Interview with the great sculptor Charles Ray who shows in two different galleries in Los Angeles

Intervista al grande scultore Charles Ray che a Los Angeles si mostra in due diverse gallerie

Charles Ray, the renowned American sculptor, opened two simultaneous solo exhibitions in Los Angeles on April 18, one at Matthew Marks Gallery and the other at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, located about a mile apart. The Matthew Marks show features three new works, including "Junk 2" (2026) and "The Animation of Pandora" (2026), while the Deitch exhibition presents three older iconic pieces such as "Firetruck" (1993), "Pepto-Bismol in a Marble Box" (1988), and "Table" (1990). Ray, who has lived in Los Angeles for four decades, is known for his meticulous, slow-working process and his exploration of the human body and everyday objects at altered scales.

The Italian artist who sails from the Island of Elba to Saint Helena: talking about power and making a film

L’artista italiano che parte dall’Isola d’Elba in barca a vela per raggiungere Sant’Elena: si parla di potere e si gira un film

Italian artist Luca Vitone (born Genoa, 1964) has launched a project titled "Pro Tempore," which involves a two-month sailing journey from the Island of Elba—Napoleon Bonaparte's first place of exile—to the remote island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon died in exile. The voyage, aboard the boat Adriatica, includes four intermediate stops (Balearic Islands, Algeciras, Canary Islands, Cape Verde) and is funded by the 14th edition of the Italian Council grant, in partnership with the Fondazione Oelle. The project explores the concept of temporary power and uses Napoleon's biography and the sea as metaphors for control and instability.

art nicole saikalis bay london milan beirut patron

Nicole Saikalis Bay, an architect and patron, divides her time between Milan, London, Beirut, and Paris, where she has built a triple-pronged artist support network: the Saikalis Bay Foundation, a Milan exhibition space called Circolo, and the nonprofit WeAre Projects. Her collection began as a private impulse to live with art, focusing on modern Italian masters like Enrico Castellani and Fausto Melotti, and has expanded to contemporary artists such as William Kentridge, Nari Ward, and Tacita Dean. This month, Circolo presents work by ten rising artists of Lebanese heritage, reflecting her commitment to supporting artists from regions in need.

franco vaccari artist dead

Franco Vaccari, an Italian conceptual artist known for his participatory photography works, has died at 89. His death was announced by his gallery, P420 in Bologna, just four months before a retrospective of his work was set to open at Museion in Bolzano, Italy, in March. Vaccari's most famous piece, Esposizione in tempo reale n. 4, featured a photobooth at the 1972 Venice Biennale where viewers were invited to take and leave their portraits. He continued to explore themes of public and private space, information, and technology throughout his career, including later works with QR codes.

What to See at the 2026 Venice Biennial

The 2026 Venice Biennale, opening May 9 and running through November 22, features a main exhibition titled "In Minor Keys" organized by the late Koyo Kouoh, alongside 99 national pavilions. The event spans the Giardini and Arsenale sites, with concurrent shows across the city, including a group exhibition at the Fondazione Dries Van Noten, Melissa McGill's installation "Marea" at Corte Nova, Illy's artist-designed espresso cups at Giardini Reali, and a solo exhibition of Hernan Bas's paintings at Ca' Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art.

15 Must-See Events Enriching the Venice Biennale 2026 Experience.

The article presents a curated guide to 15 must-see events accompanying the 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, running from May to November 2026. It highlights key exhibitions beyond the main pavilions, including "Screen Melancholy: Li Yi-Fan" at Palazzo delle Prigioni, "Darkness Visible: The Long Shadow of Dictatorship" at Spazio Punch, "Elegy" by Gabrielle Goliath at Chiesa di Sant'Antonin, and "As Above, So Below" at Ex Church Santi Cosma e Damiano, among others. These events span museums, foundations, and historic palazzi, featuring performances, talks, and curatorial interventions that extend the Biennale's reach across Venice.

