The San Francisco Bay Area's spring art season features a robust lineup of exhibitions highlighting local artists, history, and community resilience amid a challenging cultural climate. Shows include Cece Carpio's first solo exhibition at SOMArts blending street art and folklore, a major Theresa Hak Kyung Cha retrospective at BAMPFA, and Trina Michelle Robinson's two-venue exploration of Black migration at 500 Capp Street and Root Division.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei faced a vote by the Royal Academy of Arts in London on whether to revoke his membership as an international Royal Academician. This followed a controversial tweet he posted in late 2023 about the Israel-Hamas conflict, which he later deleted and which led his gallery, Lisson Gallery, to postpone a show of his work. The RA's General Assembly ultimately voted to retain his membership.
The article highlights 20 art exhibitions across India running concurrently with the India Art Fair, focusing on six key shows. Atul Dodiya presents 'The Gatecrasher' at Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi, featuring 12 large-scale oil paintings that weave pop culture, art history, and personal memory. Sudarshan Shetty's 'A Breath Held Long' at GallerySKE explores the intersection of voice, body, and urban life through film and steel sculptures. Bikaner House hosts 'Typecasting: Photographing the People of India 1855-1920,' a critical exhibition of colonial ethnographic photographs. The Kolkata Centre for Creativity presents 'Convergences: A Shared Ground' examining artistic and architectural practices from eastern and northeastern India. Nilaya Anthology in Mumbai showcases a retrospective of architect Pinakin Patel, 'The Turning Point,' featuring 11 signature pieces.
Mexico City Art Week's satellite fairs, Salón Acme and Feria Material, drew large crowds during VIP previews on February 5, with Material reporting its biggest opening-day attendance ever after moving to the expansive Maravilla Studios venue. The fairs feature over 70 exhibitors, with a strong contingent of Mexico City galleries and around half of participating galleries from Latin America. Notable presentations include Rajni Perera's works on paper and sculptures addressing environmental exploitation and colonial control, Gala Berger's hybrid works on amate paper referencing the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and Miguel Harte's enamel and resin pieces depicting nature overwhelmed by synthetic materials.
Banco Santander announced on 21 January that it will manage 160 works from the Gelman Collection of 20th-century Mexican art, following a long-term agreement with the Zambrano family, which acquired the collection in 2023. The newly branded Gelman Santander Collection will debut this summer at Faro Santander, the bank's new venue in Cantabria, Spain. The collection, started by Russian-born film producer Jacques Gelman and his wife Natasha, includes major works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, and others, but has been largely out of public view since 2008 amid inheritance disputes. The agreement is complicated by Mexican law, which designates many works as National Artistic Monuments, restricting their permanent export and requiring oversight by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL).
Mexico City's Zona Maco fair is drawing upbeat crowds and eager buyers at the Centro Banamex convention centre, running until 8 February. Despite geopolitical tensions and the addition of Art Basel Qatar to the international calendar, collectors, curators, and museum groups from the Americas and Europe are attending in strong numbers. Galleries such as Sean Kelly Gallery, Proyectos Monclova, Kouri + Corrao, and Palo Gallery report robust sales and deep conversations with visitors, with a notable emphasis on ceramics and materiality in the works on view.
Stephen Friedman Gallery, a prominent London-based contemporary art gallery, has entered administration and closed its doors after 30 years in business. The gallery had recently expanded, opening a new space in New York and moving to larger premises in London, but financial strain from construction costs, rent, and a downturn in the art market led to its collapse. The gallery's closure was confirmed just as Art Basel Qatar opened, where its planned solo booth was taken over by the represented artist's estate and another gallery.
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin's pioneering contemporary art museum, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Co-directors Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, who arrived in 2022, are using the milestone to reflect on the institution's legacy and future direction, emphasizing its role as a site of artistic production and experimentation. They are also organizing an international fundraising gala on March 14 to help shape its next chapter.
This article is a curated guide to ten art exhibitions taking place across Upstate New York in February. It highlights a diverse range of shows, including Kim Tateo's abstract paintings at Context Collective, Barbara Todd's politically charged textile works at Opalka Gallery, Michael Salomon's photographic landscapes, and group shows celebrating creative courage and Hudson Valley artists. Other featured exhibitions include Sita Gómez's paintings of women at Hudson Hall and photography shows by Ocean Vuong and Nona Faustine at the Center for Photography at Woodstock.
Auction sales for artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region rose 9.4% to $33.2 million in 2025, driven by increased activity from international auction houses and the emergence of new hubs like Riyadh. The Sotheby's 'Origins' sale in Saudi Arabia achieved $17.3 million, setting artist records, while works from Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq saw particularly strong gains, indicating a market rebalancing.
Art Basel has launched its first fair in Qatar, adopting a novel format distinct from its other global events. The fair, featuring 87 galleries, requires each to present only one artist and is spread across multiple venues in Doha's Msheireb cultural district, with an open-plan, museum-like layout and special commissioned projects. Artist Wael Shawky serves as artistic director, emphasizing curatorial coherence over commercialism.
