Prokofiev Studio: new gallery devoted to the abstract art of Oleg Prokofiev son of the composer & father of composer Gabriel Prokofiev

Composer Gabriel Prokofiev has opened Prokofiev Studio in Hackney, London, a new gallery dedicated to the abstract art of his father, Oleg Prokofiev (1928-1998). Oleg, son of the famed composer Sergei Prokofiev, created abstract works in the 1950s that defied the Soviet Union’s strict socialist realism doctrine. His career was shaped by his relationship with British art historian Camilla Gray, whom he married in 1969 after hiding his art for a decade; she died two years later. Oleg moved to the UK but believed his abstract works lost until a 1994 return to Moscow revealed they had been preserved. The gallery houses Oleg’s archive, including 1950s abstract artworks, letters, sketchbooks, and sculptures, with an inaugural exhibition titled "Bending Time" reconstructing his 1990s studio in Hackney Wick.

Met Gala 2026: Everything to Know About the Theme, Co-Chairs, Dress Code and More

The 2026 Met Gala will take place on May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, with the theme "Costume Art" and a dress code of "Fashion Is Art." The event honors the spring 2026 exhibition of the same name, which inaugurates the Costume Institute's first permanent galleries, the nearly 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries. Co-chairs include Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour. The red carpet livestream will be hosted by Ashley Graham, La La Anthony, Cara Delevingne, and Emma Chamberlain on Vogue's digital platforms.

Exhibit Features Works by Ward Nichols

An exhibition titled “From Reality to Realism, A Lifetime Perspective,” featuring works by veteran artist Ward Nichols, opened at the Wilkes Art Gallery in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina on April 17. The opening event included a jazz performance by the Todd Wright Trio, hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and a street closure on C Street / Ward Nichols Way. Nichols, a full-time professional artist for over 60 years, has participated in 200 group shows, more than 170 solo exhibitions across 94 galleries and museums in 24 states, and has received 30 major awards including the Grumbacher Award of Merit from the El Paso Museum of Art. The exhibit runs through June 17.

“Trading in the Unknown” : the exhibition marking the new edition of the Reiffers Initiatives Prize

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.

Exhibition | Olivia Sterling, 'Jelly' at Dirimart Pera, Istanbul, Turkiye

Dirimart presents Olivia Sterling's first solo exhibition in Istanbul, titled 'Jelly,' at its Pera location from May 7 to June 14, 2026. The show explores themes of race, power, and desire through scenes involving food, the body, and stains, using fruit and dark colors as metaphors for consumption and objectification. Sterling's paintings incorporate letters that expose how race is constructed through language, while the title 'Jelly' evokes flexibility, fluidity, and a grotesque bodily quality that mirrors the instability of identity and social conventions.

ArtWonk: Budgets, Brouhahas, and Beowolff

Boston Art Review (BAR), an independent publication focused on contemporary art in Boston, has published an article titled 'ArtWonk: Budgets, Brouhahas, and Beowolff' that appears to cover a mix of art-world financial issues, controversies, and a reference to a figure or concept named 'Beowolff.' The piece is part of BAR's ongoing coverage of the local and broader art scene, including weekly happenings and programs.

MAD, 제시카 리히텐스타인 개인전 'Jessica Lichtenstein: Rewilding'(5/30, 2026-4/18, 2027)

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York will present "Jessica Lichtenstein: Rewilding," the artist's first solo museum exhibition, from May 30, 2026, to April 18, 2027. The immersive installation transforms the third-floor gallery into a lush, overgrown terrain featuring thousands of digitally rendered female nudes that form forests, ruins, and flowering canopies. The exhibition is divided into four sections—Secret Garden, After the Fall, Leave Your Thoughts Here, and Shadow Play—and includes site-specific works like the 2026 piece "Secret Garden" and a 70-foot-long modular sculpture titled "Leave Your Thoughts Here" (2025).

Art: Passion is Volcanic – Desire in Southeast Asian Art at National Gallery Singapore

National Gallery Singapore has opened a major exhibition titled 'Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art.' The show, which carries an unprecedented R18 rating and prohibits photography, presents a comprehensive exploration of eroticism, pleasure, and the body through a wide range of artworks from the region's collection and loans. It is curated by Dr. Patrick Flores, Dr. Adele Tan, and Dr. Kathleen Ditzig, who frame desire as a culturally specific yet universal force shaped by history and power.

