At Yale: the commercial empire within the British empire

The Yale Center for British Art presents 'Painters, Ports, and Profits,' an exhibition of 115 items spanning a century of art and history, focusing on the East India Company's commercial empire. The show includes paintings, prints, drawings, books, and artifacts such as a 37-foot watercolor scroll of Lucknow (1826) and works by Indian artist Gangaram Chintaman Navgire Tambat, who emerges as the artistic star with 20 pieces. It also features prints of the company's opium factory and 'The Opium Fleet Descending The Ganges' by Walter Stanhope Sherwill, highlighting the company's role in the Opium Wars with China.

Landmark Exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Unites U.S. Bicentennial Photography Surveys for the First Time

The Smithsonian American Art Museum will present "Much Here Is Beautiful: Photography Surveys of the U.S. Bicentennial," a landmark exhibition opening September 18, 2026, that brings together for the first time photography surveys created through a federally funded grant program by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) around the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial. Featuring 225 photographs by more than 70 photographers, the show draws on the museum's holdings and collections nationwide, including previously unseen works, and places them in the context of federal survey photography dating back to the 19th century.

LUCRECIA LIONTI: GRAFISMOS DESTERRADOS

Lucrecia Lionti, an Argentine textile artist from Tucumán, is the subject of a feature examining her solo exhibition "Grafismos desterrados" at Sorondo Projects in Barcelona (2026). The article details how Lionti's practice, spanning over fifteen years, merges modern art with craft, using textiles as a political and affective device. It highlights her involvement since 2018 with the feminist collective La Lola Mora – Trabajadoras de las Artes de Tucumán, and her recent exhibition at MALBA titled "Fabril la mirada." The show presents works where language becomes material—woven, knotted, and frayed—featuring illegible marks that blur writing and drawing, evoking loss and exile.

Sophie Von Hellerman “After a Dream” at Greene Naftali, New York

Greene Naftali presents Sophie von Hellermann's eighth solo exhibition, "After a Dream," featuring pairs of figures drawn from literature, art history, the artist's personal acquaintances, and imaginative constructs. The show explores creative relationships through the charged dynamic of the couple, presenting narrative chimeras that examine different forms of alignment and connection.

Where to go on Potsdamer Straße?

Wohin auf der Potsdamer Straße?

The article previews the Gallery Weekend Berlin, focusing on the Potsdamer Straße art scene. It highlights several exhibitions, including Adam Gordon's "Months Turn to Years" at Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, which transforms the space into a secluded enclave with quiet paintings. Other featured shows include luminous color experiments, soap foam as an art form, and works exploring identity.

Greta Thunberg, Hugh Bonneville sign letter defending Southbank Centre chair Misan Harriman

A petition signed by Greta Thunberg, Hugh Bonneville, and other prominent figures defends Misan Harriman, the photographer and chair of London's Southbank Centre, against what the letter calls a "dishonest smear campaign." The controversy stems from two incidents: Harriman shared a social media post about a stabbing attack in Golders Green, noting that a Muslim victim received less press coverage than two Jewish victims, and later posted a video reflecting on the rise of the right-wing Reform party, citing a conversation about the Holocaust. Right-wing outlets like The Daily Telegraph accused him of equating Reform's electoral success to the Holocaust, leading to widespread backlash. Harriman denies making such equivalences, and nearly 70,000 people have filed complaints with the press regulator IPSO—the largest campaign in its history.

‘Street culture is about revolution’: Brazilian ‘hip-hop’ painter Paulo Nimer Pjota

Brazilian artist Paulo Nimer Pjota, now 37, is preparing for his first UK institutional exhibition, 'Encantados (Enchanted),' at the South London Gallery. The show features 11 new paintings on canvas alongside a large wall drawing, drawing on imagery from ancient civilizations, Brazilian folklore, art history, and children's literature. Pjota, who began painting at age 12 and sold his first work at 15, describes his process as akin to a hip-hop producer sampling diverse sources. His background includes graffiti and hip-hop culture in São José do Rio Prêto, where he trained at a local hip-hop school and collaborated with renowned Brazilian graffiti artists like Os Gêmeos, Ise, and Nunca.

Art Show in London Canceled Over Allegations of Antisemitism from Pro-Israel Group

An exhibition by artist Matthew Collings at Delta House Gallery in London was canceled after UK Lawyers for Israel raised allegations of antisemitism. The show, titled "Drawings Against Genocide," had previously been displayed in Margate, where a review in the Telegraph described the works as "dripping with Jew-hate." One drawing depicted Sotheby's owner Patrick Drahi eating babies alive, while others showed Jews with horns or standing on skulls. Tom Berglund, chairman of Pineapple Corporation, which owns Delta House, said the exhibition was arranged without consultation and expressed hope for resolution in the Middle East. Collings defended the work on Instagram, arguing it satirizes the use of art to whitewash what he called "Zionist atrocity."

