beauty perfume fragrance critics perfumetok

Cultured magazine has enlisted three top fragrance critics—April Long, Arabelle Sicardi, and Maxwell Williams—to discuss the state of fine fragrance in an era of oversaturation, where over 3,000 new perfumes launch annually and #perfumetok has amassed over 7 billion views. The conversation covers niche perfumery, dupe culture, AI noses, and the central question of when a perfume qualifies as a work of art versus a mere commodity. Each critic brings a distinct background: Long is a New York-based journalist with 15 Fragrance Foundation awards; Sicardi is a beauty philosopher and author of the upcoming book 'House of Beauty'; Williams is both a journalist and a working perfumer trained at the Institute for Art and Olfaction.

25 years later, artist David Adey continues to push the envelope

Artist David Adey is the subject of a mid-career survey, “David Adey: Sacrificial Bodies,” opening April 25 at the Oceanside Museum of Art. The 70-piece exhibition, curated by gallery owner Mark Quint in collaboration with Adey, spans 25 years of his career and includes a 2026 re-creation of his 2001 piece “The Lamb,” which features a reconstructed lamb carcass. Adey, now 53, originally created the work as a graduate student at Cranbrook Academy of Art. The show also features pieces like “Gravitational Radius” and “2,127 Rounds,” a sculpture made by firing an AR-15, Glock 34, and shotgun into cedar.

Lawsuit Alleges DOGE Cancelled $349,000 HVAC Grant to Museum after ChatGPT Flagged It As DEI

Lawsuit Alleges DOGE Cancelled $349,000 HVAC Grant to Museum after ChatGPT Flagged It As DEI

The High Point Museum in North Carolina had a $349,000 federal grant to replace its HVAC system canceled after staff at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) used ChatGPT to evaluate the proposal. According to a federal lawsuit, the AI chatbot flagged the climate-control project as related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, leading to its termination, despite the grant's stated purpose of preserving the museum's collection.

Other Worlds of Light: Zarina’s “Beyond the Stars”

Luhring Augustine gallery in New York is presenting 'Beyond the Stars,' the first posthumous solo exhibition of the late Indian-born artist Zarina. The show features prints, collages, cast paper works, and sculptures spanning seven decades, focusing on themes of borders, displacement, and exile shaped by the Partition of India and her nomadic life.

Take a rare chance to see the astonishing Ringier Collection of artworks in Düsseldorf

The Langen Foundation in Neuss, outside Düsseldorf, is hosting a rare public exhibition of the Ringier Collection, featuring 500 works from artists including Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Richard Prince, John Baldessari, and Sylvie Fleury. Titled 'Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Film, Video, Sound', the show was curated by Beatrix Ruf and artist Wade Guyton, and spans sketches to large-scale oils and photographic works from the 1960s to the present. The collection is owned by Swiss publishing mogul Michael Ringier, who began collecting 30 years ago and now holds 5,000 works.

art perrotin gabriel de la mora interview

Artist Gabriel de la Mora, now 57, reflects on how his childhood dyslexia and autism shaped his artistic practice in an interview tied to his latest exhibition "Repeated Original" at Perrotin in New York, on view through April 11. The show features meticulous geometric works made from fragmented eggshells and curved reflective glass, with each piece titled after the exact number of fragments used. De la Mora sources eggshells from Mexico City restaurants and churches that serve free meals, and he recently closed a major career survey at Museo Jumex, where he led 79 guided tours over six months, including for deaf children.

Liliana Moro “| senza | soluzione di continuità” at Platea | Palazzo Galeano, Lodi

Liliana Moro presents a new installation titled “| senza | soluzione di continuità” at Platea | Palazzo Galeano in Lodi. The work is described as a powerful yet subtle artistic gesture that renegotiates the function of the shop window as a public space, emphasizing responsibility and generosity.