New Museum Reopens in Downtown New York With OMA Expansion

The New Museum has officially reopened its downtown New York campus following a significant expansion designed by the architectural firm OMA. The renovation introduces a massive internal staircase that connects all four floors, resolving long-standing circulation issues previously caused by a reliance on elevators. To mark the reopening, the museum debuted a site-specific facade sculpture by Tschabalala Self titled "Art Lovers" and a massive inaugural group exhibition, "New Humans: Memories of the Future," featuring over 150 international contributors.

Mario Schifano in mostra a Roma, non solo a Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Alla Galleria Lombardi il pittore che sapeva osservare

A major retrospective of Mario Schifano (1934–1998) continues at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome through May 27, showcasing over 100 works from his entire career—from early informal and material pieces to the first monochromes of the 1960s, TV Landscapes, oversized 1980s paintings, and 1990s works. Concurrently, a smaller exhibition titled "Mario Schifano | Io guardo" is on view until May 16, 2026, at Galleria Lombardi in Rome. Curated by Lorenzo and Enrico Lombardi, it features about twenty works spanning thirty years of the artist's activity, including monochromes, advertising signs, anemical landscapes, the Futurism revisited cycle, equestrian paintings, and chromatic materials of the 1990s. The show is accompanied by a catalog with a critical text by Silvia Pegoraro.

How MEGA Art Fair Became Milan Art Week’s Social Club

MEGA Art Fair held its third edition in Milan, transforming a former perfume factory into a social and exhibition hub during Milan Art Week and Design Week. The fair, which ran from midday to midnight over an extended period, positioned itself as an alternative to traditional art fairs by prioritizing relaxed social connection, community engagement, and public programming over a purely commercial atmosphere.

David Zwirner inaugurates new gallery space with Michael Armitage exhibition.

David Zwirner is opening a new gallery building in Chelsea at 533 West 19th Street, inaugurated by an exhibition of new work by Kenyan-British artist Michael Armitage. Titled "Crucible," the show runs from May 8 to June 27, 2025, and features new paintings and bronze reliefs that explore the theme of migration, using Lubugo bark cloth as a support. This is Armitage's first solo show with the gallery since his representation was announced in 2022 and his first solo presentation in New York since 2019.

The Must-See Biennale Exhibitions in Venice

The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, titled "In Minor Keys," opens May 9 as a tribute to its late curator Koyo Kouoh. Alongside the Biennale, Venice hosts numerous concurrent exhibitions: Marina Abramović's "Transforming Energy" at Gallerie dell'Accademia (the only living female artist with a major show there); the Matthew Wong Foundation's inaugural exhibition "Interiors" featuring unseen works by the late Chinese Canadian artist; retrospectives of Michael Armitage at Palazzo Grassi and Lorna Simpson at Punta della Dogana; Hernan Bas's new paintings at Ca' Pesaro; Lu Yang's "DOKU The Illusion" at Espaces Louis Vuitton Venezia; and "Minimal Legends" at the Vincenzo de Cotiis Foundation, staging a dialogue among Minimalist masters.

Welcome to Venice: the shows you won’t want to miss at the 61st Biennale

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," opens with a keynote exhibition conceived by the late Koyo Kouoh and realized by her team after her sudden death in May 2025. The show spans the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the Arsenale, featuring 110 artists and collectives. Highlights include Bracha L. Ettinger's installation at the Hotel Metropole, where she transforms a room where Sigmund Freud wrote part of *The Interpretation of Dreams* into a feminist 'borderspace,' and works by artists such as Arthur Jafa, Richard Prince, Issa Samb, Beverly Buchanan, and Daniel Lind-Ramos. The exhibition explores themes of history, colonialism, war, and environmental destruction, aiming for a 'sotto voce' tone that nonetheless delivers powerful, liberating statements.

The most expensive Mark Rothko paintings ever sold at auctions

The article lists the most expensive Mark Rothko paintings ever sold at auction, highlighting record-breaking sales such as *No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red)* (1951), which fetched $186 million in 2014, and *Orange, Red, Yellow* (1961), which sold for $86.9 million in 2012. Other notable works include *No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue)* (1954) at $75.1 million and *No. 10* (1958) at $81.9 million, demonstrating the enduring high demand for Rothko's abstract expressionist canvases in the secondary market.

