The Hôtel de la Marine in Paris will host "Animalia," an exhibition drawn from the Al Thani Collection, from July 1, 2026 to January 10, 2027. Featuring over 120 sculptures, paintings, and decorative works, the show explores how animals have inspired artists across centuries and cultures, from ancient Greece to modern times and from China to the Ivory Coast.
Nalini Malani's latest installation, *Of Woman Born*, opens at the Magazzini del Sale in Venice during the Venice Biennale. Commissioned by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, the work projects hand-drawn animations onto the crumbling brick walls of a 15th-century salt warehouse, creating a cave-like environment where images flicker like ancient cave paintings. The installation draws on tens of thousands of drawings and incorporates mythology, literature, and sound, with a central focus on the myth of Orestes to explore themes of violence, displacement, and gender politics. Malani has also extended her recurring 'Skipping Girl' figure across Venice via posters and public signage to guide viewers to the exhibition.
Artnet News spotlights five trailblazing performance artists defining 2025, including Geumhyung Jeong, whose work "Toys, Selected" (2025) at Canal Projects in New York explores the uncanny relationship between humans and robots through intimate, choreographed interactions with machine parts she built herself. Jeong, who studied acting, dance, and film animation in South Korea, has performed at Kunsthalle Basel, the 2022 Venice Biennale, and London's ICA, and is currently unrepresented by a gallery. The article also profiles Maja Malou Lyse, who was tapped to represent her country at the Venice Biennale.
San Francisco's De Young Museum has opened North America's first large-scale exhibition of manga art, featuring over 600 works spanning comic books, fine art, and animated features. Curated by Nicole Rousmaniere, the show includes pieces by artist Mari Yamazaki, who blends classical painting with manga storytelling, and highlights globally popular titles like "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure." The exhibition runs through January.
Acquavella Galleries, a blue-chip gallery known for secondary market sales, has taken exclusive US representation of Swiss sculptor Harumi Klossowska de Rola. The artist, daughter of painter Balthus and ceramicist Setsuko Klossowska de Rola, creates bronze and alabaster animal sculptures that blend fine art and design. Her works, priced from under $100,000 to over half a million dollars, are cast in small editions and meticulously reworked by hand. Acquavella discovered her work at the Palm Beach home of collector Peter Brant. Her first show with the gallery opened in Palm Beach, accompanied by a Rizzoli book, with new works planned for Art Basel Paris and a major solo exhibition at Acquavella's New York space in 2026.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has unveiled a major new commission in Kyiv, Ukraine, titled 'Three Perfectly Proportioned Spheres and Camouflage Uniforms Painted White,' on view until November 30. The site-specific installation, commissioned by the non-profit cultural platform Ribbon International, features three spheres wrapped in camouflaged fabric dotted with animal images, responding to escalating global armed conflicts. Ai recently traveled to the front line of the war in eastern Ukraine near Kharkiv, meeting Ukrainian fighters and cultural figures, and also planted sunflower seeds and buttons in a field there as a ceremonial act.
The Trinidad Express Newspapers published an article titled 'Art for the animals’ sake,' which appears to cover an art-related event or initiative benefiting animals. The specific details of the event, such as the artists involved, location, or date, are not provided in the given text, but the title suggests a charitable or awareness-raising focus combining visual art with animal welfare.
Ringo Starr, at 85, is balancing a six-date residency with his All-Starr Band at The Venetian in Las Vegas with a concurrent art exhibition at the Animazing Gallery in the same resort. The show, titled "Starr Art" and curated by Neal Glaser of ArtCelebs, features Starr's original paintings, limited edition works, and spin-art pieces, with all artist proceeds benefiting his charity, The Lotus Foundation. Starr, who began painting in the late 1990s and discovered spin art online, describes his abstract, colorful Pop Art as a joyful creative outlet.
The Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine, is repatriating 17 items—including a human tooth and funerary objects such as tools, animal hides, and fabric—to the Wabanaki Nations, a confederation of four local tribes (Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Mi’kmaq Nation, and Houlton band of Maliseet Indians). The objects, many excavated by Warren K. Moorehead in the late 19th century, passed through the R.S. Peabody Museum, the Bangor Historical Society, and the Abbe Museum, with some lost due to undocumented loans. A Field Register notice from the National Park Service, published September 11, 2025, details their complex provenance. The repatriation is set to occur on or after October 14, 2025.
The Newport Art Museum will open "THE COURT: Art in Play" on September 24, an exhibition featuring works by seven artists who also compete in court tennis, the historic precursor to modern tennis. Organized by artist and court tennis champion Frederika Adam, the show runs through April 2026 at the Historic Griswold House and includes animation, book art, painting, photography, and memorabilia. Items from the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s permanent collection are displayed alongside the artists’ works.
Jeffrey Gibson has installed four large bronze animal sculptures—a deer, a coyote, a squirrel, and a hawk—on the facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, collectively titled “The Animal That Therefore I Am.” At a talk with Met curator Jane Panetta, Gibson explained that the works draw on his early paintings on brain-tanned elk hides and his ongoing exploration of Indigenous kinship philosophies, which honor all living beings as extensions of ourselves. The sculptures, each adorned with ceremonial regalia inspired by Native American traditions, are designed to be viewed as four-sided paintings and connect the museum’s Central Park location to Gibson’s home in the Hudson River Valley.
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, a top European art collector and founder of a Turin-based foundation, is partnering with New York's New Museum for a series of commissions. The first commission will be realized by Italian artist Diego Marcon, known for his uncanny videos, with his work titled 'Krapfen'—a musical dance film blending American animation and Italian opera. The New Museum, currently undergoing a renovation and expansion with a seven-story annex, is set to reopen this fall. 'Krapfen' was also co-commissioned by Chicago's Renaissance Society, Paris's Lafayette Anticipations, and the Vega Foundation, run by Canadian collector Elisa Nuyten, and will debut at the Renaissance Society before its New Museum run.
