Artist Qualeasha Wood Says Viral ‘BedRot’ Performance Copied Her Work

Artist Qualeasha Wood has publicly accused another artist, known as Aphex Redditor, of copying her performance art piece. Wood staged a performance called 'Attention Economy' in March 2025 at London's Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, where she lay in bed scrolling through her phone for an extended period, a concept the gallery's release described as 'bed rotting.' A similar performance by Aphex Redditor, titled 'BedRot,' went viral on social media after she scrolled through Instagram Reels for 24 hours at Montreal's Eastern Bloc art center.

Fort Worth's Gallery at Bowie House to Present New Art Exhibition Featuring Carly Allen Martin and Erik Skoldberg

The Gallery at Bowie House in Fort Worth is launching a new exhibition titled "Memory Lane," featuring abstract works by artists Carly Allen Martin and Erik Skoldberg. Since opening in December 2023 within the luxury Auberge Resorts Collection hotel, the gallery has integrated fine art into every guest room and public space, selling hundreds of works ranging from $30,000 to several hundred thousand dollars. The upcoming show marks a shift for the space, moving from its typical figurative Western aesthetic toward contemporary abstraction.

Stephan Balkenhol New Bronze Sculptures 2026 - Man in a White

German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol has unveiled two new hand-painted bronze editions, "Man in a White Shirt and Black Pants 2026" and "Venus 2026." Released in editions of 30 and standing 68 cm tall, the works are being showcased and sold through Frank Fluegel Galerie across its Nuremberg and Kitzbühel locations. The release coincides with the artist's participation in the Art Cologne Palma de Mallorca Fair and precedes his 70th birthday in 2027.

London’s Art Market Rebound: Sotheby’s Spring 2026 Recap

Sotheby’s London kicked off its Spring 2026 marquee season with a series of high-energy auctions, totaling £154 million across its Modern & Contemporary sales. The week was highlighted by a "white-glove" evening auction that achieved a 100% sell-through rate, led by Francis Bacon’s 1972 Self-Portrait which sold for £16 million. Significant records were set for British masters, most notably Leon Kossoff, whose painting "Children’s Swimming Pool" shattered estimates to reach £5.2 million.

Exhibition Review and Studio Visit Feature: Contemporary Color Field Painter Vanessa Johansson

Contemporary painter Vanessa Johansson recently debuted her solo exhibition at the Sky Garden Penthouse in Gramercy Park, New York. Curated by Jenny Mushkin Goldman of Agency Esta, the show featured Johansson’s large-scale acrylic on canvas works, which utilize fluid, transparent layers to evoke the spiritual and visual language of mid-20th-century Color Field abstraction. Pieces such as the triptych 'Windows' and the diptych 'Flow State' demonstrate her intuitive approach to motion, buoyancy, and orbital forms.

The Burlington Magazine - No. 1477 Vol. CLXVIII - April 2026

The Burlington Magazine - n°1477 vol CLXVIII - April 2026

The April 2026 issue of The Burlington Magazine presents a wealth of new scholarship, highlighted by significant discoveries regarding the 'Rainbow' portrait of Queen Elizabeth I and a previously unpublished portrait of Sarah Churchill by Godfrey Kneller. The edition spans centuries of art history, featuring research on 18th-century color theorist Mary Gartside, the pottery windows of William Bell Scott, and newly identified drawings by Marcellus Laroon the Younger.

Jamie Robertson’s soft heat at Houston Center for Photography, Houston

Jamie Robertson’s solo exhibition, "soft heat," at the Houston Center for Photography presents a series of infrared photographs documenting Southern wetlands, including Caddo Lake and the Great Dismal Swamp. Using archival pigment prints and a zine titled "Alligatorwatergreen," Robertson utilizes thermosensational imagery to transform dense marshlands into ethereal, snow-like landscapes. The work incorporates archival figures, such as a liberated formerly enslaved man named Osman, to highlight the historical role of swamps as sites of maroonage and Black resistance.

