Multi-Museum Exhibition Spotlights Legacy of Betsy James Wyeth
A multi‑museum exhibition titled “By Design: The Worlds of Betsy James Wyeth” will open across three U.S. institutions in 2026, marking the first comprehensive look at the designer’s life and work. The show foregrounds Wyeth’s role in shaping immersive, adaptive‑reuse spaces that inspired her husband Andrew Wyeth’s paintings, featuring built environments, archival material, and newly commissioned contemporary pieces. Each venue—Farnsworth Art Museum, Colby College Museum of Art, and Brandywine Museum of Art—focuses on a distinct aspect of her practice, from Maine’s historic mills to Pennsylvania’s Brinton’s Mill. The exhibition runs from May 2026 through early 2027, offering scholars and visitors fresh insight into spatial context in American art.
Oh What A Time at Air De Paris
Air de Paris is presenting "Oh What A Time," a group exhibition featuring Trisha Donnelly, Joseph Grigely, Pati Hill, Pierre Joseph, Allen Ruppersberg, Lily van der Stokker, Mona Varichon and Amy Vogel. The show opens on April 16 and runs through...
This Arcade Game Lets You Invade Iran as Trump
An anonymous art collective called The Secret Handshake installed three arcade cabinets at the D.C. War Memorial featuring a satirical game titled Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell, where players control a caricatured Donald Trump invading Iran. The installation follows...
The Artist Who Saw God
Barnett Newman, a pivotal abstract expressionist, fiercely resisted being labeled a “Jewish artist,” famously denouncing a 1965 Jewish Museum panel as an “Am Haoretz performance.” His 1947 essay “The First Man Was an Artist” argued that art is a defiant...
Mr Richi × Serc: The NFC 2026 Ticket FREE MINT Drop Is Here. Find the Pink Dragon, Win Rewards. 🐉
The NFC Summit 2026 is issuing a free, generative‑art NFT ticket collection created by artists Mr Richi and Serc. One thousand unique tickets are being minted on Transient Labs, each featuring an NFC dragon motif. Holders of the ultra‑rare pink...
Es Devlin Invites the UK to Become Part of a Collective Digital Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery
Es Devlin and Google Arts & Culture Lab are unveiling “A National Portrait,” a participatory digital artwork at London’s National Portrait Gallery from 14 May to 27 October 2026. The project invites any UK resident to upload a personal photograph, which is instantly...
FAD News: Royal Academy of Arts Announces Co-Chairs for Summer Exhibition Preview Party 2026
The Royal Academy of Arts announced a star‑studded lineup of co‑chairs for its 2026 Summer Exhibition Preview Party, scheduled for 10 June. The five co‑chairs—Anoushka Shankar, Archie Madekwe, Eva Langret, Grayson Perry and Laura Weir—reflect the event’s cross‑disciplinary focus. Broadcaster Clara Amfo joins as the inaugural Music...
On View: Mao Ishikawa
The "ROGUE" exhibition, featuring four series by Okinawan photographer Mao Ishikawa, opened at Alison Bradley Projects in New York and runs through June 6, 2026. The show centers on Ishikawa’s 1975‑77 "Red Flower (Akabanaa)" photographs taken inside the 777 bar, a...
Wangechi Mutu Receives National Gallery Contemporary Fellowship
Wangechi Mutu, a Kenyan‑American artist known for painting, sculpture, film and performance, has been named the second recipient of the National Gallery Contemporary Fellowship. Backed by the Art Fund and delivered with the University of Manchester’s Whitworth gallery, the fellowship...
Pavlina Vagioni Oikeiōsis: A Greek Artist Asks Venice to Remember How to Belong
Greek‑born, Houston‑based interdisciplinary artist Pavlina Vagioni presents Oikeiōsis at the 61st Venice Biennale, a two‑room installation that moves from a fragmented plexiglass cube symbolising strife (Neikos) to a warm, sound‑filled space (Philotes) that invites collective resonance. The work integrates her...
New This Week: Should Museums Repatriate Cultural Artifacts?
France’s parliament approved a law that streamlines the return of cultural artifacts looted between 1815 and 1972, accelerating restitution requests from former colonies. Major museums such as the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Met are now adding provenance labels...
