kerry james marshall royal academy exhibition new paintings

Kerry James Marshall, a leading American painter, has debuted a new series of paintings as part of his survey exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The works, featured in a section titled “Africa Revisited,” examine the involvement of Africans in the transatlantic slave trade, a topic Marshall says is often ignored because it complicates simplistic narratives of good versus evil. One painting, *Abduction of Olaudah and His Sister* (2023), depicts the kidnapping of 18th-century writer Olaudah Equiano, while three others—*Outbound*, *Haul*, and *Cove* (all 2025)—show Black figures actively participating in the slave trade. Marshall’s earlier Middle Passage works from the 1990s are also on view.

art basel dealers recall early days

Art Basel dealers recall the fair's early days, from its founding in 1970 by Swiss dealers Ernst Beyeler, Trudl Bruckner, and Balz Hilt to its evolution into a global powerhouse with editions in Hong Kong, Miami Beach, Paris, and soon Qatar. Veterans like David Fleiss of Galerie 1900-2000, Thaddaeus Ropac, Iwan Wirth of Hauser & Wirth, and Dominique Lévy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan share personal anecdotes, including chaotic customs incidents, childhood memories, and the fair's shift from a Eurocentric gathering to the world's premier art fair.

bts fan art show seoul

A new exhibition titled "Presence in Absence: The Art of BTS Chapter 2" opens at Taxa Seoul on June 21, featuring 20 fan artists from around the world whose works celebrate the K-pop group BTS. Curated by Jieun Seo and Yvette Wohn of 25th Hour Collective, the show includes artworks created between 2022 and 2025, a period when BTS members were fulfilling mandatory military service, leading fans to channel their devotion into creative expression. The exhibition highlights diverse styles and media, from solo portraits to surreal scenes, reflecting the global reach of BTS fandom.

Filthy fossil fuels, a dizzying debut and the ominous side of the moon – the week in art

The Guardian’s weekly art roundup highlights the opening of 'Extraction' at Jupiter Artland, an exhibition featuring artists like Marguerite Humeau and John Gerrard that explores the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Other notable UK openings include Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s museum debut at The Whitworth, a survey of Paula Rego’s drawings at Victoria Miro, and a showcase of Thérèse Oulton’s textured landscapes at Vardaxoglou.

gavin turk ben brown fine arts

British artist Gavin Turk is set to debut a new body of work at Ben Brown Fine Arts in London for his sixth solo exhibition with the gallery, titled "The Escapologist." The exhibition features a series of trompe l’oeil paintings depicting partially open doors set within frames, hung low to create a sculptural, illusionistic effect. Drawing on art historical references ranging from Gerhard Richter’s modernist doors to René Magritte’s surrealist metaphors, the works explore the door as a symbol of the threshold and the psychological tension between anticipation and absence.

7 must see museum shows on view across asia in 2026

Artnet News highlights seven must-see museum exhibitions across Asia in 2026, with a focus on women artists and diverse themes. Key shows include a retrospective of Korean sculptor Kim Yun Shin at the Hoam Museum of Art in Yongin, a posthumous exhibition of Japanese painter Rey Camoy at the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, a manga and fantasy art survey at M+ in Hong Kong, and a solo show by Belgian artist Carsten Höller at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.

10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This April

April in Los Angeles features a diverse array of art exhibitions, from major institutional retrospectives to politically charged group shows. Highlights include a 60-year retrospective of the influential printmaking studio Gemini G.E.L. at its own space, a survey of the Grunwald Center at the Hammer Museum, and shows celebrating LA performance art icons Bob & Bob and Rachel Rosenthal. The month also sees a newly discovered collection of matchbook miniatures by Joe Brainard and Dave Muller's work on social connection at ArtCenter.

Artists v fascists, Khmer Rouge horrors, fab flowers and an eye-popping nude – the week in art

This week's art roundup from The Guardian features a major exhibition at Towner Eastbourne titled 'Comrades in Art: Artists Against Fascism,' which examines how artists, poets, and intellectuals used their work to resist the rise of extremism in 1930s Europe, drawing on the history of the Artists International Association (AIA). Other highlights include 'Hidden: Photography and Displacement Under the Khmer Rouge' at The Wiener Holocaust Library in London, a show of early Netherlandish drawings at the British Museum, Katharina Grosse's colorful installations at White Cube, and a flower-themed survey at Kettle's Yard. The image of the week is Sylvia Sleigh's 1963 portrait 'The Bridge (Johanna Lawrenson),' part of a new exhibition of the Welsh artist's work. The article also covers news items such as Lydia Ourahmane's Venice Biennale installation, a Holbein portrait mystery, a restored stained-glass window by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, and Anish Kapoor's call to exclude the US from the Venice Biennale due to 'politics of hate.'

