Chinese art exhibition reflects transformative modern times

Hundreds of visitors attended the opening of 'Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now' at Auckland Art Gallery, the first major survey of Chinese contemporary art on this scale in Auckland. The exhibition features over 60 works by 42 artists, including Ai Weiwei, Xu Zhen, Xiao Lu, and Cao Fei, spanning photography, sculpture, installations, and new media. Key works include Ai Weiwei's 'Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn' and Xu Zhen's monumental sculpture combining Buddhist and Greek motifs. The show runs through an unspecified period and has drawn diverse audiences, including Chinese New Zealanders and previous visitors to China.

William Turnbull Origins Exhibition Spotlights Elemental Forms in New York

William Turnbull Origins, an exhibition dedicated to the Scottish-born artist William Turnbull, is now on view in New York, highlighting his early and mid-career works that emphasize elemental, abstract forms. The show focuses on his sculptures and paintings from the 1940s through the 1960s, drawing attention to his exploration of primitive and organic shapes.

Scaled back Art Dubai 2026 reveals wide impact of Iran war

Art Dubai 2026 has announced a significantly scaled-back edition for its 20th anniversary, now running from May 15 to 17 at Madinat Jumeirah with a VIP day on May 14. The fair will feature just 50 galleries—a 60% drop from pre-war expectations—and will be free for all visitors for the first time. Two-thirds of participants are Middle East-based, with all Indian galleries canceling due to safety concerns, shipping risks, and lack of insurance. A new “risk-sharing” model allows galleries to pay a percentage of sales capped at their booth fee, while half of withdrawn galleries’ fees are refunded and half credited toward 2027.

FAD’s Fab Five: 5 Must-See Highlights at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Lee Sharrock selects five must-see highlights at the 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in 2025. The Biennale runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, at the Giardini, Arsenale, and various Venetian venues. Featured highlights include Marina Abramović's historic exhibition "Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell'Accademia—the first major show for a living woman artist there—the Holy See Pavilion's "The Ear is the Eye of the Soul" with artists like Patti Smith and Brian Eno, and Lubaina Himid's British Pavilion presentation "Predicting History: Testing Translation."

Ancient Gaza artefacts meet contemporary Palestinian stories in Turin exhibition

A new exhibition in Turin, Italy, titled "Gaza, The Future Has an Ancient Heart," brings together over 80 ancient artefacts from Palestine with contemporary works by Levantine artists. Organized by Fondazione Merz in collaboration with the Egizio archaeology museum and the MAH – Museum of Art and History Geneva, the show features objects dating from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman period, originally intended for a museum in Palestine but held in Geneva since 2007 due to conflict. Contemporary artists including Mirna Bamieh, Samaa Emad, Khalil Rabah, Vivien Sansour, Wael Shawky, Dima Srouji, and Akram Zaatari contribute works that explore archaeology, history, and memory, with Emad's "Genocide Kitchen" documenting recipes created amid war and shortages in Gaza.

Carrie Mae Weems Shines in Miami's Semiquincentennial Show at Pérez Art Museum

Carrie Mae Weems is featured in the Pérez Art Museum Miami's upcoming exhibition 'This Is America,' which celebrates the United States' 250th anniversary. The show opens May 23 and runs through 2027, including works by Alfredo Jaar, Judy Chicago, and Rashid Johnson alongside local artists. Weems, known for series like 'Kitchen Table' and 'From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried,' uses photography and staged scenes to explore race, gender, and power.

Who’s Showing What—and What They Love—at Market Art Fair

Market Art Fair in Stockholm celebrated its 20th edition, the largest to date with 150 exhibitors, after moving from Liljevalch’s to Magasin 9, a former warehouse at the city’s port. The fair, founded in 2006 as a joint Nordic initiative, expanded its scope in 2025 to include international presentations. During the preview day, Malin Ebbing captured exhibiting artists, gallerists, and notables with her Polaroid, asking about their work and favorite booths. Artists such as Arvida Byström, Hans Berg, Sigrid Soomus, and Gabriel Karlsson discussed their artistic expressions and discoveries at the fair, with many gallerists reporting significant sales.

