzer, along with a collection of more recent drawings and paintings to complement her earlier work. On show until 9 September.
See more: Inside 4 Hong Kong Gallerists and Artists’ Homes
Header image: Exhibition view © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko/Bildrecht, Wien, 2019. Photo: KHM-Museumsverband
