Young talent shines at Rochdale’s FAB Youth Arts Festival

Rochdale recently hosted the FAB Youth Arts Festival, a multi-disciplinary event marking the conclusion of the town’s tenure as the Greater Manchester Town of Culture 2025-26. The festival featured a diverse array of visual arts, including the unveiling of a major new mural by artist Hayley Garner (Aylo) on the Regal Moon building, an outdoor exhibition at the Square Gallery by Hopwood Hall College students, and interdisciplinary showcases at Ebor Studio. The event attracted over 1,500 visitors and focused on the themes of freedom, art, and belonging.

Ai Weiwei solo show in Singapore

Ai Weiwei has launched a solo exhibition at Tang Contemporary Art in Singapore, featuring his signature Lego brick recreations of Western masterpieces and intricate porcelain sculptures. The show includes pixelated interpretations of works by Van Gogh and Andrew Wyeth, alongside porcelain pieces like 'Watermelon' and a series of 16 helmets that satirize international military aid. The artist, currently based in Portugal, noted that the exhibition's themes are heavily influenced by contemporary global conflicts and the digital age's impact on authorship.

PRESS RELEASE: Christie’s First London-Based Middle Eastern Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Auction Builds On Dubai’s Success, Achieving £5,235,125 / $6,863,249 / €5,826,694 - Christie's

Christie’s successfully transitioned its Middle Eastern Modern & Contemporary Art evening auction from Dubai to London, achieving a total of £5.2 million ($6.8 million). The sale boasted high sell-through rates of 85% by lot and 88% by value, driven by bidders from 23 different countries. Significant highlights included world auction records for Iraqi artist Jewad Selim, whose painting "The Watermelon Seller" fetched over double its estimate, and Mahmoud Sabri, whose work "Grief" sold for more than ten times its high estimate.

Moving art exhibition celebrates the creativity, individuality, and inner light of adults with special needs

The Janice Charach Gallery in West Bloomfield is hosting "A Little Bit of Light," a collaborative exhibition featuring works by artists from Soul Studio. This program, operated by the Friendship Circle, provides a supported art studio environment specifically designed for adults with special needs to explore their creative potential.

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Greek authorities have arrested Athens-based art dealer and television personality Giorgos Tsagarakis following an investigation into a suspected criminal network involved in the theft, forgery, and illegal trade of antiquities. The arrest, executed by the Organized Crime Division, led to the seizure of hundreds of paintings, ancient ceramics, Byzantine artifacts, and a rare 1745 gold-plated Gospel manuscript. Investigators were reportedly alerted to the illicit items after Tsagarakis posted a video of the artifacts on social media.

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Calvin Tomkins, the legendary New Yorker writer who chronicled the contemporary art world for over six decades, has died at the age of 100. Joining the magazine's staff in 1960, Tomkins became the preeminent profiler of his era, translating complex aesthetic shifts and avant-garde movements into accessible, witty, and insightful prose. His career-defining focus on art began unexpectedly in 1959 with a chance interview with Marcel Duchamp, sparking a lifelong fascination with the creative process.

New exhibition on local cold water swimmers at Bournemouth Hospital gallery

Photographer David Bird has unveiled a new exhibition titled "Cold Water Swimmers" at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital’s Art Space gallery. The series features before-and-after portraits of local swimming groups, such as Beyond the Blue in Poole, capturing the physical and emotional transformation of participants who brave the sea at sunrise without wetsuits. The project was developed during Bird's recent MA in Photography at Arts University Bournemouth, marking a return to academia after a 30-year career in commercial and press photography.

Spring Arts Guide 2026: The Visual Art Exhibitions Making a Splash This Season

The Spring Arts Guide 2026 highlights several major exhibitions opening in the Washington D.C. area, ranging from local photography to expansive collection surveys. Alan Sislen’s 'AMBIGUITY' at Multiple Exposures Gallery explores architectural abstraction, while the National Museum of Women in the Arts hosts 'Making Their Mark,' a traveling exhibition of the Shah Garg Collection featuring luminaries like Howardena Pindell and Joan Semmel. Additionally, the National Museum of African Art presents 'Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art,' a landmark show centering queer voices within the African diaspora.

