<![CDATA[tld-art]]>https://www.tld-art.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M213!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc855e635-8c64-47cb-8bc7-dbfccb2336f8_126x126.pngtld-arthttps://www.tld-art.comSubstackSun, 19 Apr 2026 08:53:05 GMT<![CDATA[issue 047: community, then and now]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-047-community-then-and-nowhttps://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-047-community-then-and-nowSun, 29 Mar 2026 20:16:49 GMTHi artsies,

Apologies for the late newsletter. This was one of the busiest travel work weeks of the year. The kind where I’m propelled by pure inertia, neglecting regular priorities in favor of pushing through. I saw dozens of old friends, made a few new ones, and spent the week moving through that strange mix of familiarity and change, avoidance and sentimentalism. It’s confronting to navigate what’s shifting in our lives and society while still carrying so much of what came before.

An aside… I have to say, this practice of skimming, saving, and reading these articles keeps me grounded. I’m going to miss it (only 3 more issues left), and am still figuring out what this will look like in its next iteration. If you’re curious about everything I read, my full year’s saves are here on Feedly.

That said, I’m keeping this issue short and sweet while I catch up on rest. The Poppy Jones piece is a must-read. I LOVE her work.

Enjoy!

’til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 046: neither here nor there]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-046https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-046Sat, 21 Mar 2026 15:36:38 GMTHi artsies,

This week felt like an in-betweener. Relatively quiet in the art news cycle. Even Banksy being unmasked didn’t cause the frenzy one might have expected. TEFAF Maastricht in the rearview mirror, Art Basel Hong Kong on the horizon.

These reads sit in an in-between space as well. Approaching the end, borrowing from what came before, waiting for what’s still to be seen:

This profile of Hurvin Anderson highlights his vivid landscape paintings and geometric abstractions ahead of a major retrospective at Tate Britain.
Lucy Beech and poet Logan February discuss their incantatory collaborative film, Out of Body, a study of waste and human porosity debuting at the New Museum.
This review of Louise Bourgeois explores her visceral gouaches and large-scale sculptures featured in the exhibition Echoes of the Morning at PoMo in Trondheim.
Matisse’s iconic late-career cutouts and simplified drawings are on display at the Grand Palais, Paris, from March 24th to July 26th.
We love a Peyton moment! Her transparent portraits and mythological paintings are currently on display in her solo exhibition, mountains in my heart (the death of Sarpedon) at David Zwirner in Chelsea.
In Seven Deaths, a series of melodramatic short films inspired by Maria Callas, the artist repeatedly succumbs to love at the hands of Willem Dafoe.
The career survey of Swiss-born American sculptor Carol Bove showcases her riveting compositions of industrial steel and aluminum at the Guggenheim through August 2nd.
In this artist profile, Collier Schorr explores the "porousness" of gender and sexuality through a suite of photographs, drawings, and films in her exhibition Problems and other stories, running at Modern Art in Paris until April 4th.
Meg Webster’s primordial sculptures made of organic materials like soil and moss are currently featured at Dia Beacon through April and appearing at Paula Cooper Gallery in May.
Hokusai and Hiroshige’s "pictures of the floating world" woodblocks are on display at the Whitworth in Manchester until November 15th.

‘til next week,

tld-art

P.S. If you’re in NYC, don’t miss the Outsider Art Fair this weekend!

P.P.S. If you’ve read this far, this is my soft announcement that issue 50 will be my last. I’ll continue with some of this practice, but it will be taking another form. More on that later!

]]><![CDATA[issue 045: are memories ephemeral?]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-045https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-045Sat, 14 Mar 2026 16:31:41 GMTHi artsies,

Keeping it straightforward this week. Many of the artists in this issue work in the zone between appearance and disappearance, exploring memory as archive, atmosphere, presence, and life itself.

We are also remembering the great Thaddeus Mosley who passed this week. His NYC show last year was one of my all-time favorites, and his wood sculptures really do seem to have lives of their own. In his words: “Your work should move, it should levitate, it should dance.” RIP

