The Art World Just Got a Lot More Interesting

The art world rarely stays in one lane for long. This week, it moved between music, fashion, politics, pop culture, and some of the world’s most established cultural institutions. From Amy Sherald making history on the cover of TIME’s first TIME100 Art issue and JR turning the Vatican Library into the site of a monumental installation, to Cj Hendry bringing an interactive garden to New York and Karl-Anthony Towns and Jordyn Woods stepping into the auction world, the boundaries around contemporary art continue to expand. Add a new book revisiting Nicola Green’s photographs of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and a Michael Kors collection shaped by modernist artists, and there is plenty to catch up on. Here are five stories making headlines this week.

TIME Puts Amy Sherald on the Cover of Its First-Ever TIME100 Art Issue

Amy Sherald is on the cover of TIME’s inaugural TIME100 Art issue, a new list recognizing 100 figures shaping the visual-arts landscape. The cover was photographed by artist Tyler Mitchell, who is also included on the list.

The issue marks the first time in 50 years that a living painter has appeared alone on a TIME cover. The last was Robert Rauschenberg, whose portrait appeared on the magazine’s cover in 1976. TIME editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs said the new list was created in part to address the magazine’s long-standing gap in recognizing the influence of fine art.

Sherald’s cover story looks at the development of her portrait practice, including the 2018 official portrait of Michelle Obama, her distinctive use of color, and the trajectory of her career. It also revisits her decision to withdraw her American Sublime survey from the National Portrait Gallery after concerns were raised about exhibiting Trans Forming Liberty (2024). The exhibition was later presented at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where it broke attendance records.

The TIME100 Art list extends beyond artists, bringing together museum directors, curators, gallerists, collectors, advisors, and other figures involved in shaping the art ecosystem. Names on the inaugural list include Simone Leigh, KAWS, Banksy, Jenny Holzer, El Anatsui, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Bernard Arnault, Thelma Golden, David Zwirner, and Larry Gagosian.

Cj Hendry and Sulwhasoo Turn the Brant Foundation Into an Interactive “Secret Garden”

Artist Cj Hendry and Korean luxury beauty brand Sulwhasoo have teamed up for Secret Garden, an immersive installation at the Brant Foundation’s Art Study Center in New York’s East Village. The project is on view through September 20, before traveling to Seoul from September 30 to October 8.

Inspired by the hidden garden at The House of Sulwhasoo Bukchon in Seoul, the installation brings together flat-pack wooden sculptures and puzzle-like forms to create a forest-like environment that visitors can walk through. Rather than functioning as a work to simply look at, the installation invites people to draw and color directly onto its structures using custom crayons provided at the space.

The collaboration is part of Sulwhasoo’s “Beauty Crafted in Time” campaign, which marks the brand’s 60 years of ginseng research. Visitors can also receive a co-branded tote containing a sample of the brand’s Concentrated Ginseng Rejuvenating Cream, while limited-edition pieces designed by Hendry for the collaboration are available at the installation.

For Hendry, the project continues her recent series of participatory and experiential installations in New York, following projects such as Pastel at Salon 94 Design. The Seoul presentation will extend Secret Garden beyond its New York debut and bring the collaboration back to the cultural setting that inspired it.

Nicola Green’s In Seven Days… to Revisit Obama’s Historic 2008 Campaign in a New Artist Book

British artist and social historian Nicola Green’s In Seven Days… will be published as a book by HENI this October, offering the first in-depth examination of her acclaimed seven-part series documenting Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, election, and inauguration. The book is scheduled for publication in October 2026.

Green was granted unusual access to Obama’s campaign between 2008 and 2009, traveling across the United States on six trips that included the Democratic National Convention in Denver, campaign events, election night in Chicago, and the inauguration in Washington, D.C. She later transformed those experiences into seven silkscreen prints, titled Day 1, Light through Day 7, Peace.

The forthcoming 134-page publication brings together the complete series alongside photographs, sketches, drawings, and archival material, including previously unpublished material from Green’s time on the campaign trail. It also includes a contribution from Obama and newly commissioned essays by figures from the worlds of art, culture, politics, and museums, including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Ben Rhodes, Louise Bernard, Flavia Frigeri, and Katherine Blood.

In Seven Days… has entered the permanent collections of institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the UK Government Art Collection. The series is also currently presented at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

JR Brings a Monumental Wave to the Vatican Library

French artist JR has unveiled Diluvium, a monumental, site-specific installation spanning roughly 70 metres across the façade of the Vatican Apostolic Library. The work was inaugurated by Pope Leo XIV on September 14, marking the first time the historic building has hosted a site-specific artwork on its exterior.

