Less Time Than Ideas - Art Across the Americas

Jon Bonfiglio with the news that global art phenomenon Banksy has secretly installed a new sculpture in central London. 

Jon Bonfiglio speaks to journalists Julia Tilton & Ilana Newman about the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago's exhibition, Dancing the Revolution, which considers Dancehall & Reggaeton music and dance as a revolutionary practice for collective liberation. 

On February 9, 2026, Ionit Behar was appointed as Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA). The feature article below - and recorded in this episode - charts her time prior to the appointment, in what is a fascinating personal history.https://art.newcity.com/2026/04/07/opening-windows-into-other-worlds-an-interview-with-the-mcas-newest-curator-ionit-behar/

RENART Gallery of the CREA cultural center in Irapuato is running ‘Anacronías del Presente’ (Anachronisms of the Present) until May 22, 2026. The exhibition features the work — in dialogue — of two regional artists, Diego Mtz Peña of Tequisquiapan, Querétaro, and Eduardo Zúñiga of León, Guanajuato. Here, Jon Bonfiglio is in conversation with artists Diego Mtz Peña and Alan Pfeiffer.The referenced accompanying article is available here:https://artinsanmiguel.com/anachronisms-of-the-present

Jon Bonfiglio speaks to writer Alexandra Rauscher about the work of Penny Goring as part of the Unloving Love exhibition at the Colegio de San Ildelfonso in Mexico City.Rauscher's review on the exhibition is available here:https://artinsanmiguel.com/unloving-love-inside-penny-gorings-radically-vulnerable-universe

The enduring romantic appeal of the art heist. 

The remarkable photography of Mexico's Enrique Metinides. https://aperture.org/exhibition/101-tragedies-of-enrique-metinides-2/https://slate.com/culture/2013/03/enrique-metinides-101-tragedies-of-enrique-metinides-documents-50-years-of-crime-scenes-in-mexico-city-photos.html

In our increasingly transient, ephemeral age, the act of actively remembering, of going out of our way to remember, precisely and deliberately, is more important than ever. In this way, maybe remembering can be one of our greatest acts of resistance. 

A contemplation on the gothic horror that is the Venice Biennale. 

Tracey Emin, and her relationship with her home town of Margate, England. 

Jonathan Bonfiglio's review of the Monuments exhibition in Los Angeles, for Glasstire magazine. https://glasstire.com/2026/01/19/where-art-confronts-history-monuments-the-power-of-gathering/

Jon Bonfiglio speaks to founder and director of Dolores 54 Alfredo Fosado about Mexico City Art Week, and the unique art and residency space that is Dolores 54.For more information about Dolores 54: https://www.dolores-54.com/To read Jon Bonfiglio's review of Mexico City Art Week, copy and paste the link below:https://glasstire.com/2026/02/06/mexico-city-art-week-making-sense-of-the-labyrinth/

Jon Bonfiglio speaks to Dr. Jacqueline Lazú about the history of the Young Lords in Chicago, a group which was initially a street gang and evolved in a seminal civil rights organization.For more information on the work of Dr. Lazú: https://jlazu.com/To read the article by Jon Bonfiglio on the Young Lords in Chicago exhibition at DePaul Art Museum: https://art.newcity.com/2025/10/29/young-lords-in-chicago-reminds-us-the-struggle-for-social-justice-only-ends-if-we-concede/

The murals of Brazilian artist Carybé at Miami International Airport, gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean.Youtube link to view the murals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=68&v=dNNGteCIM9M&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.miami-airport.com%2FSite%2520Specific_South%2520Terminal.asp&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY

The bust at San Souci palace also exists in an abandoned palace, within Haiti, a country which also has been discarded, abandoned. Different to forgotten. It’s a wilful act. It didn’t fall overboard, it was pushed. The complexity, in all of this, is the intent. ---https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-Souci_Palace

If you come across work by Frida Kahlo, try to make it a surprise, try to go alone. Print out a painting on bad paper, only when your printer’s ink cartridge is running out, and go to a park with it. Take nothing else. Forget that it’s a piece by Frida Kahlo. Go and spend some time with it, as you might a new friend, and see what it has to say, by itself, in the silence, in the park, on a Tuesday morning, on a surprisingly warm - out of season - day. And as you get to know each other, vow never, NEVER to visit the Casa Azul, or stand in line to watch art, ever again. 

Questioning what is radical, American Artist draws on Octavia Butler's prescient vision of humanity to explore racial capitalism, technology and notions of humanity. https://artsfuse.org/319285/visual-arts-review-a-glitch-in-the-system-american-artists-homage-to-octavia-butler/

In coversation with Candace Locklear of Good Chaos, discussing the wide-ranging work of Latinx artist Yvette Mayorga. Recent reviews of Mayorga's work by Jonathan Bonfiglio are linked here: https://glasstire.com/2025/10/14/more-than-bubble-gum-pink-press-ons-yvette-mayorgas-pop-up-nail-alon/https://art.newcity.com/2025/07/11/pink-and-violent-a-review-of-yvette-mayorga-at-monique-meloche-gallery/

The first Midwest solo show by Lagos-based artist Temitayo Ogunbiyi brings together whimsical and playful work that's hard to pin down.https://art.newcity.com/2025/10/23/the-work-of-earthy-unruly-art-faerie-at-the-arts-club/

As a physical reaction, an art review, like a poem, should make the reader stop, take a breath or a moment, and look out of the train window at the passing landscape. Even if the reader is not on a train, able to stop and look out, this should be the metaphysical effect that is generated. When we read a well-written review, we should all find ourselves on that train carriage, taking that moment, sitting with a thought or an idea, as the world happens around you.

A new exhibition at Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago conveys the universal human act of grasping at wisps, distilled through a palette of earthy colors.https://art.newcity.com/2025/10/20/luke-agadas-paintings-are-spectral-depictions-of-time/

Jonathan Bonfiglio considers the depth behind Yvette Mayorga's “Pop-Up Nail $alon,” a temporary immersive installation at Ballroom Marfa.https://glasstire.com/2025/10/14/more-than-bubble-gum-pink-press-ons-yvette-mayorgas-pop-up-nail-alon/

Why every gallery should have a roving spirit guard dog, off its leash, with very big teeth, and there should be consequences. 

Marfa, and Donald Judd, in his own words.For the full text:https://juddfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Marfa_Texas_1985.pdf

In coversation with curators Jorell Meléndez-Badillo & Aurora Santiago Ortiz on the topic of Pablo Delano's seminal show at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Madison-Wisconsin.For more information on the exhibition: https://chazen.wisc.edu/exhibitions/caribbean-matters-cuestiones-caribenas-assemblage-and-sculpture-by-pablo-delano/https://art.newcity.com/2025/08/18/archipelago-of-resistance-a-review-of-pablo-delano-at-chazen-museum-of-art-at-the-university-of-wisconsin-madison/With thanks to Kirstin Pires at the Chazen Museum of Art. 

This is the beginning: the entry point and the set-up. The journey lies ahead.