National Gallery Singapore's 'Passion Is Volcanic' exhibition: 5 works to see

National Gallery Singapore has opened its first R18 exhibition, 'Passion Is Volcanic: Desire In South-east Asian Art', featuring around 60% of works from the national collection, many shown for the first time, alongside regional loans. The show includes a 14th-15th century tantric Buddhist sculpture of kissing buddhas, a pastel painting by pioneering gay Singaporean artist Tan Peng, Liu Kang's 1953 painting 'Scene In Bali', and long-exposure photography by Lavender Chang originally commissioned for a Viagra campaign. Co-curators Adele Tan and Kathleen Ditzig contextualize the exhibition with pre-modern works to demonstrate that artists' interest in the body, desire, and sex is enduring in Asia.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Presents “Musical Bodies” Exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will open a major exhibition titled "Musical Bodies" on June 7, 2026. The free exhibition will feature over 130 objects, including musical instruments, paintings, sculptures, and drawings, to explore the 4,000-year relationship between musical instruments and the human body. It will be organized into six thematic sections and includes items from ancient Egyptian rattles to a guitar owned by Prince.

Curator Conversation: Inside The Stars We Do Not See

The Denver Art Museum is presenting "The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art," an exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the Denver Art Museum, the Portland Art Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum. The show features works from the National Gallery of Victoria's collection, including paintings by Indigenous Australian artists such as Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Thunduyingathi Bijarrb May Moodoonuthi, and others, with Bank of America serving as the North America Tour Sponsor.

New York exhibition to explore relationship between instruments and the body

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is set to launch 'Musical Bodies' on June 7, an ambitious exhibition featuring over 130 objects that explore the historical and aesthetic links between musical instruments and the human form. The show integrates a diverse array of items, including Antonio Stradivari’s 1693 ‘Gould’ violin, ancient Egyptian rattles, and contemporary artifacts like one of Prince’s guitars, alongside masterworks by Titian and Degas.

Venus Lespugue

The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens presents "Jeff Koons: Venus Lespugue," an exhibition pairing Jeff Koons' monumental stainless steel sculpture *Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange)* (2013–2019) with ten certified copies of Paleolithic Venus figurines from major European museums. The Koons work, on public display for the first time, is loaned from the Homem Sonnabend Collection and directly references the 28,000-year-old Venus of Lespugue carved from mammoth tusk ivory.

"Costume Art" MET Museum Exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has opened a new exhibition titled "Costume Art," featuring a design by Robert Wun displayed in the "Vital Body" section. The show opened on Saturday, May 2, 2026, in New York, as captured in a photograph by Charles Sykes for Invision.

Lucid Perturbations: The Sewn Drawings and Books of China Marks

Zane Bennett Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, presents "Lucid Perturbations: The Sewn Drawings and Books of China Marks," the first major solo exhibition dedicated to the artist's sewn works. Featuring over 200 pieces from the last 23 years of Marks's practice, the show runs from May 15 to July 11 and includes pieces like "At the Winter Palace" (2018) and "Above and Below" (2022). Marks, who pivoted from painting to sewing at age 59 in 2000, creates fabric-based narrative tableaux that blend personal and political themes.

The Craziest Venice Biennale Ever: One Week Before Opening, the Jury Resigns (The Public Will Decide the Lions!)

La Biennale di Venezia più pazza di sempre: a una settimana dall’apertura si dimette la giuria (I Leoni li deciderà il pubblico!)

The entire international jury of the 61st Venice Biennale has resigned en masse just one week before the opening. The jury, chaired by Solange Oliveira Farkas and including Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi, had publicly announced they would not consider countries whose leaders are accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court—effectively excluding Russia and Israel from the Golden Lion competition. This decision came amid ongoing tensions between Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco over Russia's participation, as well as controversy surrounding Israel's presence. After a meeting with Buttafuoco, the jury resigned, leaving the Biennale without a key body to award its top prizes.