Joe Brainard at Chris Sharp Gallery

Joe Brainard's work is currently on view at Chris Sharp Gallery in an exhibition documented with 68 images and no videos. The show presents the artist's pieces, though no text descriptions accompany the images on the page.

Luscious Hair Sculptures Sprout Like Branches in a Symbiotic Exhibition

Artists Merryn Omotayo Alaka and Sam Frésquez have created a collaborative exhibition titled "Your Birth is My Birth" at Jane Lombard Gallery in Chicago. The show features synthetic hair sculptures made from Kanekalon, suspended from the ceiling and spread across the floor like organic growths. Five distinct "species" of sculptures—Listening Roots, Hearing Bells, Mother & Child, Stacking Pearls, and Umbra Pods—draw inspiration from epiphytes, non-parasitic plants that grow on host specimens. The works explore themes of symbiosis, interdependence, and genetic inheritance, with mirrored forms emerging within vertical tendrils.

Jack Leigh and Parker Stewart exhibit opens in Savannah

An exhibition titled "Jack Leigh & Parker Stewart: In Place" has opened at Laney Contemporary in Savannah, featuring black-and-white photographs by Jack Leigh (1948–2004) and Parker Stewart (b. 1992). Both artists document the landscape and communities of the coastal South, with Leigh known for his work on oystermen, shrimp boat crews, and Gullah Geechee communities, and Stewart focusing on tidal landscapes of coastal Georgia and the Savannah River Basin. The show includes serendipitous parallels, such as nearly identical photographs of a water tower taken by each artist decades apart. Co-curated by Stewart and gallerist Susan Laney, it marks the first time Leigh's work has been exhibited alongside a living photographer in nearly a decade.

ISA Art Gallery and Fitri DK’s ‘Nine Kartinis of Kendeng’

ISA Art Gallery in Jakarta recently held the first exhibition in its 'Biophilia' series, titled 'Exquisite Corpse', which ran from February 14 to April 16. The show features works centered on nature and sustainability, with a standout piece by artist Fitri DK: two batik works titled 'Selamatan Bumi 1 and 2'. These works depict the 'Nine Kartinis of Kendeng', a group of women from Central Java fighting to protect their karst mountains from a cement factory that threatens their clean water supply. The exhibition draws its title from Elza Adamowicz's book on Surrealist collage, emphasizing fragmented, collective creation.

“It’s about how to speak the unspeakable”: artist Lotus Kang's new work explores absence as an opportunity

Artist Lotus L Kang has created a new installation titled 'The Face of Desire is Loss' for the inaugural Bulgari Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. The pavilion, located at the Giardini entrance, features Kang's signature use of light-sensitive photographic film that reacts to the environment, suspended from steel joists with large holes inspired by the lotus root motif. The work draws on a line by poet Lara Mimosa Montes and explores themes of absence, loss, and the void, with the film changing color over time from deep purple to hues resembling bruise, blood, and bile.

Pioneering 19th century women artists inspire new city castle exhibition

A new exhibition titled "Chain of Flowers" opens at Norwich Castle on May 16, featuring works by Cambridge-based artist Miranda Boulton. The exhibition draws inspiration from pioneering 19th-century women artists Emily Stannard and Eloise Stannard, members of the Norwich School of Artists. Boulton retraced Emily Stannard's 1820s journey to the Netherlands to study Jan Van Huysum's paintings at the Rijksmuseum, creating a series of oil paintings that contrast the Dutch Golden Age's detailed style with thick impasto and spray paint.

Jes Chen Makes a Knock at the Door Feel Like an Accusation

London-based artist Jes Chen presents "Occupied" (2026), an interactive installation that strips AI technology down to a knock sensor, a screen, and a live AI system. Viewers knock on a door-like interface and receive varied responses—defensive, evasive, or silence—generated in real time. The work draws from Chen's childhood memory of having her bedroom door lock removed, transforming privacy and vulnerability into a behavioral system. Recent presentations at the London Design Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, and Generative Art Conference 2025 have showcased Chen's restrained, psychologically charged approach to AI art.

