As if peering through a looking glass into the ocean, Beatriz Milhazes‘s bejeweled sculpture appears like a school of shimmering fish. The suspended sculpture—aptly titled Aquarium—glimmers as it sways, each strand of precious Cartier stones catching light like scales beneath water. The work translates the Brazilian artist’s unmistakable visual language into three dimensions: a field of color and ornament that moves freely rather than remaining fixed on canvas.

Milhazes, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1960, is widely recognized for her vivid paintings, punctuated with orbiting bursts of color and floral shapes. Over the past few decades, she has become one of Brazil’s most celebrated artists, with exhibitions worldwide, from the Venice Biennale (2003 & 2024) to the Guggenheim in New York (2025), featuring her dense, rhythmic compositions. 

For Aquarium, Milhazes partnered with Cartier, as part of the brand’s Artist meets Artisan project, to craft a sculpture from unused precious, semi-precious, and ornamental stones. The work, first realized in 2010 as part of the second edition of Artist meets Artisan, transforms jewels—from diamonds to Akoya pearls and black jade—into a hanging composition that echoes the layered circles of her paintings. The work will be installed in Cartier’s Boston boutique at 28 Newbury Street on March 25 and reveals another dimension of Milhazes’s practice: one where color, movement, and craftsmanship converge to dance in space. Ahead of the occasion, we caught up with the artist. 

Can you tell us about the inception of this piece?

The departure point was an invitation from Hervé Chandès, the Director of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain from 1994 to 2023, for a project called Artist meets Artisan that was about a close collaboration with Cartier’s artisans.

Every stage of development was a really fascinating learning process alongside the highest level of professionals who were very generous and engaged in the project. I was given access to all their files of information, including a variety of techniques and possible materials within the large field of jewelry design and development. And of course, the encounter with such a sophisticated group of artisans. That was very unique! Definitely an unforgettable experience that I will keep forever in my heart.

Can you speak a little bit about the materiality of this piece and how you went about translating your signature motifs through new mediums?

The concept was about working with Cartier’s treasures like precious stones, pearls, crystals—an amazing wealth of materials not used in their earlier design collections—as well as metals like gold and some high-end varieties of resins, etc.

The applied arts have always played an important role as a reference for how I develop my paintings, and jewelry design is a part of that. My initial drawing was based on the idea of a mobile, where some of my signature elements would be hanging from a disc in different positions, weights, balances, shapes etc.…so in this way some of my paintings’ motifs were translated into a 3D world.

It was a very challenging project that, apart from the artistic decisions that I had to make, required a profound technical knowledge and ability to create viable solutions provided by Cartier’s excellent team.

How has your relationship to sculpture evolved since you first received this commission and eventually realized the piece?

Everything started with the set designs I do for my sister’s dance company, Marcia Milhazes Dance Company. In 2004, my design for the stage was a kind of mobile hanging in the center of the ceiling above all the dancers. This performance, titled Tempo de Verão (Summertime) opened up new possibilities for my studio practice. This piece, developed for the stage, also had strong references to my motifs and color rhythms including a dialogue with Carnival props and craft objects.

Later, in 2008, it was transformed into my first sculpture piece, Gamboa, a mobile that occupied the space, changing format, size, and intensity according to the venue where it was installed. Gamboa is related to Aquarium, although it is a totally different visual and conceptual experience with a different result, but both magical!

What are your associations with mobiles? Who were your influences for the project?

Making sculptures is more than a challenge. It is about opening new doors of development for my practice and creative process. Mobiles hold elements that are free in space yet respect their autonomy. They are lyrical, musical, and construct a “nomadic space” that changes with the movement of the gaze. Mobiles are also about architecture, which I increasingly want to explore as an artist.

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Parisian fragrance house Parfums de Marly has unveiled its latest scent, Athénaïs—an ode (rather than an oud) to a particularly notable character in French royal history. With notes of neroli and tonka bean, the scent evokes the opulence of the 18th century, with the splendor of the French court serving as the backdrop to an unfolding swirl of fragrant allure.

The house drew its latest perfume name from Athénaïs de Montespan, the most famous of King Louis XIV’s muses. Renowned not only for her beauty but also her quick wit and arts patronage, Montespan was a woman who understood the power of presence. Born Françoise de Rochechouart, she later adopted the name Athénaïs (after the Greek goddess Athena) to better reflect the self she wished to inhabit. The gesture aligned with the spirit of the Enlightenment period: self-definition over tradition, cheeky personality over tired prescription.

