One Art Space in Tribeca presented "Thread of Memory – The Language of Healing," a solo exhibition by Korean artist Sung Min Jang, held from November 18–25, 2025. The show featured Jang's acrylic paintings that combine painterly surfaces with textile motifs and symbolic threads, exploring themes of memory, trauma, and renewal. A private VIP reception took place on November 20.
The six artists shortlisted for the 2025 Artes Mundi 11 prize present works addressing displacement, colonial trauma, and migration amid divisive global politics. The exhibition, held at the National Museum Cardiff and other Welsh venues, features Sancintya Mohini Simpson’s subversive Indian miniature-style paintings depicting the horrors of indentured labor, alongside works by Jumana Emil Abboud, Anawana Haloba, and Sawangwongse Yawnghwe. The prize, the UK’s largest cash award for an exhibition at £40,000, continues its evolution by offering solo presentations across multiple venues.
The California African American Museum in Exposition Park has opened 'Ode to ’Dena: Black Artistic Legacies of Altadena,' a free exhibition celebrating the deep Black artistic heritage of the Altadena neighborhood. Curated by Dominique Clayton, the show features over 20 Black artists with ties to the area, including a wall of archival family photos, works by 98-year-old Betye Saar, and pieces by Kenturah Davis and her family. The exhibition was organized rapidly after the Eaton Fire, incorporating debris from the disaster, such as a scorched flugelhorn and a charred sound bowl, to reflect loss and resilience.
The LOOK25 Gala in Calgary, held on May 31 and presented by MAWER, raised over $1.2 million for Contemporary Calgary. Themed “Noir Nouveau” after textile artist Simone Elizabeth Saunders, the event featured a VIP dinner by Holt Renfrew, performances by Justine Tyrell and Timothonius, and a live auction led by Heather Edwards that included works by Saunders, June Clark, Evan Penny, and a circa-1960 Jean-Paul Riopelle. An after party sponsored by Masters Gallery drew 600 guests. Separately, the Butterfly Ball in Toronto, now in its 26th year, raised $1.27 million for Boost Child & Youth Advocacy Centre, with co-chairs Claire MacNamara and Trish Del Sorbo, and an auction handled by Christie’s consultant Brett Sherlock.
Musician Scotty Ramon, better known as Kid Cudi, has launched his debut solo painting exhibition titled "Echoes of the Past" at Ruttkowski;68 gallery in Paris. The show features a series of striking, flat-palette canvases centered around an avatar named Max, who navigates scenes of psychological struggle and liberation. To accompany the visual works, Ramon composed a 10-minute percussive score that plays on a loop in the gallery, intended to transport viewers into his creative psyche.
Sharon Stone has created a new series of figurative paintings titled "Rogues Gallery," which she describes as channeling the spirits of historical figures from different eras and locations, including an enslaved individual who drowned in the East China Sea and Iranian freedom fighter Mahsa Amini. The works, made in 2025, mark a shift from her earlier abstracted landscapes and floral motifs, and were produced in her Los Angeles home studio. Stone, who began painting seriously around 2020 and has previously exhibited at C. Parker Gallery, Allouche Gallery, and Galerie Deschler Berlin, approaches the portraits as a medium for healing and confronting difficult histories, including her own family's potential involvement in enslavement.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is presenting an expanded version of Takashi Murakami's exhibition 'Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow,' originally shown at The Broad in Los Angeles in 2022. The show fills the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall and Gallery with Murakami's vibrant paintings and sculptures, including early drawings, self-portraits, and new works unseen by American audiences. A highlight is the Yumedono project, a re-creation of the Dream Hall at Hōryū Temple in Nara, Japan, created in collaboration with the team from the FX series *Shogun*. Curator Ed Schad emphasizes the exhibition's exploration of how art can address crisis, healing, and escapist fantasy after shared historical trauma, with loans that dialogue with classical Japanese artists like Ogata Kōrin, Kitaōji Rosanjin, and Itō Jakuchū.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is opening a new exhibition titled 'Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow,' featuring the work of Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami. The show runs from May 25 through September 7, with member previews from May 16 to 24. The exhibition explores Murakami's signature style blending anime, manga, and otaku culture with traditional Japanese art, and addresses themes such as trauma, healing, and the cultural impact of historical events including World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Cleveland Museum of Art has opened "Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow," a major exhibition of works by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. The show, which originated at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, features vibrant paintings, sculptures, and an immersive recreation of the Yumedono (Dream Temple) from Nara, Japan, built in collaboration with designers from the TV series "Shōgun." The exhibition traces Murakami's career from early characters like Mr. DOB to large-scale works addressing grief and trauma, including the 82-foot-long painting inspired by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) is hosting "Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings," a comprehensive exhibition that draws from the artist’s complete archives. The show highlights Cha’s multidisciplinary practice, spanning film experiments, performance documentation, and her signature linguistic explorations. By pairing finished artworks with archival materials and personal ephemera, the exhibition reveals a playful, puckish side of the artist that is often obscured by the tragic circumstances of her death and the heavy themes of exile and dislocation in her work.
