On Exhibit: Must-See Art Shows in Alexandria This May

This article highlights a variety of art exhibitions and events taking place in Alexandria, Virginia, during May 2026. Featured shows include the "Floret 2026" floral exhibit and the May 2026 Open Exhibit juried by Jowita Wyszomirska at the Art League Gallery of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, as well as the Alexandria City High School Titan Student Art Exhibition at Del Ray Artisans Gallery. Other offerings include a mask exhibit at Mount Vernon Unitarian Church, multiple ART + WINE + CHEESE soirées at Nepenthe featuring artists like Leah Sturgis, Sunny Goode, and Evelyn Dunphy, and special print exhibits at Printmakers, Inc. honoring Avis Fleming.

Opening Reception for Verónica Sigal Geier in the Alan & LInda Vincent Gallery at MVCA

The Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts (MVCA) is hosting an opening reception for artist Verónica Sigal Geier in the Alan & Linda Vincent Gallery. The event celebrates Geier's new exhibition, showcasing her work to the local community in Utica, New York.

Ten Local Galleries Part Of The First Friday Chattanooga Art Crawl

On the First Friday of May 2026, ten local galleries and studios in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will participate in the monthly First Friday Art Crawl, with extended evening hours from 5-8 PM. Participating venues include River Gallery, HART Gallery, In-Town Gallery, ICA @ UTC, BFA Open Studios @ UTC, Wavelength Space, Society of Work Northshore at The Velvet Lounge, ClearStory Arts, Stove Works, and AVA – Association for Visual Arts. Several galleries are hosting opening receptions and artist meet-and-greets, featuring artists such as David Boyd, Jim Felder, Steve Loucks, Rick Sanders, Angie To, and Kathleen Thum.

Beat the rush: Sign up for Greeley Park Art Show before early deadline

The 73rd annual Greeley Park Art Show, hosted by the Nashua Area Artists Association, will take place August 29-30, 2026, at Greeley Park in Nashua, New Hampshire. The two-day outdoor juried show is open to artists 18 and older working in 2D and 3D media, with an early registration deadline of May 30. New features this year include options for one- or two-day participation, tent sharing, tent rentals, senior discounts, and expanded entertainment. Awards will be given in categories including 3D, acrylic, drawing, mixed media, oil, pastel, photography, watercolor, digital art, Best in Show, and Viewer’s Choice. The show is free and open to the public, drawing thousands of visitors from New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Solana’s first physical art gallery is using a Frank Ape solo show to prove the onchain art model works in the real world

Brandon Sines, the artist behind FrankApeWorld, opens his first solo exhibition in eight years, titled “Let’s Be Frank,” on May 1 at Cycol Gallery in New York. The show features a cohesive, journey-like curation culminating in a site-specific immersive installation, with every piece minted on Exchange.Art. Cycol Gallery, located at 91 Allen Street, describes itself as Solana’s first brick-and-mortar gallery, built on Solana infrastructure and powered in part by the BONK memecoin, which acquired Exchange.Art in March 2025. Physical display uses Blackdove Art’s digital frames, allowing works to exist as tangible objects and verifiable onchain assets simultaneously.

'Femarmony' art exhibition opens in Karachi

A group art exhibition titled 'Femarmony' opened at the Sanat Initiative gallery in Karachi. The show features works by artists Imran Ali Kazmi, Nabiha Gillani, Saba Haroon, and Ujala Hayat, focusing on emotions, identity, and the evolving role of women in society through diverse painting styles and visual narratives.

This exhibition by Aurore Guez invites you to talk to the paintings—our photos.

Artist Aurore Guez presents 'LE CAFÉ,' a free, immersive exhibition at the Wilde Galerie in Paris on April 25-26, 2026. The installation transforms the gallery into a fictional café featuring interactive painted portraits that visitors can converse with via recorded voice clips and AI, alongside a fully designed environment that blurs the line between artwork, décor, and performance.

Marti’s art gallery in Albion kicks off new season with expanded calendar

Marti’s on Main art gallery in Albion has officially launched its 16th season, unveiling an ambitious schedule that expands from six to eight exhibitions for 2026. The season opener features stone sculptures by George Graham and Richard Bannister, alongside a dedicated showcase of works by Albion High School art teacher Dr. Athena Nichols and five of her senior students.

