Paul McCarthy: ‘The world is now an extreme absurdity. The work is a reaction to that’

Paul McCarthy, the 80-year-old American artist known for his transgressive critiques of consumer culture, has opened a new exhibition titled "SS EE Saint Santa Eva Elf" at Hauser & Wirth in Paris. The show features large-scale drawings and a six-channel video installation created during filmed performances with his long-term collaborator, German actress Lilith Stangenberg, who plays the Elf. McCarthy revisits his iconic Santa Claus motif, portraying him as a dark, psychotic figure—the "god of capitalism and consumption." The exhibition also includes earlier drawings made with Stangenberg at Bowman Hal gallery in Madrid. The interview reveals that McCarthy's home and studios in Los Angeles were destroyed by wildfires, resulting in the loss of art, drawings, notebooks, and books, and the cancellation of a planned London show.

joel peter witkin photography

Joel-Peter Witkin, the controversial photographer known for his macabre and surreal imagery, is the subject of a new exhibition titled “Joel-Peter Witkin: The World Is Not Enough” at A Gallery for Fine Photography in New Orleans. The show features a wide cross-section of his work, from early pieces like the cadaver-based still life *The Kiss* (1982) to recent works such as *The Soul Has No Gender* (2016), a portrait of a transsexual woman posed as Mary Magdalene. Witkin, a mainstay on artnet’s Top 300 list, personally prints each photograph and continues to explore themes of death, beauty, and the marginalized in society.

Barry X Ball’s Wild Sculptures Are Perfectly at Home at Venice’s Grand Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore

New York-based artist Barry X Ball's exhibition "The Shape of Time" has opened at the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, featuring 23 sculptures centered on the elaborate silver and gold piece *Pope Saint John Paul II* (2012–24). The show, organized by curator Bob Nickas, includes many works shown publicly for the first time, such as *Pietà* (2011–22) inspired by Michelangelo and *Saint Bartholomew Flayed* (2011–20). The sculpture of John Paul II, cast in collaboration with Italian jewelry house Damiani, contains hidden references to the pope's life, including his nemeses Hitler, Stalin, and Lenin, as well as a bullet from the 1981 assassination attempt.

Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds

The Jewish Museum in New York has launched "Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds," the first U.S. museum exhibition dedicated specifically to the artist’s late-period works. Featuring 100 paintings and drawings, the show focuses on the final decade of Klee’s life (1930–1940), a period marked by his dismissal from the Düsseldorf Academy by the Nazis, his exile to Switzerland, and his battle with a fatal autoimmune disease.

Performance, gioco, rischio. Il grande Paul McCarthy è in mostra a Madrid: l’intervista

Paul McCarthy's latest exhibition, titled "A&E," is on view at Bowman Hal gallery in Madrid, part of the SOLO CONTEMPORARY initiative founded by a Spanish collector couple. The show features large-scale works on paper and videos created in collaboration with German actress Lilith Stangenberg, exploring role-play, performance, and the blurred lines between art and entertainment. The acronym "A&E" alludes to historical pairs like Adam and Eve or Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, as well as "Arts & Entertainment." The works stem from private encounters between McCarthy and Stangenberg, with drawings serving as storyboards for videos that capture their improvisational, trance-like interactions.

A Vienna una grande mostra dedicata a Daumier, l’artista della satira

The Albertina Museum in Vienna is hosting a major retrospective titled "Honoré Daumier – Mirror of Society," dedicated to the French artist Honoré Daumier (1808–1879). The exhibition features lithographs, drawings, paintings, and sculptures, with significant loans from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. Daumier, known for his sharp satire and acute social observation, critiqued political abuses and social injustices of 19th-century European society. The show also recalls a previous Daumier exhibition held at the Albertina in 1936, which served as a political statement against Nazi oppression.

