Gary Baseman fills iconic L.A. coffee shop with charming drawings on real restaurant menus

Artist Gary Baseman has opened his first hometown solo show in over a decade, titled “Off the Menu,” inside the long-shuttered Johnie’s Coffee Shop on Wilshire and Fairfax in Los Angeles. The exhibition features about 40 colored pencil drawings, mostly executed on real menus from iconic L.A. restaurants such as Musso & Frank, Canter’s Deli, and Genghis Cohen, as well as newer spots like Jon & Vinny’s. The whimsical show, which launched in conjunction with the opening of the Wilshire and Fairfax subway station, runs through June 14 and celebrates the dining culture and community of the Fairfax neighborhood.

Met Gala 2026 – Everything to know about fashion's biggest night

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2026 Met Gala will take place on May 4, themed "Costume Art" to highlight fashion as a central artistic discipline. Co-chairs include Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, with a host committee featuring Anthony Vaccarello, Zoë Kravitz, and other celebrities. The event coincides with the opening of the new Condé M. Nast Galleries and the spring exhibition "Costume Art," which pairs historic garments with artworks spanning 5,000 years. The dress code is "fashion is art," and the red carpet will be livestreamed by Vogue.

Masure Gallery Brings a Focused Lens to Local Fine Art Photography in Fort Worth

Masure Gallery of Photography has opened in Fort Worth, Texas, as the city's only gallery dedicated exclusively to fine art photography. Founded through a partnership between gallery manager Simone Fischer and the co-owners of Fort Worth Camera, Jeff and CJ Masure, the space transforms a former event room into a white-walled exhibition venue with gallery-quality lighting. The gallery launched with "RED – A Bold Photography Exhibition," selected from nearly 200 open-call submissions requiring the color red, and now represents six local photographers: Walt Burns, Brooks Burris, Caroline Hanson, Chris Ireland, Felix Schilling, and K.P. Wilska. The first solo show, "Modern Exposure" by Walt Burns, opens June 4.

Groundwork: Watershed Staff Exhibition Opening Reception

Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine, is hosting the opening reception of "Groundwork," a multi-medium gallery exhibition featuring work by the center's year-round and seasonal staff. The event takes place on June 5, 2026, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, with drinks and light snacks. Artists include Jen Barrows, Torie Crouse, Matthew Dercole, David S. East, Jeremy Felton, Aidan Fraser, Callie Jacks, Helena Jefferson, Emmett Jorgensen, Every Leclair, Milly McClellan, Layla Trunzo, and Eloise Warren.

SCST: Celebrating Cultural Exchange Through Art at the Opening Reception of "Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice" Collateral Event of 61st International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia (Venice Biennale)

At the opening reception of "Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice," a Collateral Event of the 61st Venice Biennale, Hong Kong's Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, delivered a speech celebrating the exhibition. The event marks Hong Kong's 25th year of participation in the Biennale, featuring artists Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui, who present five new site-specific installations that explore stillness and overlooked rhythms of everyday life, in resonance with the Biennale's theme "In Minor Keys." For the first time, the Hong Kong Museum of Art co-organized the exhibition with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, curating a dialogue between the two artists.

Met Gala 2026: Stars Bring Art-Inspired Looks to the Met Stairs

The 2026 Met Gala took place on May 4 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, celebrating the opening of the "Costume Art" exhibition. A host of celebrities including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Blue Ivy Carter, Serena Williams, Janelle Monáe, Venus Williams, Ciara, Anderson .Paak, Naomi Osaka, Yseult, Anok Yai, Jon Batiste, and Suleika Jaouad arrived at the museum's iconic stairs wearing art-inspired looks. The event was covered by photographers Evan Agostini and Charles Sykes for the Associated Press.

Jury for Venice Biennale's art prize resigns after refusing to recognise Israeli, Russian artists

The international jury of the 61st Venice Biennale art exhibition resigned just over a week before the May 9 prize ceremony, after announcing they would not consider artists from countries whose leaders face International Criminal Court charges—an apparent reference to Russia and Israel. The jury included president Solange Farkas, Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi. In response, the Biennale established two Visitors’ Lions to be awarded by ticket-holder vote, postponed the awards to November 22, and reaffirmed that all national participations remain eligible, effectively reinstating Russian and Israeli artists.

