Tran Magazine's 25 Art Picks of 2026
2025 was a truly incredible year for art in New York City and beyond. To celebrate the passed/past year of creations we’ve decided to share 25 of our favorite art pieces from 2025, spanning from specific pieces that debuted to whole exhibitions, art books, and beyond. In no particular order, our favorite art of 2025 is as follows…
Starting off with one of the best group shows of the year, the Brooklyn Museum’s BROOKLYN ARTISTS EXHIBIT shone when it came to trans/queer themes and artists. Featured works included an archives-informed fan-shaped photo-sculpture, EDYE IN BLOOM (FAN NO. 1) by Alanna Fields; PILLOW-FIGHT, a queer-crip installation piece from Alex Dolores Solerno; THE GIRL HAS TEETH AND THE TEETH ARE TIRED, a colorful fantasy sculpture from Amaryllis R. Flowers; ZAIRE AND BLAIZE, a work of intimate portraiture by Lindsay Perryman; screenprint CLUB ONE from Papi Juice resident artist Mohammed Iman Feyez; PROOF OF EXISTENCE, a video piece all about Tran Mag-approved party Body Hack by Yaz Josiah; the stunning portrait photograph BIO MAN by Oliver Wilson, and X-EMMA, a celebratory image of July Wallin by Zac Thompson. https://queer-festival.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lindsay-perryman-51-Zaire-and-Blaize.jpg
Local New York City multi-hyphenate Ruby Zarsky (you may know her as one half of the duo Sateen) stunned the Los Angeles scene with her debut solo show in the city, RULE 34 at Ceradon Gallery. Zarsky’s work is a powerful and immediately visually impactful exploration of fetishization, the internet, and trans bodies. https://media.mutualart.com/Images/2024_12/26/15/414642/38c433e9-dbc1-42e9-96b4-24914dee2a9c-570.Jpeg
Queer museum Leslie Lohman showed Young Joon Kwak’s sparkling and glistening sculptural pieces in her solo show RESISTERHOOD. Kwak treats the trans body as something to be worshipped, casting it in metal and adorning it with crystals. https://leslielohman.org/web/app/templates/uploads/http%3A//34.217.207.249/templates/uploads/Leslie-Lohman_20250211-_O0A6005_Photo-by-Daniel-Terna.jpg
Inspired by Sally Ride, Mackenzie Calle toes the line between the playful and the serious with her lens-based installation GAY SPACE AGENCY at the International Center for Photography. https://www.worldphoto.org/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/04138f44817fd7db8bd1d8532404a051.Gay%2520Space_Calle_07.jpg?itok=llaVjZCf
The Museum of Modern Art organizes the film series QUEER UNCENSORED, showcasing unsung historical gems, such as early gay French short UN CHANT D’AMOUR (1950); BLOODSISTERS: LEATHER, DYKES, AND SADOMASOCHISM (1995), depicting the 1990s lesbian BDSM and leather scene in San Francisco; UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP (2012) documenting the progression of AIDS activism in the USA; IT IS NOT THE HOMOSEXUAL WHO IS PERVERSE, BUT THE SOCIETY IN WHICH HE LIVES (1971) an avant-garde German film which calls queer people to action; PROFISSÃO: TRAVESTI (1981) a Brazilian documentary on trans women in São Paulo; and exploitation film LET ME DIE A WOMAN (1978) about trans women of the time. https://www.americangenrefilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LetMeDieAWoman1.jpg
Our first art book on the list, BELÉN, MARÍA BELÉN, is authored and published by Archivo Trans, founded by María Belén Correa. Maria Belén is a trans woman who co-founded the Asociación de Travestis Argentinas with fellow activist Claudia Pía Baudracco in 1993. Two years after Pía’s death in 2012, Maria Belén formed Archivo Trans to preserve the collective memory of travestis in Argentina and across the diaspora. BELÉN, MARÍA BELÉN is a narrative and celebration of her life and activism, a beautiful and powerful tribute to a beautiful and powerful woman. https://antennebooks.com/cdn/shop/files/AB8473-belen-maria-belen-03.jpg?v=1768991820&width=1100
Another New York City local: much missed and remembered artist, activist, and archivist Agosto Machado’s stunning installation DESIRE (ALTAR) was featured in the hauntingly beautiful group show As Above, So Below at FLAG Art Foundation- one of the artist’s last showings before his passing in March 2026. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQcl4GWXUJT2mQmi1QmsMqVgPaakl3KbmM-S9DCc5O_FTofC8xuY5FVqkIr&s=10
