London’s cultural landscape sees a significant surge of activity this April with a diverse array of exhibitions spanning major institutions and commercial galleries. Key highlights include a recreation of Keith Haring’s 1980s subway chalk drawings at the Moco Museum, a retrospective of surrealist couturier Elsa Schiaparelli at the V&A, and a deep dive into the sculptural legacy of Guyanese-British artist Donald Locke at Camden Art Centre.
London's spring art season is anchored by several major institutional surveys, most notably Tracey Emin’s comprehensive exhibition "A Second Life" at Tate Modern. Other significant showcases include Hurvin Anderson’s exploration of Caribbean diaspora at Tate Britain, David Hockney’s new works at Serpentine North, and Cecily Brown’s long-awaited institutional homecoming at Serpentine South. The season also features diverse media, from Chiharu Shiota’s immersive yarn installations at the Hayward Gallery to Isaac Julien’s filmic explorations at the Cosmic House.
Ocula's global team of editors has curated a list of the top 10 exhibitions to see worldwide in May, highlighting diverse shows from Rio de Janeiro to New York. Featured exhibitions include Jungjin Lee's photographic works blending Icelandic landscapes and intimate objects on traditional Korean paper, a millennial-themed group show titled "Genuine Premium Fake Economy" examining precarity through artists like Jasmine Gregory and Buck Ellis, Joan Semmel's solo exhibition "Continuities" at Xavier Hufkens and Alexander Gray Associates showcasing her erotic self-portraiture at age 93, and Wynnie Mynerva's Berlin Gallery Weekend show addressing colonial violence and Andean mythology.
The Guardian's weekly entertainment guide highlights two major art exhibitions opening in May 2025: 'Aleksandra Kasuba' at Tate St Ives (2 May to 4 October) and 'Zurbarán' at the National Gallery, London (2 May to 23 August). The Kasuba show is the first UK presentation of the Lithuanian American artist's proto-immersive 'spatial environments,' featuring early paintings, mosaics, and installations focused on utopian social harmony. The Zurbarán exhibition presents a blockbuster survey of the 17th-century Spanish Baroque master, known for his intense religious subjects and dramatic chiaroscuro.
Three emerging artists—Jenna Bliss, Buck Ellison, and Jasmine Gregory—present a multi-media exhibition titled 'Genuine Fake Premium Economy' at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). The show satirically examines the societal and economic fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, using works that critique capitalism, inheritance, and art-world stereotypes. Gregory repaints Patek Philippe ads to expose class structures, Bliss films a fictional art fair that blurs reality and fiction, and Ellison creates lightboxes for a fictional private bank, manipulating corporate language and philosophy.
The Esther art fair, founded by Estonian dealers Olga Temnikova and Margot Samel, is holding its second edition at the Beaux-Arts Estonian House in Manhattan through May 10. The boutique fair features 25 galleries from the US, Europe, and Asia, including James Fuentes, Sargent’s Daughters, Pangée Gallery, Kogo Gallery, Ivan Gallery, Sophie Tappeiner, and Bank. New additions include on-site fashion designers Julia Heuer and Laivi creating custom t-shirts. Participation fees have risen from $1,500 to $2,500, allowing the founders to hire staff, but the fair remains vulnerable to global shifts such as US trade policies and immigration crackdowns that affect art shipping and artist travel.
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) has opened a new exhibition titled "Genuine Fake Premium Economy," featuring works by artists Jenna Bliss, Buck Ellison, and Jasmine Gregory. Curated by Nicole Leong, the show critiques the culture of capitalism within the art world, using appropriation and mimicry to highlight contradictions and hypocrisies. The artists, all born in the mid-1980s in the United States, came of age professionally after the 2008 financial crisis, and their works incorporate advertising imagery, reality television, luxury brand aesthetics, and private wealth management vocabulary. Bliss's video works include a scripted reality TV episode set in an art fair booth before the crash, while Ellison has invented a fictional private bank called Orlo & Co., and Gregory reproduces Patek Philippe advertisements with the watches erased.