1+1. Relational Art: at MAXXI a major exhibition reflects on the legacy of Nicolas Bourriaud's critical revolution

The MAXXI museum in Rome has opened a major exhibition titled "1+1. Relational Art," which examines the legacy of Nicolas Bourriaud's influential 1998 book "Relational Aesthetics." The show brings together works by artists from the 1990s generation—including Maurizio Cattelan, Douglas Gordon, Pierre Huyghe, Philippe Parreno, Liam Gillick, and Dominique González-Foerster—who pioneered art based on human interactions and social contexts rather than traditional autonomous objects. The exhibition reflects on how Bourriaud's theory, developed from studio visits with these young artists, redefined art criticism by proposing that artworks be judged by the interhuman relations they produce or evoke.

Cattelan's famous gold toilet goes up for auction: America for sale at Sotheby's

Maurizio Cattelan's iconic 2016 gold toilet sculpture, 'America,' will be auctioned at Sotheby's on November 18, 2025, during The Now and Contemporary evening auction. The starting bid will be tied to the fluctuating gold market price, currently around $10 million based on its 101.2 kg weight, and Sotheby's will accept cryptocurrency as payment. The work, a fully functional toilet made of 18-karat gold, was famously installed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2016, where over 100,000 visitors used it, and was later stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019. This is the only surviving version of the two originally made.

Fashion and art of Africa conquer Paris: 3 exhibitions in a single museum

Moda e arte dell’Africa conquistano Parigi: 3 mostre in un unico museo

The Musée Quai Branly in Paris is hosting "Africa Fashion," an exhibition originally produced by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2023. Adapted for the Parisian venue, the show draws on the museum's rich historical and photographic collections to explore African fashion from decolonization to the present, featuring clothing, textiles, music videos, and archival photography from across the continent.

The Short Circuit of Art in Venice. The Tensions at the Biennale Are Not Just Geopolitics

Il cortocircuito dell’arte a Venezia. Le tensioni alla Biennale non sono solo geopolitica

The article analyzes the recent tensions and controversies surrounding the 2026 Venice Biennale, which began with President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco's announcement in March that Russia, Iran, Israel, Ukraine, and Belarus would all be allowed to participate, framing it as a foreign policy gesture. This sparked immediate polarization, leading to two open letters from half the invited artists and curators demanding the exclusion of Russia, Israel, and the United States; the resignation of the jury a week before the opening over a decision to exclude countries under ICC indictment; and a historic strike by workers on May 8 that shut down many pavilions, merging protests against genocide with those against precarious labor conditions.

Review of the Italian Pavilion by Chiara Camoni and its relationship with the Biennale

La recensione del Padiglione Italia di Chiara Camoni e la sua relazione con la Biennale

Chiara Camoni's Italian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "Con te con tutto," is reviewed in relation to Koyo Kouoh's central exhibition "In Minor Keys." Camoni's installation features a crowd of female figures sculpted in clay and natural materials, described as "donne tronco" (trunk women), which evoke growth, transformation, and the intuitive, manual gestures that Kouoh champions. The review highlights how Camoni's work dialogues with Kouoh's curatorial emphasis on drawing, painting, and craft as intuitive practices, moving away from conceptual art. It also notes a performance by Magdalena Campos Pons at the Tese theatre, which includes a portrait of Toni Morrison and Kouoh, accompanied by music by Kamal Malak.

A Como sta per arrivare una grande mostra su William Turner e il Romanticismo inglese

A major exhibition on William Turner and English Romanticism is set to open on May 29 at Palazzo del Broletto and the Pinacoteca Civica in Como, Italy. Titled "Turner. L’incanto del lago di Como e del paesaggio italiano," the show features seven precious watercolors inspired by Turner's travels to the Lake Como region, alongside an immersive film produced by Tate Digital. The exhibition traces Turner's stylistic evolution from his 1819 sketches to later chromatic studies from 1842-1843, and is organized by the City of Como in collaboration with the Tate in London.