Venice Diary Day 1: At the Giardini, Artists Refuse to Make Fascism Cozy

Henrike Naumann's posthumous installation at the German Pavilion, which retains its 1938 Nazi-era fascist architecture, refuses to make the space 'cozy' by adorning windows with violently ripped domestic fabrics. The 2026 Venice Biennale is the first under president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, associated with neo-fascist politics, and is overshadowed by controversy over his 'neutrality' policy allowing all countries to participate despite human rights concerns. The exhibition jury initially announced it would not consider pavilions from countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity, then abruptly quit, leaving the situation unresolved. The US Pavilion features unimpressive blobs by Alma Allen, while the Russian Pavilion offers cut flowers and free vodka, and Andreas Angelidakis responds to fascist aesthetics at the Greek Pavilion.

‘It’s essential for understanding what is going on in Ukraine’: new exhibition explores wartime limb loss

Prominent Ukrainian artist Nikita Kadan is launching a new exhibition titled 'A New Integrity' at Pavilion 13 in Kyiv. The installation features prostheses suspended in mid-air, accompanied by a soundscape of recorded testimonies from veterans who have experienced limb loss during the ongoing Russian invasion. The project, commissioned by the non-profit RIBBON International, uses these mechanical replacements to symbolize the broader losses of territory, people, and future perspectives that Ukraine has endured.

Musée d’Orsay opens gallery dedicated to still-unclaimed works stolen by Nazis in WWII

The Musée d'Orsay in Paris has opened a permanent gallery dedicated to artworks believed to have been looted by the Nazis from Jewish owners during World War II, but whose rightful owners have not been identified. The exhibition, titled "Who owns these works?", features a rotating selection of 225 such pieces held by the museum, with twelve paintings and one sculpture currently on display. Works by Renoir, Degas, Rodin, and Alfred Stevens are included, alongside provenance research detailing their murky histories—such as a Degas ballroom scene acquired by a Jewish collector later murdered at Auschwitz.

Discover the legacy of MAD at the Cincinnati Art Museum

The Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) is hosting the exhibition “What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine,” which opened on November 21, 2025, and runs through March 1, 2026. The show features over 150 original artworks spanning MAD Magazine’s 70-year history, from its comic book origins to its satirical magazine heyday. On January 30, 2026, CAM held a special “CAM goes MAD!” event as part of its monthly “Art After Dark” series, offering free admission, live music, local food, and activities such as caricature drawing by artist Joni Fleming and tabling by local comic sellers. The exhibition was organized by Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, chief curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum, and satirical artist Steve Brodner.

Albuquerque exhibition depicts German art made during the tragic ascent of authoritarianism

The Albuquerque Museum has opened a landmark exhibition titled "Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin," featuring German and European art from the early 20th century. The show traces the trajectory from the German Empire through World War I, the Weimar Republic, Nazi rule, and World War II, including works by Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Hannah Höch, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, and others. Many pieces were originally condemned as "degenerate art" by the Nazis. The exhibition, which has three U.S. stops, is currently in Albuquerque after appearing at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and will travel to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

With works by Munch and Mamma Andersson, the British Museum reveals the darkness of Nordic noir

The British Museum in London will open a free exhibition titled "Nordic Noir" on October 9, featuring over 150 works by 100 artists. The show begins with Edvard Munch, including his woodcut "Gammel fisker (Old fisherman, 1897)", and moves chronologically to explore how Nordic artists responded to political transformations since 1944. Curated by Jennifer Ramkalawon, the exhibition highlights works by contemporary artists such as Yuichiro Sato, Anna Zimmerman, Maria Nordin, Per Kirkeby, and the Norwegian radical collective GRAS, many of which have never been seen outside the Nordic region.

Tate Britain’s Lee Miller exhibition seeks to go beyond her mythology

Tate Britain is opening a major survey of American photographer Lee Miller (1907-77), running from 2 October 2025 to 15 February 2026. Curated by Hilary Floe, the exhibition aims to refocus attention on Miller’s artistic output rather than her storied personal life—her roles as a Surrealist, fashion photographer, war correspondent, and muse to figures like Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Cocteau. The show presents the UK’s largest survey of her work, deliberately selecting images based on artistic merit rather than biographical illustration.