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Digital artist Beeple is bringing his viral robotic installation, "Regular Animals (2025)," to the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin this April. The work features a pack of AI-powered robotic dogs with heads modeled after tech moguls like Elon Musk and art icons like Pablo Picasso, which roam a pen, capture images of the audience, and "eject" AI-filtered prints from their rears. The presentation will coincide with Gallery Weekend Berlin and include a dialogue with Nam June Paik’s "Andy Warhol Robot (1994)."

Party Is Elsewhere: When Art, Absence and Space Collide

Sudarshan Shetty’s seminal 2005 kinetic installation, "Party Is Elsewhere," has been restaged within the decaying remains of an abandoned nightclub in Delhi. The exhibition eschews the traditional "white cube" gallery space, instead utilizing a raw environment of peeling plaster and sagging ceilings to mirror the work's original debut in a fire-damaged Mumbai gallery. The installation features a mechanical system that rhythmically hammers a table of wine glasses beneath a neon sign, creating a sensory experience centered on fragility and deferred presence.

Beeple's Robot Dogs to Roam Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie

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Digital artist Beeple is set to make his German institutional debut at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie with "Regular Animals" (2025), an installation featuring ten robotic dogs with heads modeled after tech moguls like Elon Musk and iconic artists like Pablo Picasso. The sculptures, which gained viral fame at Art Basel Miami Beach, use AI to process their surroundings and "defecate" stylized prints for visitors. The 11-day pop-up presentation will place Beeple’s work in dialogue with Nam June Paik’s "Andy Warhol Robot" (1994), exploring the intersection of art, media, and mechanical reproduction.

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Archaeologists at El Caño Archaeological Park in central Panama have uncovered a 1,000-year-old tomb belonging to a high-ranking chieftain of the Gran Coclé culture. The burial chamber, designated as Tomb 3, contains a staggering collection of gold artifacts, including pectorals, earrings, and ornaments featuring crocodile and bat motifs. Crucially, the 'Lord of Tomb 3' was found buried alongside several other individuals, suggesting a practice of ritual human sacrifice intended to accompany the leader into the afterlife.

Ancient Egyptian Papyrus Reveals 3,300-Year-Old White-Out Fluid

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Researchers at the Fitzwilliam Museum have discovered evidence of 3,300-year-old "white-out" used to correct an artistic error on an ancient Egyptian papyrus. While preparing for an upcoming exhibition, curators identified a modification on a copy of the Book of the Dead belonging to the royal scribe Ramose, where a mixture of calcite and huntite was applied to slim down the figure of a jackal deity.

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Sotheby’s has secured the personal collection of the late financier and legendary art dealer Robert Mnuchin for its marquee May auctions in New York. The 24-work consignment is headlined by Mark Rothko’s 1957 masterpiece 'Brown and Blacks in Reds', which carries an estimate of $70 million to $100 million. The collection also features significant works by Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Jeff Koons, reflecting Mnuchin's lifelong dedication to postwar abstraction and the New York School.

Innocent mistake? Italy's prime minister appears as a cherub in Rome church

A fresco restoration in Rome's Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina sparked a political controversy after a cherub was found to bear a striking resemblance to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The artist, Bruno Valentinetti, initially denied the intentional likeness before admitting he had painted the figure based on the Prime Minister's features. Following an intervention by the Vatican's administrative body, the Curia, the face was subsequently painted over and removed from the chapel.

Can you feel the love tonight? Elton John's cosy family portrait captured by Catherine Opie

The National Portrait Gallery in London has unveiled a new family portrait of Sir Elton John, his husband David Furnish, and their two sons, captured by the acclaimed American photographer Catherine Opie. Taken at the family's home in Old Windsor, the image depicts the group in their library alongside their pet Labradors. The work is a centerpiece of Opie’s major retrospective, "Catherine Opie: To Be Seen," which opens this week.