In Venice, a new project aims to transform museums into living, participatory spaces

A Venezia un nuovo progetto punta a trasformare i musei in spazi vivi e partecipati

The Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia (MUVE) has launched "Performing MUVE," a new program set to begin in spring 2026 that reimagines museums as dynamic, participatory spaces. The initiative, developed by MUVE Academy and MUVE Education, will unfold across three venues: Museo Fortuny, Casa di Carlo Goldoni, and the new MUVEC – Casa delle Contemporaneità in Mestre. The program includes four distinct projects—led by Mattia Berto, choreographer Elena Ajani, actress Sara Urban, and dancer Giulia Gemma Manfrotto—that use dance, theater, and embodied practices to transform visitors from passive observers into active participants.

St. Mary’s College Professor Of Art Sue Johnson Reveals D.C. Gallery Exhibition

Sue Johnson, professor of art at St. Mary's College, is presenting her second solo exhibition at gallery neptune & brown in Washington, D.C., titled “Blueprint for Happiness.” The show runs from May 16 through June 20, with an opening reception on May 16. Johnson debuts a new series, “My Teenage Years,” which builds on her earlier “Symmetrical Bodies” work and examines the pressures on women to conform to ideals of happiness and perfection in body image and domestic spaces, drawing on 1960s-70s material and commercial culture.

Buhlebezwe Siwani “uYana umhlaba” at Consonni Radziszewski, Milan

Consonni Radziszewski inaugurates its Milan space with "uYana umhlaba," the first solo exhibition in Italy by South African artist Buhlebezwe Siwani. The show presents a new body of work that expands on research begun in 2020 with the Inkanyamba series, first exhibited at the Galeria Municipal de Almada in Portugal.

Provincia Cosmica. Interview with Giuseppe Stampone, the artist who chose Gran Sasso as his home

Provincia Cosmica. Intervista a Giuseppe Stampone, l’artista che ha scelto il Gran Sasso come casa

Italian contemporary artist Giuseppe Stampone, born in Cluses in 1974, has returned to his native Abruzzo after years living in New York, Rome, and Brussels. Following the loss of his parents, he established his studio in the province of Teramo, where he is restoring a farmhouse under the Gran Sasso mountain to house the Archivio Giuseppe Stampone-Maria Crispal and an artist residency called Abruzzo Mon Amour. Stampone won the PAC2021 prize for his project "La natura delle cose," which explores his bond with the region and will create an archive dedicated to the flora and fauna of the Monti della Laga, Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo, and Gran Sasso areas.

Body as Device. Guide and Reflection on the Performances of the Venice Biennale

Corpo come dispositivo. Guida e riflessione sulle performance della Biennale di Venezia

The article analyzes the role of performance art at the 2026 Venice Biennale, arguing that performance is no longer a rediscovered genre but a structurally institutionalized primary form of experience production. It examines how the body reemerges not as an alternative to image-based works but as an internal interruption of the artwork system, preventing closure and reintroducing instability. Key pavilions are discussed: Austria's Florentina Holzinger with "Sancta" draws on 1970s radical performance and feminist body art, creating an immersive environment of continuous movement; Belgium's Miet Warlop with "IT NEVER SSST" engages post-dramatic theater and postmodern dance repetition; Japan's Ei Arakawa-Nash with "Grass Babies, Moon Babies" activates Gutai avant-garde legacies through viewer interaction with soft dolls.

Nick Cave at the 2026 Biennale. Seven works between loss, memory and protest

Nick Cave è alla Biennale 2026. Sette opere tra perdita, memoria e protesta

Nick Cave presents "Two Points in Time at Once" at the 2026 Venice Biennale, a project spanning seven locations across Venice. The installation features a series of bronze works, including the "Amalgam" series (Seated, Origin, Plot, Resuscitation, Meditation) along with "Grapht" and "Siren." This marks a significant material shift from Cave's iconic fabric Soundsuits to bronze, exploring themes of loss, memory, trauma, and protest through a more static yet politically charged presence.

The 2026 Venice Biennale is light and conscious

Quella del 2026 è una Biennale di Venezia leggera e consapevole

The 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, has opened with a focus on ecology and humanity's relationship with nature. The central pavilion at the Giardini presents a festive, craft-heavy exhibition that emphasizes connections with plants and animals, while the Arsenale offers a more spacious, symphonic experience featuring standout works such as Alfredo Jaar's "End of the World" (2023-2024) and Kader Attia's "Whisper of Traces" (2026). National pavilions, including those of Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and Spain, explore themes of the body, memory, and ruin with notable installations.