Exhibition | Byoung Cho, 'WHEN SPACE BECOMES PAINTING' at BB&M, Seoul, South Korea

BB&M gallery in Seoul presents "When Space Becomes Painting," a solo exhibition of leading Korean architect Byoung Cho, organized in partnership with Jiyoon Lee of SUUM Project. The show traces Cho's 30-year engagement with space across painting, installation, maquettes, and drawing, exploring how his architectural thinking translates onto canvas. Central to the exhibition is Cho's concept of "mahk," inspired by Korean traditional ceramic maksabal, embracing spontaneity and imperfection as a guiding philosophy. The exhibition shifts from viewing artworks to experiencing them, with paintings that function as performative inquiries into existence rather than static images.

In Stockholm, the Tech scene supports art

Stockholm's art fair, featuring 54 galleries and around 150 artists, offers a democratic layout with no sections, placing established and emerging galleries side by side. Prices range from €300 to €300,000, with most works under €50,000. Notable presentations include Olafur Eliasson's new works at i8 gallery, Benjamin Orlow's sculpture destined for the Venice Biennale's Nordic Pavilion, and emerging galleries like Coulisse Gallery showing Jonatan Pihlgren. The fair reflects a strong local collector base, though some galleries note a recent market contraction.

‘Studio Iron’ to Launch at Saatchi Yates, Blurring the Boundaries Between Art and Design

Saatchi Yates is partnering with creative director and makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench to launch Studio Iron, a new design gallery whose inaugural exhibition opens April 30 and runs through June 7, 2026. The show presents a dense, post-industrial landscape dominated by steel and iron, featuring works by artists including Jannis Kounellis, Paul McCarthy, Jordan Wolfson, Anne Imhof, Marina Abramovic, Nico Vascellari, and others. Furniture, sculpture, installation, and painting collide in a space that resists categorization, hovering between function and non-function, utility and image.

Artist relationship between Helen Frankenthaler and Anthony Caro examined

Yares Art in New York is hosting "SIMILITUDES: Color, Form, Friendship," a landmark exhibition exploring the creative dialogue between American painter Helen Frankenthaler and British sculptor Anthony Caro. Spanning nearly five decades of friendship that began in 1959, the show juxtaposes Frankenthaler’s soak-stained canvases with Caro’s steel armatures. The presentation includes archival letters and photographs that highlight their mutual influence, including a 1972 proposal from Frankenthaler to collaborate on a sculpture.

Zhang Huan’s 125 Newbury Show Is Not for the Weak

Zhang Huan has unveiled a provocative new solo exhibition at 125 Newbury in New York, featuring a series of visceral works that utilize unconventional materials like cowhide and incense ash. The show centers on the artist's career-long exploration of the body, spirituality, and the cycle of life and death, anchored by large-scale sculptural paintings that challenge the viewer's sensory boundaries.

In pictures: flora and fauna at Design Miami

Design Miami celebrates its 20th anniversary with the theme "Make. Believe.," curated by Glenn Adamson, emphasizing the evolving possibilities of collectible design. The fair features the 10th anniversary of the Curatorial Lab Annual Design Commission, including a mirrored carousel by ceramicist Katie Stout, alongside works by artists such as Bea Pernia, Pia-Maria Raeder, Joyce Billet, Teemu Salonen, Jennifer Trask, Roham Shamekh, and Clotilde Ancarani. Pieces range from a chrome-and-stone chair inspired by marine life to benches that double as planters, reflecting a pervasive focus on flora and fauna.

Verdy 'I Believe in Me' Exhibition at LOTTE Museum of Art Seoul

Osaka-born graphic artist VERDY will debut his first solo museum exhibition, 'I Believe in Me,' at the LOTTE Museum of Art in Seoul from April 24 to July 19, 2026. The show features over 250 works, including crayon drawings, large-scale sculptures, and neon installations, exploring his signature aesthetic rooted in punk, skateboarding, and Japan's '90s Urahara scene. Divided into four sections, the exhibition traces the evolution of his characters and typography from graphic design into immersive physical forms, with highlights including the recurring character Vick and pandemic-era figure Visty.

alaska art student arrested eating ai generated art protest

A University of Alaska Fairbanks undergraduate, Graham Granger, was arrested for eating AI-generated artwork created by MFA student Nick Dwyer. The artwork, titled *Shadow Searching: ChatGPT psychosis* (2025), was part of the exhibition “This Is Not Awful” at the UAF Art Gallery. Granger allegedly destroyed at least 57 of 160 Polaroid-style images in protest of AI-generated art, and was charged with criminal mischief, a class B misdemeanor.

