When you hear the name Hans Hofmann, you might first think of a teacher — an artist best known for shaping generations of minds. Yet Hofmann’s own work resists easy categorization, and deliberately so.He once claimed that to settle into a single style was to be “dead” as an artist. Restlessness, for Hofmann, was not uncertainty but necessity. Even while immersed in academia, Hofmann believed that making art was itself an act of composition. Rather than beginning with subject matter and arranging it afterward, he trusted the process to lead the way. Form, color and gesture emerged through discovery, allowing painting to become not a fixed statement, but a living act, one of becoming, never of arrival. The Yale University Art Gallery, the oldest college art museum in the United States, houses thousands of works spanning centuries and cultures from around the world. With free admission … [Read more...] about HOFMANN’S RISK AND COURAGE

There is a particular stillness that lives inside abandoned places. A silence that feels almost sentient as it hums with the memory of footsteps, the echo of machinery and the soft reclaiming breath of nature. It hangs in the air like dust, visible only when the light strikes it just right across the buckling floors while it settles into peeling paint and collapsing beams. Photographer Robb Kurkjian, who uses they/them pronouns, seeks out that presence with purpose and care, revealing what remains when human activity dissolves and only structure, sunlight and time remain. Their work transforms the forgotten into something reverent, asking us to look closer at the dialogue between creation, decay and the fragile stories left behind. Urban exploration has transformed dramatically over the last decade into a visual anthropology of the modern era. Once aligned solely with adrenaline … [Read more...] about THE POETRY OF RUIN

Visit hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu for full exhibition schedule In 2026, the United States of America will turn 250 years old, but according to the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, the story of American Art in the United States goes back millennia. “It was very important for us to think about the United States as part of the history of the art of this continent,” said Hood Museum Director John R. Stomberg. “There were already people here [for] upwards of 10,000 years, making things that certainly fit the idea of art.” The idea that American art predates the founding of the United States is one of the “touchstones” behind a 12-exhibition suite presented by the Hood Museum that will run alongside the United States’ sestercentennial throughout 2026. “An anniversary is a good time to look inward, collectively, at what we are,” said Stomberg. “There are shows that are celebratory, … [Read more...] about CELEBRATION AND INTERROGATION

In a nod to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Focus on the Past exhibition at the Attleboro Arts Museum will include eight artifacts from the museum vault that relate to U.S. History or were created by iconic United States artists or represent a slice of America’s past. The 77 artists who responded to this call were invited because they were juried into one or more “8 Visions” exhibition(s) since 2006. According to Executive Director and Chief Curator Mim Fawcett, eachof the eight artifacts will be surrounded by contemporary artwork responses. Fawcett designed the call to ensure that all the artifacts would get a response by having each artist select two and then she assigned the final pairings. She reports that on average each item has 10 corresponding works. Imagine being asked to create new work within your own artistic medium inspired by … [Read more...] about WHAT HISTORY ASKS OF US