The Art of Moving Art
The latest Colnaghi Talks episode, “The Art of Moving Art,” spotlights the hidden logistics behind transporting high‑value artworks. Madeleine Galbraith, Head of Operations at Colnaghi, joins Regency Shipping’s Zak Warboys and Rupert Sloane to discuss how trust, meticulous planning, and...
Jutta Koether at Empty Gallery, Hong Kong
German‑born artist Jutta Koether presents _rEceNt WoRkS_, her first solo exhibition in Greater Asia, at Hong Kong’s Empty Gallery from March to June 2026. The show features a series of interconnected triptychs that fuse painting, performance and calligraphic gestures, referencing...
Art Gangs of New York
New York City’s art calendar is exploding as Frieze, TEFAF and the Independent fairs converge in early May 2026. Dozens of galleries are launching fresh exhibitions to capture the surge of art tourists and collectors flooding Manhattan. Simultaneously, auction houses...
Desiring Machines and Eternal Refusals
The Museum of Modern Art opened a major Marcel Duchamp retrospective (April 12‑August 22, 2026), foregrounding his iconic Large Glass and early Cubist‑Futurist works. The show underscores Duchamp’s pivot to readymades, a move that seeded a multibillion‑dollar conceptual‑art market. The essay highlights Maurizio...
Serpentine to Stage Major Solo Exhibition by Amar Kanwar
The Serpentine North will present Amar Kanwar’s first major solo exhibition in London from 23 September 2026 through 31 January 2027. The show assembles three immersive moving‑image works—Such a Morning (2017), the seven‑screen Peacock’s Graveyard (2023), and the world‑premiere Charcoal Man (2026). Kanwar, a...
Painting After Certainty
Romanian painter Gili Mocanu, active since the early 2000s, continues to defy conventional categories with work that oscillates between abstraction, figuration, and textual elements. Recent solo shows at Arsmonitor, including "Don’t Cry Anymore, Gili" and "As If," highlight his mirror series,...
The Open: Odyssey
Hastings Contemporary and Sussex Contemporary are launching The Open: Odyssey, a gallery‑wide biennial running from March 28 to May 31, 2026. The show features 152 artists selected from more than 2,500 submissions, spanning painting, sculpture, film, textiles and installation. Internationally recognised names such...
First Major UK Exhibition on Francisco De Zurbarán at the National Gallery
The National Gallery is hosting the United Kingdom’s first major monographic exhibition of 17th‑century Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán, on view from 2 May to 23 August 2026. The show assembles almost 50 paintings that trace the full arc of Zurbarán’s career, drawing from...
Who’s Afraid of____? At Turquoise
Turquoise, a New York contemporary‑art space, is mounting the group show “Who’s Afraid of____?” from March 27 through May 10, 2026. The exhibition brings together a diverse roster—including Anna‑Sophie Berger, K.P. Brehmer, David Diao, Gaylen Gerber, Joseph Grigely, John Heartfield, Nandi Loaf and Alicia Riccio—to examine themes of fear, identity and political...
Maureen Dougherty’s Collectors: Pride without Greed
Maureen Dougherty’s solo show “The Completionists” opens at Mendes Wood DM in Germantown, NY, featuring nine large‑scale oil portraits of solitary collectors surrounded by their curated objects. The works, ranging from a mustard‑jar enthusiast to a skull‑laden crypt collector, employ...
Talking Headways: The Art of the Bus
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ third Public Art Challenge spotlights bus and shelter installations, turning transit vehicles into moving canvases. The initiative partners cities, transit agencies, nonprofits and artists to replace traditional advertising with murals, poetry and performance pieces that respect window visibility....
Reginald Sylvester II: Until Then
Reginald Sylvester II’s fourth solo show at Maximillian William, running June 4‑August 2026, presents a new series of paintings that fuse rubber‑coated aluminium panels with discarded 1960s‑70s military shelter halves. The assemblages are overpainted with vivid acrylics, creating a tension between raw,...