Marina Abramovic on bringing audiences inside art

Performance art pioneer Marina Abramović, now 80, has opened a major exhibition titled "Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, making her the first living woman to receive such a show at the institution. The exhibition, running until October, features interactive "transitory objects" like crystal structures and minerals, alongside re-enactments of her iconic works including a performance with her late partner Ulay. In an interview with Reuters, Abramović discusses her shift from being the subject of her work to focusing on audience participation, a realization she had after her landmark 2010 performance "The Artist Is Present" at MoMA.

N.Y.'s Met museum to add Japanese designer Tamae Hirokawa to collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will add garments by Japanese designer Tamae Hirokawa to its permanent collection. Seven bodysuits from her signature "Skin Series" line, which explores the concept of seamless knitwear as a "second skin," will be displayed in the spring 2026 Costume Art exhibition. Hirokawa joins fellow Japanese designers Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, and Hanae Mori in the museum's Costume Institute collection. The exhibition, held in new galleries adjacent to the Great Hall, pairs garments with artworks to highlight the relationship between clothing and the body.

take a first look at 'costume art' as fashion meets art history at the MET

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened a new exhibition titled 'Costume Art,' which explores the intersection of fashion and art history. The installation view, captured by designboom, showcases how garments and accessories are presented as artistic objects within the museum's galleries, blurring the boundaries between costume design and fine art.

Painting LACMA's David Geffen Galleries with Light, Shadow, and Color

LACMA's new David Geffen Galleries, designed by architect Peter Zumthor, feature custom-tinted concrete walls that break from traditional museum aesthetics. The walls are coated with a transparent, nano-scale mineral glaze developed by Zumthor and Swiss craftsman Marius Fontana, manufactured by German company Keim. The palette—dusky red, vibrant blue, and nuanced black—was inspired by ancient Indigenous American pigments prepared by artist Porfirio Gutiérrez for the museum's exhibition "We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art." Diana Magaloni, LACMA's Senior Deputy Director for Conservation, Curatorial and Exhibitions, led the conceptualization and application of the glazes, which are designed to enhance the building's interplay of light and shadow without obscuring its raw concrete surfaces.

Design Museum Stages First-Ever Retrospective For Streetwear Pioneer Nigo

London's Design Museum is opening "NIGO: From Japan with Love," the first UK retrospective dedicated to Japanese designer Nigo, founder of streetwear brand A Bathing Ape (BAPE) and current artistic director of Kenzo. The exhibition, featuring over 700 objects including rare archival garments, a recreation of Nigo's teenage bedroom, and ceramics inside a life-size glass tea house, traces his career from 1980s Tokyo street culture to global fashion influence.

“Rising Up Rocky” Exhibition In Philadelphia Museum Of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has opened the exhibition “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments,” featuring the iconic bronze statue of Rocky Balboa, the fictional boxer portrayed by Sylvester Stallone. The statue, which has long stood on the museum steps, was moved inside for the show, which also includes photographs of the historic Blue Horizon Gym and a tribute to boxer Joe Frazier. The exhibition runs until August, after which the statue will return to its outdoor perch.

Take a walk on the wild side with the Haas Brothers' fantastical new show

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York has opened "Uncanny Valley," a major exhibition dedicated to the Los Angeles-based duo Nikolai and Simon Haas. The show features 85 works spanning 15 years of their practice, showcasing their signature blend of art, furniture, and craft through zoomorphic sculptures and kooky forms. Organized in collaboration with the Cranbrook Art Museum, the exhibition places these physical objects against surreal, algorithmically-generated backdrops that explore the intersection of human craftsmanship and digital technology.

