Daily Newsletter
Nativity scenes as sites of resistance, the best London shows of the year, one of history’s most notorious art thieves, and Beer With a Painter is back!
A view of baby Jesus with zip-tied wrists in the nativity at Chicago’s Lake Street Church of Evanston (photo courtesy Rev. Michael Woolf)
In these times of cruelty against immigrants in the United States, nativity scenes have become sites of political protest. In one installation in Massachusetts, Mary and an infant Jesus are absent, replaced by a sign that reads, “ICE was here.” In another one in Chicago, a sign declares, “Due to ICE activity in our community, the Holy Family is in hiding.” More such nativity scenes are popping up across the country as people of conscience protest against Homeland Security’s persecution of helpless individuals, sending the message: not in our name.
Read Emma Cieslik’s report: Anti-ICE Nativities Take a Stand Against Trump’s Cruelty
Today we also look back at the 10 best London art exhibitions of 2025. The list includes luminaries like Kerry James Marshall, Jenny Saville, and Leigh Bowery, plus surprises like Henri Michaux’s squiggly drawings under the influence of mescaline.
Review The 10 Best London Art Shows of 2025
ICYMI: The Best New York City Exhibitions of 2025
Launch a Community-Centered Design Career with an MDes From the University of Arkansas
The two-year, tuition-free Master of Design in Communication Design program blends studio-driven research, community engagement, and advanced design practice.
Learn more
News
Arts philanthropist Sonya Yu with MoMA PS1 Director Connie Butler (photo by John Kim, courtesy MoMA PS1)
Books
FBI agents pose with the Woolworth estate’s Andrew Wyeth paintings stolen by Myles Connor in 1974, with Special Agent Bernie Murphy, who led the arrest, at right. (image courtesy Bernie Murphy)
If you thought the recent Louvre heist was impressive, wait until you hear about Myles Connor. Said to have stolen art from 30 museums and private collections, he somehow managed to walk off with a Rembrandt from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1975. Art crime professor Erin L. Thompson reviews Anthony M. Amore’s new book about the story of this “criminal genius.”
The Rembrandt Thief Who Came Out On Top
Myles Connor is one of the very few people alive to have come out ahead after lifting an artwork from the wall of a museum. | Erin L. Thompson
Li Yi-Fan to Represent Taiwan at the 61st Venice Biennale
In the exhibition curated by Raphael Fonseca, Li Yi-Fan will continue his longstanding exploration of image-generation technology and improvisational narrative.
Learn more
From Our Critics
Wifredo Lam, “La Jungla” (1942–43), oil and charcoal on paper mounted on canvas (all photos Clara Apostolatos/Hyperallergic)
Clara Maria Apostolatos
Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream at the Museum of Modern Art
“The retrospective shines in underscoring how inseparable Lam’s work was from questions of Black identity and what he himself called “mental decolonization.” Lam wasn’t merely adapting European modernism; he was rerouting it. “
Read the Review
Natalie Haddad
Voice of Space: UFOs and Paranormal Phenomena at the Drawing Center
“Around the time I saw the exhibition, I watched a documentary on Alice Cooper, where the king of rock ’n’ roll cabaret described his 1970s band as “half girl, half guy, half alien.” Whatever that means, it sounded outré and otherworldly — and maybe even utopian. Voice of Space could use a little more of that spirit.”
Read the Review
The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation Launches Platform Dalí, a New Art and Science Program
Inspired by Dalí’s vision and his engagement with scientific work, this program seeks to explore the limits of knowledge and imagination through dialogue between art and science.
Learn more
Beer With a Painter
Melissa Joseph in her studio (photo by Ryan Lowry, courtesy Melissa Joseph)
We’re thrilled to announce that Jennifer Samet’s column Beer With a Painter is back! We resume this beloved series with a conversation with New York-based artist Melissa Joseph. I’m a big fan of Melissa’s intimate family tableaux, made entirely of felt. It’s such a lovely, inspiring interview. Check it out.
Kim Lakin on Rhea Nayyar’s “Pantone’s Color of the Year Sounds About White”
So much more could be said about this silly pretentious color choice. But you have made a good start! Pantone is either socially tone deaf or firmly in the maga camp.
ICYMI
Jennifer Packer, “Nate, Chey” (2025), oil on canvas (all photos Aruna D’Souza/Hyperallergic)
Jennifer Packer Confronts Grief Through Paintings That Cut Deep
The painter mines an iconographical language of grief through delicate, translucent paintings imbued with a sense of intimacy and intensity. | Aruna D’Souza
From the Archive
A Nativity scene featuring a keffiyeh that was unveiled at the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican on December 7, 2024, was designed by Palestinian artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi of Bethlehem. (© Vatican Media)
Nativity Scenes Have Never Been Neutral
To criticize the Vatican’s nativity with a now-removed Jesus in a keffiyeh would be to dismiss the artistic history of crèches centering marginalized people. | Emma Cieslik
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—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