Why Beatriz González’s Haunting Paintings Are More Relevant Than Ever
This profile of the late Beatriz González explores her kaleidoscopic paintings and furniture-based works ahead of a major career retrospective at the Barbican Centre in London.
In this review, Chinese Canadian artist Yifan Jiang explores human mortality through cinematic oil paintings and 3D-modeled animations in her solo exhibition I wish dying could be more like this.
In celebration of Rothko’s major retrospective in Florence, this piece traces how the city shaped his color fields and claustrophobic architectural vision.
Artist to Watch: The Ethereal Canvases By This Emerging French Talent Explore the Elusiveness of Memory
This profile features Djabril Boukhenaïssi, an emerging painter whose illusory mixed-media works are on view at two upcoming group shows in southern France.
The Guardian: Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse review – this magnificent nag deserves a longer canter
This review explores the equestrian work of George Stubbs whose ghostly and scientifically precise paintings and drawings are currently on display at the National Gallery, London.
This conversation with Catherine Opie explores her diaristic photography and portraiture ahead of her major exhibition, Catherine Opie: To Be Seen, running at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
This exhibition review highlights the playful and alchemical artworks of Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and others currently on display in the group show SPELLBOUND in Stockholm.
This review examines the smudgy, symbolic figurative paintings of Michael Alexander Campbell’s current Madrid exhibition.
Two Coats of Paint: Sally Gall: What am I looking at?
In this interview with photographer Sally Gall, she discusses her sensual depictions of natural phenomena following her 2025 solo exhibition Vertical World at Winston Wachter Gallery.
This exhibition review features the fragile photographic works of Andrew Cross, Anna Mossman, Philip Sinden, Mariano Vivanco, and Denise Webber in the group show Forget Me Not at CLOSE Gallery.

I hope you go into this week moving, levitating, and dancing.

‘til next week,

tld-art

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]]><![CDATA[issue 044: the body as sublime (links fixed)]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-044-links-fixedhttps://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-044-links-fixedSat, 07 Mar 2026 16:04:02 GMTHi artsies,

The big news last week was the opening of the Whitney Biennial, and by the looks of it, the critics are split. Jump to the end to get my roundup of reviews. In other news…

The throughline of last week’s art reads was the body’s quiet ability to absorb, endure, and reveal. Enjoy!

Catherine Opie gets her due with a retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery, bringing her "unflinching realism" to a queer community navigating the tension between radical subversion and the quiet safety of domesticity.
Maier’s canvases map the friction between care and cruelty through high-chroma, unstable landscapes, positing that “human ambivalences are our greatest downfall.”
Surgical scars are reframed as “signs of care” in this archive of transmasculine recovery, which invites viewers to “witness without spectacle” from within the privacy of the home.
Israeli artist Doron Langberg confronts their own “complicity in a cycle of violence” through monumental, gashed landscapes that trade his signature queer intimacy for a blunt reckoning with Israel’s actions in Gaza.
This collection reveals an "impossible" drive to "transmit the feeling of a life being lived," stripping away the suburban gloss of the American dream to reach something "closer to the bone."
Three painters navigate the "subliminal landscape" of contemporary abstraction, using layered collage and "programmatic" iconography.
These portraits seek to “unbind the female form,” prioritizing a raw “excitement in the improvised” to ensure the subject is “sexy for herself” rather than a spectator.
Captured by the shores of the Adriatic, these photos quietly observe the "humans’ return to an elemental shape" as tourists and locals both surrender their identities to the sea.
Simpson’s repurposed bedsheets trace the "marks and scars" of the aging female body, reclaiming the nude from the male gaze, building a personal mythology of womanhood.
Sime reclaims the "choke of technology," transforming industrial detritus into almost spiritual braided topographies, offering a tactile "tonic to our artificial embracing times."

Whitney Biennial Review Roundup

I admittedly haven’t read these yet, as I’m planning to check it out myself this weekend, but take a look!

That’s all for now!

‘til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 044: the body as sublime]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-044https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-044Sat, 07 Mar 2026 16:00:47 GMTHi artsies,

The big news last week was the opening of the Whitney Biennial, and by the looks of it, the critics are split. Jump to the end to get my roundup of reviews. In other news…

The throughline of last week’s art reads was the body’s quiet ability to absorb, endure, and reveal. Enjoy!

Catherine Opie gets her due with a retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery, bringing her "unflinching realism" to a queer community navigating the tension between radical subversion and the quiet safety of domesticity.
Maier’s canvases map the friction between care and cruelty through high-chroma, unstable landscapes, positing that “human ambivalences are our greatest downfall.”
Surgical scars are reframed as “signs of care” in this archive of transmasculine recovery, which invites viewers to “witness without spectacle” from within the privacy of the home.
Israeli artist Doron Langberg confronts their own “complicity in a cycle of violence” through monumental, gashed landscapes that trade his signature queer intimacy for a blunt reckoning with Israel’s actions in Gaza.
This collection reveals an "impossible" drive to "transmit the feeling of a life being lived," stripping away the suburban gloss of the American dream to reach something "closer to the bone."
Three painters navigate the "subliminal landscape" of contemporary abstraction, using layered collage and "programmatic" iconography.
These portraits seek to “unbind the female form,” prioritizing a raw “excitement in the improvised” to ensure the subject is “sexy for herself” rather than a spectator.
Captured by the shores of the Adriatic, these photos quietly observe the "humans’ return to an elemental shape" as tourists and locals both surrender their identities to the sea.
Simpson’s repurposed bedsheets trace the "marks and scars" of the aging female body, reclaiming the nude from the male gaze, building a personal mythology of womanhood.
Sime reclaims the "choke of technology," transforming industrial detritus into almost spiritual braided topographies, offering a tactile "tonic to our artificial embracing times."