At court, Athénaïs commanded a cultural authority that rivaled even her royal peers. Charismatic, strategic, and unapologetically idiosyncratic, she cultivated a reputation for thinking and living on her own terms. It is precisely this quality that Parfums de Marly has captured in its latest fragrance.

Athénaïs arrives as a deliberate departure from some of the house’s most recognizable scents, such as Delina or Valaya. Instead, the new release leans into a brighter, more airy composition. Its orange-hued bottle offers a hint of what lies inside: vibrant top notes of bergamot, yuzu, and neroli, which immediately signal an unexpected twist on the house’s typically floral and woody universe. In its heart notes, the fragrance unfolds into orange blossom and jasmine before settling into the warmth of vanilla and tonka bean. The result is a floral ambery composition that balances freshness with layered structure.

While remaining anchored in its historical inspirations, Parfums de Marly here expands its olfactory repertoire, inviting loyalists and newcomers alike to experience something daring. For those who spritz it, Athénaïs offers an aroma of mystique and elegance—an accessory for those moving through the world with flair.

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Search #cultured on See Saw Gallery Guide anytime to add CULTURED’s picks to your custom map.

Downtown/Eastside

“Some lives in the sunshine” by Rodney McMillian

Where: Vielmetter
When: Through March 1
Why It’s Worth a Look: Rodney McMillian’s use of utilitarian materials like chicken wire and house paint nods to the legacy of readymades, but his pieces are decidedly transformed. In this show, the Americana symbol of a star quilt is torn and stained. In another work, a globe on an end table is subsumed into a large black rock.
Know Before You Go: Using household objects—from piggy banks to lamps—McMillian interrogates how systematic racism has permeated American homes through the practice of redlining and discriminatory lending.

“Aragonite and conchiolin” by Emma McIntyre

Where: Château Shatto
When: February 24 – April 4
Why It’s Worth a Look: Combining chemical spillages and precise brush strokes, the New Zealand-born, LA-based artist defies finality or permanent meaning in her paintings. Rather, interpretation and hazy figures alike emerge over time when rooted firmly in front of one of her gestural compositions.
Know Before You Go: The exhibition’s title comes from the chemical composition of pearls, detaching them from their status as precious objects and returning them to their basic, buildable form.

“Object Prosthetics” by Cayetano Ferrer

Where: Commonwealth and Council
When: Through March 14
Why It’s Worth a Look: LACMA, one of the artistic anchors of Los Angeles, has been in a state of transformation in recent years—with the original campus demolished in 2020 and its new building set to be unveiled this April. Ferrer uses physical remnants of the original building—rubble, rebar, and tiles—for his latest series of sculptures.
Know Before You Go: Ferrer makes a habit of using architectural remains in his work; his first solo exhibition at the Santa Barbara Art Museum more than a decade ago, featured rarely exhibited archeological fragments from the institution’s collection.

“Eutierria” by Vicky Colombet

Where: Fernberger
When: Through April 4
Why It’s Worth a Look: Vicky Colombet’s paintings combine the organic environment with the inner self. At every turn, she works to elevate the natural world and erase the human imprint, minimizing even the appearance of brush strokes.
Know Before You Go: If the whole concept of venerating the integrity of nature and dissolving the ego sounds a bit zen, you’d be correct: Colombet has been a practicing Buddhist for decades.

“ALL & ALL” by Kye Christensen-Knowles

Where: Gaylord Fine Arts
When: February 24 – March 29
Why It’s Worth a Look: Who said figuration is dead? Christensen-Knowles, one of CULTURED’s 2025 Young Artists, is a little bit Goya and a little bit H.R. Giger in their exploration of otherworldly physical forms.
Know Before You Go: Gaylord is open by appointment only, so be sure to call ahead if you plan to check out the show.

“The Ground Glows Back” by Christina Quarles

Where: Hauser & Wirth
When: February 24 – May 3
Why It’s Worth a Look: In her large-scale abstractions, Christina Quarles ushers in a cacophony of colors, patterns, and figures. Her first hometown show with Hauser & Wirth sees the artist embracing a denser and more disorienting style and debuting five charcoal works on paper in addition to the canvases she’s known for.
Know Before You Go: Quarles was directly impacted by last year’s fires: She lost her Altadena home and had to restore paintings from her studio that sustained smoke and ash damage. These works, created in the aftermath of the fires, circle feelings of displacement and loss. 