See ‘Shattered Glass: The Women Who Elevated American Art’ in Canton

The Canton Museum of Art in Ohio is presenting 'Shattered Glass: The Women Who Elevated American Art,' an exhibition running from November 25, 2025, through March 1, 2026. Curated by Christy Davis and Kaleigh Pisani, the show spans all museum galleries and features over 120 works by 76 female American artists from the 1780s to the present day. Highlights include Audrey Flack's 1977 photorealist painting 'Marilyn,' still-life trompe-l'oeil works by Claude Hirst (born Claudine in 1855), Sister Corita Kent's 'Circus Alphabet' print series, and a photograph of Lee Miller in Adolf Hitler's abandoned apartment. The exhibition aims to spotlight underrecognized women who persevered despite barriers in the art world.

‘Degenerate’ or ‘woke,’ Paris museum exhibit shows what happens to art in the crosshairs of politics

The Picasso Museum in Paris has opened an exhibition titled "Degenerate Art: Modern Art on Trial Under the Nazis," the first such show in France, running until May 25. It features works by Van Gogh, Klee, Picasso, Kandinsky, Chagall, and others that were condemned by Hitler and the Third Reich as "degenerate" — targeted for destruction, sale, or concealment. The exhibition is organized thematically around Nazi persecution, including sections on race, museum purges, and the art trade, and highlights the fates of artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who died by suicide, and Otto Freundlich, who was murdered in a concentration camp.

Andreas Angelidakis: Escape Room

The Greek Ministry of Culture has selected artist Andreas Angelidakis to represent Greece at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026. Angelidakis will present an installation titled "Escape Room" at the Greek Pavilion, curated by George Bekirakis with MOMUS as National Commissioner. The project reimagines Plato's allegory of the cave as an immersive environment addressing post-truth, nationalism, and digital illusions, while also confronting the troubled history of the Pavilion itself, including its 1934 inauguration amid the rise of fascism.

Everything you need to know about Lee Miller, honored at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris

Tout ce qu’il faut savoir sur Lee Miller à l’honneur au musée d’Art Moderne de Paris

The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris is hosting a major retrospective dedicated to Lee Miller, the surrealist icon who transitioned from a high-fashion model for Vogue to a fearless war correspondent. The exhibition traces her multifaceted career, from her early days as a muse in New York and Paris to her harrowing documentation of the liberation of Saint-Malo, the Normandy beaches, and the liberation of concentration camps.

S&M-inspired Greek Pavilion in Venice confronts its fascist chains

The Greek Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "Grecia" and conceived as a drag artist, presents an S&M-inspired installation by artist and architect Andreas Angelidakis. The immersive space features a red neon-lit floor, soft sculptures resembling beanbags, fragmented marble columns wrapped in chains, and souvenirs bearing images of queer artists and the late activist Zak Kostopoulos (Zackie Oh). The pavilion aims to deconstruct the idea of a fixed national identity, exploring themes of queerness, fascism, and historical trauma.

Andreas Angelidakis on Representing Greece at the 61st Venice Biennale

Artist Andreas Angelidakis will represent Greece at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with a project titled 'Escape Room'. He plans to split the Greek Pavilion in two, referencing the National Schism in Greek history, and will create an immersive experience that explores the building's dual identities as a national symbol and an exhibition space, set to the soundtrack of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'Relax'.

Immediately after the Second World War, how did six exhibitions attempt to make sense of the atrocities?

Berlin's Deutsches Historisches Museum has opened an exhibition titled "On Displaying Violence: First Exhibitions on the Nazi Occupation in Europe, 1945-48," which revisits six post-World War II exhibitions that attempted to process the atrocities of the war. These shows took place in venues ranging from the Grand Palais in Paris to a Czech villa formerly occupied by a Nazi official, and included displays such as the UK's Daily Express "The Horror Camps" (1945), the French traveling show "Hitlerian Crimes" (1945), "Warsaw Accuses" (1945) at the National Museum in Warsaw, and "Our Path to Freedom" (1947) at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The Berlin exhibition uses original objects, film footage, photographs, and recordings to recreate the experience of these early post-war shows.

A&E: Frederick Hammersley painting exhibition at The Fred

Frederick Hammersley, an American artist who served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, met Pablo Picasso in occupied Paris while making signs for the war effort. The article announces an exhibition of Hammersley's paintings at The Fred, highlighting this historical connection between the two artists.

