Shreg the green ogre, a grey obsessive and Vermeer’s boiled egg – the week in art

This week's art roundup from The Guardian highlights a range of exhibitions across the UK, including Bruce Asbestos's 'Bootleg Shreg 2' at Exeter Phoenix Gallery, a playful show featuring a green ogre that parodies copyright rules. Other notable shows include Roy Oxlade's primitive paintings at Alison Jacques, May Morris's craft legacy at Lady Lever Art Gallery, a 30-year anniversary group show at Timothy Taylor, and Alan Charlton's monochrome grey works at Annely Juda Fine Art. The article also features an image of a naturally sculpted rock on Kangaroo Island, a review of the Turner Prize nominees, and a masterwork analysis of Vermeer's 'The Guitar Player' at Kenwood House, which was stolen in the 1970s and recovered with the help of a clairvoyant.

Who are the members of the Venice Biennale jury?

Qui sont les membres du jury de la Biennale de Venise ?

The 61st Venice Biennale, opening May 9, 2026, has announced its international jury, which is composed entirely of women. The five members are Solange Oliveira Farkas (president), Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi, hailing from Brazil, Thailand, Spain, the United States, and Switzerland. Their backgrounds span the Global South, feminist studies, and transnational curatorial practices.

The International Jury of the Biennale Arte 2026

The International Jury for the Biennale Arte 2026 has been announced, with Solange Oliveira Farkas serving as president. The jury includes curators Zoe Butt and Elvira Dyangani Ose, each bringing extensive experience in contemporary art from the Global South, biennial curation, and institutional leadership. Farkas is the founder of Associação Cultural Videobrasil, Butt founded the in-tangible institute, and Dyangani Ose is artistic director of the 2nd Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial and former director of MACBA Barcelona.

South Africa’s Southern Guild Opens First NYC Art & Design Gallery

Southern Guild, a gallery founded in 2008 by Trevyn and Julian McGowan in Cape Town, South Africa, is opening its first New York City location at 75 Leonard Street in Tribeca on April 24. The gallery, which works with collectible design and contemporary art, will inaugurate the space with two solo exhibitions featuring South African artists Mmangaliso Nzuza and Usha Seejarim. The move follows the transition of its former Los Angeles space and reflects the gallery's expansion from its roots in Cape Town's Silo District, where it operates within a production ecosystem of ceramic studios, bronze foundries, and fabrication workshops.

Southern Guild Stakes Its Claim in Tribeca

Southern Guild, a South African gallery founded by Trevyn and Julian McGowan in 2008, has opened a new outpost in Tribeca, New York, after closing its Los Angeles location. The gallery, which began in Cape Town and expanded to a 32,000-square-foot campus, now occupies a 19th-century heritage building with 17-foot ceilings and cast-iron columns. Its inaugural exhibitions feature South African artists Usha Seejarim and Mmangaliso Nzuza, showcasing large-scale works that take advantage of the dramatic vertical space.

BOTERO RETURNS TO SEOUL WITH HIS LARGEST RETROSPECTIVE IN ASIA

Fernando Botero (1932–2023) returns to Seoul with his largest retrospective in Asia, opening this Friday at the Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center. Curated by Lina Botero and organized with the Fernando Botero Foundation, the exhibition features over 112 works, several never before exhibited. The show, titled "Fernando Botero: The Triumph of Form," runs through August 30, 2026, and highlights the Colombian master's signature visual language of volume, sensuality, irony, and humanity.

Infectious creativity

CIMA Gallery in Kolkata is hosting an exhibition titled "Outsider Art," on view until May 2, featuring works by a diverse group of individuals without formal artistic training. Participants include entrepreneur Dilip De, chartered accountant Amartya Mukherjee, danseuse Amala Shankar, musician Ayaan Ali Bangash, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among others. The show highlights a wide range of media, from digital paintings and watercolors to photography and stoneware, all united by a raw, instinctive creativity.

Exhibition openings to enjoy in May

Bundaberg Regional Galleries in Queensland, Australia, will launch five new exhibitions in May 2025, with opening events spread across the month. The shows include 'Lost in Palm Springs', a national touring exhibition curated by Dr Greer Honeywill featuring 14 artists and thinkers from America and Australia exploring Palm Springs' landscape and mid-century modern architecture; 'Shifting Perspectives: the Self Reconciliation Project' by local artist Avi Amesbury, which uses ceramics and storytelling to examine settler-colonial family history; 'Post Truth' by Gureng Gureng/Gangalu artist Darren Blackburn, addressing the Australian Government's Close the Gap campaign through led-neon signs; 'The Nature of Silk: The Glad Not Sad Book', a family-friendly exhibition of silk art by children's book author Kim Michelle Toft; and 'Metal in Motion' by Kevin Dekker, a collection of sculptures that transform steel, wood, stone and ceramics into dynamic, fluid forms. Opening events will be held at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery and Childers Arts Space, with free admission and no RSVP required.

For the 2026 Venice Biennale, the RojoNegro duo brings a collective ritual to the Mexico Pavilion

Per la Biennale Arte 2026 il duo RojoNegro porta nel Padiglione del Messico un rituale collettivo

The article announces that the RojoNegro collective, formed by María Sosa and Noé Martínez, will represent Mexico at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with a project titled "Actos invisibles para sostener el universo." Curated by Jessica Berlanga Taylor, the installation combines organic materials, sound, video, and performance to create a ritualistic space that invokes invisible presences, memories, and energies. The work draws on decolonial perspectives, centering Indigenous and Afro-descendant cosmogonies as living knowledge systems, and aims to activate a dialogue between situated ritual practices and the global context of the Biennale.