Whitney Biennial Review Roundup

I admittedly haven’t read these yet, as I’m planning to check it out myself this weekend, but take a look!

That’s all for now!

‘til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 043: enduring & fading]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-043https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-043Sat, 28 Feb 2026 16:10:26 GMTHi artsies,

Another week of hard-to-believe headlines and my stamina getting stress-tested, alternating between shoving my head in the sand and consuming everything in sight.

In the art world, it was a big week for announcements: the 61st Venice Biennale announced its full lineup of 111 artists, collectives, and organizations, the Met Gala announced its 2026 dress code “Fashion is Art,” and NADA New York named 110 galleries for the 2026 Edition. Plus, LA Art Week was in full swing. Lots to look at, and lots to look forward to.

In the rest of this week’s curation, I kept finding echoes of that same feeling: trying to endure, but also sometimes wanting to fade into the background. Enjoy! Or jump to the end for a roundup of Frieze LA and its satellite fairs.

My Top 10 Art Reads: Feb 21 - Feb 27

"The surfaces may appear nearly monochromatic, yet this is a perceptual illusion: dense veils are enveloped in fleeting halos of color, as if former harmonies were faded fields of extinguished light or sepia, entering and exiting the optical field."
"Through experimentation with surface, depth, illusion and imagination, Tuori’s practice explores the manifold ways in which reality is perceived and how, ultimately, that perception defies universal truth and remains profoundly subjective and eerily abstracted."
"To me, it’s so different in the sense that the art piece is like an object and a film is more like watching a dream on a wall or something."
"I had managed to tap into the way I felt about my subjects: that they were beautiful lovers and deserved a loving touch. That was political enough for me."
“I’ve dug into my archive boxes to make a collage, a timeline that’s not a line... Here’s more of my story, including pictures and dangling words to help convey an urgent sense of searching for surprise.”
"Love is an ecstasy that becomes almost religious in many recent works, and it nearly always tips into pain, as love and loss are bound together."
“I was deeply moved by a particular line in the book: ‘Night walk is my own way of enduring my ferocious fate.’ For some reason, I really wanted to believe those words.”
"My work was already dealing with multiplicity and ambiguity—now it's like that is being thrown into a fun-house mirror."
"The figures remain, but the focus has expanded to atmosphere, memory, and psychological space. In this new direction, the water becomes less of a setting and more of a threshold. There’s a stronger sense of ambiguity between night and day, safety and risk, presence and disappearance."
"He understood that a person possesses a 'spiritual eye' that internalizes formative laws so as to discern in a plant what the physical eye cannot. Thus, we recognize plants as readily and completely as we do ourselves."

LA Art Week Roundups

‘til next week,

tld-art

P.S. Paying tribute to these art world greats we lost last week: video art trailblazer Ulysses Jenkins, San Francisco art dealer Rena Bransten, Hungarian conceptual artist Dóra Maurer, electronic composer Éliane Radigue, and French graphic designer Jean Widmer.

]]><![CDATA[issue 042: spanning time]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-042https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-042Sat, 21 Feb 2026 17:09:44 GMTHi artsies,

Some weeks just completely knock you out. When time feels completely out of your control, and yet you can almost physically feel the weight of the seconds passing.

These art reads sit in that tension: artists trying to trap ephemeral moments, and others building practices meant to span time (yes, that’s a Buffalo 66 reference), hardening memories into something that lasts.

I hope you find a moment to read something inspiring and break free of the burden of time this week. And if you’re headed to Frieze next week, check out this pre-fair guide from the Wallpaper team.

Ceija Stojka’s work at the Drawing Center moves beyond simple diary entries, using raw "sense memories" to reclaim the emotional truth of the Romani experience.
“Art in Gaza is not a luxury, but an existential necessity.”
The artist's solo show at Gary Nader Art Centre in Miami “illuminates her ongoing investigation into the boundaries of human sensorial awareness.”
A deep dive and visual compendium of Heizer’s career and recent installation at Gagosian, tracing his move from a half-century of desert exile to an 81-year-old’s "transnational" life in a Central Park apartment.
"art tells that which history is unable to"
In the context of the camera-as-weapon, curator Bryan Stevenson brings a deeply personal lens to Parks’ canon in this London show.
Whyte translates the "temporal slippage" of a Jamaican funeral into these sfumato-blurred paintings that act as a memorial to a life he didn't witness.
Using wood and geometry, Provost resists the "trap" of nostalgia in favor of a "critical intimacy" with her materials.
This show at Fruitmarket in Edinburgh follows Ilana Halperin’s “fast geology” from the craters of Iceland to the calcifying springs of France.
Rebecca Bengal captures the contrast between “perfectly banal” and hyper saturation in Eggleston’s NY exhibition.