The National WWII Museum Hosting Special Exhibit Highlighting Nazi Campaign against Modern Art

The National WWII Museum in New Orleans has opened a special exhibit titled 'Degenerate! Hitler’s War on Modern Art,' on loan from the Jewish Museum Milwaukee and running through May 10, 2026. The exhibit features over 65 works by artists deemed 'degenerate' by the Nazi regime, including Wassily Kandinsky, Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso, and Marc Chagall, alongside documents and artifacts that explore how modernist art was suppressed and weaponized as propaganda. The museum has expanded the original exhibit to include a focus on suppressed music, featuring instruments from the era, such as a tenor saxophone played by Eddie Powers and a clarinet played by George Lewis, on loan from the New Orleans Jazz Museum.

Philadelphia Art Museum exhibit on surrealism features monsters from Greek mythology and a lobster telephone

The Philadelphia Art Museum (PhAM) opens "Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100," a traveling exhibition celebrating the centennial of surrealism. The show features works by Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Leonora Carrington, and Man Ray, including Dalí's lobster telephone and pieces inspired by Greek mythology. It is the final and only American stop on the tour, previously shown in Brussels, Paris, Hamburg, and Madrid, and runs through February 16, 2026.

Degenerate! Hitler’s War on Modern Art

The National WWII Museum in New Orleans will host the traveling exhibition "Degenerate! Hitler's War on Modern Art" from November 6, 2025, through May 10, 2026. Originally created by the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, the show examines the Nazi campaign against modern art and music, featuring over 65 original works by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso, and Marc Chagall. It explores how modernist art was labeled "degenerate" by the Third Reich, used as propaganda, and systematically suppressed, with many works seized, destroyed, or sold. The exhibition also expands into music, highlighting the suppression of jazz and works by Jewish composers.

History, art exhibition honors wartime work of Fort Wayne native Bill Blass and Ghost Army

The Journal Gazette reports on a history and art exhibition in Fort Wayne that honors the wartime work of native son Bill Blass and the Ghost Army. Bill Blass, who would later become a renowned fashion designer, served in the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, a top-secret U.S. Army unit known as the Ghost Army, during World War II. The exhibition highlights the unit's deceptive tactics—using inflatable tanks, sound effects, and fake radio transmissions—to mislead German forces, and features artifacts, photographs, and artworks related to their missions.

NAFRICA–MASCHERE: The Mask Strikes Back

Curator Simon Njami discusses his exhibition 'NAFRICA–MASCHERE' at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, which juxtaposes the fascist anthropological archives of Lidio Cipriani with contemporary artworks. The show utilizes the metaphor of the mask to explore the tension between how individuals are perceived and how they project themselves, specifically addressing the persistence of colonial logic in the modern world. By including artists from Africa, America, and Italy, Njami seeks to move beyond a binary 'colonizer vs. colonized' narrative toward a broader inquiry into human representation and power.

Will Higgins uncovers the Indy 500's wacky history in new exhibit

Former IndyStar reporter Will Higgins has opened a new exhibition titled "The Speedway's Attic" at the Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), running until August 16. The show presents nine quirky, true stories from the margins of the Indianapolis 500, featuring artifacts recreated by Higgins based on his own research. One highlighted tale involves a fake 1938 Mercedes Benz convertible linked to Adolf Hitler, which appeared at the 1949 Indy 500 with mannequins and alleged "Hitler's wife's underwear." Higgins, known for his gonzo journalism style, previously created exhibits like "The American Society of Presidential Urine Collectors" and "The Museum of Fabulosity."

See “The Speedway’s Attic” art exhibition at the CAMi by Will Higgins

Award-winning journalist Will Higgins has curated a comedic art exhibition titled “The Speedway’s Attic” at the Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), opening May 7, 2026. The show presents absurd and humorous true stories from the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including sections on the first Indy 500 streakers, a car once owned by Hitler, and a journalist who disguised herself as a mechanic to ride in a race car. The only real artifact on display is a jacket that belonged to local Chicken Mobile creator Orval "Ducky" Love, on loan from the Indiana State Museum.