Intimate, sexy, and powerful, Sam Penn’s solo show MAX at New York Life Gallery documents her relationship with the eponymous Max Battle through a series of nineteen photographs interspersed with texts by Battle. Showcasing T4T love and affection in all its raw glory, these are some of Tran Magazine’s favorite portraits of the year, no doubt about it. https://culturedmag.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/uploads/2025/11/07115450/Copy-of-Bed-Kiss-2025_Announcement-Image-scaled.jpg
An incredible collaboration between Pioneer Works, City Lore, and upstate’s ArtsWestchester, LEGENDARY LOOKS is a monumental moment for the intersection of ballroom and the mainstream art world. Consisting of three exhibitions, one at each location, not only outfits, but also multimedia installations, archival photos and videos, paper ephemera, and oral histories of ballroom were on display and fully contextualized and described by community members. We can’t emphasize enough how wonderful it is to see the looks, movements, and sounds of ballroom be treated as the art they are. https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vgvol637/production/e1098dca7fd69fa1ea2b2426e741a77ccb84749d-3000x2250.jpg?w=3000
An up-and-coming Brooklyn-based artist we have our eye on, Carter Shocket paired up with fellow textile-wizard, Swedish Lovisa Axén, for the duo exhibition WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU at Eleventh Hour Art. Shocket’s woven pink paper airplanes careen into the gallery’s wall, a powerful representation of his attempts to connect with lost trans ancestors and histories. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61d490cb2610936a1f413cfe/65d33cda-421d-40a1-a334-ceffa2c07c07/planes2.png
One of our favorite historical exhibits of the year, The New York Historical’s GAY HARLEM RENAISSANCE is a queer look at one of New York City’s most impactful art movements- an unforgettable time machine to Black queer life in 1920s and 30s Harlem. https://images.prismic.io/nyhs-prod/aMOmLmGNHVfTPEqW_5PersoninaFur-TrimmedEnsemble.jpg
A hotel might not be the first place that comes to mind to see great art, but this is quickly disproven by Pacifico Silano’s exhibition in the Ace Hotel New York’s lobby ELEGY TO THE VOID. The culmination of his artist residency at Ace, Silano’s work is never to be missed. https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/642c1d5e80c53c4ecb046b5c/684af8803a53af0c0939874c_Big_Image_PRLS%20_%20Pacifico%20Silano%20x%20Ace%20AIR%20Program.png
An early pioneer of intersection feminism, Laura Aguilar has one more work collected in New York City thanks to El Museo del Barrio, as seen in their exhibit Jangueando: Recent Acquisitions, 2021-2025. Aguilar’s portrait of Chincana lesbians PLUSH PONY #25 shines among the works on display, as does Luis Carle’s PRIDE, LOVE AND FIREWORKS. https://elmuseo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Aguilar_Plush-Pony-25.jpg
One of Tran Magazine’s 100 TGNCs of the year, Arewà Basit is a successful performer artist in her own right. She is also a beautiful model, as seen in Amy Sherald’s painting of her as Lady Liberty: TRANS FORMING LIBERTY, on display at Sherald’s Whitney show American Sublime. https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2025/07/Amy-Sherald-WMAA90186_2.-Trans-Forming-Liberty_2024_hi-res_KB-copy-scaled.jpg
Vaginal Davis had a truly monumental year, and we’ve decided to highlight her book ON DANGEROUS GROUND, published by Bierke on the occasion of her exhibit Magnificent Product. Featuring texts from her co-conspirators alongside archival photography and ephemera, all on bright, multicolor paper stock, this book is a steal for only $12. https://publicknowledgebooks.com/cdn/shop/files/PKB_1007_58694fe6-78e5-4fe0-a551-b89e37a62844.jpg?v=1752849585&width=1445
One of our favorite solo shows of the year, Mona Filleul had her debut show in the USA, Sissy Institute at Swiss Institute. The immersive installation and accompanying artworks serve as an internet-inspired refuge for trans subjectivities in an era of increased anti-trans legislation and vitriol. One shining piece of the show is from collaborator Ix Dartayre, whose UNTITLED (FOR SISSY INSTITUTE) illuminates the art in fast fashion clothing labels. https://images-prod.dazeddigital.com/355/azure/dazed-prod/1430/0/1430897.jpg