See Norwich artist Dan Topalis' new exhibition at Dada Post

An exhibition featuring the work of Norwich artist Dan Topalis has opened at Dada Post in Norwich, Connecticut. Titled "Dan Topalis: Interchanges & Intersections," the show runs every Saturday through July 1 and presents two series: the "Crazy Clown Series" from 2022, depicting clowns performing feats of agility, and the ongoing "Dots" series of 2026, featuring colorful, two-color patterned compositions. Topalis, a Norwich native and 1973 graduate of Norwich Free Academy who also studied at the Philadelphia College of Art, works primarily in acrylic on canvas.

Seniors showcase their art in a final exhibition

Graduating students at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) showcased their artwork in a final exhibition held on May 1, 2026, at Crisp Museum. The show featured a wide range of media including 3D works, prints, paper mache, paintings, cloth, video, quilts, and sculptures. Among the participants were painting BFA major Zachary Ross Mayfield, who presented symbolist works centered on nature and a large self-portrait that took over 200 hours to complete, and senior studio art BFA major Kaylee Shelby, whose sculptures question the ethics and aesthetics of taxidermy and human manipulation of animals.

Edo-Tokyo Museum Reopens with “Great Edo” Exhibition Showcasing Its Collection Highlights

The Edo-Tokyo Museum in Tokyo's Ryōgoku district has reopened on March 31, 2026, after four years of renovation. Its first exhibition, "In Praise of Great Edo" (April 25–May 24), showcases 160 items from the museum's collection of 350,000, including swords, armor, kimonos, ukiyo-e masterpieces by Sharaku, Utamaro, and Hokusai, and artifacts from Edo-period culture such as kabuki, sumō, and firefighting uniforms. The renovated museum features new animation, projection mapping, full-scale reconstructions like Ginza's Hattori watch store, and a multilingual smartphone guide system.

Two Visitors’ Lions have been established for the Biennale Arte 2026

La Biennale di Venezia has announced the establishment of two Visitors' Lions for the 61st International Art Exhibition, following the resignation of the International Jury appointed by curator Koyo Kouoh. The awards ceremony, originally scheduled for May 9, has been moved to November 22, the final public day, echoing a similar shift during the 2021 Architecture Exhibition due to COVID-19. The Visitors' Lions will be voted on by ticket holders who visit both exhibition venues between May 9 and November 22, with one award for the Best Participant in the exhibition "In Minor Keys" by Koyo Kouoh and another for the Best National Participation.

Gallery Opening Reception: Rhythm of the Stage

The Gallery at the Attucks, located within Norfolk’s historic Attucks Theatre, is launching its second major exhibition titled "Rhythm of the Stage." Curated by Nyree Dowdy, the show features over 40 original works by 25 artists from the Hampton Roads region, exploring the intersection of visual art, music, and dance. A public opening reception is scheduled for April 17, 2026, marking a significant milestone for the city's newest dedicated art space.

Stilllive Documents 2019–2025 @ The 5th Floor

The 5th Floor in Tokyo is hosting "Stilllive Documents 2019–2025," a retrospective exhibition running from May 14 to June 7, 2026, that reviews the activities of the performance platform Stilllive. The show features unpublished photographs and video materials from 2019 to 2025, presenting them not as mere traces of events but as records of relationships, tensions, and responses that emerged in each moment. Stilllive was founded in 2016 by Yuki Kobayashi and graduates of the Royal College of Art's Performance program, and has held annual events since 2019 at venues including the Goethe-Institut Tokyo. A new performance, "Stilllive 2026," will take place on May 16–17 at BUoY in Senju Nakamachi, Tokyo, connecting past accumulations to future practice.

‘In Mali, When Animals Dance’ – Inside the Pulse of Sogo Bò

Yoann Cormier curates 'In Mali, When Animals Dance' at the Musée des Confluences, an exhibition dedicated to sogo bò, a Malian performance tradition blending theater, dance, music, and community. Rejecting static displays, Cormier uses immersive scenography—light, sound, film footage from the early 2000s by Sonia and Albert Loeb, and reconstructed masks made with the Lyon Opera costume workshop—to evoke the festive atmosphere of sogo bò, moving visitors through a simulated Malian day from afternoon to night.

KABARIN-JAVAKANTO: Speaking in Many Tongues

Fondation H in Antananarivo, Madagascar, presents 'Kabarin-javakanto: A Reading of the Fondation H Collection,' an exhibition curated by Abdellah Karroum that reinterprets the foundation’s international holdings through the Malagasy oratorical tradition of kabary. Rather than a conventional display, the show activates works from Africa and its diasporas across three galleries, emphasizing dialogue, community, and relational viewing.