The black-and-white image depicts a giant wave based on Gustave Doré’s 1866 wood engraving of the biblical flood. The installation forms the centrepiece of AQVA, the first exhibition in the Vatican Library’s five-year Catastrophe and Wonder series. The exhibition considers water as both a source of life and a potential threat to the library’s centuries-old collection of books and manuscripts.

Alongside Diluvium, JR is presenting Undae, a video installation showing a wave recorded in Brazil. The exhibition also brings together works by typographer Bill Moran, writings by chef Fulvio Pierangelini, and historical holdings from the Vatican Library, including two copies of Ippolito Salviani’s 1557 study Aquatilium animalium historia. The exhibition opens to the public on September 25 and runs through May 14, 2027.

JR has connected the work’s imagery to the vulnerability of libraries and archives, as well as broader concerns including climate change and the rapid changes brought by artificial intelligence. The Vatican Library itself described the exhibition as an exploration of water as both “threat” and “resource.”

Karl-Anthony Towns and Jordyn Woods to Curate Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Auction

NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns and entrepreneur and model Jordyn Woods will serve as guest curators for Sotheby’s upcoming Contemporary Curated auction in New York, bringing their personal approach to collecting into one of the auction house’s recurring contemporary art sales.

The couple has selected works spanning painting, sculpture, and works on paper, with artists including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Helen Frankenthaler, Alma Thomas, George Condo, Ed Ruscha, and Rashid Johnson. Their selections centre on themes including identity, perception, transformation, and personal experience.

Several works have a direct connection to their lives. Woods selected Warhol’s Flowers (1964), while Towns chose Condo’s I Want My Brain Back (2020), a work he connects with his experience during 2020. Ed Ruscha’s Cities Across the Globe (1980) also has a personal resonance for the couple, recalling Los Angeles, where they met.

The sale will take place at Sotheby’s New York on October 7, with the exhibition opening October 2. Sotheby’s launched the Contemporary Curated series in 2013, inviting figures from outside the traditional art-world establishment, including fashion, music, film, business, and sports, to select works based on their own interests and collecting perspectives.

Michael Kors Brings Modernist Art to the Runway at MoMA

Michael Kors staged his Spring/Summer 2027 show in the Museum of Modern Art’s Sculpture Garden during New York Fashion Week, turning one of the city’s most recognizable art spaces into the setting for a collection shaped by modernist art.

Kors cited Carmen Herrera, Alexander Calder, and Ellsworth Kelly as key influences, describing his interest in the contrast between sculptural forms and crisp fashion. The collection translated those references into strong blocks of color, graphic contrasts, asymmetric silhouettes, and sculptural accessories.

The palette was largely black and white, punctuated by red, yellow, green, and blue. Thin black-and-white stripes, mod-inspired tailoring, sharply cut dresses, and accessories with curved metal elements reinforced the collection’s mid-century and modernist references.

The setting was central to the presentation. Kors has increasingly used major New York cultural landmarks for his runway shows, following his Spring 2026 presentation at the Metropolitan Opera House. For Spring 2027, MoMA’s Sculpture Garden provided a direct connection between the collection and the art that informed it.

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Julian Casablancas to Bring Music Into a New Exhibition of Picasso, Warhol, and Banksy

Julian Casablancas, frontman of The Strokes and The Voidz, has been named sound curator for The Singapore Masters Show 2026, an upcoming exhibition at Opera Gallery Singapore bringing together more than 30 works by major modern and contemporary artists. The exhibition runs from October 2 to November 1, 2026.

The presentation includes works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, George Condo, Yayoi Kusama, and Banksy, among others. Rather than assigning individual songs to specific artworks, Casablancas has created playlists intended to reflect the wider cultural atmosphere and creative exchanges surrounding different generations of artists.

The exhibition is divided into four chapters, the Classical Recital Room, Jazz Club, Recording Studio, and The Stage, each exploring a different relationship between art, music, and popular culture. Casablancas’ playlists will accompany these sections, treating sound as part of the exhibition’s curatorial framework rather than simply background music.

The project adds another layer to Casablancas’ long career in music and his connections across popular culture, while also extending Opera Gallery’s approach to presenting modern and contemporary art through broader cultural contexts. The gallery says the exhibition is intended to encourage visitors to consider the ideas, influences, and environments surrounding the artworks rather than viewing them in isolation.

Conclusion

From museum walls and historic buildings to auction rooms, fashion runways, and immersive installations, this week’s stories show how widely art is reaching beyond the traditional gallery space. Artists are crossing into new cultural territories, while musicians, athletes, designers, and public figures are becoming part of the ways art is presented, collected, and experienced. What connects these stories is less a single trend than a growing willingness to let art exist in unexpected places, and to bring new audiences into the conversation.

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