These Amazing Art Cars of Arizona Are a True Form of Public Art
Massive mutant vehicles, novelty art cars, and custom lowriders—meet some of the makers devoted to this elaborate and often underappreciated art form.
August 06, 2026
Articles
Once an Intern at El Paso’s Rubin Center, Andres Payan Estrada Makes History as Its New Director
As the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts's first homegrown director, Andres Payan Estrada understands the opportunities and challenges of borderlands arts.
August 04, 2026
Southwest Art News: August 2026
Pueblo leaders lobby for Chaco protections, Shepard Fairey unveils New Mexico murals, and more top Southwest art news for August 2026.
August 04, 2026
A Record of a Record: Terran Last Gun and Mitchell Marti in the Lithography Studio
Terran Last Gun and printmaker Mitchell Marti debut five collaborative lithographs that translate ledger art into print, pairing hand-drawn detail with lithographed ledger sheets.
August 04, 2026
Marilyn Minter’s Remarkable Career Comeback Began Deep in the Colorado Rockies
Colorado's Anderson Ranch Arts Center honored Marilyn Minter for its 60th anniversary, affirming its faith in artistic risk and grit-infused glamour.
July 30, 2026
NewsInside Southwest Contemporary
Announcing Southwest Contemporary Weekend 2026
Southwest Contemporary announces a weekend of programming this September, encompassing a convening to consider the state of the Southwest art ecosystem and the second annual Art Party and auction in support of Southwest's independent art journalism.
July 28, 2026
If the U.S.-Mexico Border is an “Open Wound,” This Binational Art Encounter Reveals its Sutures
Curator Edgar Picazo Merino introduces Sutura, a fall art experience in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez that aims to stitch up a bloody borderlands metaphor.
July 28, 2026
Mary Ellen Carroll’s Power Plays and Trickster Antics Are All That (And a Bag of Chips)
From flipping houses to crashing cars, How To Talk Dirty and Influence People presents a forty-year survey of playful and provocative artworks by Mary Ellen Carroll.
July 23, 2026
Nic Nicosia Isn’t Doing This on Purpose (or Maybe He Is)
Is Nic Nicosia's work utterly surreal? Deeply autobiographical? His Dallas retrospective plumbs an oeuvre brimming with play and pain.
July 21, 2026
Tamarind Institute Expands Lithography Training for 2027
Tamarind Institute's new series of immersive, one-week lithography workshops is tailored for artists, educators, curators, and printmakers. Applications are due August 15, 2026.
July 20, 2026
Emmi Whitehorse’s Work Once Provoked Hisses; These Days She’s Gone Global
On her path to the international art circuit, Emmi Whitehorse had to defend her aesthetic at every turn. The Diné artist reflects on Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, the Venice Biennale, and more.
July 16, 2026
Retracted: Drag Artists Take Center Stage—But Don’t Get the Mic—in This Survey of Route 66 Subcultures
Retraction: This review of The Rest Is Drag at 516 Arts has been removed.
July 14, 2026
Encounter the American West Through the Works of Ed Ruscha and Ron Cooper in Amarillo
At the Amarillo Museum of Art, Stations Words | Bars Cars brings together the works of Ed Ruscha and Ron Cooper, who met and became friends during an intensely creative time in California.
July 14, 2026
An Artist Who Launched His Career in Iran, and Now Documents its Violence from a World Away
Mehrdad Mirzaie staged his first shows in Iran, challenging its regime. In Arizona he furthers the fight with art and an archive.
July 10, 2026
A Mission Impossible-Style Art Op Birthed One of the World’s Largest Mural Galleries
Street artists went vertical to enliven a levee in Pueblo, Colorado. As the project grew toward record-breaking scale, city officials swooped in.
July 07, 2026
The 48th Annual Whitehawk Show Brings Global Ethnographic Works to Santa Fe
The 2026 Whitehawk Show will showcase more than 130 vendors and two special exhibits featuring Aboriginal works and Navajo Germantown weavings, August 6-9 in Santa Fe.
July 07, 2026
Southwest Art News: July 2026
Denver museum workers ratify historic union contract, Dallas mural fight escalates to $25 million lawsuit, and more top Southwest art news for July 2026.
July 02, 2026
From Drag Racing to Drag Performance, New 516 Arts Exhibition Explores Route 66
As the iconic Route 66 reaches its centennial year, 516 Arts marks this momentous milestone with The Rest is Drag, the last exhibition before the art center moves to its new, expanded location.
June 30, 2026
Critics Called the Whitney Biennial “Weird”—These Southwest Artists Say That’s the Point
New Mexico–based besties Erin Jane Nelson and Sarah M. Rodriguez are both in New York's Whitney Biennial. They have notes on its critical reception.
June 30, 2026
Editor’s Picks: Southwest Contemporary’s Summer 2026 Exhibition Guide
As the nation marks 250 years this July, SWC arts editor Natalie Hegert picks thirty-two exhibitions that offer an antidote to the flag-waving displays of patriotism.
June 29, 2026
Nani Chacon’s Whitney Biennial Sentinels Tell of Southwest Extraction, and Rematriation
Nani Chacon's steel gods at the Whitney Museum match Manhattan's skyline. Now she's bringing the project home to the Navajo Nation.
June 25, 2026
In From the Mediterranean to New Mexico, Erin Currier Contemplates Paths to the Divine
In her latest series at Blue Rain Santa Fe, artist Erin Currier's subjects have touched the divine—and inspired the lives of others.
June 23, 2026
Alternative Arizona: 10 Hidden Art Spots in the Grand Canyon State
Arizona's underground art scene hides burlesque fashion shows, a world-class street art collection, a museum of miniatures, and more.
June 23, 2026
Southwest Contemporary Denounces ArtReview USA, an AI Slop Machine Victimizing Creatives
A shadowy outlet is scavenging content from reputable art publications. It's a striking example of an AI-driven scam targeting artists.
June 22, 2026
What Can We Learn From Artists Using Data As Material, Before the AI Age?
Run the Code explores technological obsolescence, interactivity, and the limits of software as an artmaking tool, revealing a data-driven approach to conceptual art.
June 18, 2026
Meet Exit, the Multimedia Collective Building Community for Borderlands Artists
Young borderlands artists often face a choice: leave or turn art into a hobby. A nascent El Paso group is shooting for a "second chance."
June 16, 2026
Utah Artist Fellowship Program Awards $90,000 to 18 Artists
The Utah Artist Fellowship Program recognizes exceptional creativity in Utah artists with $5,000 awards.
June 15, 2026
Dual Colorado Exhibitions by Ana María Hernando Unfurl Revolutionary Ideas in Tulle
In the wake of Argentina’s last dictatorship, Ana María Hernando's artwork only grew softer. Her practice is undergirded by "unstoppable" community.
June 11, 2026
For this Borderlands Museum, Moving Art Across the Line is a Moral Imperative
At the El Paso Museum of Art, a slate of binational projects blurs everyday logistics with ever-intensifying border politics.
June 09, 2026
A Boutique Fair with a Global Roster, Aspen Art Fair’s Third Edition Features 35+ Exhibitors
The Aspen Art Fair returns for its third edition at the Hotel Jerome with more than thirty-five exhibitors from around the world, July 29-August 1, 2026.
June 08, 2026