Larissa Pham’s debut novel, Discipline, follows Christina, a young writer and former painter grappling with the psychological aftermath of a formative affair with her art professor, Richard. Set against the backdrop of a book tour for her own autofictional novel, the narrative uses Christina’s observations of art—ranging from Helen Frankenthaler to Edward Hopper—to slowly peel back the layers of a relationship defined by power imbalances and predatory mentorship.
A blog post examines Van Gogh's lesser-known self-portrait, *Self-portrait with bandaged Ear and Pipe* (January 1889), held in a private collection and rarely exhibited—last lent outside Switzerland in 1990. The painting shows the artist clean-shaven, smoking a pipe, with a striking orange-red background, painted just weeks after he mutilated his ear following a row with Paul Gauguin. The post contrasts it with the more famous version in London's Courtauld Gallery, analyzing compositional details and the artist's psychological state.
More than 50 artists, including Lakwena Maciver, Veronica Ryan, Peter Liversidge, and Alberta Whittle, will create site-specific works for mental health hospitals across the UK as part of a new three-year initiative by the charity Hospital Rooms. The project, delivered in collaboration with NHS Trusts in Birmingham, Bristol, North East London, and South West Yorkshire, is backed by a £600,000 Arts Council England National Lottery grant and additional support from the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Hiscox Foundation. Hospital Rooms will also develop a National Framework for Equal Access to Arts in Mental Health Services, aiming to integrate trauma-informed, autism-friendly, and culturally competent arts programmes into mental healthcare settings.
The fifth edition of the Reiffers Initiatives Prize has opened in Paris with the exhibition "Trafiquer l'inconnu" ("Trading in the Unknown"), running until June 6, 2026, at the Reiffers Art Initiatives center. The group show features eight emerging artists based in France: Khaled Jarada, Louis Le Kim, Stanislava Kovalcikova, Arthur Marie, Eva Helene Pade, Ibrahim Meïté Sikely, Minh Lan Tran, and Manon Wertenbroek. Curated by Bernard Blistène, former director of the National Museum of Modern Art – Centre Pompidou, the exhibition presents works spanning painting, archival imagery, and explorations of the body. Stanislava Kovalcikova was named the winner of this edition, and Khaled Jarada received a new Special Mention from the jury.
Everlyn Nicodemus presents 'Without History' at Goodman Gallery in Cape Town, marking her first solo exhibition with the gallery and a rare return to the African continent since the 1980s. The show, organized in partnership with Richard Saltoun Gallery, features major bodies of work including the 'Woman in the World' cycle and the 'Wedding' series. These works, created while Nicodemus lived across Europe, explore themes of trauma, gender, and spiritual survival through a practice that blends painting with deep archival research and social anthropology.
The Republic of Cuba has announced its participation in the 61st Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition by artist Roberto Diago titled "Hombres Libres" (Free Man). Curated by Nelson Ramirez de Arellano Conde and located at Il Giardino Bianco, the installation features a series of sculptural heads crafted from salvaged materials like oxidized metal, wood, and plastic. These works, characterized by prominent surface scars, are designed to confront viewers and provoke a dialogue about the enduring nature of memory and dignity.
Artist Kelly Akashi has created a major installation for the 2026 Whitney Biennial titled 'Monument (Altadena)', a 13-foot-tall chimney and walkway made of clear glass bricks. The work is a direct response to the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, which destroyed her home and studio, leaving only the original brick chimney standing. She collaborated with mason Christian Inga to meticulously reconstruct this remnant in a new, spectral form.
The Hayward Gallery in London, in partnership with the RC Foundation, Taiwan, has opened Val Lee: The Presence of Solitude, the first solo exhibition in the UK by Taiwanese artist Val Lee. Held in the HENI Project Space at the Southbank Centre, the show runs from 7 October 2025 to 11 January 2026 and features film, photography, and costume works including Valley in the Minibus (2024) and The Sorrowful Football Team (2025). The exhibition explores themes of isolation, solitude, and political repression, using disjointed narratives and unidentifiable figures to examine how personal and collective memories are shaped by state systems.
The Louvre installed bars on the window through which thieves broke into the Galerie d’Apollon in October, stealing bejeweled objects that remain largely unrecovered. The window was secured on December 23, two days before Christmas, fulfilling a promise made by Louvre director Laurence des Cars, who had sought to resign after the heist but was denied. The museum also plans to add 100 security cameras and discuss securing other windows.
Miami's Contemporary Art Modern Project (CAMP) Gallery has opened the seventh edition of its series program, titled “Women Pulling at The Threads of Social Discourse: Don’t be Absurd.” The group exhibition features dozens of artists who created circular, tondo-like fiber works inspired by absurdist philosophers and writers such as Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Beckett, and José Saramago. Works include RemiJin Camping's cyanotype in an embroidery hoop referencing Kafka's *The Metamorphosis* and Mychaelyn Michalec's hand-tufted wool piece *The Pietà and The Swan*. The show runs through December 20, 2025.
