‘Sensitive, sexy and surreal’: Japan’s Kyotographie festival

Kyotographie, Japan's leading international photography festival, opened its 2025 edition with the theme 'Edge,' featuring 14 exhibitions across Kyoto. The festival includes a major retrospective of Daido Moriyama, the 86-year-old pioneer of the 'are-bure-boke' aesthetic, showcasing over 200 images, 400 magazines, and 100 books. Also featured are British artist Linder Sterling, known for her punk-era feminist photomontages and album art for Buzzcocks, and Kenyan photographer Thandiwe Muriu, this year's African artist in residence, who uses patterned kitenge fabric to explore identity and female empowerment.

TikTok Shop adds ‘fine art’ category—will it disrupt the art market?

TikTok Shop has launched a new "fine art" category within its collectibles section, allowing artists to sell original artworks directly through shoppable videos, photographs, and livestreams. The category debuted with a three-hour live sale by artist Sophie Tea, who created a series of 20 oil paintings titled *Bric-a-Brac* and sold them for £2,800 each. The sale faced technical glitches—items added to baskets were prematurely marked as sold, causing confusion—and required workarounds for TikTok's pricing caps, automatic discounts, and shipping policies.

Air de Paris, a Radical Stalwart of the French Gallery Scene, Is Closing

After 36 years and over 400 exhibitions, the radical Parisian gallery Air de Paris is closing due to bankruptcy. Co-founders Florence Bonnefous and Edouard Merino decided to shutter the gallery after its financial situation became fragile, compounded by Bonnefous's health issues (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and their refusal to adapt to the increasingly profit-driven, corporatist art market. The gallery's final show, titled “Oh What a Time,” in Romainville featured works by artists including Joseph Grigely, Amy Vogel, Allen Ruppersberg, Pierre Joseph, Mona Varichon, Pati Hill, Lily van der Stokker, and Trisha Donnelly.

UAE unveils ‘Washwasha’ at Venice Biennale

The article reports on the UAE Pavilion's presentation at the Biennale Arte 2026 in Venice, titled 'Washwasha'. It also covers several art exhibitions in Dubai, including 'In Abstracto, In Concreto' at Efie Gallery featuring artists like Tunji Adeniyi-Jones and Ludovic Nkoth, the 'White' faculty exhibition at XVA Gallery, and the inaugural exhibition at Tatintisian Gallery's new Dubai space with works by Ron Arad, Peter Saul, and Tony Matelli. Additionally, it mentions a book of the week and a photo of the UAE Pavilion.

Tell Me About Love…

Yvon Lambert, the legendary French art dealer and collector, reflects on his lifelong relationship with art and literature in an interview for TLmag41: The Art of Collecting. He recounts buying his first painting at age 14, opening his Paris gallery in the 1960s, and later donating a major portion of his collection to the French State, now housed at the Collection Lambert in Avignon. After closing his gallery in 2014, he shifted focus to an artist's bookshop, now run by his daughter Eve Lambert. The conversation, led by Sibylle Grandchamp, explores Lambert's early influences, his father's passion for literature, and the family's shared love for art books.

Syracuse-born artist Peter McGough hand-painted Anne Hathaway’s Met Gala dress

Syracuse-born artist Peter McGough hand-painted a custom Michael Kors gown worn by Anne Hathaway to the 2026 Met Gala. The dress, a strapless black Mikado silk ball gown with a plunging neckline and high-leg slit, features intricate Grecian patterns inspired by the Met's urns and statues, including a goddess with a dove on the back. McGough, a former classmate of Michael Kors at the Fashion Institute of Technology, painted directly on the silk and wool gown over a week using three layers of fabric paint. The design aligns with the gala's 'Fashion Is Art' dress code and references John Keats' poem 'Ode on a Grecian Urn,' also tying into Hathaway's upcoming film 'The Odyssey.'

FYI Calendar: Arkansas Living Treasure Longhua Xu’s exhibit at Fort Smith RAM continues through June 21

The article is a calendar of arts and community events in the Fort Smith, Arkansas area, compiled by features writer Dustin Staggs. It lists dance and theater performances, plant swaps, life drawing classes, historical society events, and multiple art exhibitions. Among the visual art highlights are "Soul Taking Shape," an exhibition by Arkansas Living Treasure Longhua Xu at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum (RAM) running through June 21, along with other shows at RAM and Arts On Main featuring works by local artists and student artists.

HistoryMiami rebrands as Museum of Miami, a ‘museum without walls’

HistoryMiami, the historical museum of South Florida, has rebranded as the Museum of Miami, adopting a 'museum without walls' concept. The change reflects a shift away from a traditional brick-and-mortar institution toward a more flexible, community-engaged model that will operate across various locations and digital platforms throughout Miami.