Zanele Muholi’s documentary photography of South Africa’s queer LGBTQI+ community was on display at Yaney Richardson Gallery in the show SAWUBONA. With work spanning from 2002-2013, five series from Muholi were on display, each an empowering representation of the queer community immortalized as a silver gelatin or archival pigment print. https://static-assets.artlogic.net/w_4040,h_2320,c_limit/exhibit-e/55f7ef8984184eba568b4568/ea8583a74d8f85a8611f0c060665dc16.jpeg
We’re only a little biased in including the group show EXQUISITE RELATIONS at Pratt’s Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery, which featured work from Tran Magazine’s own archivist and arts editor, CHARLIE DARLING. With references from the Surrealists’ game of Exquisite Corpse to theorists bell hooks and Gilles Deleuze, this collection of queer expression also features book art from ONUR MAVITAS and sculpture from WEI-YUAN CHANG. https://chayyim.me/images/iftbc/iftbc_printscan01.jpg
Her last series before serious medical issues, NATURAL LAW continues Max Colby’s cutting-edge (pun intended) collage practice with excerpts from trans* magazines and periodicals. We can’t wait until Max is well enough to continue her beautiful work, and encourage everyone reading to donate to her gofundme here. https://www.instagram.com/p/Das9Ue3hxL7/?hl=en
Step back in time to 1980s and 90s New York City nightlife with the incredible exhibition from Julian Fleisher DRAG QUEENS OF NEW YORK at HOWL Arts. Featured in the photos, design, and ephemera included are NYC legends such as Linda Simpson, who also held a pop-up market with historical merchandise at HOWL later in the year.https://www.instagram.com/p/DP31gcVjaxH/?img_index=3
Filipino duo Abang-gaurd (Maureen Catbagan & Jevijoe Vitug)’s first solo museum exhibition MAKIBAKA was perfectly placed at the Queens Museum- once the setting of the 1964-65 World’s Fair. Fully embracing the space, Abang-guard’s vibrant installation pieces recall the architecture of the Fair’s Philippines and New York State pavilions. https://assets.rollingstonephilippines.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ABANGGUARD-intext.webp
Manhattan gallery Yancey Richardson held their second solo show of work from Guanyu Xu, RESIDENT ALIENS. Xu’s large-scale photographs of collaged installations inside various domestic spaces explores the immigrant experience in a unique and layered manner. https://static-assets.artlogic.net/w_2020,h_1160,c_limit/exhibit-e/55f7ef8984184eba568b4568/727a5f25962a48ea4fdf9559ded1de83.jpeg
Our last duo show in a year of incredible collaborations, Actual Queers Kissing was the product of David Carrino and Alex Jovanovich showing at Elliott Templeton Fine Arts. Specifically catching our attention were Jovanovich’s black-and-white ink drawings, I FUCKED YOUR DAD AND SLIT HIS THROAT being our favorite at Tran Magazine. https://www.villagevoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2_AJ_SLIT_fr_ETwebst.jpg?x25671
Already winning awards, Alanna Fields new photobook UNVEILING warrants the artist’s second mention on our list (following her feature in the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition). Featuring her multidisciplinary interactions with Black queer archives, Unveiling is described as a ‘conceptual monograph’ by the publisher, one which is not to be missed for anyone interested in Field’s work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5578a026e4b011d2d5c064a1/d2bf7b79-c8ec-4707-81ad-d6ac58c0f99a/Unveiling_By+Alanna+Fields_2025.jpg?format=1000w
Last but by no means least is ¡AFUERA! PUBLISHING QUEER LIBERATION, an archival exhibition at Printed Matter featuring the collection of Archivos Desviados. With an eye towards historical transnational queer networks between New York City and Latin America, the exhibition focused on ephemera and paper records from radical gay liberation movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. https://d23eqwv5slm408.cloudfront.net/api/file/I7OvOBO7TWeaFzi2UDNg/convert?fit=max&h=983&w=656&compress=true&fit=max
