Exhibition at La Jolla’s Tim Bessell gallery to showcase surf-inspired art

An upcoming exhibition at Tim Bessell's surfboard shop and gallery in La Jolla will showcase surf-inspired works by a group of artists connected by their shared love of surfing and the ocean. The show, expected to open in the first week of June, features painter, sculptor, photographer, and mixed-media artists, including Joel Pessoa, Tim Bessell, Robin Bessell, Shaun Donovan, and Steve Sherman. Pessoa will display wood carvings from Portugal and paintings from his time in La Jolla, while Bessell—an internationally known surfboard maker and artist—will also exhibit his own works, alongside his wife Robin's floral mixed-media pieces and informal contributions from his daughter Natalie.

Student artists bring diverse visions to IVC’s annual gallery exhibit

The 2026 IVC Student Art Exhibit opened at Imperial Valley College's Juanita Lowe Art Gallery on May 6, featuring a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a diverse range of student works including sculptures, videos, paintings, mixed media, and photography. Notable pieces include Catalina Gonsalez's acrylic series "Fire-Fuego," "Wind-Viento," "Water-Agua," and "Earth-Tierra," Stephanie Carrillo's watercolor of Salvador Dali, Kimberly Rodriguez's "Fragile Dancer," and Alejandro Mendez's "Self Portrait." Artist Daniel Barrera Jr. showcased Renaissance-inspired drawings, and author Cuauhtemoc (Chucky) Cortez presented his children's book "Joaquiner Stinker" with illustrations by Jesus Felix.

On the eve of Mother’s Day, New Orleans art exhibit protests the death of Black sons

On the eve of Mother's Day 2026, an art exhibit titled "The Four Lost Sons" opened at [ART] CONSCIOUS gallery in Arabi, Louisiana. The show features large portraits of four Black men from Louisiana who died in police custody or altercations, created by the pseudonymous artist Walta Focq. The exhibit coincides with the anniversary of Ronald Greene's death, who was beaten and tased by Louisiana State Police in 2019. The mothers of the four men are involved in the project and plan to speak at the opening reception.

Evidence of Evolution at QUEUE Gallery, Miami

QUEUE Gallery in Miami is presenting 'Evidence of Evolution,' a two-person exhibition featuring Fharid LaTorre’s hand-carved wood and metal sculptures alongside Jamieson Pearl’s oil-on-linen paintings. LaTorre’s works, such as 'showing slivers & taking off skin for sake of dopamine layer of diophantine equations' (2026), use scavenged metal and burl wood to evoke surgical transformations and bodily stress, while Pearl’s paintings depict glitch-blocked internet microcelebrities and screenshots from LiveLeak pornos, rendered freehand in distorted blocks. The show runs at QUEUE’s new location above Tunnel Projects in Miami.

Summer 2026 Santa Fe gallery shows are awash in new works

Santa Fe galleries are presenting a wave of new summer 2026 exhibitions, featuring works by artists such as Kate Rivers, Rick Stevens, and Guillermo Galindo. Shows range from Rivers' book-based explorations of human connection at Kay Contemporary to Stevens' landscape-inspired abstract paintings and Galindo's multimedia, border-dissolving photographic works at Aurelia Gallery. The exhibitions run from May through September, with openings and receptions scheduled across the city's historic Canyon Road and Plaza districts.

United Asian American Alliance hosts 3rd Annual AAPI Art Exhibit

The United Asian American Alliance hosted the 3rd Annual AAPI Art Exhibit at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, a month-long showcase of Asian American creativity and heritage. Curated by artist Joan Kim Suzuki, the exhibition features works in painting, mixed media, photography, and textile that explore themes of memory, identity, migration, and belonging. The opening reception welcomed distinguished guests including Tracey Edwards, New York State NAACP Vice President, and actor Lisa Yang, a Golden Horse Award nominee.

DO Savannah: Ella Langley, TEDxSavannah, and more

This article is a local events calendar for Savannah, Georgia, covering the week of May 12–21, 2026. Highlights include a SCAD Jewelry Trunk Show, a Telfair Museums anniversary preview of Impressionism and Modernity: French and American Painting with a lecture by National Gallery of Art curator Mary Morton, the opening of the Seven Ladies Exhibit at the Davenport House Museum, the 15th annual TEDxSavannah, a country concert by Ella Langley, a brewery anniversary party, a jazz fundraiser, and several preservation-focused lectures including one by National Preservation Partners Network CEO Kim Trent and a talk on landscape architect Clermont Lee. The Courtyard Concert Series at SCAD MOA concludes with local bluegrass band Swamptooth.

