Martha Invitational 2026

The Martha Invitational returns for its second edition on May 29–30, 2026, at RULE Gallery in Marfa, Texas. Originally conceived in 2023 by Marfa-based artists Martha Hughes, Diana Simard, and Leslie Wilkes as a small, self-organized, low-budget exhibition in Hughes' studio, the event expands this year to include a fourth artist, Bettina Landgrebe. The show features works by all four artists, with Hughes presenting selections from her Garden series, Landgrebe showing her Strange Bloom assemblages, Simard offering landscape-inspired paintings and prints, and Wilkes exhibiting geometric paintings. The opening reception takes place Friday evening from 5–7 PM, with artists present both days.

Where Parts Meet: Yu Ji’s “Origin of the Tiger”

Shanghai-based artist Yu Ji presents her first solo exhibition in New York, "Origin of the Tiger," at P.P.O.W gallery from March 6 to April 11, 2026. The show features multimedia sculptures and installations made during a self-organized residency in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where she collaborated with Khmer artisans and local children through the project PKA (PLAY KNOW ATTENTION). Works incorporate reed mats, concrete knees, snail shells, and modular furniture, emphasizing joints, fragmentation, and reassembly.

Postcard from North Carolina

The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with the exhibition "Everything Now All at Once," on view from August 21 to November 1, 2026. The show gathers landmark works from the museum's contemporary collection, emphasizing artists and perspectives historically excluded from dominant narratives. Curated by director Trevor Schoonmaker and curator Dr. Xuxa Rodriguez, the exhibition is presented as an evolving visual mixtape rather than a fixed archive, reflecting the cultural exchange of North Carolina's Research Triangle.

The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and Christie's Unveil 'The Meeting Ground: Scenes from the KNMA Collection' - Christie's

The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in New Delhi and Christie's London have announced a major institutional exhibition titled 'The Meeting Ground: Scenes from the KNMA Collection,' running from 16 July to 21 August 2026 at Christie's King Street. The show brings together modern and contemporary works alongside folk and indigenous art from South Asia, curated by Akansha Rastogi with a team of curators. It features artists such as M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza, Zarina Hashmi, and Jangarh Singh Shyam, and is part of KNMA's ongoing international programme.

Biennale Arte 2026: which national pavilions strike us and why

The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by Koyo Kouoh (who passed away in May 2025), opened amid intense controversy over its artist list and geopolitical tensions. Protests erupted against the participation of Israel and Russia, with a petition signed by 22 countries to exclude Russia, threats from the European Commission to suspend funding, and the resignation of the international jury. Around 18 national pavilions staged strikes and partial closures to denounce the normalization of Israel's presence and precarious labor in the art world. The Austria Pavilion's performance by Florentina Holzinger, featuring a girl hanging upside down inside a tilting bell, became a viral symbol refocusing attention on art itself.

Isamu Noguchi was never a designer, affirms High Museum of Art, Atlanta

The High Museum of Art in Atlanta presents "Isamu Noguchi: 'I am not a designer'," the first design retrospective of the Japanese-American sculptor in 25 years. Co-curated by Monica Obniski and Marin R. Sullivan, the exhibition features nearly 200 objects, including sculptural models, furniture for Herman Miller and Knoll, Akari light fixtures, and large-scale installations like Martha Graham's stage set for "Seraphic Dialogue" (1955). The show challenges Noguchi's own resistance to categorization by framing his multidisciplinary practice—spanning sculpture, design, architecture, and public art—through a design lens.

‘I will always fight against fascism’: Zineb Sedira on her Tate Britain commission

Zineb Sedira has been selected for the Tate Britain commission, creating her largest UK installation to date, titled *When Words Fall Silent, Cinema Speaks…*, on view until January 2027. The site-specific work in the museum's Duveen Galleries pays tribute to radical African cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, highlighting Algeria's role as a revolutionary hub. Sedira recreates the Parisian cafes of her childhood, featuring Scopitone machines that play short music films, and draws on the legacy of the Cinémathèque Algérienne and the 1969 Pan-African Festival.

KMSKA stages major Antony Gormley exhibition across museum and city

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) is opening 'Geestgrond', the largest solo exhibition by British sculptor Antony Gormley ever staged on the European mainland. Curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the show spans all of the museum's modern galleries and extends to the roof, Museumplein, and Antwerp quays, featuring over 100 works including sculptures, installations, early sketches, notebooks, and new pieces. Highlights include 'The Heart', an intimate Wunderkammer of Gormley's process, and 'Cave', a monumental walk-in steel installation.