Iberdrola Celebrates 125th Anniversary With Major Art Exhibition At The Reopened Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

Iberdrola has opened the exhibition "Parallels and Meridians" at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum to celebrate its 125th anniversary. The show features over one hundred works from the company's corporate art collection and coincides with the museum's reopening after a major expansion and refurbishment. The opening ceremony was led by Iberdrola Executive Chairman Ignacio Galán and Lehendakari Imanol Pradales, with attendance from regional officials including Ibone Bengoetxea, Amaia Arregi, Elixabete Etxanobe, Ana Otadui, and museum director Miguel Zugaza. The exhibition runs until 30 August.

Sécurité dans les musées

This issue of Le Journal des Arts (No. 676, May 2, 2026) covers a range of visual art news: the Whitney Biennial's perceived neutrality, the increasing complexity of art taxation in 2025, an interview with Bourges mayor Yann Galut about scaling back the Bourges 2028 project, the opening of a contemporary gallery at Angers Cathedral, the abandonment of the Frigos artist site in Paris, and a profile of auctioneer Hubert L'Huillier.

Penarth artist holds first exhibition after a lifetime of painting

Stephen Stokes, a 66-year-old retired kitchen business owner from Penarth, Wales, has staged his first-ever art exhibition after a lifetime of painting. The show, held at Llanover Hall Arts Centre in Cardiff, features works spanning decades, including portraits, still lifes, and scenes painted from life. Stokes, who studied at art college in Liverpool in the 1980s, was inspired by post-Impressionist masters like Matisse, Van Gogh, and Monet. Around 80 people attended the opening, and several visitors expressed interest in purchasing his work, though he had not initially priced the pieces.

Los Angeles Sees Cultural Explosion: AI Art Museums, Immersive Exhibits, and Iconic Festivals Set to Redefine US Tourism

Los Angeles is undergoing a major cultural expansion in 2026, with several high-profile museum openings and immersive art experiences set to debut between June and December. Key developments include Dataland 3.0, the world's first dedicated Museum of AI Arts, created by Refik Anadol Studio at The Grand LA; the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a 100,000-square-foot gallery in Exposition Park designed by MAD Architects; and a new permanent installation by the art collective Meow Wolf. These are joined by recurring events such as LA Pride 2026, Cali Vibes 2026, the German Currents Film Festival, the Hollywood Christmas Parade, and the L.A. County Holiday Celebration, creating a dense cultural calendar.

Biennale, rules announced for Visitor's Lion. But dozens of artists withdraw

The Venice Biennale has announced the voting rules for the new Visitors' Lion awards, which replace the traditional Golden Lions after the original jury resigned before the opening. On the same day the popular voting opened, dozens of artists from the central exhibition 'In Minor Keys' and several National Pavilions announced their withdrawal from the competition in solidarity with the resigned jury, releasing a statement via e-flux on May 9, 2026. The voting system requires visitors to have attended both the Giardini and Arsenale venues, with anonymous voting open until November 22, 2026.

Museum of the Moving Image announces record attendance

Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in Astoria, New York, announced record attendance of 311,000 visitors in 2025, a 105% increase from 2024 and a 147% increase from 2023. The opening day of the exhibition 'Stories and Set Design for the Sopranos' on February 14, 2026, marked the highest single-day attendance in the museum's history, with 3,600 visitors. Growth was driven by special programs like the 'Open Worlds' initiative, community events such as Lunar New Year and Iftar celebrations, and popular exhibitions including 'Mission: Impossible—Story and Spectacle,' which drew over 81,500 guests. The museum also hosted more than 500 screenings in its upgraded Sumner M. Redstone Theater.

Group of Seven, Van Gogh and Renoir works will be showcased at new downtown gallery

A new commercial gallery, Cowley Abbott Fine Art, is opening in downtown Calgary with a three-day public preview starting April 23, 2026. The gallery will showcase rare masterworks by artists including Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Canadian icons like Emily Carr and Lawren Harris of the Group of Seven. Notably, an Emily Carr painting from the 1930s, last exhibited nearly a century ago, will be on view.

TLU’s annual Student Art Show opens this week

Texas Lutheran University's Annual Student Art Show opens with a reception on April 23 in the Annetta Kraushaar Gallery. The exhibition features student works in various media, judged by Austin-based artist and musician Larry Seaman, who will present Juror Awards at the opening, with TLU President Dr. Debbie Cottrell assisting in the presentation.

