Artspace Gallery Announces a Juried Art Exhibition: 250 Years of Expression: Freedom, Dissent and the American Voice

Artspace Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, has announced a juried art exhibition titled "250 Years of Expression: Freedom, Dissent and the American Voice," running from May 22 to July 18, 2026. The show features over 30 artworks in video, photography, sculpture, and mixed media, selected by juror Diego Sanchez, an artist and educator. An opening reception and juror talk will take place on May 22, with a Fourth Friday reception on June 26. Concurrently, the gallery will present "Of, By, For," an exhibition of works from Artspace artists' studios in the Elisabeth Flynn Chapman Gallery.

KU students, teachers to show off form-defying ceramics at Off-Site Art Gallery exhibition

University of Kansas students and teachers are showcasing ceramics that defy gravity and traditional form at Off-Site Art Space in Lawrence. The exhibition, titled “Almost a Body: Not Quite a Thing,” features works by artists-in-residence Seuil Chung and SunYoung Park alongside their students, including pieces like Natalie Slutsky’s “Vital Exchange,” an anatomical heart with arteries forming a Möbius strip. The show highlights innovative techniques such as using sand-filled brick boxes for firing, French cleat mounting systems, and beeswax finishes inspired by natural forms from the McGregor Herbarium.

Mennello Museum’s 'Our Orlando' group show returns, featuring three innovative local artists

The Mennello Museum in Loch Haven, Orlando, has launched the fourth edition of its 'Our Orlando' group exhibition, featuring three local artists: Tasanee Durrett, Mado Smith, and Martha Jo Mahoney. The show, curated by museum director Shannon Fitzgerald and co-curator Flynn Dobbs, includes four works each by Durrett and Mahoney and two by Smith, drawn from studio visits. The exhibition runs through late August with an opening reception on Friday.

Kerry Cumpstone to demo at Euclid Art Association event | Gallery Glances

The Euclid Art Association will hold its next meeting on May 4 at the East Shore United Methodist Church in Euclid, Ohio, featuring a demonstration by artist Kerry Cumpstone. Cumpstone, who created the "Spiral Series" of 130 animal drawings, will showcase her technique; many of her subjects are endangered species. The article also announces the Lake Metroparks' 39th annual amateur photo contest, with entries accepted through May 31 at Penitentiary Glen Reservation.

Artspace111 Opens Call for 2026 Texas Juried Exhibition

Artspace111 in Fort Worth, Texas, has opened the call for its 2026 Texas Juried Exhibition, organized by the nonprofit Love Texas Art Foundation. The annual show invites artists from across the state to apply by June 1, with juror Terri Provencal, publisher of the Dallas Arts District Guide and Patron magazine, selecting participants. Prizes include the $10,000 Edmund Craig Memorial Award, a solo or group exhibition opportunity in 2027, and cash awards totaling thousands of dollars, with every selected artist receiving a $150 honorarium.

Gallery 1882 bringing work of contemporary artists from around the country to Chesterton

Gallery 1882, located in Chesterton, Indiana, is hosting a new exhibition featuring contemporary artists from across the United States. The show brings together a diverse range of works, highlighting emerging and established talents in a local gallery setting.

Irina Werning Chronicles 18 Years of Photographing ‘Las Pelilargas’ in a New Book

Photographer Irina Werning has spent 18 years traveling across Latin America to document Indigenous women with exceptionally long hair for her series "Las Pelilargas." Her new book, published by GOST Books, features nearly 90 portraits taken between 2006 and 2024, starting with the Kolla community in Argentina. Werning sought subjects by posting signs in remote mountain towns and organizing hair competitions, capturing a tradition rooted in ancestral beliefs that hair connects to life, thoughts, and the land.

Janusz Jurek Embraces the Weirdness of Everyday Life in Captivating Street Photographs

Polish photographer Janusz Jurek, who works as a graphic designer and commercial photographer, creates candid street photographs that capture humor, happenstance, and the bizarre. He focuses on authentic moments outside the mainstream, often turning away from main attractions to observe people's reactions, small gestures, and strange coincidences. Jurek is preparing a photo collection titled "Look, Before It’s Gone," compiling five years of his street photography.