In a Rome exhibition, an artist draws his own atlas: the body becomes world

In una mostra a Roma un artista disegna un proprio atlante: il corpo diventa mondo

Luca di Luzio's exhibition "Atlas ego imago mundi" at Palazzo Mattei in Rome, hosted by the Italian Geographical Society, presents a personal geography where the artist's body becomes landscape and world. Curated by Anna Cestelli Guidi, the show features around 40 maps, three large canvases, and a handmade book created between 2015 and 2023. Di Luzio uses his body as a palette, pressing skin directly onto paper or canvas to generate imaginary territories that merge sensory experience with artistic expression, referencing Merleau-Ponty's philosophy and Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

Florence welcomes the great artist Georg Baselitz with a major exhibition at the Museo Novecento

Firenze accoglie il grande artista Georg Baselitz con una grande mostra al Museo Novecento

The Museo Novecento in Florence has opened "Avanti!", a major retrospective dedicated to German artist Georg Baselitz, featuring 170 works on paper spanning his career from the 1960s to the present. Curated by Sergio Risaliti and Daniel Blau, the exhibition is the first in Italy to focus on Baselitz's graphic output, including woodcuts, linocuts, and etchings, alongside sculptures and installations that explore themes of the human body, war, and inversion.

Karmic Modernism. In Conversation with Elizabeth Englander by Nick Irvin

Elizabeth Englander, an artist working primarily in assemblage with materials like children's furniture, nutcrackers, and old clothing, discusses her recent exhibitions and spiritual approach to art in an interview with Nick Irvin for Flash Art. The conversation covers her show "The Elizabethan Lumber Room" (2026) at a. SQUIRE in London, the modular barrister's bookcase inherited from her mother, and her "Parinirvana" series (2025) that explores themes of death and sacred art through papier-mâché, paint, and mylar. Englander also references influences such as Constantin Brâncuși, her graduate advisor Tom Weaver, and Erwin Panofsky's writings on tomb sculpture.

Exhibition | Carlo D'Anselmi, 'Secrets and Mountains' at Fabienne Levy, Lausanne, Switzerland

Carlo D'Anselmi's solo exhibition 'Secrets and Mountains' opens at Fabienne Levy in Lausanne, Switzerland. The show presents a new body of work created during the artist's first stay in Switzerland, overlooking the French Alps, where he observed the transition from winter into spring. His dreamlike paintings blend figures, animals, and landscapes, exploring memory, light, nature, and the shifting boundary between reality and fiction. D'Anselmi holds an MFA from the New York Studio School and is represented by Thierry Goldberg Gallery in New York.

Exhibition | Claudia Keep, 'Waggle Dance' at Marguo, Paris, France

American artist Claudia Keep presents a new solo exhibition, 'Waggle Dance,' at the Marguo gallery in Paris. The exhibition features a poignant body of paintings that depict bees, flowers, and insects at a larger-than-life scale, conceived as records of an ever-changing world and imbued with an awareness of fragile ecological timelines.

Artist-led walk by K. S. Radhakrishnan at Chawla Art Gallery

Sculptor K. S. Radhakrishnan personally led an exclusive walkthrough of his exhibition "Once Upon a Sculptor" at Chawla Art Gallery. The event offered attendees an intimate look at his artistic evolution, from early works to his iconic Maiya and Musui figures, with the artist sharing insights into his ideas and processes.

In Minor Keys: The 61st Biennale di Arte Venezia Opens Under Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025).

The 61st Biennale di Arte Venezia opens under the posthumous curatorial vision of Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), the late Cameroonian-born curator who reshaped contemporary African and diasporic art discourse. The central exhibition, spanning the Giardini and Arsenale, features 111 participants including artists, collectives, and artist-led organizations from across the Global South, with works in textiles, film, sculpture, and performance that interrogate colonialism, migration, and ecological repair. The Biennale is also marked by a pronounced presence of African and diasporic narratives across national pavilions, including several first-time pavilions from the African continent.