Fold in these exhibitions during festival season

Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto begin on May 22, and the article highlights a curated selection of visual art exhibitions in Charleston to enjoy alongside the festival's performances. Featured venues include Robert Lange Studios, Corrigan Gallery, Stevenson and Co., Atrium Gallery, Meyer Vogl, Duckworth Gallery, and the Gibbes Museum of Art, which opens "Mary Whyte: Salt of the Earth" and continues "Rodin: All the Truth in Nature." The College of Charleston's Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, under new director Michael Dickins, presents "Make Room" by In Kyoung Chun and another exhibition through July 25.

Your Australian art guide for May 2026 is here

May 2026 brings a packed calendar of art exhibitions across Australia, with highlights including Rone's 'Another TIME' at COMA Gallery in Sydney, the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes at the Art Gallery of NSW, and solo shows by Eleanor Louise Butt, Jordan Gogos, Natalya Hughes, Patricia Piccinini, and Michaela Gleave. Regional venues like Bundanon and Ngununggula also feature major exhibitions, including a posthumous show of Rosalie Gascoigne alongside new commissions by First Nations women artists.

Going Out: Top 20+ arts & nightlife events, April 16-24

The Haight Street Art Center is hosting 'I-Beam: Disco, Dancing and Modern Rock in the Haight,' an exhibition exploring the visual culture of San Francisco's historic nightlife and music scene. Other visual art highlights in the Bay Area include 'Hot Draw!', an erotic figure drawing session at the Mark I Chester Studio, and various community exhibits hosted at the SF LGBT Center.

Obey Giant x Add Fuel Modular Frequency Shepard Fairey Fine Contemporary Art , 2026

Street art pioneer Shepard Fairey has released a collaborative screen print titled "Modular Frequency" in partnership with Portuguese artist Add Fuel (Diogo Machado). The limited-edition work, produced by Obey Giant Studios, features a fusion of Fairey’s signature propaganda-style aesthetics with Add Fuel’s contemporary take on traditional tile patterns. The hand-signed and numbered edition is currently being offered through New Union Gallery on the Artsy platform.

Exhibition | OSGEMEOS, 'The Open Window' at Lehmann Maupin, 501 West 24th Street, New York, United States

Lehmann Maupin is set to present "The Open Window," an exhibition of new works by the renowned Brazilian twin artist duo OSGEMEOS, running from April 23 to June 6, 2026, in New York. The showcase features five new paintings that continue the artists' exploration of their surreal "Tritrez" universe, characterized by their signature yellow-skinned figures and intricate patterns. These works operate at a more intimate scale than their well-known large-format murals, focusing on material sensitivity and detailed narratives inspired by hip-hop culture and Brazilian folklore.

Shepard Fairey "RAGE" Fine Art Screenprint Street Contemporary Obey Giant , 2021

Contemporary street artist Shepard Fairey’s 2021 screenprint titled "RAGE" has been listed for sale via New Union Gallery on the Artsy platform. The work, a limited edition screenprint on fine art paper measuring 12 by 12 inches, is part of an edition of 250 and is hand-signed and numbered by the artist.

Shepard Fairey Projection Mirror: ICE Paid Agitator Screenprint Contemporary Art Obey Giant , 2026

Street artist Shepard Fairey has released a new limited-edition screenprint titled "Projection Mirror: ICE Paid Agitator" as part of his "FUCK ICE" series. The artwork features inflammatory rhetoric previously used by the Trump administration, redirected toward U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to highlight what the artist describes as the agency's pervasive brutality and dehumanizing attacks on immigrants. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these prints will benefit the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).

UPDATE: These L.A. Artists Flipped a 99 Cents Only Store Into a Bizarrely Beautiful Mid-City Art Gallery

The Hole gallery and artist Barry McGee have transformed a shuttered 99 Cents Only store in Mid-City Los Angeles into a massive, temporary art installation titled "99CENT." The exhibition preserves the original infrastructure of the discount store—including its blue-and-white tiling, checkout lanes, and aisle signage—to house a dense collection of sculptures, paintings, and mixed-media works. Hundreds of artists, ranging from established figures in the graffiti scene to emerging students, contributed to the project, which features everything from tagged bridal gowns to foam sculptures.

