FAL WIRE

A white South African reflects on encountering Michael Armitage’s Necklacing (2016) at The Met, where apartheid-era violence resurfaces far from home. Seen from New York, the painting becomes an unsettling meditation on memory, distance, implication, and the ethics of how African histories are displayed in global museums.

Robert Mapplethorpe’s Le forme del classico at Le Stanze della Fotografia in Venice is an exhibition that lingers long after you leave. Set within the contemplative spaces of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on San Giorgio Maggiore, the show reveals Mapplethorpe’s ability to transform the human body into something timeless—where photography meets classical sculpture, and beauty is inseparable from tension, provocation, and technical mastery.

At Rome’s Palazzo Bonaparte, two powerful exhibitions brought together the contrasting yet complementary visions of photographer Elliott Erwitt and Superrealist sculptor Carole Feuerman. From Erwitt’s witty, humanistic moments frozen in black and white to Feuerman’s provocative, hyperreal sculptures of the female form, the pairing created a compelling dialogue about humanity, authenticity, and how art captures—and preserves—truth across time.

A visit to Jack Whitten: The Messenger at MoMA offers a powerful immersion into the visionary artist’s world, where material innovation, science, and civil rights converge. From his groundbreaking acrylic mosaic techniques to his concept of art as a metaphysical “portal,” Whitten’s work reveals a legacy of experimentation, social consciousness, and transformative beauty that continues to resonate deeply today.

FAL is powering Julian Lennon's Photography Exhibition, now on at St. Joseph's Art Society in San Francisco. A must see.