Lucas Museum unveils inaugural exhibitions curated by George Lucas himself

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles will open to the public on September 22, 2026, with about 20 inaugural exhibitions curated by George Lucas himself across more than 30 galleries. The $1-billion, 300,000-square-foot museum in Exposition Park, designed by Ma Yansong of Mad Architects, will display over 1,200 objects from Lucas's collection of more than 40,000 works, including manga, comics, children's illustrations, and narrative art by artists such as Norman Rockwell, Beatrix Potter, and Dorothea Lange, with only one exhibition focused on "Star Wars" memorabilia.

And the (Senior Show and URECA Art Exhibition) Winners Are …

The Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University hosted the opening reception of the ninth annual combined Senior Show and URECA Arts Exhibition on April 29, drawing about 300 attendees including students, faculty, staff, university leaders, and local museum curators. The Senior Show, a nearly 50-year tradition, features works by senior studio art majors and minors, while the URECA exhibition highlights undergraduate research-based art selected by faculty. This year's exhibition is noted for its diversity in subject matter and materials, from chalk painting to digital media, and runs through May 22.

Pinakotheke Cultural Opens Spacious New Gallery in São Paulo

Pinakotheke Cultural, founded by Max Perlingeiro in Rio de Janeiro in 1979, will open a new, significantly larger gallery space in São Paulo on May 16. Located on Rua Minas Gerais in the Higienópolis neighborhood, the venue nearly doubles the size of the gallery's previous São Paulo outpost. The inaugural exhibition, "Surrealisms: Art Beyond Reason," curated by Max Perlingeiro and Tadeu Chiarelli, will feature approximately one hundred works by sixty artists from Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Caribbean, offering a comprehensive overview of the surrealist movement.

Young artists show at The Fraser Art Gallery

Fifty-one students from Wallace Consolidated Elementary School and Tatamagouche Regional Academy displayed their artwork in a group show at The Fraser Art Gallery in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. The exhibition featured individual and class projects, including a collage inspired by the Artemis II moon flyby and a sculptured monster garden. The opening reception included remarks from gallery president Jackie Robertson, who thanked volunteers and sponsor PharmaChoice, and noted the importance of early art exposure.

On the eve of Mother’s Day, New Orleans art exhibit protests the death of Black sons

On the eve of Mother's Day 2026, an art exhibit titled "The Four Lost Sons" opened at [ART] CONSCIOUS gallery in Arabi, Louisiana. The show features large portraits of four Black men from Louisiana who died in police custody or altercations, created by the pseudonymous artist Walta Focq. The exhibit coincides with the anniversary of Ronald Greene's death, who was beaten and tased by Louisiana State Police in 2019. The mothers of the four men are involved in the project and plan to speak at the opening reception.

A giugno 2026 a Pietrasanta apre il Museo Igor Mitoraj. Opere dell’artista ma anche mostre

The article announces the opening of the Museo Igor Mitoraj in Pietrasanta, Italy, scheduled for June 6, 2026, after several years of delays. The museum is the first space entirely dedicated to the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj, who died in 2014 and was known for transforming Tuscan marble into works blending classical forms with fragmented, contemporary themes. Designed by OBR, Politecnica, and Studio Lumine, the museum results from collaboration between the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Pietrasanta, and the artist's heirs, united in the Fondazione Museo Igor Mitoraj. Frank Boehm, director of the foundation, envisions the space as a research-oriented center that will engage with different artistic languages and contemporary issues, not limited to Mitoraj's work alone.

The Works of Alfredo Pirri for the Very First Exhibition of the Polytropon Arts Center in Tuscany

Le opere di Alfredo Pirri per la primissima mostra del Polytropon Arts Center in Toscana

The Polytropon Arts Center, founded by Greek-born architect Maria Papadaki Badanjak, opens its inaugural exhibition "Quello che avanza" featuring works by Italian artist Alfredo Pirri. The venue, a converted former spinning mill located between Pelago and Pontassieve near Florence, hosts the show through June 21, 2025. The exhibition includes 144 cyanotypes created between 2014 and 2017, along with Pirri's "Arie" series in plexiglass, crystal, feathers, and colors. The show is accompanied by a musical program curated by artistic director Andrea Cavallari, with concerts scheduled for May 17 and June 21. Pirri and Cavallari previously collaborated in 2019 at the Museo Novecento in Florence as part of the "Firenze Suona Contemporanea" festival.