Jim Dine | Dorian Gray With Rainbow Scarf (1968) | For Sale

Jim Dine's 1968 lithograph and collage 'Dorian Gray With Rainbow Scarf' is being offered for sale through Palm Beach Modern Auctions. The work, signed and numbered 119/200 from an A edition, was printed by Atelier Desjobert and Atelier LeBlanc in Paris and published by Petersburg Press in London. It is part of Dine's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' suite and is listed with a starting bid available through Artsy's platform.

The Top 10 Exhibitions to See Around the World This May

Ocula's global team of editors has curated a list of the top 10 exhibitions to see worldwide in May, highlighting diverse shows from Rio de Janeiro to New York. Featured exhibitions include Jungjin Lee's photographic works blending Icelandic landscapes and intimate objects on traditional Korean paper, a millennial-themed group show titled "Genuine Premium Fake Economy" examining precarity through artists like Jasmine Gregory and Buck Ellis, Joan Semmel's solo exhibition "Continuities" at Xavier Hufkens and Alexander Gray Associates showcasing her erotic self-portraiture at age 93, and Wynnie Mynerva's Berlin Gallery Weekend show addressing colonial violence and Andean mythology.

What’s on for spring? Spiritualism and symbolic systems

This article surveys several spring exhibitions in Chicago that explore themes of spiritualism, symbolic systems, and interconnected consciousness. Featured shows include Mindy Rose Schwartz's "Countersealed" at M. LeBlanc, which uses deconstructed fur coats, wands, and twisted fiber sculptures to evoke rituals addressing ecological disaster and historical subjugation. Daniel G. Baird's "Margin" at Patron examines thresholds between material and spiritual realms through a gilded canoe, wax arm cast, and birchwood oar. Leah Ke Yi Zheng's "Change, I Ching (64 Paintings)" at the Renaissance Society presents 64 hexagram paintings on silk, connecting abstract minimalism with Eastern silk painting traditions.

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.

Valerio Adami | Valerio Adami @Miart 2026 (2026) | Art & Prints

Valerio Adami, a prominent Italian painter born in 1935, is offering a new acrylic-on-canvas work titled "Valerio Adami @Miart 2026" (2026) through Dep Art Gallery. The painting, sized 198 × 147 cm, is a unique piece accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. Adami is known for his graphic, comic-inspired narrative figuration, with works held in major museums including MoMA, Centre Pompidou, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sebastiaan Bremer: Super Modern Things

Edwynn Houk Gallery presents "Super Modern Things," an exhibition of new works by Sebastiaan Bremer. The artworks blend photography and painting, starting from historical source images such as 17th-century Dutch botanical catalogues and Golden Age still life paintings. Bremer photographs these reproductions and adds ink and acrylic marks—dots, lines, stains, and washes—creating rhythms that evoke language, music, emotion, and constellations. The exhibition continues his long-standing exploration of flowers and the layered histories of still life, addressing themes of beauty, mortality, value, ecology, and global exchange. An accompanying monograph of his flower series is scheduled for Fall 2026.

Exhibition | Mark di Suvero, 'Avanti!' at Paula Cooper Gallery, 534 West 21st Street, New York, United States

Paula Cooper Gallery in New York will present an exhibition of large-scale sculptures and drawings by Mark di Suvero from May 2 through July 17. The show features the debut of the kinetic sculpture 'Avanti!' (c. late 1990s), a human-intervention piece with a suspended beam that viewers can rock with their body weight, alongside the 1986 work 'Nelly' and the stainless steel 'Tables Turn’d' (2004), as well as a selection of works on paper including interactive "sliding drawings."

'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness' at Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Singapore Art Museum will present 'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness' from 29 May to 4 October 2026, marking the artist’s first major exhibition in Southeast Asia. The show brings together 63 works from 11 series and 14 fossils from Sugimoto’s personal collection, spanning five decades of his practice. The title references the Heart Sutra, reflecting Sugimoto’s long-standing exploration of the tension between appearance and reality.

Exhibition | William Turnbull, 'Origins (1946–1959)' at Karma, Chelsea, New York, United States

Scottish artist William Turnbull (1922–2012) is the subject of a new exhibition titled 'Origins (1946–1959)' at Karma gallery in Chelsea, New York. The show surveys Turnbull's early career, focusing on the transformative period after World War II when he moved between Surrealist Paris and Abstract Expressionist New York. It features key works such as the sculpture 'Horse' (1946), inspired by a Parthenon marble at the British Museum, and 'Playground (Game)' (1949), reflecting his interest in phenomenology and movement. The exhibition traces his evolution from an illustrator and Slade School student to a sculptor and painter who engaged elemental forms like the horse, standing figure, and human head.

