Art Notes, May 20

This article, titled 'Art Notes, May 20,' is a roundup of local art events and exhibitions on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. It highlights Alexander Taylor's solo exhibit 'Washed Upon the Shore' at the Ocean County Library in Surf City, featuring his marine-life paintings created with purified ocean water. Other events include summer art classes by Jamie Jarka at multiple venues, the 'Art in Bloom' floral design event at the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, and ongoing shows at the Pine Shores Art Association's galleries. The article also announces a deadline for the LBIF 'Coast' exhibition.

Art Notes, May 13

Artist and teacher Jamie Jarka, creator of the popular Milo the Seagull mascot for Long Beach Island, has expanded her merchandise to Ron Jon Surf Shop in Ship Bottom, selling prints, stickers, magnets, and nightlights. Jarka will also teach weekly summer art classes at three Island venues: Bayview Park in Brant Beach, Firefly Gallery in Surf City, and Sea Shell Resort and Beach Club in Beach Haven, with schedules and pricing detailed for each location. Additionally, the article covers the 51st annual Art in Bloom movement, with events at Pine Shores Art Association's Stafford gallery and the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences (LBIF), where garden club members create floral arrangements inspired by artworks. Other news includes the PSAA Tuckerton Art Center's "Blooming Spring" show, a "Glimpses of America" exhibition at Beach Haven Borough Gallery, and a call for South Jersey photographers to submit work for an LBIF photography exhibition and fundraiser celebrating LBI lifeguards.

La grande artista Carla Accardi e l’arte italiana sono da record nell’asta da Dorotheum a Vienna

Dorotheum opened its Contemporary Week in Vienna on May 19, 2026, with modern and contemporary art sales that achieved strong results, particularly for Italian artists. Carla Accardi set a new auction record when her 1986 triptych *Fonda Notte Pieno Giorno* sold for €520,000, while works by Piero Dorazio, Emilio Vedova, Marino Marini, and Gino Severini also far exceeded their estimates. Top lots included Claude Monet’s *Waterloo Bridge* (€611,000) and Mikuláš Medek’s *Too Deep a Sleep V* (€546,000).

L’arte italiana del Dopoguerra va in asta da Sotheby’s a Milano: tutti i nomi più attesi

Sotheby's will hold a live auction of Modern and Contemporary Art at Palazzo Serbelloni in Milan on May 27, 2026, featuring major Italian post-war artists. Highlights include works by Lucio Fontana, Giorgio Morandi, Carla Accardi, Alighiero Boetti, Emilio Vedova, Salvo, Piero Dorazio, and Tancredi, many appearing at auction for the first time. Key lots include Fontana's "Concetto Spaziale, Attese" (1965-66, estimate €700,000-1,000,000) and a Yves Klein monochrome from 1959.

‘Africa in the Spotlight’ exhibition in Lisbon

An exhibition titled 'Africa in the Spotlight' has opened at the Lisbon Alliance Française, curated by Tatyana Jolivet. The show features seven contemporary African artists from Burkina Faso, Angola, and São Tomé e Príncipe, including Casimir Bationo (CasziB), SDZabila, Flore Kaboré, and Valdemar Dória. Jolivet, a Russian-born curator based in Lisbon who runs the online Jolie Art Gallery, organized the exhibition to promote cultural diversity and dialogue, highlighting the deep-rooted African presence in Portugal dating back five centuries.

SOPAC's Herb + Milly Iris Gallery presents "INSPIRED MINDS: Young Artist Exhibition"

The South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) presents "INSPIRED MINDS: Young Artist Exhibition" in its Herb + Milly Iris Gallery from May 14 through August 16, 2026. Over 300 students from 20 area high schools submitted more than 1,000 original works; 70 pieces were selected for the show, spanning photography, digital art, painting, drawing, sculpture, fiber arts, and ceramics. An opening reception will be held on May 14.