Exhibit at National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago is a call to climate action

Artist Ana Teresa Fernández has launched her solo exhibition "Under Pressure" at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, presenting a multi-disciplinary call to climate action. The exhibit features oil paintings, sculptures such as a silver-feathered Quetzalcoatl made from a hose, and performance-based works that use metaphors like expanding balloons to illustrate the planet's breaking point. A central component of the project involved a community-led "social monument" at Ohio Street Beach, where hundreds of participants used mirrors to flash an S.O.S. signal in Morse code toward the horizon.

A New Exhibition of Contemporary Latinx Paintings at Buffalo AKG

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum has announced a major upcoming exhibition titled "Let Us Gather in a Flourishing Way," featuring fifty-eight contemporary Latinx artists. Curated by Andrea Alvarez, the show examines how artists from the Latin American and Caribbean diaspora are redefining the traditions of painting while challenging political and disciplinary boundaries. After its debut in Buffalo in March 2026, the exhibition will embark on a national tour to Des Moines, Phoenix, and Seattle.

Art professor Brian Corr debuts solo exhibition at the Museum of Nebraska Art

The Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) is hosting "Of Light and Shadow," the first solo museum exhibition for internationally recognized glass artist and Hastings College professor Dr. Brian Corr. The survey spans two decades of Corr’s career, featuring large-scale sculptures and installations that utilize light and shadow as primary materials. A highlight of the show is the U.S. debut of "One," a significant architectural installation originally created for his master’s thesis in Australia.

Review | Women are trailblazers in abstract art. These 6 works show their vision.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts is hosting "Making Their Mark: Works From the Shah Garg Collection," a comprehensive exhibition featuring eight decades of abstract art created by women. The show includes approximately 80 pieces by nearly 70 artists, spanning a diverse range of media including painting, sculpture, ceramics, and textiles. By showcasing works that often blur the lines between figuration and abstraction, the exhibition highlights how female artists have consistently acted as trailblazers in a genre historically associated with men.

Multicultural Art Exhibit Opens in Metuchen

The "Open Archways: By the Light of the Same Moon" exhibition opened on December 18 at the Bowery Art Collective gallery in Metuchen, New Jersey, featuring new works by 15 Muslim and Jewish artists. Curated by Hannah Finkelshteyn and Aakef Khan, the show explores themes of heritage, faith, identity, and culture through five shared themes: shared moments, diaspora experience, womanhood, family and loved ones, and light and spirituality. The opening included a menorah lighting ceremony during Chanukah, and the artists agreed to exclude nationalist symbols or military references from their works.

In Oregon, a One-Night Art Exhibition Within a Midcentury Home

A one-night, invitation-only exhibition titled "The Open House" took place within a private midcentury home in Oregon, designed by modernism pioneer Robert Rummer. Curated by Lena Vasilenko and Emma Strgar of the experiential agency Ethereal Reflections, and presented by Marisa Swenson of Modern Homes Collective, the group show featured works by contemporary artists including Stephanie Ketty, Christopher Belluschi, Ben Latham, Aremy Stewart, and Carvers Collective. The installation was designed to integrate the artworks with the architecture, encouraging reflection on how art enhances domestic space.

Aki Sasamoto invites viewers to her singular ‘life laboratory’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Japanese artist Aki Sasamoto presents her first mid-career survey, 'Aki Sasamoto’s Life Laboratory,' at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT). The exhibition traces two decades of her unique practice combining absurd sculptural devices—such as haemorrhoid cushions and oversized fishing lures—with improvised performances that blend humorous spoken narratives, physical actions, and mark-making. The show features installations, documentation, and live performances, with each room exploring a different relationship between performance and object or video.

‘Unfolding Events,’ an exhibition of artists’ books

Yale Library is presenting 'Unfolding Events: Exploring Past and Present in Artists’ Books,' an exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library through March 1. Curated by Jessica Pigza and Bill Landis, the show draws from the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library and Beinecke collections, featuring works that explore marginalized communities and personal responses to contemporary life. Highlights include Clarissa Sligh's accordion-style book 'What’s Happening With Momma?' (1988) and Tia Blassingame's '’Pause' (2024), which addresses Black women's experiences with menopause.