Comedian Jim Moir, best known as Vic Reeves, has opened a solo exhibition titled 'Neo Fauna' at Cartwright Hall in Bradford. The show features his eclectic paintings and drawings, including watercolours of birds and the 'American Couples' series, where he paints over found family portraits. Moir insists his comedy career was an extension of his art practice, stating he is fundamentally 'just a painter.'
A political dispute has erupted in Spain over the potential temporary relocation of Pablo Picasso's iconic anti-war painting *Guernica*. The president of the Basque Country, Imanol Pradales, has formally requested the work be moved from Madrid's Reina Sofía museum to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for several months in 2027, framing it as a form of "reparation" for the Basque people. The Spanish government has rejected the request on conservation grounds, while conservative politicians have used the proposal to attack Basque nationalism.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's upcoming Costume Institute exhibition, 'Costume Art,' will feature mannequins representing a diverse range of body types, including pregnant, disabled, and plus-size figures, instead of the traditional sample size 2. The mannequins were created using photogrammetry scans of real people, such as artist Michaela Stark and disability activist Sinéad Burke, and have reflective steel faces intended to allow visitors to see themselves in the display.
Artist Marcos Kueh presents his solo exhibition 'Smooth Sailing' at ESEA Contemporary in Manchester. The show features new sculptures, tapestries, and a large-scale installation that reflect on the histories of Chinese labour and migration, particularly to northwest England, drawing inspiration from 19th-century trade union banners found in Manchester's People's History Museum.
The Coliseum Museum opened its third annual Focus on Photography Art Exhibit on April 10 with an awards reception. The exhibition, running through May 16, features 59 works by 29 artists across various photographic mediums, and includes a public vote for a People's Choice award.
The Coliseum Museum in Oregon hosted the opening reception for its third annual Focus on Photography art exhibit, where Judge Danielle Koenig announced the competition winners. Glenn Bodish received the Best of Show award for his work “Pakistani Elder Making Lassi,” leading a group of winners that included Bob Cholke, Stephonie A. Schmitz, and Steve Toole. The exhibition features 59 works by 29 different artists, showcasing a range of techniques from traditional film to digital and mixed media.
The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) has opened “Ancient Splendor: Roman Art in the Time of Trajan,” a major traveling exhibition featuring a seven-foot-tall marble statue of Emperor Trajan and a vast array of artifacts from his reign. Organized in collaboration with the Italian organization StArt and curated by Roman expert Lucrezia Ungaro alongside SLAM’s Hannah Segrave, the show is structured into three thematic sections: the imperial household, the domestic lives of everyday Romans, and the public sphere. To enhance immersion, the museum has integrated sensory elements including scent stations that replicate ancient fragrances and a commissioned soundscape.
The African American Museum, Dallas has announced it will reopen on May 1 following extensive facility improvements, including HVAC upgrades, floor repairs, and technological enhancements. The reopening will be marked by the debut of a major exhibition titled "People Who Make the World Go ‘Round: The Legacy of Sepia Magazine," which showcases over 40,000 images from the museum’s archives featuring Black icons like Aretha Franklin and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Gus Casely-Hayford, the director of V&A East, outlines his vision for the new museum as a collaborative space designed specifically to re-engage young audiences. Highlighting a new commission by Cuban artist Tania Bruguera created with local youth, Casely-Hayford argues that museums must move beyond Victorian-era paternalism toward a model of co-creation. The institution has consulted over 30,000 young people to ensure its galleries, such as the "Why We Make" space, reflect contemporary concerns and community needs.
Photographer Jon McCormack captured a striking image of the Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island, Australia, framing the Southern Ocean through a naturally eroded granite hollow. The photograph, taken at sunset, emphasizes the graphic simplicity and sculptural quality of the ancient rock formations, which have been shaped by wind and salt over 10,000 years of isolation.