Fight in the Museum: Q&A with Sean Carney

Sean Carney, a painter and longtime art teacher at Lawrence High School, discusses his artistic journey and evolving practice in a Q&A with Thomas Kelly. Carney, who works with water-based wood stains on wood panels, recently shifted his subject matter from cityscapes to iconic automobiles in his "Driven by Design" series, inspired by a visit to the Saratoga Automobile Museum. His work has been exhibited at Barsky Gallery in Hoboken and other venues, and he credits influences including professors Ray Statlander and Ben Jones, as well as artist Mel Leipzig.

Yves Klein Research Grant 2026: A Funded Residency for Emerging Scholars

The Yves Klein Foundation has launched its first Research Grant for 2026, offering a CHF 6,000 stipend and a one-week funded residency in Paris to emerging scholars under 35 who hold a PhD or postdoctoral degree. The program invites original research projects that deepen understanding of Yves Klein’s work, ideas, and legacy, with access to archives and scholarly guidance provided. Applications are due by 15 June 2026, with selection based on originality, scientific quality, and feasibility.

Giant glacier painting disappears from Argentina’s presidential palace after new law passes loosening protections for these icy regions

Days before Argentina’s Congress approved an amendment to the glacier law that weakens protections for glacial regions to facilitate mining, President Javier Milei’s government removed a monumental painting of the Perito Moreno Glacier from the Casa Rosada presidential palace. The work, Helmut Ditsch’s photorealist *The Triumph of Nature* (2006), had been on loan and on display since 2012. The government cited “maintenance reasons” and “structural damage,” but the artist says he was not notified and has contacted lawyers. A portrait of Juan Domingo and Evita Perón was also removed the same day, with the same vague explanation.

Israeli organisation threatens legal action against Canadian Museum for Human Rights over Palestine exhibition

The Israeli organization Shurat Hadin has threatened legal action against the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg over its upcoming exhibition "Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present," scheduled to open on June 27. The group sent a legal letter to the museum's board and leadership, alleging the exhibition promotes a one-sided narrative that could fuel antisemitism and violate Canadian federal law, and calling for an independent review. The CMHR is reviewing the letter but declined further comment, while supporters like Independent Jewish Voices argue the museum is right to tell the story of the Nakba from the perspective of Palestinian victims.

Ancient Greek and Roman Statues Found in Alexandria

An excavation in the Moharam Bek neighborhood of Alexandria, Egypt, has uncovered a significant trove of artifacts from the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods, including statues of deities such as Bacchus, Asclepius, and Minerva, as well as coins, lamps, ceramic vessels, a public bathhouse, mosaic flooring from a Roman villa, and advanced water systems. The discovery was announced by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and reported by Greek City Times, with officials from the Supreme Council of Antiquities highlighting the site’s comprehensive view of ancient residential and service architecture.

Seven-Foot-Tall Monument to Ramses II Discovered in Eastern Nile Delta Region

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the upper half of a 7-foot-tall statue of Ramses II at the site of Tell El-Faraoun in the eastern Nile Delta. Weighing over 5 tons, the fragment is believed to have originally been carved for a temple in the ancient capital of Per-Ramesses and was later relocated. The find was announced by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, with Hisham El-Leithy of the Supreme Council of Antiquities noting its importance for understanding how statues were moved and reused during the New Kingdom.

These Four Filmmakers Have Never Fully Gotten Their Due. The Kitchen Wants To Change That.

The Kitchen, a New York nonprofit arts organization, held its annual spring gala at City Winery to honor four female filmmakers: Cheryl Dunye, Garrett Bradley, Shari Frilot, and Catherine Gund. The event was co-chaired by prominent figures including Ava DuVernay, Julie Mehretu, and Komal Shah, and featured performances, remarks, and a crowd of artists, curators, and collectors. The gala celebrated the filmmakers' contributions to cinema, with special recognition of their work in expanding representation and narrative boundaries.