Have a great one!

‘til next week,

tld-art

P.S. As a reminder, you can check out (and follow!) my saves here on Feedly.

]]><![CDATA[issue 041: love & looking]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-041https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-041Sat, 14 Feb 2026 18:18:59 GMTHi artsies, and happy Valentine’s Day!

I’m back home after a week of work travel, where I had to really flex my adaptability and harmony muscles. In the art world, it was a week of unveilings (MoMA PS1 revealed the artists included in their ‘Greater New York’ exhibition, Frieze New York named galleries for its 2026 edition, Studio Museum in Harlem announced its 2026 Resident Artists, and TEFAF announced exhibitors for its 2026 New York edition) and looking ahead.

Enjoy my top 10 art reads of last week, or skip ahead to some bonus love-themed picks.

Brad Feuerhelm frames Ribeira’s photos as a necessary break from objective documentary tradition, using the heavy symbolic language of the Western Christian canon to turn the physical struggle of immigration into allegory.
A dive into the “pervasive fear” lurking beneath the beads at Nick Cave’s Smithsonian exhibition, where the sparkle doubles as a shield against institutional erasure.
Jonathan Stevenson on why Kehe’s minimalist abstractions at 15 Orient read like a “subjective Rorschach test” for our modern anxieties.
In a new exhibition ‘Basquiat - Headstrong,’ made up of mostly intimate works on paper, we get a front-row view of his draughtsmanship—and the raw psychological pressure he was under.
Ahead of Emin’s imminent Tate Modern retrospective, she shares the visceral “before and after” of her cancer diagnosis and how facing death cured her lifelong nihilism.
A sharp account of the controversy around a secular artist interpreting Pentecost for a historic French landmark, including her supposedly “vampiric” approach.
Laura Luo on how Humeau turns the gallery into a “deep cave zone,” building monuments that feel like they’re surfacing from a West Papuan cavern.
Manson traces how a "core memory" of a rickety playground swing evolved into a monumental, four-year ceramic undertaking now on view at Jessica Silverman in San Francisco.
Richter celebrated his 94th birthday this week. I know I’ve covered this retrospective many times, but this piece by Zeynep Gülçur perfectly captures the “monastic discipline” of 270 works curated by Nicholas Serota inside Frank Gehry’s “glass cathedral” in Paris.
"If I wasn’t enjoying the process, there was no point," says the Czech artist on her defiant pivot from "old-fashioned" abstract painting to the labor-intensive, tactile world of woven Gesamtkunstwerke.

Art x V-Day

‘til next week,

tld-art

P.S. You can see all my saves of the year so far here on Feedly. Follow if you want the highlights in real time!

]]><![CDATA[issue 040: quiet rigor]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-040-quiet-rigorhttps://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-040-quiet-rigorSat, 07 Feb 2026 17:41:45 GMTHi artsies,

I’m writing this week’s issue from a comfy couch at a friend’s place upstate. It’s quiet and calm. It feels like it’s both recovering from chaos and bracing for it.

Last week the art world was abuzz with Art Basel Qatar (here’s a good recap of standout pieces) and Zona Maco (here’s a piece on the best booths). Plus, unsettling Epstein art world connections, unveiled.

The theme for this week’s art reads is quiet rigor. In their own way, these artists harness, portray, disguise, give voice, or capture quietude.

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading tld-art! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Gwen John reveals the austere, solitary soul that is left when the “social flab” of the world falls away.
Urban detritus, discarded scraps, and rhythmic moments come together in this overdue spotlight on artist Choong Sup Lim. Highly recommend this show! You can feel the quiet rigor and graceful joining of East and West.
A rhythmic study on the “quiet intelligence” found in the liminal space between reality and its representation in physical form.
The award-winning artist’s newest Milan show confronts our fragility and disorientation with shifting borders and unsteady global ground.
The major Noguchi survey reveals a man inspired by the tactility, connectivity, and playfulness of NYC.
Plumb uses suburban wreckage and boredom as a mirror for our social and ecological fragility.
The art world darling’s latest exhibition unearths the peaty, nocturnal, wild, and indifferent British countryside.
A rejection of our “frictionless” digital era, making messes and exposing vulnerability within our technological infrastructure.
I’m not sure if the answer is yes, but the complexity of Puryear’s unspoken histories of identity and labor are certainly moving and masterfully executed on.
Deep in the pain of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Lafarge reclaimed her agency with tactile topographies created with watercolor mixed with kinesiology tape.