Meet the Gallerists Trading White Cubes for Unconventional Architecture

A growing number of gallerists are moving away from the traditional 'white cube' gallery model, opting instead for spaces with unconventional architecture and distinct character. These include locations in repurposed industrial buildings, historic structures, and uniquely designed new constructions that actively shape the visitor's experience of the art.

Croissant, pigeon… At Nothing Serious gallery, artist Paa Joe transforms Parisian clichés into pop coffins

Croissant, pigeon… À la galerie Nothing Serious, l’artiste Paa Joe transforme les clichés parisiens en cercueils pop

Ghanaian artist Paa Joe has transformed iconic Parisian symbols into vibrant "fantasy coffins" for his solo exhibition, "From Paa Joe to Paaris," at Galerie Nothing Serious. The show features 25 large-scale sculptures, including a Café de Flore cup, a croissant, a Renault 4L, and a bottle of Pouilly-Fumé, all handcrafted in the tradition of Ga burial customs. Created alongside his son Jacob Tetteh-Ashong, these works reinterpret French clichés through a playful yet surreal lens, marking the gallery's return after a four-year hiatus.

‘One simple gesture says it all’: the world in black and white – in pictures

Photographer Marina Sersale has released a new monograph titled 'Liminal Space,' published by Gost, which compiles over a decade of monochrome photography. The collection features dramatic black-and-white images captured between 2013 and 2021 across diverse locations including Italy, Japan, Iran, and the United States. Sersale, a former documentary filmmaker, focuses on the interplay of light and shadow to document fleeting, everyday moments—from sunbathers in Positano to commuters in Naples.

Segregation stories: Gordon Parks in the US south – in pictures

Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta is hosting a significant exhibition of Gordon Parks’ color photography, titled "The South in Colour." Curated by photographer Dawoud Bey, the show features over 30 works from Parks’ 1956 "Segregation Story" series, including previously unshown images and a new portfolio from The Gordon Parks Foundation. The collection documents the daily lives of the Thornton, Causey, and Tanner families in Alabama, capturing the quiet dignity of Black Americans living under the oppressive Jim Crow laws of the postwar era.

Hospital Rooms Announces 10-Year Programme and National Artist Edition Launch

The arts and mental health charity Hospital Rooms has announced a comprehensive year-long program for 2026 to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The initiative features a nationwide artist edition project titled "10 Posters for 10 Years," involving ten world-renowned artists including Antony Gormley. Key events include a launch at White Cube in July, followed by a major exhibition at Victoria Miro and a fundraising auction at Bonhams in September, all aimed at supporting the charity's Future Fund for mental health environments.

Yamamoto Masao’s Otherworldly Portraits Introduce Us to Expressive Owls

Photographer Yamamoto Masao is presenting a solo exhibition titled 'Ten Owls' at Yancey Richardson gallery in New York. The show features intimate, small-scale gelatin silver prints of owls, creatures that inhabit the forests near his Japanese home, with the works intended for close viewing to foster a connection with the elusive birds.

Inside the Studio of Abdelkader Benchamma, Cartographer of Invisible Worlds

Dans l’atelier d’Abdelkader Benchamma, cartographe des mondes invisibles

French-Moroccan artist Abdelkader Benchamma is preparing for his upcoming solo exhibition, "Signs and Wonders," at Galerie Templon in Paris. Working from his sun-drenched studio in Montpellier, Benchamma has transitioned from his signature black-and-white ink drawings to large-scale canvases that incorporate celestial blues and earthy mineral tones. The new body of work draws inspiration from 15th and 16th-century manuscripts, specifically the Kitab al-Bulhan and the Book of Miracles, creating a "giant book" of visual narratives that blur the lines between abstraction and figuration.

