Raphael Met Museum Retrospective Review

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art has launched "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the first major retrospective of the Renaissance master ever staged in the United States. Curated by Carmen C. Bambach, the exhibition features 237 works, including rare loans of drawings and monumental tapestries that have not left Madrid since the 16th century. While some of his most famous paintings remain in Europe, the show provides an exhaustive look at the artist's development from a teenage prodigy to a papal favorite.

Notes from New York: Rotting Meat

Artist Jen Liu’s solo exhibition 'Pound of Flesh' at Silverlens New York explores the dehumanizing nature of digital labor through visceral imagery of raw meat. The show features paintings where human consciousness is replaced by butcher-shop cuts and an animated video based on Liu’s research into microworkers—individuals who perform repetitive, low-paid tasks to train AI models. By juxtaposing the biological reality of the body with the clinical extraction of data, Liu highlights the physical and psychological toll of the 'Agentic Age.'

Racheal Crowther review – unnerving installation attacks your mind … and your nostrils!

London-based artist Racheal Crowther has transformed the Chisenhale Gallery into a sensory-heavy, paranoid environment for her first institutional solo exhibition. The installation centers on a decommissioned U.S. military mobile health unit, once used during the 2018 Novichok decontamination efforts, set against walls painted in "drunk tank pink." The experience is defined by an aggressive olfactory component—a chemical cocktail of powdered milk scents and hexadecanal, a molecule found on infants' heads known to manipulate human aggression.

Folkestone Triennial 2025 review: environmental catastrophe—but also hope, joy and a jolly salamander

The Folkestone Triennial 2025, titled "The Lie of the Land," features 18 artists across the seaside town in southeast England. Works include Sara Trillo's chalk cob sculptures inspired by Iron Age urns, Emilija Skarnulyte's film on nuclear decommissioning at Lithuania's Ignalina plant, Katie Paterson's amulet installation made from planetary crisis materials, and Cooking Sections' activist project on UK sewerage pollution. The triennial runs through the ancient port's historic role as a site of arrival and departure.

Is Art Good for Your Health?

A new book titled 'Art Cure' by scientist Daisy Fancourt argues that engaging with the arts has significant, measurable benefits for both mental and physical health. The author, a professor of psychobiology and epidemiology, compiles extensive research to claim arts experiences can prevent suicides, help manage epidemics, increase life expectancy, reduce depression, aid trauma recovery, enhance neuroplasticity, and even encourage healthier eating habits.