The 10 Best Venice Films

Die 10 besten Venedig-Filme

Monopol magazine has published a ranking of the ten best films set in Venice, timed to coincide with the opening of the Venice Art Biennale. The list includes titles such as Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "The Honey Pot" (1967), and Kenneth Branagh's "A Haunting in Venice" (2023), highlighting how the lagoon city serves as a central character in action films, comedies, and love dramas.

Leigh Magar, High-End Milliner Turned Indigo Artist, Dies at 57

Leigh Magar, a celebrated milliner who crafted bespoke hats for celebrities including Beyoncé and members of the royal family, has died at age 57. After building a high-profile career in Charleston, South Carolina, she relocated to a remote island off the coast, where she shifted her artistic focus to cultivating indigo and creating natural dyes, becoming a dedicated practitioner of the ancient craft.

À Marseille, l’installation textile monumentale d’Adrien Vescovi déploie ses couleurs

Artist Adrien Vescovi has installed a monumental textile work titled "Dormir comme le soleil" at the Vieille Charité in Marseille. The installation features over 600 dyed sheets suspended across 108 arches of the former hospice, using natural pigments from plants, spices, and ochres. The fabrics, dyed in a labor-intensive process involving large wooden spoons and cauldrons, are designed to fade and evolve over the eight-month exhibition, responding to wind, humidity, and Mediterranean light.

Hisae Ikenaga ”Anatomies of Use” at KIOSK, Ghent

From April 4, KIOSK in Ghent presents a new solo exhibition by Hisae Ikenaga titled "Anatomies of Use." The Mexican-Japanese artist brings together sculptures, assemblages, and collages that rework industrial materials and everyday objects into hybrid forms, blending ceramic fragments with a visual language that balances functionality and abstraction.

Dyani White Hawk: LISTEN at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

Dyani White Hawk's eight-channel video installation "LISTEN" (2020–ongoing) is on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. The work features Indigenous women speaking in their native languages on their tribal homelands, with no subtitles or explanatory text, encouraging viewers to physically move closer to each screen to hear and engage with the speakers' voices and surrounding environments.

'Preserving the art of Utah culture': Utah-artist museum opens in Salt Lake City

A new art museum, the Salt Lake Art Museum, is opening in the historic B'nai Israel Temple in downtown Salt Lake City, dedicated to preserving and celebrating Utah culture through visual art. Founded by art historian Micah Christensen and led by executive director Chris Jensen, the museum is the first new art museum to open in the city in over 40 years. It has already begun programming, including an interactive 'Make Your Mark' installation and a Utah Master Series highlighting influential local artists such as Galina Perova, Stanley Wanlass, and Ben Hammond. Opening exhibitions will feature works by Albert Bierstadt, Pilar Pobil, and a show on Julia Reagan billboards, alongside a gallery on the temple's history.

Lake Flato Architects creates gallery for Marble Falls Arthouse

Texas-based Lake Flato Architects has completed the Marble Falls Arthouse, a 4,119-square-foot infill gallery in downtown Marble Falls, Texas, opened on April 25. The intimate venue, designed with a restrained palette of limestone and corrugated metal, houses the art collection of Mickey and Jeanne Klein and features a contemplative courtyard by Japanese gardener Sada Uchiyama. The ground floor hosts rotating exhibitions curated by Mickey Klein, beginning with 'Words Matter' featuring works by Mary C Sloane, Kenturah Davis, and Faith Ringgold.

ENTERTAINMENT: AMFA opens Young Arkansas Artists exhibition; UCA Public Appearances sets 2026-27 season

The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) in Little Rock opens the 65th Young Arkansas Artists exhibition on Saturday, featuring 52 artworks selected by a panel of museum and art professionals. The exhibition expands to four works per grade, K-12, and includes a "Best in Class" award chosen by grand juror Celeste Alexander. The show runs through July 26 in the Robyn and John Horn Gallery, with free admission and related activities at the museum's Windgate Art School.