New MCASD exhibit of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys' personal collection showcases Black art

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) has launched "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys," a major traveling exhibition showcasing the couple's extensive collection of Black diasporic art. The show features monumental works from 37 artists, including a 164-foot painting by Meleko Mokgosi and an 8,000-pound sculpture by Arthur Jafa that required structural reinforcement of the museum floor. To create a more inclusive atmosphere, the exhibition replaces traditional white gallery walls with bold colors and includes a curated musical playlist by Swizz Beatz.

'Park Seo-Bo' at White Cube, Paris, France on 15 Apr–30 May 2026

White Cube Paris is hosting a major retrospective of Park Seo-Bo’s 'Ecriture' paintings, covering five decades of the artist’s career. The exhibition notably features the debut of his 'Newspaper Ecritures' in Paris—a series he originally conceived in the city during the late 1970s—presented alongside the final works completed before his death in 2023.

Tour LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries – a radical departure

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has unveiled the first look at its new David Geffen Galleries, a radical horizontal structure designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Scheduled to open to the public in May 2026, the sinuous concrete and glass building is elevated thirty feet above the ground, spanning Wilshire Boulevard. The interior departs from the traditional "white cube" museum model, featuring 27 non-linear galleries that utilize natural light and custom-designed metallic curtains to showcase the museum's encyclopedic collection in a fluid, interdisciplinary environment.

“Photography as a Way of Life” at PU Art Museum

The Princeton University Art Museum has unveiled "Photography as a Way of Life," a major exhibition running from April 19 through September 7. The show examines the interconnected careers of Minor White, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan, three titans of mid-20th-century American photography. Drawing heavily from the museum’s Minor White Archive, the exhibition features unpublished color and black-and-white prints, archival documents, and a reconstruction of White’s slide projection piece, "Slow Dance."

White Girls and the Global South

The article is a curated list of art books for spring reading, featuring a diverse range of subjects. It highlights two main critical reviews: one critiques a new novel, *Flat Earth* by Anika Jade Levy, as another navel-gazing story about disaffected white women, while the other praises a scholarly work, *Non-Aligned: Art, Decolonization and the Third World Project in India* by Atreyee Gupta, which examines the international solidarity networks of Indian modernist painters long before the term "Global South" became popular.

Protection and Constraint are Two Sides of the Same Coin: An Exhibition in Rome Proves It

Protezione e costrizione sono due facce della stessa medaglia. Una mostra a Roma lo dimostra

The gallery Monti8 in Rome is hosting a group exhibition titled "The Bell Jar," co-curated by Massimiliano Maglione. Inspired by Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel, the show features seven international artists—Camilla Alberti, Ruby Chen, Mounir Eddib, Stephen Buscemi, Naomi Hawksley, Steffen Kern, and Amber Wynne-Jones. The exhibition explores the dual nature of the glass bell jar as both a protective shield for precious objects and a suffocating barrier that isolates the subject from the world.

French Pop-Street Artist Jisbar Launches Billboard Art Exhibit in Detroit

French pop-street artist Jisbar has launched a city-wide exhibition in Detroit, transforming 134 static and digital billboards into a public art gallery. Running from April through mid-June, the project is a collaboration with Farmington Hills-based iO Billboard and features numbered works that reimagine pop culture icons and classic art. The initiative encourages residents to interact with the urban landscape by "collecting" sightings of the various pieces scattered across four metro counties.

Mystery 17th-Century Portrait Sparks Search for Identity of Black Sitter

Researchers at the National Portrait Gallery in London have launched a landmark investigation into a rare 17th-century double portrait featuring a Black boy and a white boy standing side-by-side. The painting, which has hung at the historic Penshurst Place in Kent for centuries, is undergoing extensive restoration and technical analysis to identify the sitters. Experts are particularly struck by the composition, which depicts the Black figure at the same scale and status as the white figure, a significant departure from the era's typical portrayal of Black individuals as marginal attendants.