Spatial Memories: "Photography Into Sculpture" At El Nido
El Nido, an artist‑run curatorial space in Los Angeles, is hosting “Photography Into Sculpture: An Homage and an Update” through May 16, 2026. The traveling exhibition revisits the 1970s MoMA show and its 2011 Getty restaging, assembling eight international artists who transform...
TOP V. WEEKEND PICKS (5/7-5/13)
The weekend of May 7‑13 2026 features a packed slate of Chicago art events, ranging from performance pieces like Adehle Daley & Tatiana Sky’s “After We Let Go” to group exhibitions such as “Side by Side: Color and Textiles” at CWAC Exhibitions. Highlights...
Dirk Braeckman: Although
Belgian photographer Dirk Braeckman presents his first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom, “Although,” at Grimm London from April 23 to May 30, 2026. The show assembles recent analogue works that emphasize the materiality of the photographic process, featuring dust,...
HotDocs Review: Gregor Brändli’s Elephants and Squirrels
Gregor Brändli’s HotDocs documentary *Elephants and Squirrels* examines the contested repatriation of Sri Lankan artifacts held in a Basel museum, spotlighting Switzerland’s ambiguous role in colonial trade. The film follows Sri Lankan artist Deneth Piumakshi Veda as she navigates museum archives, confronts human‑remains collections,...
Esther III Returns to New York Estonian House During Frieze Week
Esther III, the artist‑led alternative fair founded by Margot Samel and Olga Temnikova, returns to New York for its third and final edition from May 12‑16 2026 at the historic New York Estonian House. The free event coincides with Frieze New York 2026 and showcases 22 international galleries from ten...
Anna Ruth: Close Quarters
Anna Ruth’s debut solo exhibition, Close Quarters, opened at Grimm Gallery in Amsterdam and runs through May 23. The show intertwines cloudy personal memories with universal symbols, using a muted ochre palette and natural motifs such as swans, flowers, and...
Gladstone Now Represent The Estate of Anna Zemánková
Gladstone announced it will represent the estate of Czech self‑taught artist Anna Zemánková, partnering with Cavin‑Morris Gallery. The gallery will showcase a solo booth of more than 15 pastel works at TEFAF New York from May 14‑19, 2026, following a 2025 New York...
Doomscroll: Abby Martin
The latest Doomscroll episode features journalist Abby Martin discussing the formative years of internet culture before algorithmic platforms, when Occupy Wall Street and 4chan intersected and gave rise to an anti‑establishment media ecosystem. Martin also promotes her upcoming documentary Earth’s Greatest...
Gerhard Richter + Jasper Johns Exhibitions Opening at David Zwirner, 537 West 20th Street
David Zwirner’s New York gallery will host two major shows from May 7, 2026. Gerhard Richter’s "Landschaften" presents his photorealist landscapes from the 1960s‑2000s alongside selections from his Abstract Paintings series, drawing on loans from museums, private collectors, and the artist’s...
Telekom, Kunstmuseum Bonn Present the Human AI Art Award
Deutsche Telekom and the Kunstmuseum Bonn presented the third Human AI Art Award, naming Tamil‑descent artist Christopher Kulendran Thomas as the winner. His site‑specific immersive installation, *Peace Core, 2026*, will open on June 24 in the newly created Human AI Art Space outside the museum....
A Conversation with Ian Rayer-Smith
Ian Rayer‑Smith, a Manchester‑based painter who began his practice at 37, creates large‑scale works that fuse Old Master composition with the raw energy of Abstract Expressionism. He describes his finished paintings as moments of controlled tension, where the image hovers...
Matt Borruso at Et Al., San Francisco
Matt Borruso’s latest show, “Et al., San Francisco,” transforms everyday photographs into mutable collages mounted on magnet‑backed steel sheets. Each arrangement is photographed, then dismantled and stored with its image, allowing the composition to be re‑created later. The exhibition opens with a John Berger...
Fresh Out: It’s Degree Shows Season 2026
The 2026 UK degree show season showcases the culmination of art students’ work, drawing galleries, collectors, and peers to discover emerging talent. Organisers and participants are urged to list exhibitions on ArtRabbit, a free platform that amplifies visibility across the...