Of This Earth: Transforming Culture and Country Through First Nations Ceramics

The National Gallery of Australia presents 'Of This Earth: Transforming Culture and Country Through First Nations Ceramics,' an exhibition featuring over thirty works by twenty-eight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, including Thancoupie, Billy Bain, Nicole Foreshew, and Janet Fieldhouse. The show highlights diverse ceramic techniques and narratives drawn from the National Collection, emphasizing cultural continuity and contemporary expression.

Peterson Rich Office designs Condé M Nast Galleries at The Met in time for yearly gala exhibition

Brooklyn-based architecture studio Peterson Rich Office has completed the redesign of five gallery spaces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, known as the Condé M Nast Galleries. The project transformed 12,000 square feet of a former courtyard into gallery and auxiliary rooms, revealing historic brickwork and facades from the 19th-century buildings by architects Richard Morris Hunt, Arthur Lyman Tuckerman, and Calvert Vaux. The spaces include the Orientation Gallery, High Gallery, Low Gallery, and Finale Gallery, each blending contemporary design with exposed historic materials. The first exhibition in the High Gallery is the Costume Art show, timed to coincide with the annual Met Gala.

Exhibition | Tommaso Spazzini Villa, 'The Time That’s Left' at TOTAH, New York, United States

TOTAH gallery in New York presents 'The Time That’s Left', a solo exhibition of works by Italian artist Tommaso Spazzini Villa, opening May 14, 2026. The show expands on his recent large-scale mural on West 45th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, moving from public space to an intimate gallery setting. It features graphite drawings traced across antique book pages—sacred texts, epic poetry, theatre scores—depicting root-like forms that challenge linear language, alongside metal box sculptures with wire, light, and dried leaves that create fleeting shadow dioramas.

Dirk Staschke's exhibition

Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis is hosting a new exhibition of trompe l’oeil stoneware sculptures and tiles by artist Dirk Staschke. Staschke, a sculptor and ceramicist, draws inspiration from Dutch Vanitas still-life painting, blending traditional techniques with contemporary textures and forced perspective. His works merge painting and sculpture, featuring adapted still lives on ceramic vessels and three-dimensional framed tableaus. Staschke holds an MFA from Alfred University and a BFA from the University of Montevallo, and his work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum, Icheon Museum, Crocker Museum, and Portland Art Museum.

Khaled Sabsabi: Splintered Worlds

Khaled Sabsabi, a Lebanese Australian artist, explores the intersection of spirituality and perception through video and mixed-media installations rooted in Sufism. His work, such as the 18-minute video *Lefke Morning* (2012–18), captures the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order's dawn meditations, using blurred imagery and soundscapes to challenge Islamophobic media tropes and evoke a sense of unity. Sabsabi's practice also draws on hip-hop, which he performed as "Peacefender" in the 1980s, using music to address social issues and support marginalized communities in Western Sydney.

Up Close: Liang Yuanwei

Liang Yuanwei's latest painting cycle, "Pluviophile," culminated in the work "im Kugelhagel Wh·YeGrUm·Br-" (2025), exhibited at Beijing Commune in 2026. The large oil-on-linen piece, tucked at the far end of the gallery, features a burnt reddish-brown field scarred with gouged arcs and scraped-away paint that reveals a gold underlayer, creating an effect of violent impact and luminous aftermath.

The Top 5 Art Exhibitions to see in London right now

Tabish Khan, the @LondonArtCritic, selects five current exhibitions in London. These include Aleksandra Karpowicz's 'Remember What You Forgot' at Felstead Art, which transforms her cancer treatment into a powerful installation; Gabriel Abrantes' 'Bardo Loops' at Gasworks, featuring emotionally charged video works; Racheal Crowther's 'Liquid Trust' at Chisenhale Gallery, examining psychological manipulation through a militaristic structure; Eleanor May Watson's 'There is No Time Like Spring' at Soho Revue, capturing nostalgic domestic moments; and the group show 'South Open 4' at OHSH Projects, showcasing diverse works from an open call.

US artist takes stage in Venice exhibition

U.S. artist Alma Allen, a self-taught sculptor based in Mexico, has mounted an exhibition titled "Call Me the Breeze" at the U.S. Pavilion for the Venice Biennale after a fraught selection process. The process, which removed language on diversity, equity, and inclusion in favor of promoting "American values," caused several institutions to withdraw from vying for the commission. Allen created a bronze evil eye for the pavilion's exterior to ward off bad vibes, and his show includes a dozen new works alongside pieces from the last 20 years. The prior proposal for artist Robert Lazzarini fell apart after its institutional sponsor backed out, leading to a new project with the American Arts Conservancy as sponsor and Jeffrey Uslip as curator.