Play ‘Liminal Bingo,’ Pat Perry’s Participatory Photo Treasure Hunt

Detroit-based artist Pat Perry has launched "Liminal Bingo," a participatory photo treasure hunt open to anyone with an internet connection. Participants are encouraged to go outside, gather friends, and photograph a series of illustrated prompts—such as capturing a handshake with a stranger while both wear sunglasses—using a camera or phone. When five prompts are completed in a row, players have a bingo and submit their images via Instagram or email. Photos submitted by August will be considered for a fall exhibition at Hashimoto Contemporary in New York and a potential book.

The perceptual effects of Alessandro Gioiello's paintings are on show in Rome

Gli effetti percettivi dei dipinti di Alessandro Gioiello sono in mostra a Roma

Alessandro Gioiello's solo exhibition "Pensieri Sparsi" is on view at Galleria Richter Fine Art in Rome, featuring oil-on-canvas works such as "Broken Flowers" (2026), "Quarantatreesimo" (2025), and "Tiscert" (2026). The show presents a stream-of-consciousness approach where color and composition emerge from a lengthy process of selection and transformation, inviting viewers to reconstruct meaning through the creative gesture rather than a linear narrative.

Deux nouveaux tableaux français du XVIIIème siècle pour le Musée Fabre

The Musée Fabre in Montpellier has acquired two 18th-century French paintings at auctions held by Artcurial in September 2025. The first is an "Allégorie de la Poésie" (1774) by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, purchased for €250,000 with support from the museum's corporate foundation and a special grant from the Fonds du patrimoine. The painting, which depicts the early struggles of the future portraitist, was previously owned by Henry and Catherine Robert and had been exhibited in a major retrospective at the Grand Palais a decade ago.

How Do You Curate an Exhibition on Genocide? Faisal Saleh and the Palestinian Question That Crosses the Venice Biennale

“Come si cura una mostra sul genocidio?”: Faisal Saleh e la domanda palestinese che attraversa la Biennale di Venezia

At the 2026 Venice Biennale, a collateral exhibition titled “Gaza – No Words – See the Exhibit” presents 100 embroidered works using the traditional Palestinian technique of Tatreez. Curated by artist Faisal Saleh, founder of the Palestine Museum US, the show transforms embroidery from decoration into political testimony, reconstructing scenes from Gaza over the past two and a half years: shrouded bodies, killed children, mothers bidding farewell, bombed hospitals. The exhibition is housed at Palazzo Mora and has been called by many visitors “the real Palestinian Pavilion” of the Biennale, though it is not an official national pavilion.

New art gallery, shop opens in downtown Belleville on Art on the Square weekend

A new art gallery and retail shop, Public Defender Art + Zines, will open in downtown Belleville on May 15, 2026, coinciding with the Art on the Square festival. Owned by local artists Danny Houk and Stacie Spaunhorst, the space at 123 W. Main St. will feature exhibitions, a retail shop selling indie comics and zines, and future plans for artist residencies and networking brunches. Opening exhibitions include ceramics by Alisha Porter and Sheri White.

London’s Wellcome Collection to Transfer 2,000 Manuscripts to Jain Community, But They Will Stay in UK

The Wellcome Collection in London has announced plans to transfer 2,000 Jain manuscripts to the Jain community, but they will remain in the UK at the University of Birmingham’s Dharmanath Network in Jain Studies. The manuscripts, ranging from the 15th to 19th centuries, were largely purchased in 1919 from a temple in India and from sources in present-day Pakistan. The transfer follows years of dialogue with the UK-based Institute of Jainology and aims to maximize community access and research opportunities.

Israel Advances Bill Granting Sweeping Civilian Authority over West Bank Archaeological Sites

Israel advanced a bill on Tuesday that would grant sweeping civilian authority over antiquities and archaeology in the occupied West Bank, replacing the current military-run system. The Likud-backed legislation would create a "Judea and Samaria Heritage Authority" under the Israeli heritage minister, empowered to purchase and expropriate land, oversee excavations, and manage heritage sites across Areas B and C of the West Bank. The bill passed its first of three votes (23-14) and would be led by Amichai Eliyahu, a far-right politician who advocates for annexation. Human rights groups and the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh warned the move amounts to de facto annexation and a violation of Palestinian rights.