Hollywood

“Barley Patch II” by Dustin Hodges

Where: Sebastian Gladstone
When: Through March 28
Why It’s Worth a Look: Here, Hodges presents a sequel to his show at 15 Orient in New York last year, once again exploring rural landscapes in a collection of autumnal paintings. In the world of “Barley Patch II,” the silhouettes of classic cartoon characters leer and loom over barnyards, telephone wires, and fallen tree trunks, evoking boundary collapse in a composite field of vision.
Know Before You Go: If film was the defining medium of the 20th century, Hodges juxtaposes its framing with older art historical references, likewise dissolving the boundaries of time and influence in a single canvas.

“The Great Wall of Los Angeles” by Judith F. Baca

Where: Jeffrey Deitch
When: Through April 4
Why It’s Worth a Look: First conceived in 1974 and completed over many years, Baca’s Great Wall of Los Angeles mural tells the local story of a decade of upheaval in a misunderstood city. Beginning with the Native American occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 and following the period from Vietnam War protests to Kent State, it is an account of the collision of art and civic life in real time.
Know Before You Go: Baca initially worked alongside 400 community members to create the Great Wall during the 1970s and is working to expand the project in collaboration with the Social and Public Art Resource Center today.

“Démesuré” by Zenobia Lee

Where: Sea View
When: Through March 28
Why It’s Worth a Look: Zenobia Lee’s sculptural works engage the uneasy remnants of colonialism’s history in the Caribbean. Through oversized teak dominoes, discarded parasols, and iron-climbing flora, Lee foregrounds the unruly and the untameable despite years of hegemonic violence.
Know Before You Go: This might be a debut solo exhibition for the 30-year-old Lee, but it’s been a long time coming. The artist has already built an expansive body of work investigating the legacy of slavery, memory, and the archive.

“Trial of the Finger” by Tacita Dean

Where: Marian Goodman
When: Through April 25
Why It’s Worth a Look: From films, ballet sets, costumes, drawings, and photographs, this new show foregrounds the wide sweep of Tacita Dean’s recent work. The exhibition title comes from 18th-century English writer Dr. Samuel Johnson, who chastised contemporary poets for their obsession with superficial conceits (counting syllables on their fingers) rather than holistically engaging with the power of language. Following Johnson, Dean’s work prioritizes the analog and expressive—images on the windows of 19th-century steam locomotives, powdery oxidized paint, and fuzzy Polaroid pictures—and encourages an expansive view of her practice.
Know Before You Go: Look out for a recently completed tondo made of blackboard and a 16mm filmic ode to influential Los Angeles printshop owner Sidney Felsen and his handmade works.

“Tracery” by Richard Rezac

Where: Chris Sharp Gallery
When: February 24 – April 11
Why It’s Worth a Look: If there is something architectural about the Chicago-based artist’s sculptures, it’s because their form is created with its relationship to the human body in mind. Maple wood, plaster, and cotton form the structure, but the result is often something much more uncanny.
Know Before You Go: Since the mid 1980s, Rezac has been almost exclusively making sculptural works from found objects, each placing the familiarity and intimacy of the objects front of mind with the viewer. 

Beverly Hills/West Hollywood

“Nancy Holt: Light and Shadow Poetics”

Where: MAK Center for Art and Architecture
When: February 25 – May 24
Why It’s Worth a Look: Walking into the Schindler House, viewers are greeted by Nancy Holt’s voice: thoughtful and ambling as she scans radio dials and muses aloud on a 1976 drive from Salt Lake City to New York. The introduction kicks off an exhibition attuned to the ways language and architecture interact, culminating in Holt’s 1972 work California Sun Signs, which repertories usages of the word “sun” in the state’s public landscape.
Know Before You Go: Holt once described the audio works featured here as “poems in place.”

Where: The Fred Segal flagship, 8100 Melrose Avenue
When: February 27 — March 1
Why It’s Worth a Look: Photographer Gregory Crewdson joins the brand for its latest edition of their annual Artistic License initiative. Crewdson, an artist focused on meticulous, large-scale shots of Americana and charged landscapes, lent his oeuvre to the brand for an exhibition at the LA-mainstay (and now Aritzia-owned) Fred Segal flagship. 
Know Before You Go: The partnership has previously included talents such as Juergen Teller and Harley Weir, operating since 2005. For this year’s exhibition, the imagery showcases a rich, broad array of work by past collaborators.