Zona Maco, Latin America's largest art and design fair, has launched its 22nd edition in Mexico City as the anchor of the city's 2026 Art Week. The fair features over 220 galleries from 26 countries, blending contemporary and modern art, design, and photography under the artistic direction of Direlia Lazo.
Galleries and museums across the United States are presenting a diverse range of exhibitions featuring Black artists during Black History Month. These shows highlight artists working in various mediums, from painting and drawing to installation and tapestry, and are on view in cities including Miami, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago.
Anish Kapoor will open an exhibition at Palazzo Manfrin in Venice on May 5, focusing on his architectural-scale sculptural projects—both realized and unrealized. The show includes around 50 to 70 models, with highlights such as *Cloud Gate* (2006) in Chicago, the Monte Sant’Angelo Metro Station in Naples, and unrealized plans for a work in outer space. New works include an immersive painting room, and *At the Edge of the World* (1998) has been remade in a dark black paint related to Vantablack. The exhibition runs through August, after which *Descent into Limbo* (1992) will be permanently installed on the Cannaregio site.
Six major art exhibitions are opening in London public galleries in February 2026, running through at least May. Highlights include Lucian Freud: Drawing Into Painting at the National Portrait Gallery (12 Feb–4 May), Seurat and the Sea at The Courtauld Gallery (13 Feb–17 May), Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life at the Hayward Gallery (17 Feb–3 May), Beatriz González at the Barbican Art Gallery (25 Feb–10 May), and Tracey Emin at Tate Modern (26 Feb–31 Aug). These shows span modern masters, contemporary installation, and international voices.
During the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Anish Kapoor presents a major new exhibition at Palazzo Manfrin, a 16th-century Venetian landmark in Cannaregio that houses the artist's foundation. The show, titled 'Anish Kapoor: Palazzo Manfrin,' features around 100 architectural models from the past 50 years, alongside large-scale installations and stainless-steel works, including a monumental black-pigment version of 'At the Edge of the World' (1998), a towering mirror work, 'Descent into Limbo' (1992), and Vantablack sculptures. The exhibition explores Kapoor's concept of the 'non-object' and the transformative quality of sculpture.
A roundup of current and upcoming exhibitions at San Francisco museums in January 2026 highlights several shows closing soon, including "Manet and Morisot" at the Legion of Honor and "Suzanne Jackson: What is Love" at SFMOMA, both ending March 1. New exhibitions opening include "The art of Cece Carpio" at SOMArts on Jan. 30, and "Trina Michelle Robinson: Open Your Eyes to Water" at 500 Capp Street and Root Division in February. The de Young Museum features "Boom and Bust: Photographing Northern California" and artist Rose B. Simpson's show "LEXICON," part of the newly opened galleries dedicated to Arts of Indigenous America. The Museum of the African Diaspora presents "Unbound: Art, Blackness and the Universe" and "Continuum: MoAD Over Time," while the Asian Art Museum hosts "Jitish Kallat: Covering Letter (Terranum Nuncius)."
Boston Art Review (BAR) has published a curated list of fifteen standout exhibitions to visit this winter, highlighting a diverse range of contemporary art shows across Boston and beyond. The selection includes both local gallery presentations and major museum exhibitions, offering readers a guide to the season's most compelling visual art experiences.
The Philadelphia Art Museum has opened a new exhibition surveying the career of the late American artist Noah Davis, featuring over 60 works from 2007 to his death in 2015. The show, curated by Eleanor Nairne and Wells Fray-Smith, is the final stop of an international tour organized with DAS MINSK in Potsdam, the Barbican in London, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. It includes paintings, sculptures, and works on paper that chronologically map Davis's multimedia practice, with a final room dedicated to his last three paintings.
Larissa De Jesús Negrón and other Puerto Rican artists are driving a cultural renaissance in San Juan, with grassroots galleries, collectives, and adaptive institutions redefining how art is produced and shared. This surge follows Hurricane Maria and the pandemic, bolstered by global attention from figures like Bad Bunny and exhibitions such as the 2023 Whitney show "no existe un mundo poshuracán." Art dealer Walter Otero notes that the scene has strengthened through local residencies, fellowships, and Puerto Rican curators in U.S. institutions, while spaces like EMBAJADA, founded by Christopher Rivera and Manuela Paz, reject the white-cube model to engage broader local audiences.
The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has set a new attendance record with its current exhibition, 'Amy Sherald: American Sublime,' which has drawn 52,597 visitors since opening on November 2. The previous record was held by the 'Matisse/Diebenkorn' show in 2016-2017 with about 45,700 visitors. The exhibition, a mid-career survey of Sherald's work, runs through April 5 and is projected to reach 70,000 attendees. It originated at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art before arriving in Baltimore, after Sherald canceled its planned stop at the National Portrait Gallery due to censorship concerns.