Magnified Sand Reveals the Hidden Beauty of Individual Grains
Magnified Sand is a continuous microscopic photography project by Robert Maronpot that captures individual sand grains at extreme close‑up, revealing vivid colors, intricate shapes, and crystalline structures invisible to the naked eye. The resulting images transform ordinary beach debris into...
FAD News: Offprint London Heads to 180 Studios for Its 2026 Edition
Offprint London 2026 will be held at 180 Studios from May 15‑17, gathering independent, experimental publishers across art, architecture, design, and visual culture. Founded in 2010 and backed by LUMA Arles, the fair now attracts more than 35,000 visitors annually. The...
Ellie Kayu Ng: Catching the Big Fish
Brooklyn‑based painter Ellie Kayu Ng makes her UK solo debut at Twilight Contemporary with the exhibition “Catching the Big Fish,” on view May 8‑30, 2026. The show extends her decade‑long practice of painting herself into imagined scenarios, using borrowed garments to embody...
Remnants of an Optimistic Era
Erik Otsea’s solo exhibition “Clever Animals & Static” at Alto Beta showcases hand‑built ceramic sculptures that evoke Soviet‑era brutalism while softened by pastel accents. The show pairs the three‑dimensional pieces with a grid of 25 black‑and‑white panels created 35 years...
On View: Joan Semmel
The Jewish Museum is presenting “In the Flesh,” a career‑spanning survey of painter Joan Semmel that runs through May 31. The exhibition features only sixteen of Semmel’s large‑scale works, arranged chronologically around a central wall that also displays paintings and photographs...
Rhythm in the Blues
Rhythm in the Blues, co‑presented by Octavia Art Gallery founder Pamela Bryan and curator Julia Campbell Carter, opens at 14 Percy Street in London from May 11‑20, 2026. The group show features five international artists—Alia Ali, Aigana Gali, Azadeh Ghotbi, Naomie Kremer...
Aaron Kudi at 1-54 New York: Material Abstraction and the Weight of Witness
Adegbola Gallery made its inaugural appearance at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York, presenting a new body of work by Nigerian‑born, London‑based artist Aaron Kudi. The paintings, executed on glazed tarpaulin and cotton duck, employ liquid metal,...
Emilie Dubois Turns the Living Room Into a Map of Belonging at BFAF
The Bassam Freiha Art Foundation in Abu Dhabi has opened Emilie Dubois’s exhibition “Home Is Not A Place,” running from 11 February to 31 May 2026. Central to the show is an interactive living‑room installation where visitors can touch and...
Lynn Chadwick Post War Sculpture Celebrated At Houghton Hall – Miranda Carroll
Houghton Hall in Norfolk is showcasing a comprehensive retrospective of post‑war sculptor Lynn Chadwick, with works spread across the historic house and its surrounding park. The exhibition, running from early May to early October 2026, includes rare pieces such as...
Rebecca Ward: Lighter Later
Brooklyn-based artist Rebecca Ward returns to Ronchini Gallery with "lighter later," a solo show running from June 11 to September 30, 2026. The exhibition features new sewn canvases that blur the line between painting, sculpture and craft, employing a labor‑intensive process that begins...
Lynn Boggess (Update)
West Virginia painter Lynn Boggess, known for applying paint with cement trowels, is currently showcasing a solo exhibition at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. The show opened on April 24, 2026 and is expected to run for about a...
Ohio University Students Return to OSC for AI-Driven Digital Art Showcase
Ohio University’s Digital Art and Technology cohort returned to the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) in the fall to create AI‑driven digital artworks using OSC’s high‑performance computing resources. Guided by faculty member Basil Masri Zada, each student accessed the Ascend cluster...
The Art World Shouldn’t Make People Feel Small
Inside the Art World released a new episode featuring Georgina Billings, an artist representative and curator who entered the market as a collector before helping a gallery rebuild financially. Billings highlights the intimidation caused by silent galleries, missing price tags, and...
We Don’t Create From Passion Anymore
The author argues that genuine, self‑driven passion has largely disappeared from creative work, replaced by a focus on money, fame, and external validation. He describes true passion as a fearless, intrinsic love for the craft that persists regardless of audience....