Lauren Sánchez Bezos unveils Met’s new exhibit amid gala backlash

Lauren Sánchez Bezos appeared alongside Anna Wintour at a press conference in New York to unveil the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new Costume Art exhibit, which opens May 10 ahead of the Met Gala. Sánchez Bezos and her husband Jeff Bezos are primary sponsors of this year's gala and exhibit, a role that has sparked backlash and a boycott campaign from the activist group Everyone Hates Elon. The exhibit explores themes of the dressed body through garments paired with ancient artifacts, featuring categories like "the naked body," "classic body," and "disabled body."

Plastic Visions. Tony Chrenka by Maxwell Smith-Holmes

Tony Chrenka's studio in the Gowanus neighborhood of New York City is the subject of this article, which explores his artistic practice centered on salvaged materials and industrial processes. Chrenka works with PET plastic (Mylar) and polyester fabrics, creating collages and sculptures that investigate the gap between use-value and exchange-value. His upcoming exhibition at Toby78 in Brooklyn will feature new works made from pleated polyester textiles, inspired by Issey Miyake's Pleats Please clothing line.

Lucid Perturbations: The Sewn Drawings and Books of China Marks

Zane Bennett Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, presents "Lucid Perturbations: The Sewn Drawings and Books of China Marks," the first major solo exhibition dedicated to the artist's sewn works. Featuring over 200 pieces from the last 23 years of Marks's practice, the show runs from May 15 to July 11 and includes pieces like "At the Winter Palace" (2018) and "Above and Below" (2022). Marks, who pivoted from painting to sewing at age 59 in 2000, creates fabric-based narrative tableaux that blend personal and political themes.

In Seine-Saint-Denis, the clever housing for migrants by architect Patrick Rubin

En Seine-Saint-Denis, les logements futés pour les migrants de l’architecte Patrick Rubin

Architect Patrick Rubin of the firm Canal has transformed the former National Road Information Center, known as Bison Futé, in Rosny-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) into a housing complex for 169 migrants. The project, commissioned by social landlord Batigere Habitats Solidaires, preserves the original 1986 half-moon building by Ludwik Peretz and Gilbert Delecourt, adding a new floor and a rear half-crown structure. Rubin used 79 prefabricated modules (17–25 m² each), built in workshops near Lyon, each equipped with a bed, kitchenette, bathroom, and window. Inspired by ship cabin manufacturing in Dunkirk and traditions of tiny houses and capsule hotels by Charlotte Perriand, Herman Hertzberger, and Shigeru Ban, the modules were craned into place. The project faced delays due to differing tolerances between concrete and wood construction, pushing delivery from early 2026 to late 2026.

art fair conductor powerhouse arts new york

Conductor Art Fair made its debut at Powerhouse Arts in Gowanus, Brooklyn, with a VIP preview night on April 29, ahead of its public run from April 30 to May 3. Led by Powerhouse Arts President Eric Shiner and Fair Director Adriana Farietta, the event drew over 800 guests, featuring installations by Juan Jose Barboza-Gubo, House of Silence by Vuslat, and Sana Frini, along with 28 gallery exhibitors and 20 special projects. A performance by Grammy-nominated artist Lido Pimienta highlighted the evening, and the fair showcased works by numerous artists and gallerists.

7 new art and culture books in bookstores. Maps of the present: between art, work, memory and forms of perception

7 nuovi libri d’arte e cultura in libreria. Mappe del presente: tra arte, lavoro, memoria e forme della percezione

This article from Artribune presents a curated selection of seven new art and culture books recently released in Italy. The featured titles range from a theoretical lexicon for 21st-century arts edited by Nicolas Martino, which redefines key terms like 'author,' 'AI,' and 'care,' to a poetic pop-up book by Japanese designer Katsumi Komagata titled 'Piccolo Albero,' which uses paper engineering to narrate the cycle of life. Other works explore themes of labor, memory, domestic space (Giorgio Morandi), inner labyrinths (Andrea Bocconi), and direct testimony from Gaza, all aiming to provide new frameworks for understanding a fractured present.

Nick Cave at the 2026 Biennale. Seven works between loss, memory and protest

Nick Cave è alla Biennale 2026. Sette opere tra perdita, memoria e protesta

Nick Cave presents "Two Points in Time at Once" at the 2026 Venice Biennale, a project spanning seven locations across Venice. The installation features a series of bronze works, including the "Amalgam" series (Seated, Origin, Plot, Resuscitation, Meditation) along with "Grapht" and "Siren." This marks a significant material shift from Cave's iconic fabric Soundsuits to bronze, exploring themes of loss, memory, trauma, and protest through a more static yet politically charged presence.