“Ellsworth Kelly: The Naming of Colors” 

Where: Matthew Marks Gallery
When: February 26 – April 4
Why It’s Worth a Look: Embodying the ideal of “less is more,” the late Ellsworth Kelly siphoned his experiences and observations into disarmingly spare studies in color. The nine works on view here span five decades of the artist’s career and pull their chromatic inspiration from sources as disparate as a taxi cab to a French fishing harbor. 
Know Before You Go: The earliest work in the exhibition, featured above, is one of the earliest examples of Kelly’s multi-panel paintings, inspired by his encounters with winged altarpieces while traveling around Europe.

“Milton Avery: The Figure” 

Where: Karma
When: Through March 28
Why It’s Worth a Look: This survey charts Milton Avery’s evolution as an artist through his figurative paintings, starting during his beginnings as a Connecticut factory worker with dreams of moving to New York to the final decades of his life. When the show was up in New York last fall, CULTURED‘s Co-Chief Art Critic Johanna Fateman described it as “bananas” and “museum-quality.”
Know Before You Go: The latest canvas included in “The Figure” is from 1964, painted months before Avery’s death the following January. Green Stockings depicts his wife Sally, who he had met four decades prior, a recurring muse and an artist herself.

“CSSC, Coach Stage Stage Coach, A&E, Adolf/Adam & Eva/Eve, Samples” by Paul McCarthy

Where: The Journal Gallery
When: Feb. 23 – April 25
Why It’s Worth a Look: Paul McCarthy’s first exhibition with The Journal Gallery will focus on two of his ongoing works preoccupied with the sicknesses at the heart of America: CSSC Coach Stage Stage Coach and A&E Adolf/Adam & Eva/Eve. CSSC first emerged from a 2023 film McCarthy made with his son about cowboys, featuring a character named Ronald Raygun, and one based on the banker J.P. Morgan, played by McCarthy himself. A&E emerged from McCarthy’s ongoing collaborations with German actor Lilith Stangenberg and their explorations of history, cultural spectacle, and chaos through the lens of Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun.
Know Before You Go: McCarthy has a reputation as the art world’s chaos agent. He famously gave Parisians a conversation starter when he installed Tree, an inflatable sculpture reminiscent of an anal plug, in the lavish Place Vendôme in 2014.

“Deep Fake” by Lynn Hershman Leeson

Where: Hoffman Donahue
When: Through March 14
Why It’s Worth a Look: This exhibition shows off “deepfakes,” pairs of famous figures mashed together into puzzling portraits. In doing so, Lynn Hershman Leeson creates pop cultural Frankensteins: imagine Marilyn Monroe/Sigmund Freud, Janis Joplin/James Dean, or David Bowie/Katharine Hepburn.
Know Before You Go: Hershman Leeson is a bit of a shapeshifter herself: She lived as her alter ego, Roberta Breitmore, for six years in the 1970s, playing around with the instability of personhood in real time. Now, she’s updated this identity crisis for the digital age.

“Alma Berrow”

Where: Megan Mulrooney
When: February 24 – March 28
Why It’s Worth a Look: The British ceramicist’s self-titled exhibition at Megan Mulrooney is her first U.S. solo show. Domestic life, emotional intimacy, and familial relationships are central to her work as she recreates the cigarette butts, dishes, and magazines that punctuated her childhood home.
Know Before You Go: Prior to working as an artist, Berrow was a pastry chef. She turned to ceramics during Covid lockdowns. 

Mid-City/Westside

“Eyelets of Alkaline” by Lauren Quin

Where: Pace Gallery
When: Through March 28
Why It’s Worth a Look: Angeleno native Lauren Quin presents her first solo show with Pace, featuring an array of layered compositions. Her pieces garner their signature “tubes” of intense color and light through a long process of applying, scraping, and carving away.
Know Before You Go: Quin, a 2025 CULTURED Young Artist, will unveil her artwork alongside a new essay from American poet and playwright Ariana Reines. 

“Precious Moments” by Sayre Gomez

Where: David Kordansky Gallery
When: Through March 1
Why It’s Worth a Look: A Chicago native, Sayre Gomez moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and fell in love with the city in all its grit and garishness. His photorealistic paintings, characterized by a “documentarian’s impulse,” double as a semiotic inquiry into the commercial and residential aesthetics of his adopted home—and the socio-political realities they reveal.
Know Before You Go: The exhibition also features Gomez’s most ambitious sculptural intervention to date, an 8-foot scale recreation of the Oceanside Plaza towers, a luxury development that was abandoned before completion and has since become a hub for graffiti. 

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So set down the $7 oat latte. Text the friend who still hasn’t seen that musical you both bookmarked a decade ago. Your next show is waiting.