Let’s close out with a headline roundup:

And two art world gossip pieces:

‘til next week,

tld-art

Thanks for reading tld-art! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[issue 039: appreciating art in critical times]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-039https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-039Sat, 31 Jan 2026 23:37:11 GMTHi artsies,

I struggled to put today’s issue together. I’m scattered: tucked inside myself, yet constantly distracted. With everything going on, it can feel strange to spend time on something “non-essential” like art. But at the same time, art is one of the few things that always just makes sense. And supporting artists feels more urgent than ever.

Although I wasn’t overly inspired this week, I’m happy to share 15 art reads that can hopefully occupy your mind with beautiful things for a few moments.

But first, some art news:

Perception & Materiality

James Turrell’s latest immersive light installation manipulates perception through carefully orchestrated color and illumination in a HUGE new museum setting.
John Chiara's large-format camera work captures light in the San Francisco Bay Area, documenting ordinary scenes through an extraordinarily attentive lens.
This sculptural and installation work explores the uncanny relationship between observer and observed, and the blurred line between attraction and threat.
Just when you think we’ve seen it all, we’re surprised! Newly discovered and preserved films by Andy Warhol shed light on overlooked aspects of his practice.

Artists in the Margins

In this memorial piece, we admire Anne Russinof's gestural painting practice and her distinctive approach to color, form, and expressive abstraction.
Martial Raysse’s seven-decade career continues to produce innovative and boundary-pushing work.
An introduction to Elida Cerrato's vibrant, visionary paintings, combining surreal imagery with bold color.
A profile of performance and visual artist (and icon) Vaginal Davis, examining their influential interdisciplinary practice and exhibition at PS1.

Art as Memory & Grief

We know Vuong first as a poet and writer. And this photography exhibition translates his lit practice into visuals, addressing themes of loss and resilience.
Hedda Sterne’s contemplative practice creates expansive, meditative visual environments.
Amy Sillman's multifaceted practice explores abstraction, representation, and the relationship between drawing and digital media.

Worlds Interior and Exterior

Revisiting and reassessing Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s work in this critical moment.
Beautiful, lesser-known works from the late Martin Parr.
With a renewed spotlight on Greenland, this PS1 show from photographer Inuuteq Storch captures a daily life that is much less remote than I thought.
DL left us a year ago this week. This exhibition surveys his longstanding multidisciplinary practice across painting, photography, and other media. Check out my reel honoring this practice.

I hope something caught your eye and gave you joy.

‘til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 038: pre-storm musings]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-038https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-038Sat, 24 Jan 2026 18:53:43 GMTHi artsies,

As the Snowpocalypse (I’m not convinced 12” quite earns the name, but let’s indulge the drama) rolls into NYC, I’m sharing my top art reads from last week, plus a roundup of art news:

  • Times, a new experimental art non-profit opened in New York

  • The US National Portrait Gallery revealed the winner of its triennial portraiture award: Brooklyn-based artist Kameron Neal for a video work created using NYPD surveillance footage from the 1960s and 70s

  • Art Gallery of Ontario chose not to acquire a Nan Goldin video work because of her comments on Israel’s War in Gaza

  • Marina Abramović unveiled a new work titled THE BUS at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos

  • The Met Opera is considering selling its massive Chagall murals—but they would remain in place

  • SFMOMA acquired 85 modern and contemporary pieces

This week’s art reads feel assured, reverent, and quietly expansive—focused on influence, memory, and how moments (both big and small) shape the way we create.

Enjoy!

Renewal and Resistance

Saturated and Exposed

Quiet Influence

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies

‘til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 037: looking closer]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-037-looking-closerhttps://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-037-looking-closerSat, 17 Jan 2026 14:28:23 GMTHi artsies,

A little bit of a slower week in the art world. The (New) New Museum announced its reopening date, Colombian artist Beatriz González died at 93, Luhring Augustine co-founder steps down, and more drama (today from Hockney) about the Bayeux tapestry.

The upside of a quieter art news cycle: more time for the real stuff. This week is full of illuminating artist interviews and thoughtful exhibition reviews. I pulled a representative quote from each piece, so between the thumbnail and the snippet, I hope you can tell what’s worth your time. Hope something resonates with you!