Intervista all’artista italiano che ha riempito la città di Stoccolma di sculture-animali

Italian artist Davide Rivalta has installed thirteen monumental bronze sculptures of lions, buffalo, and rhinoceroses across Stockholm, Sweden, in a project titled "Blowing Figures into Space." Organized by the Italian Cultural Institute of Stockholm, the works are placed in strategic locations including Mynttorget, Gamla Stan, Ladugårdsgärdet, and Hagaparken, with installations rolling out from April 2025 through summer 2027. The first sculpture was unveiled near the Swedish Parliament during Stockholm Art Week, and additional animals will appear in public parks on August 29.

France reopens its historic pavilion at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale after restorations with artist Yto Barrada

La Francia riapre il suo storico padiglione alla Biennale Arte 2026 dopo i restauri con l’artista Yto Barrada

France will reopen its historic pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale (May 9–November 22, 2026) after restoration, with Franco-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada (b. 1971) presenting the immersive textile-based project "Comme Saturne," curated by Myriam Ben Salah. The exhibition uses the "dévoré" technique—acid selectively corrodes fabric—as a metaphor for destruction and creation, featuring a goat-skin kite, a Room of Folds with wool drapery that fades in natural light, a Laboratory inspired by Saturnalia, and a Study Room linked to Barrada's garden of dye plants in Tangier, culminating in the Room of the Devoured where chemically attacked material fragments into an aesthetic of wear and formlessness.

Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography features two members and a guest artist

Gallery 14 Fine Art Photography in Hopewell, New Jersey, will host a group exhibition from May 16 through June 14, featuring two member artists and one guest artist. The show includes John Stritzinger's series 'Trees Find A Way,' which captures trees in urban and rural settings; Dutch Bagley's 'What In The World,' a self-taught photographic exploration of environment and diversity; and guest artist Elvira Peretsman's 'The Fractured Perspective,' which uses experimental in-camera techniques to reveal abstract geometric forms. A meet-the-artists reception is scheduled for Sunday, May 17 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Old toys, new life: Bloomingdale’s Step Mother Nature art gallery opens 'Child's Play'

Michael Greathouse's exhibition "Child's Play" opened at the Step Mother Nature gallery in Bloomingdale, featuring a dozen portraits of discarded stuffed animals. The show marks the gallery's third season reopening and is paired with a toy drive for the Saranac Lake Holiday Helpers, a local volunteer group that collects toys for children at Christmas. Greathouse's paintings depict battle-worn toys with scars, ripped fabric, and chipped paint, aiming to capture the history and soul of each object.

The Sports Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg. Here’s What Else to Expect From the 2028 Olympics.

Los Angeles is preparing a comprehensive Cultural Olympiad for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, led by LA28 senior vice president Dwayne Jones and executive director Nora Halpern. The program will feature free sports movie screenings, live music, food experiences, art installations, community events, and special exhibitions at local museums. Sixteen local artists have been commissioned to create posters honoring the games, with a dedicated gallery exhibition planned for July 2027. A new digital calendar and mapping tool will help residents and visitors navigate the cultural offerings, and institutions like LACMA, the LA Philharmonic, and the Museum of Latin American Art have already expressed support.

Between Ritual and Institution: Andrea Canepa's Interventions in Spain

ENTRE EL RITO Y LA INSTITUCIÓN: LAS INTERVENCIONES DE ANDREA CANEPA EN ESPAÑA

Andrea Canepa, a Peruvian artist born in 1980, has installed "Fardo" at the Palacio de Cristal in Madrid's Parque del Retiro, running from January 13, 2026 to January 1, 2027. The work wraps the building's perimeter in a printed fabric bearing patterns from Paracas funerary textiles, a pre-Columbian culture from southern Peru. Created during the palace's ongoing restoration (which began in 2023), the installation challenges the building's colonial history—it was built for the 1887 Exhibition of the Philippine Islands—by introducing indigenous visual and ritual references. Canepa also presented "Entre lo profundo y lo distante" at the IVAM in Valencia until April 12, 2026, which uses Andean huacas (sacred spaces) to propose a non-linear relationship between time, body, and space. Both works transform passive contemplation into active, bodily participation, using ritual as a means to reorganize the exhibition experience.

2026 Future Fair: Everything You Need To Know About the Art Fair Before It Opens Next Month

Future Fair, a contemporary art fair focused on community and emerging talent, will hold its sixth edition at Chelsea Industrial in New York from May 14 to 16, 2026. The fair brings together nearly 70 exhibitors, including brick-and-mortar galleries, artist-run initiatives, and collaborative platforms from nine countries, with nearly half hailing from the New York tri-state area. Highlights include the return of the Pay-It-Forward Fund, which allocates 15% of annual profits as grants to participating galleries and dealers, and a VIP preview day on May 13.