This former 99 Cents Only store has been reimagined as an art exhibit — this week only. See inside

A massive pop-up art exhibition titled '99CENT' has taken over a former 99 Cents Only store at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. The immersive installation repurposes the defunct retail space, utilizing original shelving, freezers, and checkout counters to display a wide array of West Coast art styles, graffiti, and sculptures. Highlights include shopping carts transformed into suspended installations and video art integrated into the store's infrastructure.

5 Art Openings in London this week.

London’s art scene sees a surge of activity this week with five notable openings across the city. Highlights include a rare exhibition at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert featuring Rachel Whiteread’s drawings alongside her sculptures, breaking her long-standing rule of keeping the two mediums separate. Other significant shows include LA Timpa’s UK solo debut at Cell Project Space, Hannah Lim’s exploration of cultural heritage at Wilder Gallery, and a group exhibition at Woodbury House featuring Los Angeles street art pioneers like RETNA and Chaz Bojórquez.

Napoles Marty wins Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize

Napoles Marty, a US painter and sculptor based between Connecticut and Rhode Island, has won the 2026 Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize. The award includes $25,000 and a solo stand at the fair, which opens in late February at Santa Monica Airport. Marty, whose work draws on dream imagery and his Cuban heritage, was selected by a jury including collectors Allison K. Berg and Maisha C. Clark. He will collaborate with fair organizers and Diana Nawi, curator of special projects at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, on his presentation. Marty was previously a member of the sixth cohort of Nxthvn, a Connecticut-based arts incubator founded by artist Titus Kaphar and impact investor Jason Price.

Remembering Nathan Farb, Thomas Zipp, and Christine Ruiz-Picasso

The art world mourns the loss of several influential figures, including photographer Nathan Farb, known for his large-format captures of the Adirondacks and 1960s Manhattan, and Christine Ruiz-Picasso, who was instrumental in establishing the Museo Picasso Málaga. Other notable passing include German interdisciplinary artist Thomas Zipp, prolific art forger William "Billy The Brush" Mumford, and Hassen Soufy, the last living member of the L'École de Tunis movement.

JR: 'Reflecting on the cave is to look at our deep humanity, our origins, art in general'

JR : « Réfléchir à la caverne, c’est se pencher sur notre humanité profonde, sur nos origines, sur l’art en général »

French artist JR is transforming the Pont-Neuf in Paris into a giant inflatable cave structure, titled "La Caverne du Pont-Neuf," set to debut on May 23, 2026. The project, conceived with producer Vladimir Yavachev, pays homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 1985 wrapped Pont-Neuf, using inflatable techniques inspired by Christo's unrealized designs. JR's team built a prototype in a hangar at Orly, and the work involves complex permissions from the French president, the Paris mayor, and local authorities.

JR to cover Paris’s Pont Neuf in homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

French artist JR has begun installing a monumental trompe-l’oeil work titled *La Caverne du Pont Neuf* (2026) on Paris’s Pont Neuf, transforming the city’s oldest bridge into an immersive cave. The project reimagines the bridge as a limestone quarry cave, referencing the stone from which the bridge and many Parisian buildings were constructed. The work pays homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s iconic *The Pont Neuf Wrapped* (1985) and will be visible both day and night throughout the summer.

Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, a New Sort of Street Artist, Rises from Art History’s Margins

Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, a late Japanese American collagist who lived and worked as a street artist in New York City, is the subject of a new solo exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art in Kansas City, on view through June. Co-curators Maki Kaneko and Kris Imants Ercums organized the show thematically rather than chronologically, reflecting Mirikitani's fragmented life—from surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and incarceration at Tule Lake to arriving in New York in the 1950s. The exhibition draws on years of research, including visits to the parks where he lived and to Hiroshima, and builds on Linda Hattendorf's 2006 documentary *The Cats of Mirikitani*.