Stories in Copper and Vinyl

Geschichten in Kupfer und Vinyl

The UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing is hosting "Hundreds and Thousands," the first institutional retrospective of the late American conceptual artist Rutherford Chang. The exhibition showcases Chang’s career-long obsession with collecting and cataloging mass-produced objects, most notably featuring his collection of over 3,700 first-pressings of the Beatles’ "White Album." Other significant works include a 31-kilogram copper cube created from 10,000 pre-1982 pennies and a digital archive of over 2,000 of the artist's own Game Boy Tetris sessions.

The Formal Consistency of Marcos López

LA CONSISTENCIA FORMAL DE MARCOS LÓPEZ

The Fundación Larivière in Buenos Aires is hosting a major retrospective of Argentine photographer Marcos López, featuring over 200 works spanning from 1975 to 2025. The exhibition highlights López’s distinct visual language, characterized by the high-saturation color palette of his 'Pop Latino' series and his rejection of traditional black-and-white documentary photography. His work is defined by deliberate staging, using artificial backdrops and theatrical props to create images that function as allegorical documents of Latin American identity.

Inaugural Medina Triennial in Western New York Will Include 39 Artists

The inaugural Medina Triennial has announced its artist lineup for its debut edition running from June to September in Western New York. Featuring 39 participants, the walkable exhibition will showcase site-specific works by international and local figures including Tania Candiani, Lina Lapelytė, and Asad Raza. Installations and performances will be integrated into the town's civic fabric, utilizing non-traditional venues such as a railroad museum, local churches, hospital corridors, and a century-old high school.

Abstract Thinking at the Cafesjian Art Trust Museum

The Cafesjian Art Trust Museum in Shoreview has launched "Abstraction and Ourselves," an ambitious exhibition that bridges the gap between contemporary abstract painting and monumental glass sculpture. Curated by Jill Ahlberg Yohe, formerly of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the show pairs the museum’s renowned glass collection—including works by Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová—with significant loans such as a Georgia O’Keeffe oil painting and works by Dyani White Hawk.

Dvaita (द्वैत) or Dualities Exhibition Explores Philosophical Contrasts at The Lexicon Art

The Lexicon Art in New Delhi is set to host "Dvaita (द्वैत): Dualities," a group exhibition curated by architect and artist Ankon Mitra opening on April 18, 2026. Featuring the work of 11 contemporary artists, the show explores the philosophical concept of dualism through contrasting elements such as light and shadow, geometric and amorphous forms, and gold and silver. The exhibition design moves away from the traditional white cube format, instead utilizing the gallery space to create a physical "dance of dualities" that reflects India’s layered cultural realities.

Mystery grows over missing artwork in controversial exhibition

The National Gallery of Australia is set to open the long-delayed exhibition "Ngura Pulka: Epic Country," but the show has been met with fresh controversy as a painting by a former executive of the APY Arts Centre Collective was mysteriously removed. The exhibition was originally postponed in 2023 following allegations of white staff members interfering with the work of Indigenous artists, and this latest withdrawal has prompted conflicting explanations from the involved parties.

‘The sharp perception only a woman can bring to observing other women’: Dorothy Bohm’s photographs go on show at Lee Miller’s former home

A new exhibition titled 'About Women' featuring seven decades of work by photographer Dorothy Bohm opens at Farleys House & Gallery, the former home of photographer Lee Miller. The show highlights Bohm's female-focused street photography, spanning from black-and-white to color work, and draws a direct connection to Miller's legacy.

'A Swimming Soul' at Whitestone Gallery, Seoul, South Korea on 18 Apr–24 May 2026

Whitestone Gallery Seoul is hosting "A Swimming Soul," a group exhibition featuring emerging artists Lee Juyoung, Kisho Kakutani, and Yudai Takeuchi. Running from April 18 to May 24, 2026, the show utilizes the metaphor of a swimming fish to explore themes of youth, uncertainty, and the drifting nature of modern existence. Each artist presents a unique visual language to address the ambiguity of reality, from Lee’s blurred urban reflections and Kakutani’s obstructive "noise" layers to Takeuchi’s exploration of the liminal space between consciousness and sleep.