Cultured magazine has published a curated list of 15 solo gallery shows worth seeing in New York this September, highlighting exhibitions at venues such as Gagosian, Meredith Rosen Gallery, Michael Werner, 56 Henry, and Matthew Marks Gallery. Featured artists include Christopher Kulendran Thomas, whose AI-driven installation "Peace Core" re-edits pre-9/11 television footage alongside paintings of a Sri Lankan massacre; Catharine Czudej, who pairs consumerist paintings with merchandise and a new film; Florian Krewer, whose ominous animalistic paintings explore human emotion; Ohad Meromi, whose works focus on moments of rest and reflection; and Nayland Blake, whose three-part exhibition spans queer sexuality, the AIDS crisis, and new sculptural works.
Multimedia artist Im Youngzoo has won the Frieze Seoul Artist Award 2025, creating a new commission titled "Calming Signal" for this year's edition of the fair. The three-channel video installation explores how humans use learned and repeated gestures during times of collective unease, drawing inspiration from Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugaas's concept of calming signals—instinctual behaviors animals use to de-escalate conflict. Im, born in 1982, works across video, installation, performance, and virtual reality, and has also been shortlisted for the 2025 Korea Artist Prize, with her work currently on view at MMCA Seoul.
The National Portrait Gallery has partnered with Frameless Creative, a London-based immersive experience studio, to launch 'Stories—Brought to Life,' a virtual reality exhibition that brings portraits of historical and contemporary figures to life through dynamic 150-second animated sequences. The experience, projected onto a mosaic of screens, features figures including Queen Elizabeth I, Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, David Bowie, and Ncuti Gatwa, drawing on the museum's collection. It debuted at a temporary site in MediaCity, Manchester, and is designed to travel to other locations.
A Banksy mural featuring a fish tank full of piranhas, installed overnight on a police sentry box in London's financial district in August 2024, has been acquired by the London Museum. The work was one of nine animal-themed pieces the artist created across the capital over nine consecutive days. After being removed by the City of London Corporation, the booth was displayed at Guildhall Yard and then placed in storage; it will go on permanent view in 2026 at the London Museum's new Smithfield location, part of a $280 million relocation project.
An art exhibition titled 'Retrospective of Works' held at the West End Art Studio in Mallow, Ireland, from July 23 to August 3, raised €6,600 for two charities. Organized by Colman Dalton and his wife Marie, the 10-day show featured approximately 65 works by Irish, British, and French artists, including pieces by James O’Halloran, Paul Kelly, Jack Vettriano, T.S. Lowry, and others. The opening night was so crowded that 20 people had to wait outside. A raffle on opening night generated the funds, which were split equally between Focus Ireland, a homelessness charity, and HART, a local dog rescue charity.
Canada's first cat museum, Le Miaousée, is launching with a pop-up exhibition in Montreal's Little Italy district from September 12-28, 2025. Founded by cultural entrepreneur Aqeela Nahani, the museum aims to celebrate the bond between cats and humans while supporting rescue cat charities. The debut show, titled 'Miaoutréal: The History of Montreal’s Cats,' will feature archival photographs dating back to the 1860s, cat-themed events, contemporary art by local artists including Sylvain Amblard, Andréanne Lupien, and Linda Luttinger, and a tribute to animal rescue organizations such as the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. A permanent museum is planned for 2026, which will include rotating exhibits, a cat lounge for adoptable cats, and a boutique.
The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio will open "Sandy Skoglund: Enchanting Nature" on September 11, 2025, running through February 2026. The exhibition features an unconventional mix of sculptures, photographs, and installations by artist Sandy Skoglund, including never-before-exhibited works and large-scale photographic enlargements. Known for her meticulous tableaux using handmade objects, found materials, and live models, Skoglund explores the tension between human-made environments and the natural world.
Archaeologists at the Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily have uncovered a mosaic in the frigidarium (cold bath) of the southern baths featuring a pair of flip-flops and the inscription "Treptona bibas," likely referencing a woman involved in managing the complex. The discovery was made during the University of Bologna's Summer School ArchLABS program, which trains students from 11 countries in modern excavation techniques. The flip-flop motif, known from other Late Roman bath decorations across Spain, Cyprus, Jordan, and Asia Minor, signals the aristocratic and cosmopolitan character of the baths.
Asia Society Texas (AST) in Houston announces its upcoming exhibition 'The House of Pikachu: Art, Anime, and Pop Culture,' opening October 17, 2025 and running through March 15, 2026. The show features 25 artists from Japan, Brazil, China, Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire, Texas, and beyond, exploring the influence of Japanese animation on contemporary art. Highlights include works by Yoshitaka Amano, Houston-based artist Gao Hang, and Monsieur Zohore, who is creating a new monumental painting titled 'Houston, We Have A Problem (2025)' that depicts a melee of postwar anime characters. The exhibition includes playful nods to classics like Astro Boy, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and an immersive homage to Pikachu.
Asia Society Texas (AST) in Houston announces its upcoming exhibition "The House of Pikachu: Art, Anime, and Pop Culture," opening October 17, 2025, and running through March 15, 2026. The show features 25 artists from Japan, Brazil, China, Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire, Texas, and beyond, exploring the influence of Japanese animation on contemporary art. Highlights include works by Yoshitaka Amano, Gao Hang, and Monsieur Zohore, with nods to classics like Astro Boy, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and an immersive homage to Pikachu.