“When you listen to Nessun Dorma,” he says, again reaching for music as an analogy, “it makes you cry – but you don’t know what the words are. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to break people’s hearts. I want to make abstraction popular without lowering the bar.”
Cruising was like photography for Tress, with prolonged waiting to catch the eye of other men. 'I was a Ramble wallflower,' he laughs.
Origins, sources — these are what we often crave to know in art, and what Donnelly denies us. The “Dao” (the way) is considered shapeless, a void, which is also an impossible assignment for an artist making physical objects.
"Calder's objects are like the sea, and they cast its same spell—always beginning again, always new. A passing glance is not enough to understand them. One must live their lives, become fascinated by them."
What to do in the face of all that destruction? Find new ways of relating to each other and the world, Ono suggests.
For centuries, it’s been the story of singular men, geniuses who toiled alone brilliantly to change the direction of the canon. “We’re realising art history is a lot more interesting than that,”
“Seen this way, Bourgeois’s abstraction does not stand in opposition to her figurative work but runs parallel to it, addressing the same concerns—fear, control, attachment—by other means. Where the figures confront you directly, these works murmur, repeat, and wait. They trust duration.”
Marcus described her choice of subjects as instinctual, guided by what she called their “presence.” That presence—felt through posture, expression, and gaze—becomes the connective tissue across the exhibition.
They reveal a painter for whom white lies and artistic license were the same, much like a child who disregards the laws of truth not to cause trouble but to stay honest to his inner life.
Zürn’s poems, with their anagrammatic animal and sea themes, mirror romney’s paintings in their disjointed surrealist language. One of Zürn’s poems ends with “A mast rise up in seas and: the lonesome table.” A fitting description for romney’s paintings.
People should follow their own work. Their own life.
The volcano is a site of danger and fertility, destruction and renewal. “The ground of the volcano explodes,” she noted, “and the earth where the lava goes is very fertile. A new beginning.”
The final image is of skeletons coupling after they have been vaporized. In spite of it all, people have a need to couple. Even when they’re being destroyed, they’re still coupling.
“This project delves deep into the intricate tapestry of economic desperation, resilience, beauty, and transformation that defines these often-overlooked corners of American society.
Bradley describes these paintings arriving either “almost like magic” or, more often, like a car accumulating flat tires and “grind[ing] to a halt.” The honesty is telling: the exhaustion is part of the work. These paintings feel lived-with, dragged into being by persistence as much as intuition.
You’re looking for a surprise, so when it comes in, there’s a certain procedure you go through and gestures you make, but something must be quite unpredictable about what you’re going to get at that stage.

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you get out there today or tomorrow to see some art! Send me a note if you’d like a recommendation! xx

’til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 036: from endurance & transcendence to mysteries & peculiarities]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-036https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-036Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:50:07 GMTHi artsies,

The art world is waking up: shows are opening, lots of new works have entered the public domain, and I’m easing back into things with my second Saturday tld-art issue. As promised after my 2025 reflection, this week leans into in-depth, slightly peculiar, genuinely interesting reads that keep the focus where it belongs: on the art and the artists. Plus, now that we’ve done our looking back, we’re turning our gaze forward to 2026, with artists to keep on your radar and exhibitions worth penciling into your calendar.

Enjoy!

Endurance & Transcendence

Surprising & Hidden Details

Interiors & Exteriors

Mysteries & Peculiarities

Looking Ahead to 2026

‘til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 035: my top art reads of 2025]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-035https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-035Sat, 03 Jan 2026 21:04:02 GMTHi artsies,

Happy 2026! Before we look ahead, I wanted to take a quick look back at my favorite art-icles of 2025.

Across 34 tld-art issues, it was genuinely hard to narrow this down to just 25 pieces, but I did my best! Looking back at my picks, I clearly gravitated toward deep-dive, opinion-forward, and history-rich writing—along with interviews and behind-the-scenes pieces that actually have something to say or teach. Fewer listicles and light exhibition reviews, more substance. Expect more of those vibes in 2026.

As always, thank you for reading, sharing, and giving me feedback—it means more than you know.

Enjoy, and skip to the end for a 2026 surprise.

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My Top 25 Art Reads of 2025

A Special 2026 Surprise

As some of you may know, every year I make a physical weekly planner that features an event in art, music, literature, or film every single day. I finally got around to bringing the digital version to life.

OTD (on this day) is now live!

It shows events that happened on that day in history across film, literature, and art. Important exhibition openings, film premieres, book releases, birthdays, etc. I’ve been building the database for a long time, so I’m very happy to finally share it.

I hope it brings you some daily inspiration!

Here’s to more looking, learning, and finding things that resonate in 2026.

‘til next Saturday,

tld-art

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]]><![CDATA[issue 034: quiet closing]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-034https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-034Mon, 29 Dec 2025 23:07:51 GMTHi artsies,

The art world’s slowing down for the holidays, and I’m following suit. A few year-end roundups worth your time, plus eight art world reads that keep the inspiration flowing through the final days of the year.

Next week, I’ll be kicking off the new year with my 25 top stories of 2025 (and I’m officially moving this newsletter from Mondays to Saturdays!).

