must see fall gallery shows new york 2682575

The article highlights four must-see fall gallery shows in New York City for September-October 2025. It features Mercedes Matter's first solo show at Berry Campbell, reviving the overlooked Abstract Expressionist; Julio Torres's theatrical debut "Color Stories" at Performance Space New York; Gabrielle Garland's first New York solo exhibition at Miles McEnery Gallery, showcasing surreal suburban paintings; and Omar Ba's exhibition "Promises and Glory" at Templon, presenting fantastical mixed-media works.

Pedro Friedeberg, key figure in Mexican art renowned for hand-shaped chair, has died at age 90

Pedro Friedeberg, the Mexico-based artist and designer famed for his iconic Mano Silla (Hand Chair) created in 1962, has died at age 90. A key figure in 20th-century Mexican art, his singular work blended intricate, fantastical architecture with ornament and irony, creating a unique visual universe that defied easy categorization within movements like Surrealism or geometric abstraction.

Can a Play Capture an Artist as Enigmatic as Henry Darger?

Can a Play Capture an Artist as Enigmatic as Henry Darger?

A new play, *Bughouse*, is attempting to portray the life of reclusive artist Henry Darger on stage at New York's Vineyard Theater. The one-man show, starring John Kelly, draws from Darger's own lengthy autobiography to depict his traumatic childhood, institutionalization, and decades of solitary life in Chicago, where he secretly created his vast, fantastical artwork and writings.

yun fei ji james cohan 2722254

Chinese artist Yun-Fei Ji presents a new body of work in the exhibition “Riding the Tiger” at James Cohan Gallery in New York. The paintings draw on archetypes from Chinese folklore and the 16th-century novel *Journey to the West*, blending fantastical imagery with recognizable human scenes to explore the psychological and spiritual dimensions of migration. Works such as *The Sweep Up of Animal Spirits* and *The Round Up #1* directly reference the persecution of immigrants by government agencies, using symbols like tigers, buddhas, and livestock to critique power structures.

American artist Lauren Halsey’s “sister dreamer” sculpture park opens in Los Angeles.

American artist Lauren Halsey’s “sister dreamer” sculpture park opens in Los Angeles.

American artist Lauren Halsey has opened a new public sculpture park titled "sister dreamer" in Los Angeles. The installation, located in the city's historic West Adams neighborhood, features a series of large-scale, fantastical architectural forms that draw on Afrofuturism and the visual culture of the local community.

A brush with… Tai Shani—podcast

Tai Shani, a London-based artist born in 1976, is the subject of a podcast episode in the "A brush with…" series. She discusses her multidisciplinary practice, which draws on cultural forms, historical events, and theoretical ideas to create fantastical, utopian worlds infused with contemporary political and social themes. Shani reflects on the gendered nature of her mediums, the influence of works like John Everett Millais's *Ophelia* and Valie Export's exhibition at Camden Art Centre, and the revolutionary potential of art in an era of right-wing politics. The episode also covers her upcoming exhibitions: *The Spell or The Dream* at Somerset House (August–September 2025), *Gathering* in London (September–November 2025), a sculpture at Dulwich Picture Gallery's new sculpture park, and her High Line commission in New York, on view through March 2026.

Yang Fudong’s Memory Palace

Yang Fudong has opened his largest solo exhibition to date, 'Fragrant River,' at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. The show features over 30 works and eight hours of video, including major new installations like the five-channel 'Young Man, Young Man' and the furniture-and-video piece 'Breastfeeding,' which immerse viewers in scenes from the artist's hometown of Xianghe.

"Bertille Bak: Voices from the Earth" exhibition at the Vincenzo Vela Museum

From 26 April 2026 to 10 January 2027, the Vincenzo Vela Museum in Ligornetto, Switzerland, presents "Bertille Bak: Voices from the Earth," the first major solo exhibition in Switzerland of French artist Bertille Bak. The show brings together works from the past fifteen years that combine cinema, visual arts, and field research, focusing on marginalized communities and themes of labor, identity, and resistance. Bak, born in Arras in 1983, creates video installations and narrative devices through long immersions in communities, with her work held in collections such as the Centre Pompidou and the Collection François Pinault.

Flowers, Figures & Fantastical Frames at the 2026 Dallas Art Fair

Jessica Fuentes and Brandon Zech, returning to the 2026 Dallas Art Fair, found the event familiar rather than surprising. Fuentes noted that after attending major fairs like Frieze, NADA, and the Armory Show, many works by Texas galleries felt recognizable. Zech observed an overarching theme of flora and fauna, with flower paintings dominating both the art and attendees' fashion. Fuentes, however, was drawn to figurative pieces, influenced by her recent visit to Mexico City Art Week. Standout works included Jessica Vollrath's painting "A thousand hills" at Erin Cluley Gallery, which marked a stylistic shift in color and composition.

Art Week On A Budget: 16 Free Things To See And Do During Art Basel Miami 2025

Miami Art Week 2025 offers a wealth of free public art and events, from monumental installations to city-wide competitions. Highlights include Es Devlin's rotating sculpture 'Library of Us' on Miami Beach, Philippe Katerine's inflatable 'Mr. Pink Takes Flight' on Lincoln Road, and the juried hotel-art competition No Vacancy. Other free attractions include the immersive HIVE village in Wynwood, Katie Stout's fantastical 'Gargantua’s Thumb' in the Miami Design District, and the group exhibition CHROMA 2025 at Lucid Design District. The article serves as a budget-friendly guide for visitors.