La Fondation Beyeler di Basilea inaugura una grande mostra dell’artista francese Pierre Huyghe. Da vedere durante Art Basel

The Fondation Beyeler in Basel is opening a major solo exhibition of French artist Pierre Huyghe, running from May 24 to September 13, 2026. The show transforms Renzo Piano's museum spaces into a sensitive ecosystem inhabited by images, organisms, sounds, dust, algorithms, and presences suspended between the biological and artificial. Key works include "Apnea" (2026), an artificial organ submerged in water that breathes at a human rhythm; "Alchimia" (2026), featuring a worm on a threshold that reacts to air; "Liminals" (2026), a film depicting a faceless anthropomorphic figure in a state of radical uncertainty; "Adversary" (2026), a closed gate co-created by human and machine; and "Camata" (2024), a film set in the Atacama Desert that is continuously re-edited in real time based on sensors and audience presence.

Pappi Corsicato's film on photographer Claudio Abate, which recounts the artistic ferment of Rome between the 1960s and 1990s, is now on RaiPlay

È su RaiPlay il film di Pappi Corsicato sul fotografo Claudio Abate che racconta il fermento artistico di Roma tra gli Anni ’60 e ‘90

RaiPlay has released a new documentary film by Pappi Corsicato titled "Claudio Abate. L’obiettivo nell’arte" (2026), which pays tribute to the late photographer Claudio Abate (1943–2017). The film weaves together interviews, archival materials, and footage from Istituto Luce to chronicle Abate's life and work, focusing on his role documenting the vibrant Roman art scene from the 1960s through the 1990s. It highlights his collaborations with key figures such as Jannis Kounellis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Fabio Sargentini, and the artists of the Pastificio Cerere school, capturing seminal performances, happenings, and installations that defined Arte Povera and other avant-garde movements.

Rediscovering the Eternal City of the 1500s in the drawings of Maarten van Heemskerck. The exhibition in Rome

Riscoprire la Città Eterna del ‘500 nei disegni di Maarten van Heemskerck. La mostra a Roma

A major exhibition at Palazzo Poli in Rome, hosted by the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, showcases a selection of drawings by Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574) from his so-called 'little sketchbook,' now held at the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. The show, titled 'Maarten van Heemskerck e il fascino di Roma' and running until June 7, presents the artist's meticulous studies of Roman antiquities made during his four-year stay in the city from 1532, offering a rare visual record of Renaissance Rome's ancient collections before and after the 1527 Sack of Rome.

Mario Schifano al Palazzo Esposizioni di Roma. Una grande mostra che ci insegna a guardare

Palazzo Esposizioni in Rome has opened a major exhibition dedicated to Mario Schifano (1934–1998), running alongside a solo show by Marco Tirelli titled "Anni Luce." The exhibition, curated by Daniela Lancioni, explores Schifano's work through the lens of Kazimir Malevich's Suprematism, particularly his 1915 "Black Square." It features Schifano's early monochromes from 1960, his painting "Chiamato K. Malewič" (1965), and a rarely seen pre-1960 phase including landscapes and informal works from 1956–1959, which have often been marginalized in his official catalog.

A Milano una grande mostra a Palazzo Reale racconta i Macchiaioli (e l’Italia del loro tempo)

A major exhibition at Palazzo Reale in Milan explores the Macchiaioli, the 19th-century Italian painting movement often seen as a precursor to Impressionism. The show brings together works by key figures such as Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega, Telemaco Signorini, Giuseppe Abbati, and Odoardo Borrani, alongside tangential artists like Giovanni Boldini, Federico Faruffini, and Gerolamo Induno. It traces the movement's origins at Florence's Caffè Michelangiolo, its epicenter at Castiglioncello under patron Diego Martelli, and its evolution from the 1850s through the 1870s, when the group's democratic ideals and en plein air techniques challenged academic conventions.