History Made Material

Material gewordene Geschichte

The German Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale has been transformed by artist Sung Tieu, who clad its Nazi-era facade with millions of small marble tiles to replicate the look of a prefabricated East German apartment block—specifically the Gehrenseestraße housing complex in Berlin where she spent part of her childhood. Inside, the exhibition features glass casts of her mother's limbs, aluminum beams evoking cramped living quarters, and works by the late Henrike Naumann, all curated by Kathleen Reinhardt to explore bureaucracy, migration, and systemic violence.

JR transforms the Pont-Neuf into an immense immersive cave

JR métamorphose le Pont-Neuf en immense caverne immersive

French artist JR has transformed the Pont-Neuf in Paris into a massive immersive cave installation titled "La Caverne du Pont-Neuf," unveiled in May 2026. The work pays homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 1985 wrapping of the same bridge, using an inflatable double-wall structure covered with printed fabric to simulate rock formations and a prehistoric cave. The 120-meter-long installation is free and open to the public day and night, featuring augmented reality experiences via mobile devices and VR glasses, with a soundscape by a former Daft Punk member. The project, budgeted at €10.9 million funded by private sources, marks the first time JR has invited the public inside one of his works.

À Marseille, l’installation textile monumentale d’Adrien Vescovi déploie ses couleurs

Artist Adrien Vescovi has installed a monumental textile work titled "Dormir comme le soleil" at the Vieille Charité in Marseille. The installation features over 600 dyed sheets suspended across 108 arches of the former hospice, using natural pigments from plants, spices, and ochres. The fabrics, dyed in a labor-intensive process involving large wooden spoons and cauldrons, are designed to fade and evolve over the eight-month exhibition, responding to wind, humidity, and Mediterranean light.

Sarah Rowe Will Light Up Native Neon Residency in Kingston, NY

A new residency program for Indigenous artists working with neon for the first time has been launched through a collaboration between the Walker Youngbird Foundation and Lite Brite Neon Studio in Kingston, New York. Sarah Rowe, a painter and installation artist from Omaha, Nebraska, was selected as the first recipient from over one hundred applicants. She plans to create a work inspired by the heyoka, a trickster figure from Lakota tradition, and will receive a $10,000 stipend plus fully funded fabrication, materials, studio time, and technical instruction valued at around $50,000. The resulting artwork will be publicly presented, and Rowe will retain full intellectual property rights and ownership.

EFG LATIN AMERICA ART AWARD PRESENTA AL ARTISTA NOMINADO EN SP ARTE 2026

The EFG Latin America Art Award, in partnership with ArtNexus, has named Brazilian artist Cristiano Lenhardt as its nominee from SP-Arte 2026. Lenhardt, represented by Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, was selected for his work *Lieoe* (2025), a mixed-media piece combining ceramic, embroidery, and cotton fabric dyed by floodwaters from the Guaíba River. The work responds to the environmental tragedy of the May 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul, transforming trauma into a tactile, intuitive object. The nomination was made with input from Fernando Oliva, curator of MASP, and Celia Sredni de Birbragher, director of ArtNexus.

Around North America, Community Members Are Stitching Nearly 11,000 Birds

Artist and educator Holly Greenberg launched the multi-year project "Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene" in 2024 after learning about a mass bird collision at Chicago's McCormick Place Lakeside Center in October 2023, where nearly 1,000 birds died in a single night. Using data from the Chicago Field Museum and ornithologist Dave Willard, Greenberg focuses on the 10,863 birds found dead after hitting Chicago buildings in 2023 alone. The project involves community members stitching nearly 11,000 fabric birds to raise awareness and educate the public about preventing window collisions, which kill an estimated one billion birds annually across North America.

Jake Messing’s Hyperrealistic Paintings Celebrate the Abundance of Nature

Jake Messing, a Northern California-based artist, creates hyperrealistic acrylic paintings that depict dense, maximalist clusters of flora and fauna, often combining creatures and plants in surreal arrangements. His works, such as "Coccinellidaes Hideaway 2" and "Bubbles and Blooms," draw on the tradition of Dutch Golden Age still-life painting while incorporating contemporary elements like color gradients and shiny fabrics.

The Condé M. Nast Galleries Open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Condé M. Nast Galleries have opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, a 12,000-square-foot space designed by architecture firm Peterson Rich. The galleries feature white granite floors, classic pedestals, and recessed uplighting to protect fragile fabrics, creating a seamless integration with the museum's existing architecture.