Wallace Chan in Venice and Shanghai

Wallace Chan will present "Vessels of Other Worlds," a monumental dual-site exhibition across Venice and Shanghai in 2026, coinciding with his 70th birthday and the 61st Venice Biennale. The exhibition premieres on May 8, 2026, at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà in Venice, featuring a new series of titanium sculptures inspired by the three sacred oils of the Catholic Church, with a parallel exhibition opening on July 18, 2026, at the Long Museum (West Bund) in Shanghai, where the sculptures will be displayed at a dramatically larger scale. Curated by James Putnam, the project also includes a complementary site-specific exhibition, "Mythos," at Scala Contarini del Bovolo in Venice from April to October 2026.

Yoo Young-kuk’s inner landscapes spotlighted in Seoul retrospective

The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) has opened its largest-ever retrospective of pioneering Korean abstract painter Yoo Young-kuk, titled "Yoo Youngkuk: A Mountain Within Me," marking the 110th anniversary of his birth. Running through Oct. 25 at SeMA's Seosomun branch, the exhibition brings together 178 works, including 115 oil paintings, drawings, photographs, archival materials, and previously unseen pieces, as well as BTS RM's collection "Mountain." Rather than a chronological format, the show begins in 1964—the year of Yoo's first solo exhibition—and moves backward and forward through time, highlighting his geometric compositions and bold primary colors inspired by the mountains and sea of his hometown Uljin.

What not to miss from the new edition of The Phair, the photography fair in Turin

Cosa non perdere della nuova edizione di The Phair, la fiera della fotografia di Torino

The seventh edition of The Phair, a photography fair in Turin, Italy, opened on Thursday, May 21, at the Sala Fucine of the Officine Grandi Riparazioni. Founded by Roberto Casiraghi and Paola Rampini, the fair features 42 national and international galleries. Highlights include a surprising automotive partnership at the entrance, and standout presentations from Red Lab Gallery (Ezio D’Agostino and Carlotta Valente), Alberto Damian Gallery (Paolo Gioli), Roccavintage (Costanza Gastaldi), Tucci Russo (Giulio Paolini), Raw Messina (Kri Babusci), and Galleria Umberto Benappi (Ugo Mulas). Other notable artists include Arnulf Rainer, Anton Corbijn, Luigi Ontani, and Simon Starling.

In Pol Taburet’s New Show, Being Paranoid Is the Point

French artist Pol Taburet has opened a solo exhibition titled *Paranoia as Method* at Villa Medici in Rome, on view through July 15. The show features sculptures, large-format paintings, and charcoal drawings created during his spring residency at the institution, transforming the villa’s gardens, loggias, and salons into tense psychic landscapes. Taburet’s figures drift between human and animal, evoking transformation, mortality, and spiritual tension, drawing on his Caribbean roots, voodoo traditions, contemporary culture, and classical painting.

Gerard van Honthorst

A major retrospective of the Dutch Golden Age painter Gerard van Honthorst has opened at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, running from April 25 to September 13, 2025. The exhibition brings together numerous large-format works that trace Honthorst's full career, from his early Caravaggesque phase to his later stylistic and thematic diversification across Utrecht, Rome, London, and The Hague. The show is praised for its successful mix of chronological and thematic hanging, offering a comprehensive view of the artist's complexity.

Bharti Kher Commissioned by Powerhouse Parramatta for Major Public Artwork

British Indian artist Bharti Kher has been commissioned by Powerhouse Parramatta to create a large-scale public artwork for the museum, which is set to open later this year in Parramatta, Western Sydney. Titled *Tree of Life*, the seven-meter-tall bronze sculpture features four stacked heads and incorporates clay fragments from figurines found in Indian secondhand markets, drawing on themes of ancestral memory, interconnectedness, and community.

Giant inflatable artworks have taken over The Hague

A monthlong open-air exhibition called BlowUp Jubilee has taken over The Hague, featuring 24 giant inflatable artworks installed in parks, on buildings, and even in a train station. Highlights include a 7-meter-tall stew pot floating in front of the Mauritshuis museum, home to "Girl with a Pearl Earring," and works by artists such as Eugenie Boon, who created a piece inspired by Curaçaoan culture, and British artist Steve Messam, whose red spiked sculpture Crested sits atop a parking garage entrance. The exhibition is curated by Mary Hessing and runs until June 21.

