Jonathan Rider

Sad to hear of the passing of Agosto Machado, a “Chinese-Spanish-Filipino-American performance artist, activist, archivist, muse, caretaker, and friend to countless celebrated and underground visual and performing artists.” Agosto made my very favorite kind of art, elevating ordinary objects into extraordinary contexts. I feel lucky to have included his “Desire (Altar),” 2024, with little elements created by his and my friend Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, in the recent exhibition “As Above, So Below,” at the @flagartfoundation . #AgostoMachado

Édouard Vuillard’s “The Flowered Dress,” 1891 (on loan from @masp ) part of the jewelbox exhibition “Édouard Vuillard: Early Interiors,” on view at @skarstedtgallery through April 25, 2026 #ÉdouardVuillard

“As Above, So Below” is the third in a line of related group exhibitions at the @flagartfoundation (“Dime-Store Alchemy,” in 2018, and “In Search of the Miraculous,” in 2022) that explore everyday magic, the second life of objects, what it means to instill those objects with meaning, and the power of a seductive narrative. There’s a quote by Giorgio de Chirico that sums up why I love making these shows: “One can deduce and conclude that every object has two aspects: one current one, which we see nearly always and which is seen by men in general; and the other, which is spectral and metaphysical and seen only by rare individuals in a moment of clairvoyance…” “As Above, So Below” closes this Saturday, January 17, 2026; if you’re in the neighborhood, stop in and I’ll give you a tour! Giant THANKS to all the artists who participated in the show! @studiocharlesavery #StephanBalkenhol @_amybravo_ @adansophiecalle @g_rids @caro__caro__caro @jamescasebere #AnneCollier @benbencowan @edey_ @felixgonzaleztorres.foundation @harrygouldharveyiv @arghavan_khosravi #ThomasLaniganSchmidt #CharlesLeDray @delmachado6969 dr_amalia_says @matthewmillernyc @cchris.ohh @nicolasparty @cluvie @edruschaofficial @rose.salane #LucasSamaras @kristalouisesmith @jeni.spota.c @marthatuttlestudio @jeffreyvallancestudios @suyi.xu @dustinyellin

My money’s on Lady Elaine🔪 Alex Da Corte’s “The Death of King Friday XIII,” 2025, part of the artist’s solo exhibition “Parade,” up at @matthewmarksgallery through December 20, 2025 #LandofMakeBelieve

Pierre Bonnard’s “Nu dans la baignoire,” 1936-38, at the @museedartmodernedeparis #PierreBonnard

🩵Gerhard Richter’s “Eis (Ice),” 1981–channeling the ghost of Caspar David Friedrich—part of the artist’s sprawling retrospective at @fondationlv , through March 2, 2026 #GerhardRichter

First day of fall. #JohnCheever #TheSwimmer

Details of Anthony van Dyck’s portrait of Frans Snyders, c.1620, on view at the @frickcollection #AnthonyvanDyck

🐦‍⬛This studio floor is great—of course it is—but the double-wide birdhouse made by Jackson Pollock for his “mischievous” pet crow, Caw-Caw, was a strange and unexpectedly tender highlight of the @pollockkrasnerhouse .

A gold “Nose Ornament with Spiders,” Salinar, 100 BCE–200 CE, currently on view at the @metmuseum ’s newly reimagined galleries dedicated to the arts of Africa, the ancient Americas, and Oceania —
“Spider imagery appears in Andean works of art from the middle of the first millennium BCE until the Spanish Conquest in the sixteenth century. Spiders were particularly important within the cosmology of Peru’s North Coast for their ability to catch and kill live prey, a skill that linked them to warfare and ritual sacrifice. The Moche, who flourished in this region from 200–850 CE and who are thought to be the cultural successors to (if not the direct descendants of) the Salinar, may have even seen the spider’s practice of ensnaring its victim in a web and draining vital fluids as analogous to the way a warrior captured an enemy with ropes and extracted blood. In the North Coast, spiders were further understood to be harbingers of agricultural fertility, as they often appeared before rainfall, an important life-sustaining resource in the arid, desert-like environments of coastal Peru.”

Julien Nguyen’s “Long Range Strike Bomber,” 2024, part of the artist’s solo exhibition at @matthewmarksgallery , on view through June 28, 2025 #JulienNguyen

What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening? — Mike Kelley’s “Riddle of the Sphinx,” 1991, currently on view at the @guggenheim #MikeKelley @mike_kelley_foundation