Lee Ufan: ‘I try to bring together those things which are made and unmade’

Lee Ufan, the South Korean artist and founding member of the Mono-ha movement, is being honored with a major solo exhibition at SMAC San Marco Art Centre as an official Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale, marking his 90th year. Simultaneously, a new display of his painting and sculpture opens at Dia Beacon in New York State, and his first show in Portugal opens at Casa e Parque de Serralves in July. In an interview with The Art Newspaper, Ufan discusses his artistic journey, his rejection of the artist's hand, and the influence of seeing a Barnett Newman exhibition at MoMA in 1971, which led him to develop his signature From Point and From Line paintings that use repeated marks to express the passage of time.

‘Of course I accepted!’ Angel Otero on Bad Bunny – and bringing some Puerto Rican flair to Somerset

Angel Otero, a Puerto Rican artist based in Somerset, discusses his emotional collaboration with musician Bad Bunny on the stage set "La Casita" for his 31-show residency in Puerto Rico. Otero's new solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset features large-scale, semi-abstract paintings that draw from his childhood memories in Santurce, San Juan, including motifs like a pink vanity cabinet, birdcages, and a turbulent sea. His signature technique involves applying paint skins—dried sheets of oil paint on Perspex—to canvas, creating layered, sculptural surfaces. The show includes a diptych based on a photograph of Otero and his grandmother, marking his most figurative work to date.

Slags, bings and pipelines: Edinburgh landscape offers fitting backdrop for exhibition on fossil fuel extraction

Jupiter Artland, a sculpture park and gallery near Edinburgh, Scotland, is hosting the exhibition "Extraction" (through July 26), which examines the impact of fossil fuel extraction on landscapes and culture. Set against a backdrop of historic shale oil bings, North Sea oil pipelines, and modern wind farms, the show features five artists who explore energy histories through nuanced, non-polemical lenses. Glasgow-born painter Siobhan McLaughlin uses earth pigments gathered from the nearby Five Sisters Bing to create works like "Date of Exhaustion" (2025) and "Pioneer Species" (2025), turning mining waste into art that reflects on memory, ecology, and regeneration.

The Best Booths at Art Basel Hong Kong, From AI Magical Girls to Asia’s Unsung Masters

Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 showcased a vibrant array of talent, with standout presentations across its curated sectors like Discoveries and Insights. Highlights included Vin Gallery's ceramic skeleton shadow puppets by Ako Goto, Lucie Chang Fine Arts' case for the late painter Zhu Xinjian, and gdm's pairing of Kongkee's lightbox sculptures with abstract works by Thai modernist Tang Chang. The fair also featured a monumental, self-sabotaged neon sign by Kongkee reading "Price / Value."

Thomas J Price, Artist Behind Viral Times Square Sculpture, Unveils New Bronze in London

Thomas J Price, Artist Behind Viral Times Square Sculpture, Unveils New Bronze in London

Thomas J Price has unveiled a monumental new bronze sculpture, *A Place Beyond*, at the entrance to the V&A East museum in London. The 18-foot-tall figure, his tallest work to date, depicts a young Black woman in contemporary clothing holding a cell phone, created from a composite of many individuals rather than a single model. The sculpture will greet visitors when the new museum branch opens next month.