Plains Art Museum marks Smithsonian relationship with new Indigenous exhibit

The Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota, has been awarded a Smithsonian Affiliation, becoming the only institution in the state with such a designation. The partnership grants the museum access to Smithsonian programs, including artwork loans, touring exhibitions, educational resources, and professional development. The first public display of this collaboration is the new exhibit "Know Your Treaty: Wiwahokichiyapi," which opened in late April. The touring Smithsonian show, developed by the National Museum of the American Indian, examines the history of treaties between Indigenous nations and the U.S. government through photographs and text, while the museum has supplemented it with works by Indigenous artists from its permanent collection and loans.

centre pompidou hanwha opens in seoul inside jean-michel wilmotte's box of light

Centre Pompidou Hanwha has opened in Seoul, housed within Jean-Michel Wilmotte's 'Box of Light' design. The new museum features flexible galleries that can accommodate large-scale contemporary exhibitions, with inaugural displays including large-scale paintings and sculptures.

A Singaporean Gallery Lands In The Heart Of Paris

Cuturi Gallery, founded by Spanish gallerist Kevin Troyano Cuturi, has opened its first European space in Paris's Domaine National du Palais-Royal, following its original establishment in Singapore in 2019. The gallery occupies the former boutique of legendary couture dealer Didier Ludot and launched in March with a group show. Its forthcoming exhibition, "Arbres de la Forêt, Vous Connaissez Notre Âme" (May 28 to September 26, 2026), is a solo presentation for French artist-designer Hubert Le Gall, curated by Bruno Gaudichon. The project extends to Villa Noël in Provence, which will serve as a second exhibition space for large-scale outdoor sculptures.

‘She rips your heart out’: This Japanese artist’s fiery red installation swallows this S.F. museum

The article describes a fiery red installation by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama that has taken over a San Francisco museum. The immersive work, characterized by its intense red color and engulfing presence, is noted for its emotional impact, with the artist described as someone who 'rips your heart out.' The installation is a major draw for the museum, offering visitors a visceral experience.

Meet the Hawaiʻi creatives behind a workout video featured in a New York art exhibition

A satirical workout video titled "20 minute workout" created by the Hawaiʻi-based artist initiative kekahi wahi is featured at the Whitney Biennial in New York. The video shows dancers in spandex stretching in front of the Captain Cook Monument at Kealakekua Bay on Hawaiʻi Island, set to electronic music. The project was part of a larger effort to reimagine public space and challenge commemorative monuments in Hawaiʻi, drawing on the energy of debates over Confederate statues in the continental U.S.

Sculpture as a Form of Architecture: Happening at the Foundation of Super Artist Anish Kapoor in Venice

La scultura come forma di architettura. Succede alla Fondazione del super artista Anish Kapoor a Venezia

Anish Kapoor has opened a major solo exhibition at Palazzo Manfrin in Venice, a 16th-century building he purchased in 2018, now home to his foundation. The show, running until August 8 during the 61st Venice Biennale, spans over fifty years of his practice, featuring models, studies, and installations that blur the line between sculpture and architecture. Works include the Monte Sant'Angelo metro station in Naples, the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower for the 2012 London Olympics, the inflatable concert hall Ark Nova, and the environmental installation Temenos. The palazzo itself remains under restoration, with exposed construction elements and workspaces visible, reinforcing the exhibition's theme of continuous transformation.

Clasutta Explores the Dynamics of Love in Solo Exhibition at Whitestone Gallery Singapore

Indonesian artist Clasutta presents a solo exhibition titled "Roommates?" at Whitestone Gallery Singapore, exploring the emotional dynamics of love and relationships through her playful painting style. The exhibition is part of a larger curatorial narrative called "Through Reverie: Love and Memory," which also features a concurrent presentation by Malaysian artist C.K. Koh titled "Folded Glimpses," drawing from his personal photographic archive. Clasutta's works trace the subtle shifts from lighthearted beginnings to spaces shaped by attachment, expectation, and unspoken negotiation, portraying love as fluid and ever-changing.