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Activists from the group Everyone Hates Elon staged a protest at the Louvre by surreptitiously installing a framed photograph of Prince Andrew following his recent arrest. The image, captured by Reuters photographer Phil Noble, depicts the royal in the back of a car after being taken into custody on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Museum staff removed the unauthorized addition, which featured a gilded frame and a caption mocking the Prince's previous claims regarding his inability to sweat, within fifteen minutes.

Middle East, Ultra-Contemporary Old Masters, and the Meloni Fresco

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The art world is navigating a significant shift in regional power and aesthetic trends, highlighted by the inaugural Art Basel Qatar. This expansion into the Middle East signals a potential recalibration of global cultural influence, while simultaneously, the 'Ultra-Contemporary' market is pivoting toward 'Old Master' aesthetics and historical estates as a response to mounting economic pressures.

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Construction on Barcelona’s Sagrada Família reached a historic milestone with the completion of the central Tower of Jesus Christ. The installation of a 56-foot cross atop the structure officially makes the basilica the tallest church in the world, fulfilling a key component of Antoni Gaudí’s original vision nearly a century after his death.

Artist urges youngsters to showcase talent at new exhibition

Landscape artist and tutor Jacs Harris is launching a new children's art exhibition at The Sessions House in Spalding to encourage creative expression among local youth. The event features three age categories ranging from toddlers to teenagers, offering prizes for each group and providing a public platform for young creators to display their work.

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Elvira Dyangani Ose is stepping down as the director of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) in April, months before her contract was set to expire. Her resignation follows a conflict with the MACBA Consortium, which ruled that her new appointment as director of the Abu Dhabi Public Art Biennial was incompatible with her leadership role in Barcelona. Dyangani Ose, who became the first woman and first person of color to lead the institution in 2021, had requested to balance both positions, but the governing body denied the proposal.

Gaudí Attribution Confirmed for Xalet del Catllaràs

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A comprehensive architectural report commissioned by the Government of Catalonia has officially confirmed that Antoni Gaudí designed the Xalet del Catllaràs, a remote chalet in the Catalan mountains. Built between 1901 and 1908 for engineers working at coal mines owned by Gaudí’s patron Eusebi Güell, the building’s attribution was previously suspected but unverified. Researchers used structural analysis of the canted arches, room distribution, and specific lime plastering techniques to link the pyramidal structure to Gaudí’s signature modernist style.

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The New York art scene is witnessing a shift in the Tribeca gallery landscape as 1969 Gallery, a fixture known for championing emerging painters, has shuttered its physical space at 39 White Street. Founder Quang Bao confirmed the closure following the building owner's decision to sell the property, noting that he is currently operating from Barcelona with plans to pivot toward collaborations and residencies rather than the traditional gallery model. Meanwhile, the itinerant Ward Gallery continues to gain traction by hosting pop-up symposia at institutions like the International Center for Photography, signaling a broader trend toward real-estate-free dealership.

Bucks County museum to showcase Eric Carle's work with exhibit, events

The James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is presenting the exhibition 'Small Living Things: The Magical Art of Eric Carle.' The show, organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, features original artwork from Carle's classic children's books, process sketches, and related cultural objects, including a 1996 McDonald's Happy Meal toy series and a bronze sculpture of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It runs from February 14 through May 24, accompanied by family-friendly programming and a community-wide scavenger hunt.

Bucks County museum to showcase Eric Carle's work with exhibit, events

The James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is presenting the exhibition 'Small Living Things: The Magical Art of Eric Carle.' The show, organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, features original artwork from Carle's classic children's books, process sketches, and related cultural objects, including a 1996 McDonald's Happy Meal toy series and a bronze sculpture of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. It runs from February 14 through May 24, supported by several donors and foundations.