Iran Pushes Back on Venice Biennale Withdrawal Reports: ‘We’re Still Coming’

Iran has pushed back against reports that it withdrew from the 2024 Venice Biennale, with Aydin Mahdizadeh Tehrani, director-general of visual arts at Iran's ministry of culture, stating that the country never withdrew and is still in negotiations to participate. Tehrani told the Iran Students News Agency that Iran submitted a plan for a pavilion and is awaiting a final response, despite unresolved issues including sanctions, high rental costs, and the ongoing war with Israel and the US. Meanwhile, a separate unofficial pavilion called the Hyperstitional Pavilion of Iran, curated by Pouya Jafari and Nazli Jan Parvar, has been announced, featuring works by Iranian artists and organized by Finland-based nonprofit Perpetuum Mobile.

Underground Railroad stop in New York threatened by real-estate development

A hidden chute within the Merchant's House Museum in Manhattan, identified as a rare surviving stop on the Underground Railroad, is threatened by a planned real-estate development next door. The two-foot-square vertical passage, concealed behind a built-in dresser, was built in 1832 by abolitionists Joseph and Susanna Brewster to shelter Black fugitives escaping slavery. The museum's western wall, which contains the hideaway, adjoins a one-story garage slated for demolition to make way for a commercial building, prompting the museum team to oppose the development due to risk of structural damage.

Art Collectors Bet on Known Quantities Amid Market Reset

The Impressionist and Modern art category became the most lucrative market segment in 2025, generating $4.7 billion in sales—a 29.5% increase from 2024—as collectors favored established names amid a cautious market. The $10-million-plus bracket surged 68.6% to $1.5 billion, while the number of lots sold hit a decade high of 122,213. Postwar and contemporary art ranked second with $4.1 billion, but its average price per lot dropped to a decade low of $23,027. Old Masters saw a 41.2% rise to $708.6 million, partly driven by the Thomas A. Saunders III collection at Sotheby’s, though that sale fell short of estimates. Ultra-contemporary art continued its four-year decline, falling 26.5% to $229.9 million, with average prices tumbling 72.4% from their 2021 peak.

Punching the light: Sydney’s 90s raves – in pictures

Simon Burstall, at age 17, began photographing Sydney's underground rave scene in the 1990s, using borrowed school cameras and sneaking out in the family car to capture the burgeoning subculture. His images from that era were later compiled into the photobook '93: Punching the Light, published by Damiani in 2019.

‘Was she going to an appointment, maybe even a romantic one?’: ASA’s best phone picture

ASA, an anonymous photographer, captured a candid iPhone X image in Bastia, Corsica, during the summer of 2018. The photograph shows a woman walking through strong sunlight, reduced to a silhouette against burned facades. ASA waited patiently for the right passerby, later imagining the woman might be heading to a romantic appointment, though they emphasize the work is about shape, movement, and contrast rather than identity.

UK’s Brighton & Hove Museums to return 45 artefacts to Botswana

Brighton & Hove Museums in southern England will return 45 artefacts to Botswana. The objects, including clothing, accessories and hunting implements, were acquired by English reverend William Charles Willoughby in the 1890s and will be housed at the Khama III Memorial Museum in Serowe, where they will form part of a permanent exhibition opening on 27 May. A team from Brighton & Hove Museums is working with Botswanan curators on the return, which is scheduled for April.

Inside Show of Strength: Women Artists Reimagine Goa’s Historic Aguad Port and Jail

Over 30 women artists have transformed Goa's historic Aguad Port and Jail complex into a large-scale exhibition titled 'Show of Strength: Contemporary Women Artists at Aguad.' Curated by Samira Sheth, the show features 37 women artists from Goa working across painting, sculpture, textile, photography, installation, and digital media. The exhibition, which opened in March to coincide with Women's History Month, uses the 17th-century heritage site—once a place of control and confinement—as an integral part of the artistic experience, with works exploring themes of feminine power, resilience, memory, and healing.

