Meet PÉPET: TAKEO’s Palm-Size Paper Friend Readies a “Pomme” Edition
PÉPET, a palm-size “paper friend” produced by TAKEO Co., Ltd. and originally designed by Masae Nagao, is built from more than 400 layers of colorful paper. TAKEO will release a new apple-inspired edition called “Pomme” on October 14, following characters like “Dandel,” “Fuji,” and “Sky.”
Pau Pescadors Amor Prohibido at Tyler Park Presents confronts surveillance and legibility
At Tyler Park Presents, Pau Pescadors Amor Prohibidospanning 118 photographs and a videopushes back against surveillance-era demands for a legible, cisnormative identity through humorous photographic grids, intimate Polaroids, and a semi-narrative film.
Sara Anstis maps myth and memory in soft pastel at Olney Gleason
Sara Anstiss solo show Pastels at Olney Gleason gathers small-scale soft pastel drawings that weave medieval and early Renaissance references with dreamlike scenes, on view through October 24 in New York City.
Roberta Gentrys Blood Orange pairs symmetry with sensory myth at Track 16
In Roberta Gentrys solo exhibition Blood Orange at Track 16s East Hollywood location, running through October 24, symmetrical grids meet biomorphic forms and references to the 16th-century La Dame e0 la licorne tapestries, from a velvet gown and towering pipe organ to orange trees.
From Charters to Traffic Jams: How Cultural Value Shifts When Competence Is Cheap
As reports from Fast Company and Nature frame the shrinking value of average-quality work, institutions from the BBC to Netflix revisit which metrics matter, while Detroit’s symphony and Bristol Old Vic retrench and Nairobi’s acrobats turn gridlock into a stage.
Painterly Reliefs, Stitched from Loom Bands: Hannah Beuchler’s Tactile Compositions
Artist Hannah Beuchler reimagines loom bands as painterly reliefs, looping thousands of rubber bands onto wool roving on felt substrates to create framed works that read like expressive brushstrokes. Recent pieces from 2024–2025 range from 26.75 x 19.75 inches to 77 x 72.5 x 2 inches, with photos by Spencer Higgins.
Double Moons and Borderlands: Anna Ortizs Shapeshifter in Tribeca
In Shapeshifter, Anna Ortiz draws on Mexican-American heritage and Mesoamerican nagual lore to paint jungle terrains in concentrated blues, greens, and pinks, populated by double moons, an explosive volcano, and reflective pools. The exhibition is on view through October 31 at Chart Gallery in Tribeca and echoes Gloria Anzald fa40afs 1992 essay The New Mestiza Nation.
Portals, Lineage, and Likeness: Karla Wong at Intuit Art Museum
At Chicago’s Intuit Art Museum, Karla Wong’s Journeys of Being brings together Day of the Dead–evocative figures, alebrijes, and agave-studded deserts with surreal portals, reflecting her Oaxacan roots, Chinese heritage, and life between the U.S. and Mexico. The exhibition includes oil-on-canvas works from 2024 to 2026 and is on view through January 10.
Seahorse Family Leads the 2026 Ocean Photographer of the Year Winners
Oceanographic magazine and Blancpain’s Ocean Photographer of the Year named Julien Anton the 2026 overall winner for a black-and-white seahorse portrait made in Moorea, French Polynesia, with category highlights including Jenny Stock (Female Fifty Fathoms Award), Gergo Rugli (Adventure), and Rui Filipe Cardoso Duarte (Human Connection). Finalists featured Matty Smith, Steven Lopez, Sun Qingsheng, and Andrea Michelutti.
When “Artistic Merit” Becomes a Gate: Two South Carolina Groups Face Extra Scrutiny
Philadelphia Fringe now counts 350-plus shows in 100-plus spaces, while in South Carolina the arts commission funded all but two of nearly 180 panel-approved applicants, then asked Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus and Proud Mary Theatre Company for extra evidence of “artistic merit,” according to The Post and Courier.