2026 ruth awards recipients yuji agematsuwill rawls

The Ruth Foundation for the Arts has named five artists as recipients of its 2026 Ruth Awards: Yuji Agematsu, Ranu Mukherjee, Will Rawls, Ellen Sebastian Chang, and Anna Martine Whitehead. Each winner receives an unrestricted $100,000 grant disbursed over two years. The artists work across diverse media—from Agematsu's miniature street-detritus sculptures and Rawls's multidisciplinary choreography to Mukherjee's painting and film installations, Sebastian Chang's decades-spanning theater and film work, and Whitehead's performance art. The awards are open to artists across North America and are now in their third year.

Fair Warning Bets Big on a Banksy That Could Realize $18 Million

Fair Warning, the members-only online sales platform founded by former Christie's rainmaker Loïc Gouzer, is staging a rare live auction on May 20 at Tiffany & Co.'s flagship store in New York. The centerpiece is Banksy's *Girl and Balloon on Found Landscape* (2012), a work from the artist's 'Crude Oils' series that has never been publicly exhibited. Consigned by a private collector, the painting carries an ambitious estimate of $13 million–$18 million, one of the highest ever for a Banksy. Gouzer argues that Banksy is among the most consequential artists of our time, comparing his trajectory to Jean-Michel Basquiat, and sees this sale as a landmark moment for the artist's market.

blink 182 banksy sale

A Banksy painting from his 2005 'Crude Oils' exhibition sold for £4.3 million ($5.5 million) at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction in London. The work, *Crude Oil (Vettriano)*, came from the collection of Mark Hoppus, co-founder of the pop-punk band Blink-182, who acquired it in 2011. The painting reimagines Jack Vettriano’s *The Singing Butler*, replacing the idyllic beach scene with environmental pollution, including hazmat-suited workers and a sinking container ship. The sale occurred shortly after Vettriano’s death at age 73.

banksy piranhas london museum

A Banksy mural featuring a fish tank full of piranhas, installed overnight on a police sentry box in London's financial district in August 2024, has been acquired by the London Museum. The work was one of nine animal-themed pieces the artist created across the capital over nine consecutive days. After being removed by the City of London Corporation, the booth was displayed at Guildhall Yard and then placed in storage; it will go on permanent view in 2026 at the London Museum's new Smithfield location, part of a $280 million relocation project.

banksy sentimental lighthouse

Banksy has unveiled a new artwork featuring a lighthouse with the text 'I want to be what you saw in me,' posted on his Instagram account without any caption or location details. The piece, rendered in his signature black stencil on a stucco wall, appears to be his first major work since the 2023 'Beastly London' campaign, which included animal-themed murals across the city. Within two hours of posting, the image garnered over 300,000 likes, continuing the artist's tradition of cryptic, location-ambiguous public interventions.

DC Getaway: Exploring Toronto’s art scene, from galleries to murals

Toronto's visual arts landscape is highlighted as a premier destination for travelers, featuring a mix of massive institutional collections and specialized local galleries. Key attractions include the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), known for its vast natural history and ancient civilization galleries, and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), which houses over 120,000 works ranging from Renaissance masterpieces to contemporary installations like Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room.

Banksy’s Venice mural has been restored and will now tour city

A Banksy mural titled "Migrant Child," originally sprayed onto a 17th-century palazzo in Venice in 2019, has been restored and will tour the city's canals this weekend. The work, which depicts a child holding a flare and wearing a life vest, was removed from the Palazzo San Pantalon after six years of neglect and environmental damage had caused about a third of it to deteriorate. The restoration was funded by Banca Ifis, which purchased the palazzo in 2024 and commissioned Zaha Hadid Architects for the building's renovation. The conservation was supervised by Federico Borgogni, who previously oversaw the removal of another Banksy work in Bristol.

