Venice Biennale Curator Koyo Kouoh Dies, Kunstmuseum Basel Removes Gauguin After Authenticity Questioned, Danish Museums Hit by Mold: Morning Links for May 12, 2025
Here’s what we’re reading this morning, folks.
Author: Feed Fetcher
Featured Artist Michael Hartstein
Enjoy the nature-inspired portfolio of artist Michael Hartstein, who shares a journey of creativity and passion.
The post Featured Artist Michael Hartstein appeared first on Artsy Shark.
Koyo Kouoh, curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale, has died at 57.
Koyo Kouoh, the acclaimed curator and executive director of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town, has died at 57. Her husband, Philippe Mall, said that the cause of death was cancer, according to the New York Times.
The Venice Biennale, which had appointed Kouoh as the curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale in December 2024, confirmed the news on Sunday. “La Biennale di Venezia is deeply saddened and dismayed to learn of the sudden and untimely passing of Koyo Kouoh,” the organization said in a statement. Kouoh had been working on the 61st edition of the prestigious international exhibition, with the presentation of its title and theme originally scheduled on May 20th. The organizers did not share further details of how the Biennale, which is the world’s most important art exhibition, planned to continue for its 2026 iteration.
Born in Cameroon and raised in Switzerland, Kouoh was widely recognized for her intellectual rigor and commitment to contemporary art from Africa and its global diaspora. Since joining the South African art museum Zeitz MOCAA in 2019, she led the institution through a critical phase of transformation, curating landmark exhibitions including “When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting” (2022), which later traveled to Kunstmuseum Basel.
Prior to her role at Zeitz MOCAA, Kouoh founded and led RAW Material Company in Dakar, and contributed to major international exhibitions including Documenta 12 and 13. Her curatorial voice shaped the Irish biennial EVA International in 2016 and the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair’s education program from 2013 to 2017.
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Kouoh spoke about her spiritual beliefs: “I do believe in life after death because I come from an ancestral Black education where we believe in parallel lives and realities. There is no ‘after death,’ ‘before death,’ or ‘during life.’ It doesn’t matter that much. I believe in energies—living or dead—and in cosmic strength.”
The organisers of the Venice Biennale praised Kouoh’s “passion, intellectual rigor and vision,” noting that her death “leaves an immense void in the world of contemporary art.” On Instagram, artists posted tributes to this towering art world figure. South African artist Candice Breitz called Kouoh “magnificently intelligent” and “formidably elegant” in her condolences, while Kenyan British painter Michael Armitage wrote simply “Koyo.”
Elise Ferguson: Threshold @ SHRINE, New York
Balancing precision with irregularity is the guiding principle in Elise Ferguson’s richly layered paintings. Her labor-intensive process begins with applying multiple rounds of pigmented Venetian plaster onto panels, which are then drawn over with imperfect guidelines in graphite to help register multiple rounds of silkscreened plaster in repeating geometric designs. Embracing this system’s inevitable misalignments and uneven results imbues the works with unexpected texture, energy, and a palpable sense of touch. While the paintings initially appear exacting and machine-made, they quickly reveal a hand-hewn quality that animates and enlivens the surfaces.
Romanian Painter Radu Oreian’s “That Magic Light” @ 1969 Gallery, NYC
Romanian artist Radu Oreian has returned to 1969 Gallery with That Magic Light, his second show with the gallery and first since 2022’s A Sea of Green and Blue. That Magic Light transports us into the inner workings of the artist’s mind, asking the audience the ultimate ontological question of what it means “to be.” Oreian creates a universe containing endless intersections—art combines with history, mythology, pop culture, and philosophy. In introspection, he attempts to make sense of “the artist life,” inviting the viewer to become an accomplice in his ongoing journey to enlightenment; fostering an environment in which the viewers allow themselves to reflect alongside him and follow That Magic Light.
Yu Nishimura: Clearing Unfolds @ David Zwirner New York, 69th Street
In the first moments I saw the works of Japanese artist Yu Nishimura, I felt this enormous sensation, a wave of grief almost, of what happens after the world is flipped upside down and we are left to repair. You wouldn’t, I maybe think, go to a Last of Us sort of scenario when you see this work, but there is a burden of survival in these works, a subtle passage of time in a once familiar place. Nishimura says of the works, “This exhibition (at David Zwirner) explores the creation of another place—expressed as pictorial existence—derived from landscapes with which I have connected. These places, built of memory, are also distillations of my ever-flowing self through time.” But the…
Preview: Kenichi Hoshine “And There Came a Storm Beneath a Cutthroat Moon”
Even though Kenichi Hoshine’s artworks (an alum of the Juxtapoz Clubhouse and now readying to show with Nino Mier) evoke a sense of the uncanny, blending barely recognizable figures or body parts with abstract shapes in direct, attention-demanding arrangements, they also immediately wash over the viewer with a feeling of nostalgic calm. This effect is due in no small part to his color palette: a blend of vintage-toned yellows, reds, and blues. These warm, muted hues offer the viewer a visual anchor and invite them to immerse themselves in his enigmatic works. Much like the use of color in traditional ukiyo-e woodblock prints, Hoshine’s palette guides the viewer’s eye across the composition, creating depth, contrast, and atmosphere.
How To Build a Personal Brand Without Losing Your Artistic Soul
Building a personal brand in today’s digital landscape is no longer optional—it’s essential. For artists and creatives, however, self-promotion can feel at odds with the purity of their craft. How do you create a recognizable online presence without selling out or compromising your artistic soul? In this article, we’ll explore how to build a personal…
The post How To Build a Personal Brand Without Losing Your Artistic Soul appeared first on Hue & Eye.
Why learning to interact with technical specialists is key to creative success
Successful creatives know that bringing ideas to life requires more than inspiration—it requires partnership with experts. In our second of two articles on the Royal College of Art’s technical serv…