NEXT in the Gallery: Preview Pittsburgh summer with a 'Pity Party,' dog sculptures and so much more art

NEXTpittsburgh's May 2026 gallery preview highlights a packed month of art events leading into the Three Rivers Arts Festival. Key offerings include the 59th Carnegie International at Carnegie Museum of Art, opening May 2 with works by 61 artists from 24 countries and four new commissions at local institutions. Other featured shows include 'Down to Earth: Revealing the Natural World' at James Gallery, Jody Shell's 'Shoebox Memories,' Dominique Swift's 'Uli Awakened,' and a three-artist exhibition at Irma Freeman Center featuring Laura Jean McLaughlin, James Simon, and Robert Qualters.

'You Must Change Your Life' at GRIMM, New York, United States on 26 Jun–7 Aug 2026

GRIMM gallery in New York presents "You Must Change Your Life," a group exhibition curated by Tom Morton, running from June 26 to August 7, 2026. The show features an international roster of painters and sculptors including Alexander Tovborg, Elinor Stanley, Sophie Ruigrok, Sara Rossberg, Jhonatan Pulido, Ken Kiff, Matthew Day Jackson, Ted Gahl, Gabriella Boyd, Anderson Borba, Kinga Bartis, Mahesh Baliga, and Charles Avery. The exhibition takes its title from the final line of Rainer Maria Rilke's poem "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1918), exploring themes of how the past speaks to the present, the animation of materials, the fragment as synecdoche, and the transformative power of visual contemplation.

In Venice, Hernan Bas Paints the Problem With Modern Tourism

American artist Hernan Bas has created a series of 40 paintings critiquing modern tourism, set to open in May at Ca' Pesaro–International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice during the Biennale. Titled "The Visitors," the exhibition depicts young white male American tourists engaging in objectionable behaviors worldwide—from begpacking to visiting disaster sites—painted with Bas's signature attention to clothing details. The works were developed during a residency in Venice, a city emblematic of overtourism, in collaboration with Victoria Miro, Lehmann Maupin, and Perrotin galleries.

Last chance: hurry to see these Parisian exhibitions before they close in May 2026.

A roundup article lists numerous exhibitions closing in May 2026 across Paris and the Île-de-France region, including shows at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Nocturne Calder #1) and Perrotin Gallery (Soulages–Hartung: Elective Affinities, Lee Mingwei's When Beauty Appears, and Susumu Kamijo's When I Think of You in Spring). The piece also highlights free-entry days at castles and museums in Yvelines and Seine-et-Marne, and the Parcours d’art de la Boucle de Seine open-studio event.

The New York Historical Celebrates Artist Betye Saar’s 100th Birthday with a New Exhibition Featuring Her Black Doll Collection

The New York Historical will present "Betye Saar’s Black Dolls" from May 8 to October 4, 2026, celebrating the artist’s 100th birthday. The exhibition features 27 dolls from Saar’s promised gift of over 100 Black dolls to the museum, alongside 15 watercolors and several assemblages, including "Hoo Doo Woman" (1974) and "Indigo Mercy" (1975). Saar, a key figure in the Black Arts and feminist art movements, began collecting Black dolls in the late 1960s after growing up without one.

Hunt Slonem | Me (2022) | For Sale

Hunt Slonem's painting "Me" (2022), a small oil-on-wood work from his signature Bunnies series, is listed for sale at $8,000 through OA Fine Art in Paris and Hong Kong. The piece measures 10 × 8 inches, is hand-signed and dated by the artist, and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Slonem, born in 1951, is known for Neo-Expressionist paintings featuring repeated birds, bunnies, and butterflies, influenced by Andy Warhol's Pop art seriality.

White Stripes Frontman Jack White Is Showing Art at Damien Hirst’s Gallery

Jack White, frontman of the White Stripes, is opening a sculpture exhibition at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London. Titled “Jack White: THESE THOUGHTS MAY DISAPPEAR,” the show runs from May 29 to September 13 and features found-object sculptures, furniture designs, notebooks, and photography. White and Hirst first met in 2021 when White was opening a Third Man Records store near Hirst’s studio, and Hirst encouraged White to mount a show after seeing his artwork.