For now… short, sweet, but still inspired…

A few more art world roundups

“People are like detectives and our lives are filled with clues.”

— David Lynch, director, born 1946

8 artist-first reads

‘til Saturday,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 033: 2025 art world roundups]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-033https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-033Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:24:35 GMTHi artsies,

Last week, the biggest art world news was the announcement of Whitney’s biennial artists, and the lineup is actually really quite exciting! Other than that, we are in 2025 roundup season! Here were some of my faves from last week:

And of course, my weekly roundup of art reads…

No commentary this issue (the holiday chaos is real right now), but I did make the preview images a little larger so you can get a better sense of what you’re in for!

Enjoy!

14 Standout Art Reads

‘til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 032: looking & knowing]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-032https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-032Tue, 16 Dec 2025 01:23:28 GMTHi artsies,

With the hectic holiday season upon us, we’re jumping right into the top art reads of the week, grouped by vibe, accompanied by some candid commentary.

Looking, being looked at

A really refreshingly astute and thoughtful write-up on Chetrit’s “brisk, textural, self-possessed, arresting” photography from novelist Lillian Fishman. Art writing at its finest.
His works cleverly make the viewer feel like both voyeur and the one being watched. They feel both familiar and unknowable.
Because they’re deliciously textural, nostalgically wistful, and more complex than they initially appear.
The work of eight photographers will sit side by side for the first time to “question how the Palestinian people are a product of the land that they nurture, steward, and have to fight for daily.”

Reality, captured and recreated

Must read if you love Thek and Hujar as I do: their unpublished letters and photos are featured in a new book I can’t wait to get my hands on.
Ragnar Kjartansson’s new video “Sunday Without Love” recreates a sentimental postcard as a live-action scene. I love his use of music in his art.
A referential, philosophy-rich body of work.
I saw some more cynical takes on the artist who passed this month, but I like to believe that his snaps were about honoring his subjects, not degrading them.

Identity, through physicality

Congratulations to Nnena Kalu, who just won the Turner prize. Most of the media coverage led with the fact that she is the first artist with a learning disability to win the Turner prize, but clearly, it’s because her work is incredible.
“In her two- and three-dimensional works, Young In Hong channels the possibilities of sound into colour, texture and form.”
Beautiful use of indigo as a way to reclaim history and identity.
Carnival, an exhibition of recent work by Chicago-based artist Vesna Jovanovic, explores the fun inside our bodies.
Constanze Han’s portrait series También Somos Mujeres (We Are Also Women) is more than just art. It’s storytelling at its best.
“Csoke’s work reveals that decoration carries profound meaning, as it has often been the area in which queer people are able to present themselves most authentically.”

Known names, new context

An in-depth look at the renowned sculptor, from his early life and midcareer work to his longstanding success and notoriety.
Must must must listen from one of my favorite living artists. Tuymans talks about his influencers and the experiences that shaped his life and work.
Apparently, this series was inspired by Matisse’s The Red Studio!
I have to say… I do find Censori intriguing. Watch the performance and read what it’s all about: “Revolution starts where behaviour is first learned…”
I will tell you: it’s the single clearest “Klimt equation” on one canvas: a universal subject (two lovers) rendered in his instantly recognizable style that sits between fine art and decoration. Plus some historical significance.

And two worthwhile 2025 art roundups:

Thanks for joining me for another issue!

‘til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 031: art first, miami second]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-031https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-031Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:49:46 GMTHi artsies,

Miami Art Week (jump to the end for my roundup of roundups) dominated the headlines last week, but there was plenty happening elsewhere. And sadly, we lost some greats (RIP Martin Parr and Frank Gehry).

Last week in art news:

Now, for our regularly scheduled programming, these were the top art world reads of the week: artist interviews, exhibition reviews, and pieces showcasing artworks that actually stuck with me:

Miami Art Week Roundup of Roundups

I read 30+ Basel booth roundups, sales recaps, and “was it worth it?” pieces so you don’t have to. Highlights included everything from a Kahlo miniature portrait and a monumental Warhol portrait of Muhammad Ali to Sukeban wrestling and an Elon Musk robo-dog. But it wasn’t just about Basel! The shows outside of the fair and pop-ups throughout Miami, plus Untitled and NADA, all made waves! 🌊

These are your go-to roundups:

My highlights: Sargent’s Daughters’ gorgeous and inventive booth; basically all the work in these Untitled booths; and these Rodrigo Echeverría pieces. Plus, all the spicy commentary from The Art Daddy on a certain art influencer.

My lowlights: Beeple… and all the selfie videos from that certain art influencer.

Thanks for reading!

‘til next week,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 030: time warps and inner worlds]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-030https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-030Tue, 02 Dec 2025 01:32:56 GMTHi artsies,

After many auction records were set last week (you can read my highlights here), things feel quieter in the art world as we head toward Miami Art Basel.