London-based British-Guyanese artist Hew Locke expressed disappointment on Instagram after learning that the city of Ostend, Belgium, canceled a site-specific artwork commissioned late last year. The newly-elected city council cited insufficient public consultation before accepting Locke's proposal, which aimed to re-contextualize a statue of former Belgian King Leopold II—a ruler notorious for brutal colonial exploitation in the Congo. Locke offered to extend public consultation and reduce the installation from ten to five years, but received no response. The council's decision was announced without joint press release coordination, and Locke has had no further communication from them.
Minnesota-based interdisciplinary artist Rosy Simas opened a contemplative installation titled "A:gajë:gwah dësa’nigöëwë:nye:' (i hope it will stir your mind)" at the Walker Art Center on the same day that Trump-appointed border czar Tom Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities. The installation features salt bottles made from woven corn husks, each honoring one of Simas's relatives, and is inspired by the teachings of Handsome Lake (Ganyodaiyo’), her fifth great-grandfather’s half-brother, who promoted the Seneca concept of a "good mind." The exhibition, on view through July 5, is part of a two-part project that also includes performances in May. Simas, known primarily for choreography, has increasingly gained recognition as a visual artist, recently receiving a Creative Capital Award.
The Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid has opened a major retrospective of Spanish painter Juan Uslé, titled "That Ship on the Mountain." The exhibition features approximately 100 works spanning four decades, tracing the artist's journey from his childhood in Cantabria to his established career in New York City. It notably uses the traumatic shipwreck of the Elorrio, which Uslé witnessed as a boy, as its conceptual starting point.
The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) at Columbia College Chicago will host an exhibition titled “If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground,” guest curated by Harvard professor Sarah Lewis. Opening September 3, the show draws from MoCP’s permanent collection and features 70 photographers—including Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, and Carrie Mae Weems—to imagine the life Emmett Till might have lived had he not been lynched in 1955. The exhibition includes images of Chicago, the railways Till traveled, and milestones he missed, such as the Chicago Bulls phenomenon, Barack Obama’s election, and ongoing civil rights protests.
The article examines the exhibition 'Narrative Threads' and related artistic projects that explore the profound significance of Palestinian textile traditions, particularly the cross-stitch embroidery known as tatreez. It highlights how 24 contemporary Palestinian artists, including Joanna Barakat and Sliman Mansour, are using this heritage to create new artistic meanings and address themes of displacement, identity, and cultural preservation.
British artist Simon Fujiwara has opened a major career survey, 'A Whole New World,' at Mudam Luxembourg. The exhibition features a reinterpretation of Picasso's *Guernica* using his cartoon character Who the Baer, alongside works addressing his personal experience with syphilis and a commemorative installation for Japanese gay porn star Koh Masaki. The show is structured as a thematic 'theme park' exploring contemporary issues.
Pierre Huyghe has unveiled his most ambitious project to date in Berlin, a major exhibition titled 'Liminals' staged at the cavernous Halle am Berghain. Commissioned by the LAS Art Foundation as part of its 'Sensing Quantum' program, the installation features a massive 50-minute film projected in a former electrical station, accompanied by a droning, atmospheric soundscape. The work continues Huyghe’s exploration of AI-driven systems and 'unworlding,' attempting to create a space that transcends human subjectivity through bio-technological environments.
The article explores how German Surrealist Max Ernst developed the techniques of frottage and grattage in the mid-1920s. Frottage—rubbing paper over textured surfaces like floorboards, leaves, and netting—allowed Ernst to create spontaneous, unconscious imagery, culminating in his 1926 publication *Natural History*. He later adapted the method to canvas as grattage, scraping layers of paint over textured materials to reveal abstract forms, drawing on influences from Leonardo da Vinci and memories of his childhood in the Rhineland.
On April 8, 2025, a wave of Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed 357 people and injured over 1,200, a day now known as 'Black Wednesday.' Amid the violence, Lebanese artist Abed Al Kadiri, who grew up during Lebanon's civil war and Israeli occupation, has been working with displaced children in shelters, using art to help them process trauma. He collects their drawings and plans to combine them with sketches by other artists reflecting their own war experiences, creating concertina-style books to be exhibited and sold to raise funds for over 1.1 million displaced people.
Georg Baselitz, the German painter and sculptor known for his provocative confrontations with Nazi history, has died. Born in 1938, he was one of the last living artists with direct childhood memories of the Third Reich. His early works, such as *Die große Nacht im Eimer* (1961) and his upside-down German eagles, deliberately shocked postwar West Germany by depicting obscene, shameful images of a society trying to forget the Holocaust. He famously exhibited a zombie Hitler woodcarving at the 1980 Venice Biennale alongside Anselm Kiefer, insisting on confronting rather than ignoring the Nazi heritage of the German Pavilion.