Brent Sikkema’s Husband Convicted

A federal jury has found Daniel Sikkema guilty of orchestrating the murder-for-hire of his estranged husband, New York art dealer Brent Sikkema. The 75-year-old gallerist was stabbed 18 times in his Rio de Janeiro townhouse in January 2024, a crime that sent shockwaves through the art community. Senior editor Valentina Di Liscia reports on the verdict and the grim details of the case.

Anni Albers Wasn’t Afraid to Start From Zero

Nicholas Fox Weber's new biography, *Anni Albers: A Life*, draws on his nearly 25-year friendship with the artist to offer an intimate, nuanced portrait of the pioneering textile artist. The book traces Albers's journey from her birth in Berlin in 1899, through her studies and teaching at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, her escape from Nazi Germany in 1933, and her later years in Connecticut. Weber, who serves as executive director of the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, fills the biography with lively anecdotes—from her love of Kentucky Fried Chicken to her sharp wit—while correcting the "stock stories" she often repeated, revealing her personality and artistic dedication with rare depth.

Richter works from gallerist Marian Goodman and Donald Judd pieces lead Christie's New York auctions

I lavori di Richter della gallerista Marian Goodman e le opere Donald Judd guidano le aste di Christie’s a New York

Christie's New York spring sales opened on May 20, 2026, with two major collections: the minimalist art collection of Henry S. McNeil Jr. and works by Gerhard Richter from the collection of legendary gallerist Marian Goodman. The 42-lot session achieved $162.7 million, with 98% sold by lot. The 21st Century Evening Sale alone reached $136.8 million, a 42% increase over May 2025 and Christie's highest result for the category in five years. Top lots included Donald Judd's "Untitled" (1969) at $12.8 million—a new auction record for a Judd stack—and Richard Artschwager's "Two-Part Invention" (1967) which soared to $635,000 from an estimate of $60,000–80,000. The Goodman collection of eight Richter works, all guaranteed, generated $78.8 million, exceeding expectations.

The Painted Book Cover Is Back

The article reports on a growing trend in book cover design: the use of painted, figurative artwork instead of stock photos or digital renderings. Publishers are increasingly licensing paintings by artists from Hilma af Klint to Shannon Cartier Lucy, seeing them as a way to signal cultural authority and intellectual rigor. The trend is discussed through examples like Victoria Redel's *I Am You* (2025) and Kyung-Ran Jo's *Blowfish* (2025), with insights from LiteraryHub Managing Editor Emily Temple and Astra House publisher Benjamin Schrank.

Who’s That Nude Figure on a Washing Machine Outside the New Museum?

British artist Sarah Lucas has unveiled a new public sculpture titled "VENUS VICTORIA" (2026) at the New Museum's entrance plaza on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan. The work, which will remain on view for two years, features a monumental nude female figure with flailing arms and large pink breasts perched atop a dusty washing machine, wearing bright yellow high heels. Lucas adapted the figure from her ongoing "Bunnies" series (1997–present), which uses knotted pantyhose and found objects. The sculpture was unveiled on May 12, 2026, inaugurating a decade-long series of public commissions by women artists at the museum.

A True-to-Life Biennale

Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief of Hyperallergic, reflects on the 61st Venice Biennale after returning to New York, describing it as historical, political, and thrilling. He counters critics who claimed the Biennale imploded due to boycotts and resignations, arguing it was more alive than ever. The late Koyo Kouoh's main exhibition "In Minor Keys" is praised for reflecting global woes and joys. The article also highlights a major strike by artists and cultural workers that disrupted the pre-opening, the first cultural strike in the Biennale's 131-year history, with 54 artists in the international exhibition and 22 national pavilion teams withdrawing from awards consideration in solidarity with the jury's resignation.

Coveted Rothko From Robert Mnuchin’s Collection Nets $85.8 Million in New York

A major Mark Rothko painting, *Brown and Blacks in Reds* (1957), from the collection of the late financier and dealer Robert Mnuchin, sold for $85.8 million at Sotheby’s New York, becoming the second-highest price ever achieved for the artist at auction. The work, estimated at $70–100 million, was part of an 11-lot sale dedicated to Mnuchin’s collection, which also includes works by Willem de Kooning, Pablo Picasso, and Franz Kline. A phone bidder won the painting, with Helena Newman, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, handling the bid.