Catalonia Sues Aragón for €791,000 for Repayment Over Restitution of 56 Artworks

The Catalan government has formally demanded €791,000 (approximately $920,000) from the Aragonese government to recoup costs related to the value and upkeep of 56 artworks from the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Sigena. The works were removed from the monastery in 1936 for safekeeping during the Spanish Civil War, and Spain's Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that they must be returned to Aragón. Of the 56 pieces, 12 were held at the National Art Museum of Catalonia and 44 at the Diocesan Museum of Lleida. The Catalan government has given Aragón 30 days to negotiate a settlement before returning to court.

"Seasons and Soliloquies" by Zack Thurmond

Zack Thurmond will present a solo exhibition titled "Seasons and Soliloquies" at Idaho Art Gallery (IAG) in downtown Boise, opening Thursday, May 7, 2026, from 5 to 9 pm. Thurmond, a largely self-taught artist with a BFA from Boise University, creates paintings rooted in direct observation of place, often starting as plein air studies and expanding into larger studio works. His pieces are held in collections across North America and Europe, and he currently serves as Chief Preparator at the Boise Art Museum.

The Met’s much-anticipated spring 2026 exhibit puts fashion on a fine art level

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will open its spring 2026 exhibition, "Costume Art," on May 10, 2026, running through January 10, 2027. The show features nearly 400 objects from the Met's collection, pairing couture garments with paintings, sculptures, and decorative works across centuries. Organized by "body types" such as "Classical Body" and "Mortal Body," the exhibition will be housed in the new 12,000-square-foot Condé Nast Galleries. The Met Gala, co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, will kick off the exhibition with a dress code of "Fashion is Art."

Ahead of the Met Gala, “Costume Art” Connects Fashion and the Body

On May 4, 2026, the Metropolitan Museum of Art previewed the Costume Institute's new permanent galleries and its inaugural exhibition, "Costume Art," ahead of the Met Gala. The exhibition features over 400 objects from the Met's collections, organized around themes of the body such as "The Classical Body" and "The Disabled Body," with mannequins featuring mirrored faces to reflect viewers. Speakers at the press event included Anna Wintour, Venus Williams, and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, with the Met Gala raising over $42 million for the museum.

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.

24 Hours with Jewel at the 2026 Venice Biennale Festival

Singer-songwriter Jewel has transformed into a multimedia artist, presenting a solo exhibition titled '24 Hours with Jewel' at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The show features 34 new works, including paintings, sculptures, and kinetic installations, with the centerpiece 'Heart of the Ocean'—an eight-foot kinetic sculpture created in collaboration with scientists from NASA, NOAA, Stanford, and UC Berkeley that translates real-time oceanographic data into light and sound. V Magazine followed Jewel for 24 hours as she prepared for her Biennale debut, documenting her day from rooftop meditations and water taxi rides with her son to private patron tours and an opening night performance in a custom Schiaparelli dress.

The Muskegon Museum of Art Announces a Landmark Exhibition showcasing the Women who shaped Animation History

The Muskegon Museum of Art has announced a landmark exhibition titled "HerStory of Animation: Mary Blair & Beyond," premiering June 6 through September 27, 2026. The show highlights the overlooked contributions of women animators and artists who shaped animation history, featuring figures such as Helena Smith Dayton, Bessie Mae Kelley, Lotte Reiniger, Mary Blair, Faith Hubley, Lillian Schwartz, Caroline Leaf, Joan Graz, Brenda Chapman, and Nora Towmey. Curated by historian and author Mindy Johnson, the exhibition includes production artwork, studio artifacts, rare imagery, films, and newly uncovered research spanning over a century of animation.

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.

SCULPTURE IN THE GARDEN: THE STORYTELLERS

The article titled 'SCULPTURE IN THE GARDEN: THE STORYTELLERS' appears to be about a sculpture exhibition or installation set in a garden context, focusing on narrative-driven works. The text is heavily corrupted and unreadable due to encoding issues, but the title and fragmentary content suggest it covers a group of sculptors or a specific show where artworks function as storytellers within a natural setting.