A Rust Belt Retrospective

buffalo akg art museum
The Buffalo AKG has continually been a focal point for the city’s wealth and boosterism. Photo: Jeff Mace/Courtesy of Buffalo AKG
Marion Maneker
July 28, 2024

You don’t have to buy the idea of Buffalo as a tourist center—or even a creative haven for young people—to be intrigued by the story of the Buffalo AKG. The city’s world-class art museum has now completed a $230 million expansion designed by a Japanese architect, which has been substantially funded by a Los Angeles “bond king” and overseen by a Finnish director, who just happens to be the great-grandson of that nation’s most famous artist. Meanwhile, the Buffalo AKG is opening a retrospective of Marisol, a Venezuelan Pop artist who was once as famous as Andy Warhol before she fell into obscurity and eventually bequeathed her entire estate to the museum upon her death in 2016.