An Ancient Ballad at Emami Art Brings Generations of Artists Together in Kolkata

A new group exhibition titled 'An Ancient Ballad' opens at Emami Art in Kolkata on 22 May 2026, bringing together 12 artists across generations. The show examines recurring motifs of nature, the human body, and animal forms in modern and contemporary art through photography, painting, printmaking, textile, ceramics, and sculpture. Historical works by L. M. Sen and K. C. Pyne are displayed alongside contemporary artists including Arunima Choudhury, Ajit Kumar Das, Alakananda Sengupta, Raja Boro, and Rahul Sarkar, creating an intergenerational dialogue on memory, mythology, and lived experience.

Anyflatsurface turns paddles, saws and rocks into art in new Northern Ontario show

Joyce Effinger, a self-taught visual artist based in Corbeil, Ontario, opens her solo exhibition "Anyflatsurface" at the Alex Dufresne Gallery on May 9. The show features paintings on unconventional surfaces such as paddles, saws, rocks, cloth, and found objects, transforming everyday items marked by use and history into vibrant studies of color, form, and place. Effinger, who came to painting later in life, draws inspiration from northern Ontario's landscapes and heritage, as well as poetry and personal reflection.

When the Night Bleeds into the Day

Wenn die Nacht auf den Tag abfärbt

Berlin-based graffiti artist Paradox Paradise, known for his distinctive red-and-blue "Paraglyphs" painted on high facades, discusses his evolution from classic graffiti to a radically reduced visual language. In an interview with Monopol, he explains how he stripped away decorative elements to focus on precise, vertical outlines and messages like "Mieten runter Wände bunter" (lower rents, more colorful walls). He describes his nocturnal actions as states of heightened presence requiring weeks of planning, where every movement has immediate consequences.

Andrew Christopher Green at Galerie Khoshbakht

Andrew Christopher Green presents a solo exhibition titled "Catkins" at Galerie Khoshbakht in Cologne, running from April 17 to May 23, 2026. The show features a selection of works documented through 9 images and 1 video on the gallery's exhibition page, with photography by Mareike Tocha.

Doyen retrouve la chapelle Saint-Louis

A cycle of eleven paintings commissioned in 1772 for the Chapelle Saint-Louis at the École Militaire in Paris, depicting the life of Saint Louis, has been rediscovered. The chapel was built under Louis XV by architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel, and the paintings were executed by Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre following a carefully devised iconographic program. The discovery sheds new light on a major decorative ensemble from the Ancien Régime.

Young Artists Shine: Long Branch Student Art Exhibition Returns to LB Arts & Cultural Center

The annual Long Branch District Student Art Exhibition returns to the Long Branch Arts & Cultural Center in New Jersey, running from May 7 through May 15. The showcase features paintings, drawings, mixed media pieces, and other creative projects by students across all grade levels in the Long Branch Public Schools district, with an opening reception on May 11 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

London artist Irum Rahat’s ‘Yeh Kab Ki Baat Hai’ is a house full of memories

London-based artist Irum Rahat presents her first solo exhibition in India, 'Yeh Kab Ki Baat Hai', at Pristine Contemporary in Delhi. The show features 16 new works that draw from her upbringing in a South Asian household, transforming mundane domestic scenes—making chai, sitting in rooms, family interactions—into a visual archive of memory and intimacy. Rahat's paintings, influenced by cinema and her own photography, use soft, hazy colors to evoke nostalgia and the ambiguity of time.

Artist Isaac Spellman on creating spaces for the misunderstood through art

Artist Isaac Spellman discusses his creative practice and upcoming presentation at the Affordable Art Fair 2026 in an interview. Spellman, whose style blends Art Deco graphic posters with elements of Chinese gongbi silk painting, has attracted commercial clients including Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and Bang & Olufsen. For the fair, he will debut two original series: "Red, White, Bright and Young," inspired by London's Bright Young Things of the 1920s and their queer-inclusive social scene, and "Pretty Monster," which portrays whimsical monsters embracing their differences.

Gallery openings and exhibits in Central Oregon this week

This article lists numerous gallery openings and ongoing exhibits across Central Oregon, including venues such as Amejko Artistry, Art Adventure Gallery, Artists’ Gallery Sunriver, and the High Desert Museum. Featured shows include nomadic woven artwork by Anna Amejko Peterson, a 40th anniversary exhibition of Jefferson County artists, “A Man Named York” at the Belknap Exhibit Center, and “Drawn West — A History of Promoting Place” at the High Desert Museum, among many others spanning pottery, photography, fiber art, and historical displays.