‘What My Mother Gave Me’: Monuments of Flesh

Nona Faustine’s first retrospective, ‘What My Mother Gave Me,’ is on view at the Center for Photography at Woodstock until 10 May 2026. The exhibition gathers nearly three decades of the artist’s work, spanning series such as *Young Mothers*, *Mitochondria*, and *White Shoes*, to explore themes of matrilineal memory, the Black female body, and the afterlives of slavery in urban spaces. Faustine’s photographs range from intimate depictions of young motherhood to defiant nude self-portraits that transform sites of erasure into counter-monuments of presence.

ICA Live Art Festival at UCT Announces Open Call

The Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) at the University of Cape Town has announced an open call for its 2026 Live Art Festival. Scheduled for October 14–17, 2026, in Cape Town, the festival seeks proposals for experimental and interdisciplinary live artworks from both South African and international practitioners. The selection process will prioritize conceptual strength and works that challenge conventional artistic forms within a non-commercial, research-driven environment.

A War Souvenir for Düsseldorf

Un souvenir de guerre pour Düsseldorf

The Kunstpalast museum in Düsseldorf has acquired a war-related painting by Bordeaux-born artist William Laparra, who was mobilized in 1917 into the French camouflage section during World War I. Laparra served as a brigadier-chief in the 1st group of the 10th Army at the Chantilly workshop, a unit created in 1915 by figures including Eugène Corbin, Louis Guingot, and painter Guirand de Scévola, who developed earth-toned uniforms and painted canvas to conceal artillery from German aircraft.

𓇽𓇽𓇽 CATALINA BAUER: EL VOLCÁN, LA BALLENA Y OTROS MUNDOS 𓇽𓇽𓇽

Chilean artist Catalina Bauer presents her exhibition "El volcán, la ballena y otros mundos" at the Sala Capilla of Centro Cultural Montecarmelo in Santiago de Chile, 2026. The show features an immersive installation centered on a whale-like sculptural form that has beached inside the chapel, surrounded by cosmic and natural elements such as stars, ferns, and maranta plants, creating a dreamlike ecosystem that invites tactile and contemplative engagement.

MARILYN BOROR BOR, SEBA CALFUQUEO, JULIETH MORALES. PERFORMANCE Y DISIDENCIAS

On April 18, 2026, the performance cycle "Atravesar el lago" (Crossing the Lake) took place in open spaces of Casa del Lago UNAM in Chapultepec Park, curated by Adonay Bermúdez. Artists Marilyn Boror Bor, Seba Calfuqueo, and Julieth Morales activated performances that destabilize dominant knowledge frameworks and confront narratives imposed by colonial modernity. Boror Bor's "Lo que el cemento no puede cubrir" turned the body into a living archive summoning ancestral memories; Calfuqueo's "Guardo mis semillas para el futuro" opened fissures in imposed borders; and Morales's "Enchumbarnos: Cuerpo, Norma y Territorio. Ritual para dos cuerpos" configured a threshold of listening and transformation. The article includes a curatorial text fragment exploring water as a dissident force, drawing on Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui's thought.

NEYRA PÉREZ: RETURN TO ROEBIRI

NEYRA PÉREZ: RETORNO A ROEBIRI

Neyra Pérez, an Iskonawa artist, presents her exhibition "El retorno del Roebiri" at the Centro Cultural Ricardo Palma in Lima, Peru, running until May 9, 2026. The show features her distinctive kené designs, which she creates using natural materials like yakuchapana resin and virgin clay on raw canvas, fixed through sunlight and river washing. The works reference Roebiri, a mountain in the Amazonian Sierra del Divisor that was the ancestral territory of the Iskonawa people, from whom they were displaced in the late 1950s by missionaries and the military. Since 2018, Pérez has been part of a cultural revitalization effort led by anthropologist Carolina Rodríguez to recover these traditional designs and practices.

KÜTRAL VARGAS HUAIQUIMILLA: PERFORMING BLOOD, INHABITING ITS FLOW, DIMENSIONING THE WOUND

KÜTRAL VARGAS HUAIQUIMILLA: PERFORMAR LA SANGRE, HABITAR SU FLUJO, DIMENSIONAR LA HERIDA

Mapuche visual artist and performer Kütral Vargas Huaiquimilla presents "Performance de la sangre" (Performance of Blood) at Galería Gabriela Mistral in Santiago, Chile. Based on the artist's 2024 novel of the same name, the exhibition utilizes video-performance, sculpture, and clinical materials like medication vials to explore the intimate and collective experience of living with HIV. The project marks a significant interdisciplinary intersection of Mapuche identity, pharmacology, and contemporary medicalization.