The Tumut Art Society recently concluded its 68th annual art exhibition in regional New South Wales, marking a successful two-week event that drew approximately 500 visitors. The show featured 39 sales across both physical and virtual platforms and distributed $15,000 in prize money across nine categories. Melbourne artist Nina Volk emerged as the primary winner, securing both the prestigious Bendigo Bank Acquisitive Award for her work "The Storm is Coming" and the People’s Choice Award for "Grazing in the Autumn Mist."
The Leesburg Arts Center is launching its inaugural exhibition, "People, Places & Things," at its new permanent home in the historic Tropic Theatre. The reception, scheduled for April 17, debuts a diverse collection of works from the center’s artist membership, spanning various media. The exhibition will remain on view through July 11, marking a significant milestone for the organization as it establishes its presence in downtown Leesburg.
Self-taught artist Marvin Young, 64, who has an intellectual and developmental disability, will have his first solo exhibition, “Impressions of a City,” at the Intuit Art Museum in Chicago from April 9 to August 23, 2026. Curated by Christina Stavros, the show features Young’s vivid drawings of Chicago cityscapes, architecture, and portraits, created from memory using graphite, colored pencils, crayons, and markers. Young, who works at Envision Unlimited and Arts of Life—nonprofits supporting people with disabilities—has long dreamed of selling his art, and this exhibition marks a major milestone in that goal.
The City of Austin’s Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment (ACME) department has launched two open calls for local artists to exhibit their work in high-traffic public spaces. The 2026–28 People’s Gallery exhibition at Austin City Hall and the Changing Exhibits Program at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport are seeking submissions of 2-D and 3-D multi-disciplinary works. Applications are open to professional artists and organizations within the Austin metropolitan area through May 31, 2026.
The Campbell River Art Gallery is currently hosting the 44th Annual Member’s Show, a long-standing tradition presented in partnership with the Campbell River Arts Council. Running through April 25, 2026, the exhibition features nearly 80 artworks from local creators living within the region.
A replica of a Christopher Columbus statue was installed on the White House grounds under the direction of the Trump administration. The sculpture is a reproduction of a monument that was toppled and thrown into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor by protesters during the 2020 racial justice movements. Created by artist Will Hemsley using scans of the original fragments, the project was previously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and has now been placed near the West Wing as part of preparations for the 250th anniversary of American independence.
British artist and art critic Matthew Collings has sparked intense backlash for his exhibition "Drawings Against Genocide" held in Kent. Critics and advocacy groups allege that the works utilize virulent antisemitic tropes, including depictions of Jewish people consuming infants and imagery that appears to deny the sexual violence committed during the October 7 attacks.
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The Venice Biennale organizers have reaffirmed their decision to allow Russia to participate in the upcoming exhibition, despite intense pressure from the European Commission and Italy’s own Culture Minister, Alessandro Giuli. The Biennale maintains that it has fully complied with all international sanctions and that its mission is to reject censorship while providing a platform for artistic freedom. This stance has been bolstered by Italian Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, who argued against "Russophobia" and stated that culture should serve as a bridge rather than a tool for division.
Artists Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata have won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for their dystopian French-language short, "Two People Exchanging Saliva." In a rare occurrence for the Oscars, the category resulted in a tie with Sam Davis’s musical comedy "The Singers." Singh and Musteata’s film depicts a near-future Paris where physical intimacy is a capital offense and commerce is conducted through ritualized physical violence.
Hollis Taggart is hosting a retrospective of Frank Diaz Escalet, a Puerto Rican-born artist whose unique practice involved creating intricate figurative compositions from inlaid leather. Raised in New York and later based in Maine, Escalet transitioned from a master leather craftsman catering to celebrities like the Rolling Stones to a fine artist focused on the lives of everyday people. The exhibition showcases his self-taught technique of cutting, dyeing, and conjoining leather shapes to create vibrant scenes of Puerto Rican culture and urban life.