Quando la mitica Peggy Guggenheim era una gallerista a Londra. Mostra da non perdere a Venezia

The article details the early career of Peggy Guggenheim before she established her famous Venetian museum, focusing on her London gallery Guggenheim Jeune (1938–1939). It describes how the gallery mounted pioneering exhibitions of avant-garde art, including the first UK solo show of Wassily Kandinsky, a group exhibition of contemporary sculpture featuring Jean Arp and Henry Moore, and shows of artists like Marie Vassilief and Gisèle Freund. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice now presents a retrospective of this formative period, titled "Peggy Guggenheim a Londra. Nascita di una collezionista."

Russian art today is blood. A tough interview with Pussy Riot

“L’arte russa oggi è il sangue”. Una dura intervista alle Pussy Riot

During the preview of the 2026 Venice Biennale, the Russian Pavilion became the site of a protest by Pussy Riot and FEMEN, who staged an action called "STORM OF VENICE." Wearing pink balaclavas and carrying radical slogans, they denounced Russia's presence at the Biennale, accusing the Kremlin and the European cultural system of complicity. The protest centered on the phrase "Blood is Russia's art." In an interview, Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova argues that artists who represent the official Russian Pavilion become instruments of the aggressive imperial state, and that the Biennale confuses cultural dialogue with political normalization.

The documentary dedicated to Sicilian patron Antonio Presti airs on Rai Tre. Here is the video preview.

Va in onda su Rai Tre il documentario dedicato al mecenate siciliano Antonio Presti. Qui la video anteprima

On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at 3:30 PM, RAI 3 will broadcast the documentary "Asteroide 20049 Antonio Presti," produced by Rai Documentari and dedicated to Sicilian patron Antonio Presti (born 1957). Written by Fedora Sasso and Francesco Castellani, curated by Giulietta Venneri, and directed by Fedora Sasso, the film explores Presti's four-decade career using art to intervene in marginalized areas of Sicily. The documentary's title references an asteroid named after Presti, symbolizing his vision linking cosmic and urban space. It opens at the Astrophysical Observatory of Isnello and focuses on the Catania neighborhood of Librino, where Presti created MAGMA, an open-air museum developed through collaboration with students, artists, and residents.

A New York il Metropolitan museum ingloba la Neue Galerie: ovvero la più importante collezione d’arte austriaca e tedesca fuori dall’Europa

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Neue Galerie in New York have announced a merger set for 2028. The Neue Galerie, founded by collector Ronald S. Lauder, will become The Met Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie, absorbing the most significant collection of early 20th-century Austrian and German art outside Europe, including Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I." Lauder and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer will donate thirteen major works from their private collection, and a fundraising campaign has been launched to support the integration.

A Political Anthology of the United States: The Great Exhibition of Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince in Venice

Un’antologia politica degli Stati Uniti. La grande mostra di Arthur Jafa e Richard Prince a Venezia

Fondazione Prada presents "Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince" at Cà Corner della Regina in Venice, the 15th exhibition produced by the foundation in the city. Curated by Nancy Spector of the Brooklyn Museum, the two-person show brings together over fifty works—photographs, videos, installations, sculptures, and paintings—that explore the fractured identity of the United States through the lens of race, masculinity, popular culture, and appropriation. Both artists, though separated by more than a decade in age, share a practice of scavenging and recontextualizing images from film, comics, advertising, and social media to critique American society.

A new wing to solve the problems of the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Beautiful challenge, tedious controversy

Una nuova ala per risolvere i problemi della Galleria Borghese a Roma. Bella sfida, stucchevoli polemiche

The Galleria Borghese in Rome, one of Italy's most extraordinary museums, faces significant accessibility and capacity issues due to its historic 17th-century structure. The museum is difficult for visitors with disabilities, overcrowded, and forces visitors to book far in advance—often waiting over a month for a time slot—while many masterpieces remain in storage. In 2025, the engineering firm Proger offered to sponsor a feasibility study for a new wing, contributing nearly 900,000 euros to fund an international architecture competition and a technical-economic feasibility plan. The study, currently underway, aims to explore whether a new annex can be built within the protected Villa Borghese park to create new entrances, exhibition spaces, and services.