‘A fresh look at contemporary culture’: Gus Casely-Hayford, director of V&A East, takes us inside the new London museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum is expanding its footprint with the opening of V&A East Museum in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on April 18. Led by Director Gus Casely-Hayford, the new five-story institution joins the recently opened V&A East Storehouse as part of the East Bank cultural quarter. The museum will debut with the "Why We Make" galleries, featuring over 500 objects and new commissions by artists such as Tania Bruguera, Carrie Mae Weems, and Thomas J. Price, whose 18-foot bronze sculpture anchors the museum's entrance.

In Paris, Highly Mobile Gallerists

À Paris, des galeristes très mobiles

The Parisian art scene is experiencing a significant wave of gallery expansions and relocations across both the Right and Left Banks. Major developments include Kamel Mennour acquiring the former Malingue gallery space on Avenue Matignon for secondary market masterpieces, and Christophe Person moving from the Marais to a redesigned space on Rue du Bac with the backing of collector Jean Claude Gandur. Other notable moves include London-based Waddington Custot opening a Parisian branch, Singapore's Cuturi Gallery settling in the Palais-Royal, and Vincent Sator inaugurating a new space in the David Chipperfield-designed Morland Mixité Capitale complex.

The Guardian view on a much-needed boost for the arts: rebuilding England’s cultural landscape

The V&A East Museum is set to open in Stratford, London, marking a significant milestone for the East Bank cultural quarter. This £135m project joins the V&A East Storehouse and other major institutions in a transformed area of East London, aiming to attract younger and more diverse audiences through accessible art and design collections.

Valuable Art Collection Featuring Frida Kahlo Set To Leave Mexico Sparks Concern in Art Community

The Mexican art community is voicing alarm over the relocation of the prestigious Gelman Collection to Spain, where it is slated to become the centerpiece of the new Foro Santander cultural center. Managed by Santander Bank and previously acquired by the Zambrano family, the collection includes 160 works by modern masters such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, including 18 rare paintings by Frida Kahlo. Critics and academics have signed an open letter demanding transparency from the Mexican government regarding the legality of this long-term export, given that many of these works are designated as national artistic monuments.

London's Southbank Centre to receive £10m government funding boost

The UK government has announced a £10 million funding boost for London’s Southbank Centre as part of a broader £128 million investment package for 130 cultural venues nationwide. Administered by Arts Council England, the grant is earmarked for urgent infrastructure repairs, including fixing leaking roofs and modernizing rigging systems, coinciding with the center's 75th anniversary. Other major beneficiaries of the Creative Foundations Fund include the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Firstsite gallery.

Hong Kong Art Gallery Kwai Fung Hin Opens First Overseas Outpost In Singapore

Hong Kong’s Kwai Fung Hin gallery has expanded internationally for the first time, opening a new outpost at 30 Beach Road in Singapore. Founded by former banker Catherine Kwai in 1991, the gallery specializes in 20th-century modern and contemporary art with a focus on cultural heritage. The new space launched with an exhibition titled “Worlds beyond Reality – Monet’s Legacy II,” featuring a masterpiece by Claude Monet alongside works by Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun.

Country life as seen in 140 artworks at new gallery exhibition

The Cassino Art Gallery is launching a new exhibition titled "Country Life," featuring over 140 artworks that explore rural existence in New South Wales. Scheduled to coincide with the region's Beef Week celebrations, the show includes a diverse range of entries from local artists and a significant contribution from students through the Youth Creative Project.

‘All about the history’: Marshall’s Michelson Museum of Art opens newest exhibit to public

The Michelson Museum of Art in Marshall, Texas, has launched "Postcards from Home," a new exhibition featuring the works of Max Cole and Don Brown. The show highlights the regional history of East Texas through Cole’s illustrations of historic landmarks and Brown’s plein air paintings of local landscapes like Caddo Lake. The exhibition was organized through a collaboration with the Harrison County Historical Museum and Centenary College, bringing together works that were previously held in private and bank collections.

Young Artists Take Center Stage At Rutland Gallery Exhibit

The Greater Rutland Central Supervisory Union recently launched its third annual student art celebration at the Vermont State University Castleton Bank Gallery. The exhibition showcases a diverse array of creative works—including paintings, charcoal drawings, pottery, and photography—produced by students ranging from pre-K through high school. The opening reception also integrated live musical performances by local students, creating a multi-disciplinary showcase of regional youth talent.

Private Art Schools Enter a Period of Turbulence

Les écoles d’art privées traversent une zone de turbulence

A wave of bankruptcies and judicial reorganizations is hitting the private art education sector in France. Following the closure of the École d’art de Montreuil, the Académie des arts appliqués (AAA) in Dijon and the École supérieure de design in Troyes have both entered receivership. These institutions are struggling with severe financial deficits, unpaid staff, and a sharp decline in student enrollment, with some schools seeing their student bodies shrink by two-thirds in just four years.