Local art exhibition brings mental health into focus through collaboration

A new art exhibition called "TWOgether" has opened at Spare Room Gallery in Barrie, Ontario, running for a month during Mental Health Awareness Month. Curated by Sean William Dawson and Katie Green, the show pairs 12 emerging artists with 10 established artists from Simcoe County to create collaborative works exploring mental health. The project includes a limited-edition art catalogue of 200 signed copies, with 100% of sales proceeds going to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). A public reception and catalogue launch is scheduled for May 22, and the exhibition also features a panel discussion series titled Start Making Sense.

Griffin Museum of Photography brings summer exhibits to Winchester

The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester is presenting a series of summer exhibitions running from late May through July 2026. Featured shows include "Photosynthesis XXI," a collaboration between Burlington and Winchester high schools; "Atelier 40," showcasing emerging and advanced photographers from a year-long portfolio course; "Caleb Cain Marcus: A Thousand Rectangles: On Design and the Expression of Art"; "Cassidy Thurber: I Want the Sun to Shine Down on You," the winner of the 2025 Carolyn Harder Scholarship; the 16th Annual Photobook Exhibition; a Handmade Photobook show; and "Visionary." A satellite location at Griffin Museum @WinCam will host Ellen Feldman's "WE PROTEST" from June 16 to September 1.

China hosts exhibition of Azerbaijani artists

The Today Art Museum in Beijing hosted an exhibition titled "Dialogue through Art," featuring works by Azerbaijani artists. Organized by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in China in collaboration with the Innovation Art and Travel Center and the AYDANI Art Gallery, the show included paintings, sculptures, digital art, and animation by both established and emerging Azerbaijani artists.

Ekphrastic Poetry Re-imagines Hopeful Art

The Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA) is hosting an ekphrastic poetry performance on Saturday, May 23 at 4:00 pm at the Oak Street Lofts Gallery, as part of its "Celebrating Hope" exhibition. Poets Annaliese Jakimides, Gregg Harper, Lily Brown, and Maureen Thorson will respond to artworks inspired by Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope is a strange invention." The exhibition features 20 artists and runs on weekends through May 29.

Open Bloom Fold II, 2024 by Suzanne Song, Acrylic pigment on linen, 152.4 x 124.5 cm (2)

Ocula published an image of Suzanne Song's 2024 painting "Open Bloom Fold II," an acrylic pigment on linen work measuring 152.4 x 124.5 cm. The artwork is presented as a standalone visual feature.

Fractured Horizons Returns to NYCxDesign 2026 with Imaging After Images, Marking Its Second International Spotlight at the Festival

Fractured Horizons: Imaging After Images, the second edition of VSDesign's international exhibition series, returned to the NYCxDesign Festival in 2026, running for a week in New York. Organized by VSDesign in partnership with RAC Studio and Asia Design Week, the exhibition featured 60 works by artists and designers from across Asia and North America, spanning architecture, urbanism, product design, visual communication, and interactive media. The show explored how images no longer simply depict space but actively produce, operate, and regulate it, treating the image as a spatial mechanism rather than a neutral surface.

Art lovers pack the Sugar Wharf for Go Troppo opening night

The Go Troppo exhibition opened on May 18, 2026, at the historic Sugar Wharf in Port Douglas, Australia, kicking off the Carnivale 2026 festivities. Organized by Port Douglas Artists Inc., the show features contemporary art from across Far North Queensland, tied to this year's Carnivale theme, "Ancient Wonders." The free exhibition runs daily from May 19 to May 24, drawing locals and visitors to view regional talent.

Deep space photography on view at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) is opening a pop-up exhibition titled "Beautiful Universe" featuring deep space astrophotography. The exhibit, a collaboration between the MAH and UC Santa Cruz's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, showcases celestial images captured by astrophotographer Steve Mandel and collaborator Bob Fera using remotely operated telescopes in the Sierra Nevada mountains and Chile. The photos, printed on large metal sheets, depict galaxies, nebulae, and supernova remnants using color filters similar to those on the Hubble Telescope.