Artists Pay Tribute to Alex Pretti
Artworks in homage to the 37-year-old nurse killed by federal agents, an exhibition of Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, and remembering Marian Goodman.
Like many of you, I spent my weekend attempting to process feelings of anger, fear, and disbelief in the wake of yet another killing by federal agents in Minneapolis. Alex Pretti was a 37-year-old registered nurse who provided life-saving care. He was filming with his phone, which was his right, and not wielding a weapon when border patrol officers shot him 10 times. He was innocent. But the state should not be shooting people dead on the street, innocent or not.
Artists play an important role in ensuring that we never forget Pretti, Renee Macklin Good, or any of the individuals whose lives were cut tragically short at the hands of state-sanctioned violence. Today, we share some of the recent portraits and tributes that moved us.
— Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor
Artists Memorialize Alex Pretti, Minneapolis Man Killed by Border Patrol
Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar spotlights the myriad creative ways in which artists are honoring Alex Pretti and his legacy, from collages and digital paintings to cartoons and even claymation. Among those taking pen to paper is artist Molly Crabapple, whose ink and gouache drawing of the moments before his killing is an ode to Pretti's ability to remain calm and composed amid chaos.
News
- Art dealer Marian Goodman died on Thursday, January 22, at the age of 97. Artist Julie Mehretu called her “the epitome of strength, courage, power and love,” one of many recent tributes to the gallerist.
- Scientists say they've found what may be the earliest rock art ever recorded. The handprints in a limestone cave in Indonesia are even older than 51,200-year-old cave paintings of human figures previously dated by the same research team.
Apply for the John Michael Kohler Arts Center’s 2027 Arts/Industry Residency
A collaboration with the Kohler Co. pottery and foundry, this funded industrial residency enables artists to produce ambitious new works in vitreous china, cast iron, and brass.
From Our Critics
Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot Meet as Equals
An exhibition sets out to rescue Morisot from the assumption that she was under Manet’s influence, but it's far from academic or revisionist. | Bridget Quinn
The African Diaspora Pictures Itself
A new exhibition rejects Western colonialism as a framework for understanding African aesthetic production. | Imani Wiliford
Apply for IDSVA’s Low-Residency PhD in Visual Arts: Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Art Theory
The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts is accepting applications for September 2026.
Opportunities This Month
Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and more in our January 2026 list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers.
Member Comment
Victoria Hamlin on Ifrah Mansour's “On Being a Somali Artist in Minnesota”:
ICYMI
Art Problems: How Do I Get Into the Whitney Biennial?
Conventional wisdom says there isn’t much you can do, but Paddy Johnson knows that’s not the whole story.