Nan Goldin: Why The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is So Important

nan goldin the ballad of sexual dependency why so important

Gagosian London is hosting an exhibition of all 126 photographs from Nan Goldin’s seminal work, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency," to mark the 40th anniversary of the photobook's publication. The exhibition traces the evolution of the project from its origins as a DIY slideshow performance in New York nightclubs to its status as a cornerstone of contemporary photography, featuring intimate portraits of Goldin’s inner circle across New York, Berlin, and beyond.

ultra contemporary old masters

A significant trend is emerging in the New York art scene this winter, as a wave of gallery and museum exhibitions highlights contemporary artists engaging deeply with European Old Masters. While some critics dismiss art historical references as "reference-baiting" to boost market value, artists like Émile Brunet and Eleanor Johnson are demonstrating a profound technical and intellectual commitment to these lineages. Their work moves beyond mere pastiche, utilizing traditional materials, Northern Renaissance aesthetics, and Baroque glazing techniques to address modern themes of labor, humanism, and information overload.

black history month exhibitions us museums

Museums across the United States are presenting a series of major exhibitions featuring Black artists in conjunction with Black History Month. Highlights include the final stop of Noah Davis's first museum show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a major retrospective of self-taught artist Minnie Evans at Atlanta's High Museum, a thematic group show of Black women artists at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, a long-overdue South Carolina retrospective for 92-year-old artist Leo Twiggs at the Gibbes Museum, and a survey of Tavares Strachan's work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

here are 11 must see gallery shows this armory art week

Artnet News highlights 11 must-see gallery shows during Armory Art Week in New York City, running from September 5 to October 26, 2024. Featured exhibitions include Gina Beavers' 'Divine Consumer' at Marianne Boesky Gallery, where she presents semi-sculptural relief paintings inspired by internet blankets and towels; Jenny Holzer's 'Words' at Sprüth Magers, showcasing her text-based works from the 1980s to present, including a new AI-generated LED installation; 'Radical Artists of the 1960s/1970s: Between Geometry and Gesture' at David Nolan, featuring works by Barry Le Va, Bruce Nauman, and others; and Stephen Thorpe's 'Dream House' at Dimin, with oil paintings of interiors merging into dreamlike landscapes.

ruckus manhattan red grooms and mimi gross

In 1975, artists Red Grooms and Mimi Gross created "Ruckus Manhattan," a monumental multimedia recreation of New York City landmarks from Lower Manhattan to Times Square, built in a vacant lobby at 88 Pine Street with a team of 20 to 30 artists called the Ruckus Construction Co. Half a century later, the Brooklyn Museum is exhibiting excerpts from the project, and for the first time properly credits Gross as co-creator, correcting decades of obscuring her role when the work was shown at Marlborough Gallery, which represented only Grooms.

top moments in photography 2025

Artnet News highlights the top photography moments of 2025, including Sara Cwynar's exhibition of search-engine images at ICA Boston, Inuuteq Storch's debut at MoMA PS1 showcasing his Greenlandic hometown, and Dietemar Busse's Polaroid portraits celebrated at Amant, New York. The year also saw Wolfgang Tillmans' blockbuster farewell exhibition at the Centre Pompidou before its five-year renovation, and Marian Goodman Gallery's inaugural show of Ana Mendieta's work, "Back to the Source," featuring her iconic photographs and performances. Mendieta's work was also spotlighted at Art Basel Miami Beach, with her piece "Sandwoman" (1983) drawing emotional responses from visitors.

8 new york gallery shows were excited about right now

Artnet News highlights eight winter gallery shows in New York City, including Ragnar Kjartansson's video installation "Sunday Without Love" at Luhring Augustine, featuring the artist and collaborators in folk costumes chanting a comedic line about living without love, and Louise Bourgeois's exhibition "Gathering Wool" at Hauser & Wirth, which explores themes of motherhood and abstraction through video, sculpture, and performance. Other notable shows include Jordan Casteel's floral canvases at Casey Kaplan and Geoffrey Holder's pulsing paintings at James Fuentes.

shanghai art week 2025 diary

Shanghai Art Week 2025 featured two major art fairs, West Bund Art and Design and Art021 Shanghai, alongside numerous satellite exhibitions and events across the city. The author navigated the sprawling metropolis by public bike, visiting highlights including “Artist’s Treat,” a cluster of 11 exhibitions organized by artist Xu Zhen in a repurposed French school, and Blunt Society, an artist-run space showing works by Ma Lingli and Alex Müller. The week was marked by a cautiously optimistic market mood, with dealers reporting better-than-expected sales and new initiatives like Art021’s SVIP preview for serious collectors.

