Art-wise, 2024 had an in-between-things vibe. It was a year of big-deal biennials, but the consensus was that none delivered much firepower. There was a lot of talk about money — what sold for what, and to whom — but no radically record-busting news. In general, the institutional art world veered, as it always does, between uplift (some strong museum shows) and cringe (the $6.2 million banana). I’ll go mostly with uplift in the (unranked) list of highlights below.
Memory: People
In 2024, as in every year, there was a different kind of loss, of art world figures. Some — Faith Ringgold, Richard Serra, Frank Stella — were acknowledged monuments. Certain others had a more modestly scaled but invaluable presence, including the much-loved Vietnamese conceptualist Dinh Q. Lê; the visionary land artist Patricia Johanson; the high-winging visual poet Anton van Dalen; the photographer and En Foco co-founder Charles Biasiny-Rivera; the adamantly hands-on Minimalist sculptor Jackie Winsor; the prescient Korean American installation artist Yong Soon Min; the Blakean fantasist June Leaf; and the art critic and inveterate cringe-spotter, Gary Indiana. (Read our appraisals of Faith Ringgold, Richard Serra and Frank Stella.)