On a personal note, I’m in that end-of-year angst where there’s still too much to see, do, and process. So, fittingly, this week’s reads turn inward. From decoding icons to getting a taste of Miami ahead of Basel, this issue is an appreciation of how art shapes us: how it lets us play with time, our identities, our histories, and whatever’s coming next.

Inner Worlds and Lives

The artist’s Paris retrospective showcases five decades of work defined by “Psychological Cubism,” a term he coined that depicts the multitudes within the human mind through distorted portraits.
The group show, “Often I am Permitted to Return to a Meadow,” taps into the occult, showcasing art that conjures the half-seen or half-remembered.
Inspired by Titian, De Freston created unnerving, worshipful portraits of his pregnant wife to explore the male gaze and the unreachability of his subject’s unseen internal world.

Longing and Desire

Boagey’s compositions transform curated online hoards into critical documents that index the overwhelming forces of desire and capital in the late-capitalist internet age.
The new photo book contrasts unchanging passion—captured in kissing couples across London’s subcultures

Power Dynamics

By applying a “baroque” sensibility, the artist dissects the predator-prey power dynamics. But the meaning stretches beyond the animal kingdom.
Timed for their 250th anniversaries, the exhibition explores the rivalry.
Everyday objects symbolize submission, creating tension for the viewer and exploring subtle power dynamics.
Born from an intrusive thought, her series of absurd, controversial paintings (one of which was stolen during a show!) led to a new confidence in her art career.

Capturing our Surroundings

In her new photo book, Atlas of Echoes, van Rij presents a vision of the world through a slightly surreal lens, capturing a dreamlike universe that exists alongside the real one.
The London exhibition ‘Silence Split’ examines the themes of space, mass, and time.

Passing of Time

Nakamura’s paintings evoke a naive, folkloric aesthetic to articulate a sophisticated meditation on the passage of time, with light and color serving as the main focus.
After a decade-long hiatus, the artist returns with a powerful showing of feral, evocative abstract paintings.
A new NYC exhibition celebrates the heroic commitment behind The Rose, Jay DeFeo’s monumental painting that took eight years to create and had to be hacked from her apartment.

Decoding and Deconstructing

The drawing, believed to be a study for the Libyan Sibyl’s foot on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, is set to become one of the most expensive foot drawings ever sold.
“My garden is my most beautiful work of art.”
Les Distractions de Dagobert, recently sold for a record $28.5 million at Sotheby’s
Inspired by Gaudí’s broken plate mosaics in Barcelona, Schnabel’s plate paintings cemented his place in Neo-Expressionism.

A Taste of Miami

Pierson’s new exhibition at the Bass Museum of Art spotlights his formative visits to Miami in the 1980s, where the city’s cheap glamour and easy life fundamentally shaped his approach to art.
Returning to his hometown, the Haitian-American artist anchors his solo exhibition at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in spirituality, exploring Black existence outside of colonization.

And as we gear up for Art Basel, here is a roundup of roundups:

Other news & MISC reads:

Thanks for joining me for another week of tld-art! If you’re in NYC, be sure to check out these late fall/early winter shows:

tld-art
nyc late fall gallery guide
Hello, artsies…
Read more
6 months ago · 1 like · Payton O'Neal

I’ll be sharing some thoughts and pics in the coming weeks!

‘til next time,

tld-art

]]><![CDATA[issue 029: marquee auction deep dive & artist stories as always]]>https://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-029-marquee-auction-deep-divehttps://www.tld-art.com/p/issue-029-marquee-auction-deep-diveTue, 25 Nov 2025 00:45:17 GMTHi artsies,

A musing: One of the articles I read after last week’s record-breaking auctions proclaimed “the art market breathes a sigh of relief,” and it struck a false note with me. Yes, fairs have struggled, galleries have shuttered, and many museums are seeing declining visitors. But I wonder how much of that is a narrative we’ve absorbed from the media. And who does that even affect? Most collectors and art enthusiasts (you and me included) aren’t exactly losing sleep. Maybe the operative word here is “market” versus the art “world.”

Regardless, the auctions showed that the art market is rebounding — spectacularly. Last week’s marquee sales posted almost $2 billion, with records breaking left and right. What started as a high-level recap turned into a full-blown play-by-play of top sales, totals, and odd little moments. You can read it all in this special edition:

And then we’re back to what we actually care about: the artists and artworks that make the art “market” go ’round.

Artists Behind the Art

No descriptions or themes this week, thanks to the auction deep dive. Instead, these are simply ranked in the order I enjoyed reading them.

A Few More Fun Art News Reads:

Wishing you a very artful Thanksgiving!

‘til next week,

tld-art

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