In an age of distraction, Marina Abramovic draws audiences into art

Marina Abramović, the pioneering performance artist who turns 80 this year, is the subject of a major exhibition at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, running through October. The show, titled "Transforming Energy," features interactive "transitory objects" such as crystal structures and minerals, a re-enactment of one of her best-known performances, and a depiction of her work "Pieta" staged with her late partner Ulay alongside Titian’s masterpiece. Abramović became the first living woman to be honored with a major exhibition at the museum, and she previously won the top prize at the 1997 Venice Biennale. In an interview, she discusses her shift from painting to performance, her evolving relationship with the audience, and the challenge of holding attention in an age of distraction.

All the new exhibits to see at these 4 Louisville museums

Four Louisville museums have opened new exhibits. The Frazier Kentucky History Museum launched four exhibits as part of its America250 initiative, including 'Pursuit of Happiness,' 'Louisville to Liberty: The Blackburns’ Journey,' 'I Too Am a Kentuckian,' and 'Revolutionary Threads.' The Kentucky Derby Museum added a fashion display from the Hallmark Channel movie 'Kentucky Roses,' featuring costumes worn by actors Andrew Walker and Odette Annable. KMAC Contemporary Art Museum and the Speed Museum are also featuring new art exhibits, including works by female Abstract Expressionists.

Giorgio Vasari beyond the Lives: what the exhibition at the Capitoline Museums in Rome looks like

An exhibition titled "Vasari and Rome" has opened at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, running until July 19, 2026. Curated by Alessandra Baroni and promoted by Roma Capitale, the show features over seventy works—including drawings, prints, engravings, letters, medals, sculptures, and paintings—that trace Giorgio Vasari's relationship with 16th-century Rome. Sixteen autograph works and seven drawings are among the highlights, arranged in four sections that follow the chronology of Vasari's Roman sojourns, from his arrival in 1532 under Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici to his later engagements with patrons like Bindo Altoviti and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. The exhibition is staged in an intimate, chamber-like setting on the top floor of Palazzo Caffarelli, contrasting the small space with the vast theme of Vasari's role in papal Rome's political and cultural life.

Biennale Arte 2026: which national pavilions strike us and why

The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by Koyo Kouoh (who passed away in May 2025), opened amid intense controversy over its artist list and geopolitical tensions. Protests erupted against the participation of Israel and Russia, with a petition signed by 22 countries to exclude Russia, threats from the European Commission to suspend funding, and the resignation of the international jury. Around 18 national pavilions staged strikes and partial closures to denounce the normalization of Israel's presence and precarious labor in the art world. The Austria Pavilion's performance by Florentina Holzinger, featuring a girl hanging upside down inside a tilting bell, became a viral symbol refocusing attention on art itself.

Venice Biennale 2026 Roundup

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, opened in May 2026 amid significant turmoil. The Austrian Pavilion features Florentina Holzinger's performance piece "Seaworld Venice," centered on a giant bell that chimes hourly. The biennale has been marked by the death of its curator, the resignation of the international jury over the inclusion of Russia and Israel, protests by Pussy Riot and the Art Not Genocide Alliance, and the cancellation of the South African Pavilion over Gabrielle Goliath's "Elegy," which honors murdered women including a Palestinian poet. The US Pavilion's state-sponsored offerings have also drawn criticism.

Clark Art Institute to Exhibit Priceless Art Donated by Tavitian Foundation

The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, announced an upcoming exhibition titled “An Exquisite Eye: Introducing the Aso O. Tavitian Collection,” on view from June 13, 2025, through February 21, 2027. The show features approximately 150 works from the Tavitian Collection, a major private collection of European art assembled by the late collector and philanthropist Aso O. Tavitian. Spanning c. 1450–1850, the exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, drawings, and decorative arts by artists such as Jan van Eyck, Jean-Antoine Houdon, and Elizabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun. The collection, comprising 331 objects, was donated to the Clark and will eventually be housed in a new wing designed by Selldorf Architects, set to open in 2028.

‘I will always fight against fascism’: Zineb Sedira on her Tate Britain commission

Zineb Sedira has been selected for the Tate Britain commission, creating her largest UK installation to date, titled *When Words Fall Silent, Cinema Speaks…*, on view until January 2027. The site-specific work in the museum's Duveen Galleries pays tribute to radical African cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, highlighting Algeria's role as a revolutionary hub. Sedira recreates the Parisian cafes of her childhood, featuring Scopitone machines that play short music films, and draws on the legacy of the Cinémathèque Algérienne and the 1969 Pan-African Festival.