A senior curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) resigned after the museum's modern and contemporary curatorial working committee voted 11-to-9 against acquiring Nan Goldin's moving-image work "Stendhal Syndrome" (2024), citing allegations of antisemitism over remarks Goldin made in a 2024 speech at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie. The AGO had planned to jointly purchase the work with the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Walker Art Center, but pulled out in mid 2025; the other two institutions proceeded with the acquisition. Two volunteer members of the collections committee also resigned over the decision, according to a leaked memo obtained by The Globe and Mail.
Naomi Campbell has contributed an essay to an upcoming exhibition of Pablo Picasso's paintings staged by Nahmad Contemporary at Tarmak22 gallery in Gstaad, Switzerland, from 14 February to 15 March. The show features 14 works from Picasso's Le Peintre et son modèle series (1963–1965), which explore the dynamic between artist and model. Campbell, drawing on her decades as a supermodel, offers a personal perspective on the power dynamics of being looked at, comparing the painter-model relationship to that of photographer and model.
Fred Wilson: The Flag Project is on view at the Rose Art Museum from February 11 to May 31, 2026, in the Lois Foster Wing stairwell. The exhibition features a selection of Wilson's Flag paintings, including the large canvas Hidden Flag (2012), and a series of national flags from African and African diasporic countries rendered entirely in black paint on raw cotton canvas, arranged in a mural-like procession. The show is organized by Dr. Gannit Ankori, the museum's Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator, and supported by Pace Gallery.
The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation has announced an exhibition titled "Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers." The show will feature the work of contemporary artist Rashid Johnson, known for his multidisciplinary practice encompassing sculpture, painting, photography, and installation.
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo celebrated its 30th anniversary with a star-studded dinner in Turin, attended by over 500 leading artists, curators, collectors, and gallerists. The event, held at the National Automobile Museum, honored founder Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, who received a cultural medal from the mayor. Artists including Philippe Parreno, Doug Aitken, and Glenn Brown joined the festivities, which coincided with Turin art week and the Artissima art fair. The foundation also opened an anniversary exhibition, 'News from the Near Future,' featuring around 150 works from its collection.
SF Art Week returns with a packed schedule of events across San Francisco, including the Recology Artist in Residence exhibition featuring work made from materials sourced at the city's recycling center, a mural painting and unveiling by eL Seed in collaboration with incarcerated artists at San Quentin, and the launch of ICA SF's nomadic model with exhibitions by Tara Donovan and Lily Kwong at the Transamerica Pyramid Center. Other highlights include gallery openings at Paul Thiebaud Gallery, frame-making demonstrations at Aedicule, a new art fair at the Fairmont Hotel, and a curator-led tour at SHACK15, alongside workshops, a rave-themed reception at the Asian Art Museum, and a conversation between artist Lava Thomas and curator Key Jo Lee at MoAD.
The article profiles eleven artists poised for breakout moments in 2026, highlighting their recent achievements and upcoming projects. Featured artists include Diambe, a nonbinary Brazilian artist who will debut a major solo show at Kunsthalle Basel; Tuan Andrew Nguyen, a Vietnamese-born MacArthur fellow who will unveil a public commission for New York's High Line Plinth; and Balraj Khanna, a self-taught Indian painter who died in 2024 and is gaining posthumous recognition. Other artists on the list include Klára Hosnedlová, Kim Hankyul, Gabriel Chaile, Benni Bosetto, Pat Oleszko, Seba Calfuqueo, Tony Lewis, and Nat Faulkner, each noted for significant exhibitions, gallery representation, or awards that have built momentum toward wider acclaim.
ART SG, Southeast Asia's leading contemporary art fair, returns to the Sands Expo and Convention Centre at Marina Bay Sands from 23–25 January 2026, with previews on 22 January. The fair features three core sectors—Galleries, Focus, and Futures—and for the first time co-presents S.E.A. Focus, curated by John Z.W. Tung with artistic consultation by Emi Eu, themed 'The Humane Agency'. Highlights include Melati Suryodarmo's performance 'I Love You' (2007) from the UBS Art Collection, presented in the UBS Art Studio, with a re-performance and artist talk. Singapore Art Week runs concurrently from 22–31 January 2026, offering exhibitions, installations, and performances across the city, including a collaboration between Rockbund Art Museum and ART SG at The Warehouse Hotel.
Art SG 2026, the fourth edition of Singapore's annual art fair, will take place from January 22 to 25 at Marina Bay Sands, featuring over 100 galleries from more than 30 countries. Fair director Shuyin Yang has introduced several new initiatives, including the Wan Hai Hotel project by Shanghai's Rockbund Art Museum, a South Asian art platform sponsored by TVS Motor, and the integration of S.E.A. Focus into Art SG. Notable guests include the Tate patrons group, curators from Palais de Tokyo and LUMA Arles, and LACMA director Michael Govan, who will launch the museum's Southeast Asia acquisition program.