Between here and home

Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY, presents "Between here and home," a group exhibition running from May 22 through July 12, with an opening reception on May 23. The show features works by Fred Cohen, Frank DePietro, Deb Lawrence, Olan Quattro, and ransome, exploring the concept of home as an evolving construct shaped by memory, material, and experience. The exhibition draws on the Welsh idea of hiraeth—a longing for a lost or imagined home—and includes paintings, collages, and mixed media works that reflect each artist's personal engagement with place, interior space, and inherited histories.

Abstract painter Tom Wilson Jones featured at Provincetown gallery

Abstract Expressionist painter Tom Wilson Jones is the subject of a new exhibition at Larkin Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The show runs through June 9, with an opening reception on May 22. Jones, a Louisville native now living in Harwich Port, studied under Robert Henry, Bill Steeves, and at the Royal Museum of Brussels School.

Window to the past: Worcester history on show in Denholm installation

A new public art installation titled “Uniquely Worcester: Celebrating Worcester’s Past & Present” has opened in the windows of the Denholm Building in Worcester, Massachusetts. The exhibition features work from 10 local artists across eight front windows, highlighting the city’s history through themes such as sports, the arts, and notable figures like rocket pioneer Robert Goddard, Valentine card popularizer Esther Howland, and smiley face creator Harvey Ball. One window showcases Abu Mwenye’s vibrant paintings inspired by his Kenyan and Tanzanian heritage, while another displays musical instruments spanning 250 years, including a rope drum from the American Revolution and a guitar made at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The installation runs throughout 2026 and was organized by project manager Melissa Mattson.

Five-Minute Tours: Helmut Barnett at Wally Workman Gallery, Austin

Glasstire's Five-Minute Tours series features a video walk-through of Helmut Barnett's solo exhibition "Surfaces" at Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, Texas. The show runs from April 11 to May 3, 2026, and presents Barnett's paintings, collages, and drawings that blend geometric and organic forms, created over his 50-year career.

Exhibition | Huang Hankang, 'The Sky Remains as the Bird Departs' at Arario Gallery, Shanghai, China

Arario Gallery Shanghai presents Huang Hankang's solo exhibition 'The Sky Remains as the Bird Departs,' running from May 15 to July 4. The show uses Shanghai as a dynamic 'processing system' where images, histories, and cultures are constantly received, translated, and reorganized. Through installations and paintings, the exhibition compresses multiple visual and historical threads, featuring works such as 'Gate of Flesh and Soul,' which juxtaposes Giuseppe Castiglione's hybrid visual language with the Cathay Theatre and fragments of George Washington's dentures, and 'Overlaid Life,' which contrasts a Song Dynasty crystal rabbit with cultivated orchids. Other pieces like 'Void Resonance' and 'Nameless Mark' explore perception, the body, and cultural mediation.

‘Cultural identity is not a binary choice’: Newmarket artist finds artistic balance in solo exhibition

Newmarket artist Jing Fu presents her solo exhibition 'Unearthed – My Equilibrium' at the Aurora Cultural Centre, opening May 14. The show traces her 30-year artistic journey from Shanghai to Canada, blending traditional Chinese shanshui painting with Canadian natural landscapes. Fu's work includes atmospheric landscapes inspired by Ontario wilderness and an abstract 'Roots' series exploring emotional connection and inner balance.

Mennello Museum’s 'Our Orlando' group show returns, featuring three innovative local artists

The Mennello Museum in Loch Haven, Orlando, has launched the fourth edition of its 'Our Orlando' group exhibition, featuring three local artists: Tasanee Durrett, Mado Smith, and Martha Jo Mahoney. The show, curated by museum director Shannon Fitzgerald and co-curator Flynn Dobbs, includes four works each by Durrett and Mahoney and two by Smith, drawn from studio visits. The exhibition runs through late August with an opening reception on Friday.

Stella’s Art Gallery selects ‘Size Matters’ winners | Gallery Glances

Stella's Art Gallery in Willoughby, Ohio, held its awards reception for the annual 'Size Matters' exhibition on May 8, with this year's theme requiring all works to be exactly 10 inches. Best of Show went to Breda Fallon for 'One Woman Show,' a 3D diorama. Winners in 3D included John Carreon (first and second place) and Daniel Fishwick (third); in 2D, Tatiana Strelnikova, Tracy Parsons, and Sheri Lawrence took top honors. The article also covers upcoming calls for art at the gallery, including 'The Landscape Show: Real or Fantasy' in June and 'The H2O Show' in July.