Two years ago Russia ceded its pavilion at the Biennale to Bolivia. A testimony from within

Due anni fa la Russia cedette il suo padiglione in Biennale alla Bolivia. Una testimonianza da dentro

Two years ago, Russia ceded its national pavilion at the Venice Biennale to Bolivia, a move that artist Inés Fontenla experienced firsthand when she was invited by Bolivia to participate in the 2024 edition. Fontenla recounts how the pavilion's organization shifted after Bolivia's 2025 elections, with the curator replaced by the new Minister of Culture just one month before the opening. She realized Russia was using Bolivia as a front to re-enter the Biennale after closing its own pavilion in 2022 in protest of the Ukraine invasion, and she ultimately withdrew from the project to avoid being instrumentalized by a military power.

‘Good for the soul’: Local art show opens at Oshawa art gallery tonight

The Oshawa Art Association (OAA) is hosting the opening reception and awards night for its 58th annual juried art exhibition tonight at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Ontario. The free event runs from 6 to 9 p.m., featuring live music by local singer David Saliba, attendance from local politicians, and a cash bar. The exhibition, which includes over 100 artworks selected from nearly 300 submissions, will remain on display until May 10. Categories include wildlife, people, abstracts, sculptures, and a youth category for artists aged 12 to 18, with $3,000 in total prize money awarded by jurors Hi-Sook Barker and Lucy Manley.

Jockey Club unveils global horse art exhibition in Tsim Sha Tsui to celebrate 140th anniversary

The Hong Kong Jockey Club launched the Harmonious Horse International Exhibition Tour in Tsim Sha Tsui on Friday, featuring large-scale horse sculptures by artist Simon Ma. The opening ceremony at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza was attended by Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han and Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. The exhibition runs until May 21 at Tsim Sha Tsui before moving to Tamar Park in Admiralty, then traveling to Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. A nighttime light show accompanies the display, and winners of a youth art competition inspired by Xu Beihong's equine paintings were announced.

Morton Contemporary Gallery exhibition will combine art, music and light

Morton Contemporary Gallery in Philadelphia will open “Alchemy: The Sound of Color,” a new exhibition combining painting, music and light, on Saturday, June 6. The show is a collaboration between Los Angeles artist Donna Isham and Emmy and Grammy-winning composer Mark Isham, marking their first exhibition in Philadelphia. It will feature large-scale installations that blend Donna Isham’s paintings with original music, animation and light effects, alongside additional paintings. The opening reception runs from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 6, is free and open to the public, and includes wine and a chance to meet the artists.

United Asian American Alliance hosts 3rd Annual AAPI Art Exhibit

The United Asian American Alliance hosted the 3rd Annual AAPI Art Exhibit at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, a month-long showcase of Asian American creativity and heritage. Curated by artist Joan Kim Suzuki, the exhibition features works in painting, mixed media, photography, and textile that explore themes of memory, identity, migration, and belonging. The opening reception welcomed distinguished guests including Tracey Edwards, New York State NAACP Vice President, and actor Lisa Yang, a Golden Horse Award nominee.

A-LISTERS | New art gallery goes the whole Nine Yards

A new contemporary art gallery, kumalo | turpin, has opened in Johannesburg's Parktown North neighborhood, housed within the Nine Yards precinct. The gallery launched with an exhibition titled "gender/genre," featuring works by women artists across sculpture, painting, and photography. Co-founders Zanele Kumalo and MJ Turpin, the latter formerly co-director of the Kalashnikovv Gallery, aim to showcase emerging artists from the global majority. The opening attracted a crowd of local art-world figures, collectors, and creatives, including Marc Lubner, Niki Judelman, and photographer Trevor Stuurman.

Alchemist of Colors

Annina Roescheisen, a German-born artist now based in New York, presents her work in Venice during the opening days of the Venice Biennale. Her paintings are created through an alchemical ritual where she mixes pigments, charcoal, ash, ink, herbs, and salts, producing pulsating fields of color that blur the line between the visible and invisible. A self-taught artist who never attended art school, Roescheisen draws on art history and philosophy, with a particular passion for medieval art. Her series "Flying Dragons" references the ancient Physiologus, and she has also produced watercolors based on drawings made with her eyes closed to explore how visual perception changes from childhood to adulthood.

Venice Biennale chief under pressure

Venedig-Biennale-Chef unter Druck

Just before the opening of the Venice Art Biennale, its president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco is facing mounting criticism after the entire jury resigned. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli accused Buttafuoco of pursuing a form of "parallel foreign policy" by readmitting Russia to the six-month exhibition, calling him a "victim of a pacifist fantasy." The opening ceremony and the traditional Golden Lion awards have been canceled; prizes will now be decided by visitor vote at the end of the Biennale in November.