The Museum of the Cherokee People has launched "Unrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution," a landmark exhibition marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. The show juxtaposes 18th-century historical artifacts, such as weaponry and archival treaties, with newly commissioned works by 14 contemporary Cherokee artists. Curated by Dakota Brown, Evan Mathis, and Brandon Dillard, the exhibition challenges traditional American nationalist mythologies by centering Indigenous perspectives on the Cherokee American War and the complexities of sovereignty.
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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.
Researchers at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge have discovered a 3,300-year-old form of corrective fluid on an Ancient Egyptian papyrus. Analysis of a 'Book of the Dead' created for a royal archivist named Ramose revealed that a mixture of huntite, calcite, and yellow orpiment was used to paint over a jackal figure to make it appear slimmer. This 'ancient Tipp-Ex' was specifically tinted to match the cream-colored papyrus, demonstrating a sophisticated level of aesthetic correction and attention to detail by Egyptian craftspeople.
Denver’s art scene is currently highlighting several intimate yet impactful exhibitions during the transitional spring season. Key highlights include a multi-venue celebration of Colorado artist Ana María Hernando with solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, alongside a group showing at Robischon Gallery. Additionally, the Denver Art Museum is showcasing its textile and photography archives through two distinct exhibitions: "Conversation Pieces," featuring high-fashion acquisitions from Chanel to McQueen, and "What We’ve Been Up To: People," a survey of portrait photography spanning from the 19th century to the present.
Western Exhibitions in Chicago presents “Spaces for People, Systems for Spaces,” a group exhibition featuring fifteen artists who explore the intersection of architecture, urban infrastructure, and the human body. The show includes diverse approaches to mapping and structural representation, ranging from Kim Beck’s hand-woven asphalt photographs and Courttney Cooper’s massive ink-on-receipt Cincinnati maps to Brian Petrone’s basswood and limestone tectonic sculptures.
Frank Frazetta’s 1973 painting 'Captive Princess,' originally created as cover art for Edgar Rice Burroughs’s novel 'The People That Time Forgot,' is heading to auction at Propstore with a high estimate of $1 million. The work, which depicts a dramatic abduction scene involving prehistoric figures, leads a major sale of entertainment memorabilia that includes iconic film props like a 'Jaws' harpoon gun and a C-3PO head.
The Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, Oregon, is hosting "Black Infinity House," an immersive exhibition curated by August Oaks that showcases the work of over 30 Black Oregonian artists. Moving away from traditional white-cube gallery aesthetics, the installation is divided into three domestic-themed environments—a studio, a living room, and a porch—where visitors are encouraged to interact with the space by sitting on furniture, listening to records, and reading poetry.
The Field Museum in Chicago is set to debut "Amerika Samoa," a temporary exhibition opening March 6, 2026, in the Regenstein Halls of the Pacific. Co-curated by Reggie Meredith Fitiao and Su’a Uilisone Fitiao of the nonprofit Fa’asamoa Arts, the show focuses on two primary Samoan art forms: siapo mamanu (painted barkcloth) and tatau (tattoo). The exhibition features contemporary works alongside historical pieces from the museum's collection, including a collaborative large-scale siapo created with the Chicago Samoan community.
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France has officially returned the Djidji Ayôkwé, a historic "talking drum," to the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire during a ceremony at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris. The 940-pound artifact, which was used by the Atchan people to communicate across distances and warn of colonial troop movements, was seized by French authorities in 1916 to suppress local resistance. After decades in French collections, the drum is being transferred to the Museum of Civilizations in Abidjan following a specific vote by the French parliament.
Archaeologist Mike Pitts has challenged the prevailing narrative surrounding the removal of Hoa Hakananaiʻa, the iconic Easter Island moai held by the British Museum. Drawing on a newly discovered 1869 eyewitness account from the Army and Navy Gazette and a rare historical photograph, Pitts argues that the statue's excavation was a collaborative effort involving hundreds of Indigenous Rapa Nui people rather than a simple act of imperial theft. The evidence suggests the British crew traded tobacco for assistance and were guided to the statue's location by the islanders.