At Mcube, the movement and memory of jatras come alive

Pradip Kumar Bajracharya's solo exhibition 'Festive Spirit' at Gallery Mcube in Kathmandu marks his return to solo shows after over a decade. The exhibition captures the movement and memory of Nepal's jatras (festivals), focusing on the cultural celebrations of the Newa people. Bajracharya uses abstraction and fluid acrylic techniques to depict events like Bhaktapur's Sindure Jatra and Indra Jatra, often decentering faces to emphasize atmosphere and emotion. The works also reflect on the pandemic's halt of festivities, with paintings referencing locked chariots and temple guardians.

Atlanta gallery turns political tension into art with ‘Politically inCorrect’ exhibition

EuGene V Byrd III has curated the 'Politically inCorrect' group fine art exhibition, now open at Railroad ATL inside the Future Gallery in Atlanta. Featuring over 50 artists and 110 to 120 works across painting, photography, sculpture, and collage, the show addresses what Byrd calls an overdue conversation about art and social responsibility. Inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois, the open-call exhibition asks artists to speak their truth on political and social issues, with pieces like Faif Quin's photograph referencing the killing of Charlie Kirk and Naylon D. Mitchell's portrait 'Mama Rosa' among the highlights. The exhibition runs through May 30.

Agitate, Educate, Organize. A Conversation with the Indonesian Collective That Is in Venice with Two Projects

Agitare, educare, organizzare. Una conversazione con il collettivo indonesiano che è a Venezia con due progetti

Sale Docks, an activist art space born from a 2007 occupation in Venice, has invited the Indonesian collective Taring Padi to collaborate on two projects. The first is the exhibition "Taring Padi: People's Liberation," which reactivates banners as tools for propaganda, mobilization, and resistance. The second is a public intervention in Venice, where the collective and local community will repaint the walls of the historic social center Laboratorio Occupato Morion. The article includes an interview with Taring Padi, which was founded in 1998 in Yogyakarta by students and activists, and discusses their use of wayang shadow-puppet imagery and collaborative processes to agitate, educate, and organize communities.

Bayeux Tapestry: A Blank Voyage That Tests Nothing

Tapisserie de Bayeux : un voyage à blanc qui ne teste rien

A confidential interim report obtained by La Tribune de l'Art reveals that the "blank voyage" test transport of the Bayeux Tapestry from Bayeux to London in February 2026 failed to measure actual risks to the artwork. The report admits that the vibration threshold used (2 mm/s) is arbitrary and based on paintings, not on a textile of this size and fragility. Because the tapestry has been stored and inaccessible since September 2025, no mechanical tests could be conducted beforehand to determine safe vibration levels, rendering the test meaningless. A second test took place on April 15, 2026, but its report has not yet been finalized; the actual loan is planned for July 2026, with transport via Eurostar.

Egypt Unveils a Hidden Tomb of 3,500-Year-Old Coffins at Luxor’s Abu el-Naga

An Egyptian archaeological mission excavating at the Abu El-Naga necropolis near Luxor has uncovered a cache of ten well-preserved painted wooden coffins hidden in the courtyard shaft of the tomb of Baki. The coffins span multiple periods, including the 18th Dynasty, the Ramesside period, and the Late Period, with inscriptions naming individuals such as Merit, a chantress of the god Amun, and Padi-Amun, a priest in the Temple of Amun. The team also discovered the tomb of a purification priest named A-Shafi-Nakhtu, decorated with funerary scenes, and a burial site containing over 30 mummified cats from the Ptolemaic Period. The discoveries were announced by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, with the excavation season beginning in November 2025.

New film about forgers is ‘Miami Vice’ for the art-world crowd

The article reviews 'Forge', a new crime thriller directed by Jing Ai Ng, which follows Chinese American siblings Coco and Raymond Zhang who forge early 20th-century landscape paintings and sell them as authentic works in South Florida. The film features FBI agent Emily (Kelly Marie Tran) investigating the scheme, while the forgers navigate a world of wealthy collectors, a hurricane-destroyed art collection, and a family legacy of deception. The movie is described as 'Miami Vice' for the art-world crowd, with a dusky palette and pulsing soundtrack set against the backdrop of Art Basel Miami Beach's booming art market.