The recovery of the art market, collecting trends, and other analyses in the newly published report

La ripresa del mercato dell’arte, i trend del collezionismo e altre analisi nel nuovo report appena pubblicato

The global art market has returned to growth in 2025, recording a 4% increase compared to the previous year despite geopolitical tensions and financial uncertainty. According to the fourth edition of the "Collectors and the Value of Art in Italy 2026" report by Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, buyers are increasingly shunning speculative assets like NFTs and ultra-contemporary art in favor of established categories. Significant growth was noted in Modern art, Impressionism, and Old Masters, signaling a flight to quality and historical stability.

Damola Adepoju Evokes Hope With ‘Light’, His Solo Exhibition

Nigerian artist Damola Adepoju has opened his third solo exhibition, titled 'Light', at Mydrim Gallery in Lagos. The show, curated by Idowu Bankole to commemorate Adepoju's 50th birthday, features 30 paintings and mixed-media works created between 2015 and the present, focusing on Lagos cityscapes and employing his signature technique of newspaper prints, acrylic, and soft gold on a grey palette.

Fake Warhol, Haring and Banksy works seized in Italy

Des faux Warhol, Haring et Banksy saisis en Italie

Italian authorities have seized 143 counterfeit artworks attributed to Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Banksy. The works were on display in the exhibition "Pop to Street Art: Influences" in Reggio Calabria, Italy, and were provided on loan by a Belgian company. The carabinieri, in a transnational investigation extending to Liège, Belgium, identified the operation as part of a larger forgery network known as "Operation Cariatide." Eleven works remain under expert examination.

Jersey Artist Registry presents works by over 30 artists in exhibit at Oyster Point Hotel

The Jersey Artist Registry (JAR) is presenting "Uncharted Territory," an exhibition featuring over 50 works by 31 New Jersey artists at The Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank. Curated by JAR founder Ellen Martin, the show runs from May 8 through June 29, 2026, and includes a diverse range of styles and media, from surreal photography to geometric abstraction and mystical fractals.

BAMM launches a suite of exhibits April 24

The BANK Art Museum Moree (BAMM) is launching a suite of six new exhibitions on April 24, featuring works by artists Jo Norton, Penny Evans, Joan Ross, Melissa Spratt, Aaron Butt, and Pip Stalley. The shows, running until May 30, also include the Bleakley Collection, a group of First Nations objects curated by Robert Bleakley in the 1970s.

Suspect Charged in $45,000 Fraud Incident Involving Floridian Museum

A 31-year-old woman from Boca Raton, Alexandra C. Kaiser, has been charged with grand theft and related felonies for allegedly depositing a forged $45,000 check drawn on the Flagler Museum's bank account. Police affidavits state she admitted to knowingly depositing the counterfeit check at a JPMorgan Chase branch, acting on behalf of an acquaintance who promised her a cut of the funds.

Downtown Artists Cooperative hosts Annual Art Gala at F&M Bank | PHOTOS

The Downtown Artists Cooperative (DAC) held its Annual Live Art Auction Gala at the F&M Bank’s Franklin Room in Clarksville, Tennessee. This event marked the organization’s first in-person gala since the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring both live and silent auctions of original works donated by cooperative members. Attendees enjoyed a catered dinner and live musical performances while bidding on local art.

The great Cézanne exhibition and collector Deodato Salafia on Artbox on Sky Arte

La grande mostra su Cézanne e il collezionista Deodato Salafia ad Artbox su Sky Arte

The latest episode of Artbox on Sky Arte features a deep dive into the major Paul Cézanne retrospective at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, curated by Ulf Küster. The program explores the French painter's late-career obsession with the act of seeing and his use of color patches to redefine nature on canvas. Additionally, the episode highlights the exhibition "Virtue and Grace: Female Figures in Baroque Painting" at La Galleria Bper in Modena, featuring insights from curators Sabrina Bianchi and Lucia Peruzzi.

A Spring of Exhibitions in Bologna 2026

Bologna is set to host a diverse array of major art exhibitions throughout the spring 2026 season, spanning photography, street art, and contemporary installations. Key highlights include a photographic exploration of Frida Kahlo at Palazzo Pepoli, a retrospective of Italian Informal artist Mattia Moreni at MAMbo, and a significant showcase of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Mirror Paintings at Palazzo Boncompagni. The city’s cultural institutions are also featuring international names like Banksy, Agnès Varda, and the influential German photography duo Bernd & Hilla Becher.

Tumut Art Exhibition entertains everyone

The Tumut Art Society recently concluded its 68th annual art exhibition in regional New South Wales, marking a successful two-week event that drew approximately 500 visitors. The show featured 39 sales across both physical and virtual platforms and distributed $15,000 in prize money across nine categories. Melbourne artist Nina Volk emerged as the primary winner, securing both the prestigious Bendigo Bank Acquisitive Award for her work "The Storm is Coming" and the People’s Choice Award for "Grazing in the Autumn Mist."

ken griffin global recession iran strait of hormuz 1234781281

Billionaire hedge fund manager and prominent art collector Kenneth C. Griffin has issued a stark warning regarding the global economy, stating that a recession is inevitable if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed through the end of the year. Speaking at the Semafor World Economy summit, Griffin highlighted that the closure of this vital oil passageway has created energy shocks and treacherous conditions for central bankers, potentially forcing further interest rate hikes to combat inflation.