Urban art at the Petit Palais: discover the free exhibition We are here

The Petit Palais in Paris is hosting the second edition of its free urban art exhibition, "We are (still) here," from June 20 to September 20, 2026. Organized in collaboration with the Itinerrance Gallery, the show features nearly 200 works by leading French and international street artists, including Seth and Inti, displayed in the Concorde Hall and throughout the museum's permanent collections, creating a dialogue between contemporary street art and classical masterpieces.

Exhibitions in May: our selection of Parisian outings

This article, published by La Rédac with photos by Audrey de Sortiraparis, presents a curated selection of exhibitions opening in Paris and the Île-de-France region in May 2026. Highlights include a Giovanni Segantini retrospective at the Marmottan Monet Museum, a porcelain exhibition titled "Sèvres, a Rothschild Passion" at the Mobilier National, a comparative show of Michelangelo and Rodin at the Louvre Museum, the return of the Colors Festival with a street-art exhibition called Colors Light, a historical tribute to Madame de Sévigné at the Carnavalet Museum, a major Lee Miller retrospective at the Musée d'Art Moderne, a family-friendly Lego brick exhibition by Dirk Denoyelle at Espace Champerret, and a video game music exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris.

KAWS | BEAUTIFUL LOSERS EXHIBITION POSTER (2004) | Art & Prints

An auction listing for KAWS's "Beautiful Losers Exhibition Poster" (2004) is featured on a digital marketplace, with bidding having ended. The work is an offset lithograph in color, measuring 17 × 11 inches, published by the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati. The listing includes a detailed biography of KAWS (born Brian Donnelly), highlighting his career from street art subversion in the 1990s to high-profile brand collaborations with Nike, Uniqlo, and Dior, and his record auction sale of $14.8 million at Sotheby's in 2019.

KAWS | The Nature of Need (2012) | Available for Sale

The Brooklyn-based artist KAWS has listed an offset lithograph titled 'The Nature of Need' (2012) for sale through Kumi Contemporary. The work, priced at £350, features the artist's signature synthesis of pop culture animation and street art aesthetics, presented as an unsigned edition on smooth paper.

Terrence Sanders-Smith opens art gallery and plans a Miami Basel-style art fest in New Orleans

Terrence Sanders-Smith, a former gallery owner who recently returned to New Orleans, has opened Smith Contemporary at 440 Julia Street in the city's historic Gallery Row. The gallery is one of the few Black-owned galleries in the area's history. Sanders-Smith plans to sell work by racially diverse artists and is organizing a new national art fair, modeled after Miami Basel, to launch as soon as spring 2026. The article also features commentary from former gallery owner Myesha Francis on the importance of Black-owned spaces for artists and audiences of color.

What to Know About Banksy and the Street Artist’s Identity

Reuters has conducted an investigation that claims to have identified the famously anonymous street artist Banksy. The report's key evidence is a police report from Banksy's arrest in New York City approximately twenty years ago.

Alfonso Gonzalez Jr. Gives New Context to Street Art and Commercial Signage in New LACMA Show

Alfonso Gonzalez Jr., a second-generation Los Angeles artist with roots in graffiti, sign painting, and muralism, has opened his first museum exhibition at LACMA. Titled “In Between Stops,” the show features 12 benches installed along the museum’s Kendall Concourse, each serving as a functional sculpture that honors the street art and vernacular signage of LA. Gonzalez Jr., who learned the sign-painting trade at Los Angeles Trade Tech College and worked for outdoor advertisement companies like Wall Dogs and Colossal Media, draws on his background to create fictitious ads that critique advertising tactics while preserving rapidly disappearing elements of LA culture, such as mom-and-pop shops and barber shops.

Mary Boone Stages a Triumphant Return With the Art Titans of 1980s New York

Mary Boone has co-curated "Downtown/Uptown: New York in the Eighties" at Lévy Gorvy Dayan in New York, a sprawling exhibition of over 60 works by artists who defined the 1980s art scene, including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Cindy Sherman, and Julian Schnabel. The show, running until December 13, 2025, features Warhol's portraits of Boone's former stable of artists and highlights the cross-pollination of Neo-Expressionism, street art, and political critique that made New York the epicenter of the art world.