ART AND FILM

Whitney Museum of American Art
Age Range: Under 25
Discount: With the Free 25 and Under Anytime Pass, just book a ticket and enjoy unlimited visits—at no charge. 

Film at Lincoln Center
Age Range: 17 to 25
Discount: With the 2026 FLC 25 & Under Membership, gain year-long access to member discounts on all tickets, exclusive events, pre-sale access to FLC series and festivals (excluding NYFF), and more. Sign up to enroll for 2026. 

MUSIC

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Age Range: 18 to 40
Discount: Pay $20 up front for a CMS 40 & Under subscription and receive access to two $20 tickets per performance, free exchanges, complimentary digital encores, and exclusive subscriber events. 

New York Philharmonic
Age Range: 17 to 35
Discount: With the MyPhil subscription, enjoy $35 tickets for regular concerts and $55 tickets for events on special dates. All you have to do is verify your age by filling out a form. 

Perelman Performing Arts Center
Age Range: Under 30
Discount: Guests 30 and under can purchase $30 tickets for most events using the promo code UNDER30. 

Carnegie Hall
Age Range: Under 40
Discount: Among the pricier options on this list, the Notables membership costs $500 a year and secures you four complimentary tickets a year, 10 complimentary passes to open rehearsals, as well as $20 discounted tickets.

THEATER

Manhattan Theatre Club
Age Range: Under 35
Discount: Free to join, the MTC35 program allows you to go to a show of your choice for just $35. You’ll also be invited to exclusive post-show parties with other members. (You can buy tickets in person to avoid service fees.)

Second Stage Theater
Age Range: Under 30
Discount: With the code 30UNDER30, access $30 tickets for all Second Stage productions. 

Playwrights Horizons
Age Range: Under 35
Discount: Join as a Young Member at no cost up front and get one ticket to every show for $39 (including $3.50 facility fee and $5.50 processing fee).

Metropolitan Opera
Age Range: Under 40
Discount: On Fridays, those age 40 and under can pay $50 to $110 for exclusive tickets and receive access to pre-performance parties with complimentary drinks and bites. 

Lincoln Center Theater
Age Range: 18 to 35
Discount: Get a LincTinx membership for free and access to $35 tickets, invitations to post-show parties, and more. Buy tickets in person to avoid a $3.50 Telecharge service fee. 

Roundabout Theatre Company
Age Range: 18 to 40
Discount: Enjoy $30 tickets to all shows and invites to parties with Hiptix—Rounadbout’s discount ticket program.

Irish Repertory Theatre
Age Range: 18 to 39
Discount: With GreenSeats, members get one free ticket for the first show, then $25 tickets to all other main stage productions. Your guest of any age will receive a 20 percent discount.

The Shed
Age Range: Under 30
Discount: Bring a valid photo ID and pick up an under-30 ticket for $25 at the box office or online.

Classic Stage Company
Age Range: Under 40
Discount: The Future Classic Tickets: $40 For 40 and Under offer can be accessed with the promo code Classic40. Secure $40 tickets for entry-level and standard seats for all regular performances.

Theatre For A New Audience
Age Range: Under 30
Discount: Apply the promo code NEWDEAL when checking out online or buying in person to get a $20 ticket.

York Theatre Company
Age Range: 40 and under
Discount: Patrons younger than 40 can get 25 percent off all membership passes with proof of age. Email boxoffice@yorktheatre.org for the code.  

New York City Center
Age Range: 40 and under
Discount: Sign up to Access Club and get $28 tickets to any City Center production.  

Signature Theatre
Age Range: 18 to 35
Discount: Enjoy $30 tickets for all shows by signing up to the SIG30 membership for free. Other perks include a 10 percent discount at the cafe.

Vineyard Theatre
Age Range: Under 40
Discount: Join the 40 Under 40/Theatre Artists mailing list and receive access to low-cost tickets as productions open. 

DANCE

New York City Ballet
Age Range: 13 to 30
Discount: Looking for last minute shows? Grab $30 for 30 week-of rush tickets with the code 30F30. You can buy a maximum of two tickets, so get them fast before they run out.

Paul Taylor Dance Company
Age Range: Under 40
Discount: The $20 Under 40 program offers under-40s just that: $20 tickets. To avoid the $8 convenience charge applied to online orders, buy in person at the Koch Theater Box Office. 

American Ballet Theatre
Age Range: 13 to 30
Discount: Register online and get your hands on $30 tickets for select NYC performances.

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