christopher kulendran thomas moma gagosian new museum

Christopher Kulendran Thomas, an artist who has been building his own neural networks for over a decade, is showing new paintings and a video installation at Gagosian's Upper East Side location, with concurrent exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and upcoming at the New Museum. His series 'Peace Core' uses AI trained on Sri Lankan painters to generate compositions that are hand-painted onto canvas, depicting Mullivaikkal beach—the site of a 2009 massacre of Tamil civilians during the Sri Lankan civil war. The Gagosian show also features a 24-screen video installation that algorithmically remixes American TV footage from the morning of September 11, 2001, before the attacks became visible.

ibrahim mahamas stunning textile installation blankets the barbican in london

Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has transformed the lakeside terrace of London's Barbican Centre with a monumental textile installation titled "Purple Hibiscus" (2023-24). The work, measuring 6,560 square feet, is made from handcrafted pink and purple fabric adorned with approximately 130 traditional ceremonial robes called batakaris, sourced from communities in Tamale, Ghana. Mahama collaborated with a network of local women weavers and employed around 1,000 workers to produce the piece over seven months, using Tamale's Alui Mahama sports stadium as a workspace. The installation is part of the Barbican's exhibition "Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art."

christo pompidou arc de triomphe

Christo, the Bulgarian-born artist known for his monumental fabric-wrapped installations, reflects on his career ahead of a planned exhibition at the Centre Pompidou titled "Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Paris!" The show, dedicated to Christo and his late wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude, has been indefinitely postponed due to the global health crisis. Christo discusses his early years in Paris, his nomadic artistic approach, and his upcoming project to wrap the Arc de Triomphe, scheduled for September 19 to October 4. The article captures his disdain for retrospection, his escape from communist Bulgaria, and his lifelong commitment to taking art beyond traditional gallery spaces.

frieze new york 2025 museum and gallery guide

Frieze New York 2025 is approaching, and Artnet News has published a guide to must-see museum and gallery shows across the city. Highlights include dual exhibitions by Kennedy Yanko at Salon 94 and James Cohan, a solo show by Salman Toor at Luhring Augustine, two concurrent Picasso exhibitions at Gagosian and Almine Rech, and a major survey of Rashid Johnson at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The guide covers emerging and established artists, with shows running from April through July 2025.

The 9 Exhibitions to See in April 2026

ArtReview's editors have selected nine notable exhibitions opening globally in April 2026, highlighting shows that explore materiality, memory, and political history. Featured exhibitions include "Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials" at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, showcasing artists using organic materials rooted in Brown and Indigenous thinking; a major Veronica Ryan retrospective at London's Whitechapel Gallery; and a historical exhibition in Prague revisiting Jiří Kolář's contested participation in the 1969 São Paulo Bienal under Brazil's military dictatorship.

Venice Biennale 2026 Highlights: Arsenale & Giardini

ArtReview editors highlight the must-see national pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale, running from 9 May to 22 November 2026. Notable presentations include Austria's Florentina Holzinger turning her pavilion into a toilet and sewage-treatment plant with naked performers, and Germany's pavilion featuring works by Sung Tieu and the late Henrike Naumann, who died in February 2026, exploring East German memory and conceptual minimalism.

Museum as Dreaming Machine

Artist Refik Anadol, cofounder of Refik Anadol Studio, announces the opening of DATALAND, a new museum for data designed from the ground up in collaboration with architect Frank Gehry at The Grand LA. The project aims to create an architectural space inherently designed for immersive, AI-generated, and constantly evolving art, moving beyond the need to retrofit traditional museum structures like the white cube.

Our Guide to New York Art Week 2026

New York Art Week 2026 brings a major convergence of art events across the city, including several prominent art fairs such as Frieze New York, Independent New York, TEFAF New York, and NADA New York. The week also features gallery openings spanning from Tribeca to the Upper East Side, as well as auction previews ahead of key sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips.

‘I couldn’t believe we weren’t falling over ourselves for it’: Asia-Pacific art finally conquers Britain

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has opened "Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific," a major exhibition produced in partnership with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane. Featuring over 70 works never before exhibited in the UK, the show draws from QAGOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), which began in 1993. Highlights include Michael Parekōwhai's sculpture of a Māori bouncer, Montien Boonma's terracotta bell installation, and Takahiro Iwasaki's intricate wooden model. The exhibition is the first APT survey to be held outside Australia and Chile, arriving after years of planning by V&A exhibitions director Daniel Slater.