FORGING PATHS: AFRO-BRAZILIAN ANCESTRY AND FEMININE POWER IN THE WORK OF NÁDIA TAQUARY

FORJAR CAMINOS: ANCESTRALIDAD AFROBRASILEÑA Y PODER FEMENINO EN LA OBRA DE NÁDIA TAQUARY

The exhibition "Ònà Irin: caminho de ferro" by artist Nádia Taquary has opened at Sesc Belenzinho in São Paulo, featuring large-scale sculptures and an immersive video installation. Curated by Amanda Bonan, Ayrson Heráclito, and Marcelo Campos, the show centers on a massive installation of iron rails that symbolize the Yoruba deity Ogum, the opener of paths. The works integrate traditional Afro-Brazilian materials such as cowrie shells, beads, and metals to explore spiritual protection and the historical significance of jewelry as a form of resistance and identity for enslaved and freed Black women.

In the Studio with Jevon Brown

Artist Jevon Brown, a Miamian of Bahamian, Jamaican, and Black Southern descent, discusses his multidisciplinary practice in an interview conducted in his Miami Beach apartment and studio. Brown works across textiles, silkscreen printing, fashion, and photography to explore cultural identity, belonging, queerness, and history. He describes how memories of Miami sunsets, family members like his uncle (a sneakerhead and hat collector), and ancestral references inform his creative process. Key works discussed include the "HAIREtage" series (2025), which uses materials like burlap and raffia to connect contemporary streetwear culture with African and Caribbean spirituality, and his inclusion in the exhibition "Material, Material World" at David Castillo Gallery.

Face-to-Face: Nalini Sharma Talks MFA Boston’s “Divine Color” Exhibition and the Power of Indian Art

Nalini Sharma, an art patron and honorary member of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston's Board of Advisors, discusses the museum's exhibition "Divine Color: Hindu Prints from Modern Bengal" in an exclusive video interview. The show, supported by Nalini and Raj Sharma, features nearly 40 vibrant lithographs and over 100 objects including prints, paintings, sculptures, and textiles, exploring Hindu devotional prints from 19th-century Calcutta (now Kolkata). It is the first U.S. exhibition devoted to these works, which were mass-produced using lithographic technology and deeply embedded in daily life across India and the diaspora.

Printmakers carve their place at Art Museum of Southeast Texas

The Art Museum of Southeast Texas is hosting a new exhibition focused on printmaking, highlighting the work of contemporary printmakers who are carving out a distinct space in the art world. The show brings together a range of techniques and styles, from traditional woodcuts to experimental mixed-media prints, demonstrating the enduring relevance and innovation within the medium.

Art galleries book rooms at Austin's Loren Hotel for free Friends Fair this weekend

Friends Fair returns to Austin this weekend, transforming hotel rooms at The Loren Lady Bird Lake into temporary exhibition spaces for art galleries from across the country. Organized by Phillip Niemeyer of Northern-Southern, Meredith Williams of Martha’s Gallery, and others including McLennon Pen Co. and Ivester Contemporary, the fair will occupy 19 rooms on the hotel’s second floor, with each invited gallery creating a unique installation. The event is free to attend with an RSVP and runs Friday and Saturday.

Art and Design seniors exhibit their work at Krannert Art Museum

More than 100 seniors from the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will showcase their final projects at Krannert Art Museum from May 9 to May 16. The Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition features work across all disciplines, including art education, art history, graphic design, industrial design, and studio art. Graphic design students Rinnell Borges and Natalie Mora created the exhibition's branding and catalog under the theme "Myth of Originality," drawing inspiration from fellow students' work and university archives. Individual projects include Borges's syrup packaging concept, Mora's communication guide for Latino communities, Caroline Dorion's charcoal drawings of draped female figures, and Sylvie Leyerle's children's book about her adoption from China.

Cincinnati Art Museum Announces Major Charley Harper Exhibition

The Cincinnati Art Museum has announced its first full-scale scholarly exhibition of works by Cincinnati-based artist Charley Harper, titled "The Art of Charley Harper: Creatures Wild and Tame." The exhibition will run from October 16, 2026, through March 7, 2027, featuring around 150 works, including ten large paintings commissioned by the U.S. National Park Service that were only briefly displayed in Washington, D.C., in the 1990s. The show is presented in partnership with the Charley Harper Art Studio and marks the artist's first museum retrospective.