JR transforms the Pont-Neuf into an immense immersive cave

JR métamorphose le Pont-Neuf en immense caverne immersive

French artist JR has transformed the Pont-Neuf in Paris into a massive immersive cave installation titled "La Caverne du Pont-Neuf," unveiled in May 2026. The work pays homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 1985 wrapping of the same bridge, using an inflatable double-wall structure covered with printed fabric to simulate rock formations and a prehistoric cave. The 120-meter-long installation is free and open to the public day and night, featuring augmented reality experiences via mobile devices and VR glasses, with a soundscape by a former Daft Punk member. The project, budgeted at €10.9 million funded by private sources, marks the first time JR has invited the public inside one of his works.

À la Biennale de Venise, le pavillon de l’Ouzbékistan fait revivre la mer d’Aral

The Uzbekistan Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, curated around the figure of author Allayar Darmenov, brings together artists including Vyacheslav Akhunov, Zi Kakhramonova, A. A. Murakami, Zulfiya Spowart, and Nguyen Phuong Linh to explore the ecological disaster of the Aral Sea. Once the world's fourth-largest lake, it was drained by Soviet irrigation projects for cotton farming; the pavilion's installations—such as Kakhramonova's participatory salt-fish molding piece and Spowart's cradle-like sculpture—imaginatively revive the vanished sea and its endemic species.

From Two Tons of Celadon, Jean Shin Sculpts a Metaphor for the Korean Diaspora

Artist Jean Shin has created "Celadon Landscape," a monumental installation at the Green-House at Green-Wood in New York, using nearly two tons of discarded celadon porcelain fragments donated by studios in Icheon, South Korea. The work features two large bulbous vessels covered in broken shards of cups, saucers, and pots, appearing to emerge from the earth as if unearthed in an archaeological dig. The installation is on view through January 17.

In Milan there is an exhibition where color fascinates because it is mystical and changeable

A Milano c’è una mostra dove il colore affascina perché è mistico e mutevole

The article reports on Jason Martin's second solo exhibition at Christian Stein gallery in Milan, titled "Vertex," curated by Sergio Risaliti. Eight new large-scale works fill the Palazzo Cicogna space, showcasing Martin's signature thick oil paint surfaces that shift in color and texture, evoking the changing appearance of a wheat field. The exhibition runs until May 23, 2025.

"Seasons and Soliloquies" by Zack Thurmond

Zack Thurmond will present a solo exhibition titled "Seasons and Soliloquies" at Idaho Art Gallery (IAG) in downtown Boise, opening Thursday, May 7, 2026, from 5 to 9 pm. Thurmond, a largely self-taught artist with a BFA from Boise University, creates paintings rooted in direct observation of place, often starting as plein air studies and expanding into larger studio works. His pieces are held in collections across North America and Europe, and he currently serves as Chief Preparator at the Boise Art Museum.

Nic Nicosia: Everyday Surreal Now Open at the Nasher in Dallas

Nic Nicosia: Everyday Surreal, a survey of the last 25 years of the Dallas-born artist's work, has opened at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and runs through August 16. The exhibition features over 70 works across media, focusing on Nicosia's shift to sculpture in the 2010s and his move from elaborate staged photography to a solitary studio practice. It includes sculptures, drawings, and photographs that explore themes of time, memory, and surreal everyday reality, with highlights such as cast metal works and drawings tracing personal experiences of distance and duration.

Ohio State’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum to reopen Saturday with new exhibitions

Ohio State University's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, home to the world's largest cartoon and comic collection, will reopen on Saturday after being closed since November 10, 2025. The reopening features renovated galleries, a new permanent exhibition titled "Story of Comics" that traces 400 years of cartoon art, and the U.S. debut of cartoonist Chris Ware's major international exhibition "Life Is Complicated," on display until January 3, 2027. The museum houses 300,000 original cartoons and 2.5 million newspaper comic strip pages and clippings.

Art fair showcases Beijing’s evolution as cultural destination - China Daily

The Beijing Dangdai Art Fair opened on Thursday at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center, running through Sunday. It features a wide range of works from late artist Zao Wou-ki’s tiny sketch drafts to large-scale installation art and robot pieces co-developed by artists and tech companies. Galleries from Beijing’s 798 art zone, other Chinese cities, and international institutions are participating. The fair also marks the launch of the 2026 Beijing Art Season, which includes Beijing Design Week and Gallery Weekend Beijing, and offers an off-site exhibition at WONDER · China World Mall through May 31.