Pedro Friedeberg, Whose Hand Chair Drew Outsize Attention, Dies at 90

Pedro Friedeberg, the Mexican surrealist artist and designer, has died at age 90. He was best known for his iconic "Hand Chair," a functional sculpture shaped like a hand that became a symbol of 1960s and '70s pop culture and design, as well as for his intricate, fantastical paintings of impossible architectures.

Take a walk on the wild side with the Haas Brothers' fantastical new show

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York has opened "Uncanny Valley," a major exhibition dedicated to the Los Angeles-based duo Nikolai and Simon Haas. The show features 85 works spanning 15 years of their practice, showcasing their signature blend of art, furniture, and craft through zoomorphic sculptures and kooky forms. Organized in collaboration with the Cranbrook Art Museum, the exhibition places these physical objects against surreal, algorithmically-generated backdrops that explore the intersection of human craftsmanship and digital technology.

Show on fantastical neoclassicist Johan Tobias Sergel heads to Stockholm and New York

A major exhibition dedicated to the 18th-century Swedish neoclassical sculptor and draughtsman Johan Tobias Sergel is opening in two parts. 'Fantasy and Reality' premieres at Stockholm's Nationalmuseum this month, featuring nearly 400 works, before traveling to the Morgan Library & Museum in New York in the autumn for the artist's first US monographic show.

A Parade of Floating Artworks Honors Hieronymus Bosch in the Netherlands

The 2026 Bosch Parade will return to the Dommel river in ’s-Hertogenbosch from June 18 to 21, featuring nineteen new floating artworks inspired by the theme "Powered by Defects." This biennial event pays tribute to the surrealist legacy of Hieronymus Bosch, the city's most famous son, by inviting international artists to create fantastical aquatic installations. The program includes the "Garden of Earthly Delights," an open-air studio at the Citadel where visitors can interact with artists as they develop their contemporary interpretations of Bosch’s fascination with human imperfection and the absurd.

Gaudí’s fantastical house in Barcelona is now home to a new art space

Casa Batlló, Antoni Gaudí's iconic Art Nouveau house in Barcelona, has opened a new contemporary art gallery called Casa Batlló Contemporary. The 230-square-meter space, designed by local studio Mesura, occupies previously inaccessible rooms on the building's second floor and will host two exhibitions annually, aiming to explore Gaudí's vision through contemporary creativity.

Blood, mud and cobwebs create ache of heartbreak at Asian Art Museum

Artist Rina Banerjee has opened a major solo exhibition, "Make Me a Summary of the World," at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The immersive installation features fantastical sculptures and environments constructed from materials like blood-red resin, mud, feathers, and synthetic cobwebs, exploring themes of migration, colonialism, and diaspora.

Vibrant Sea Creatures Spring to Life in Lisa Stevens’ Textured Sculptures

Bristol-based artist Lisa Stevens creates vibrant ceramic sculptures inspired by marine life. Her work features sea urchins, coral, and nudibranchs, transformed into unique pieces with colorful glazes and textures that often blend aquatic forms with celestial and anatomical references.

Prairie photography and Fantastical Art featured at EAGM

Two exhibitions are currently on view at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum (EAGM) in Saskatchewan, Canada. One features prairie landscape and wildlife photography by Nicola Dare, while the other presents colorful, fantastical sculptures and drawings by Kristin Teetaert in a show titled "A Selection of Specimens." Both exhibitions run through the end of May, offering visitors contrasting artistic experiences from realistic nature imagery to imaginative, biomorphic forms.

Final Touches: BA Art Exhibition

Southwestern University’s Sarofim Fine Arts Gallery recently debuted the Spring 2026 B.A. Senior Art Exhibition, showcasing the final projects of seven graduating Fine Arts majors. The exhibition features a diverse range of media and themes, including Christopher Bowers’ historical-fantastical landscapes, Sophie Kinkade’s Y2K-inspired "spill art," and Trinidad Laurenzi’s exploration of Catholic iconography and body horror. Other featured artists include Maeve Lloyd, Aris Morgan, Grace Sapienza, and Isa Wilson, whose works span sculpture, anime-influenced illustration, and charcoal drawings addressing mental health.

Rainforest-inspired works on show at Uki café-post office

Local artist Brenda Bryant has unveiled her latest exhibition, "Shadows and Light," at the Bastion Lane Espresso Bar in Uki. The collection features eight oil and pastel paintings inspired by the Gondwana rainforest and the remnants of the Big Scrub in Australia's Northern Rivers region. Bryant’s work utilizes a soft, misty aesthetic to capture the atmospheric tranquility of the forest, occasionally incorporating fantastical elements influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien.

'Fantastical' opens May 7 at Riverfront Arts Center in Stevens Point

The Riverfront Arts Center in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, will open a new exhibition titled 'Fantastical' on May 7, celebrating imagination and creativity. The opening reception runs from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and includes food, refreshments, flow arts performances, tarot readings, music, and a chance to meet the artists. The exhibition is open to all artists aged 18 and older, with submissions accepted on April 30 and May 1, and runs through June 14.

'Fantastical' exhibition celebrates dreamlike worlds at Stevens Point's Riverfront Arts Center

The Riverfront Arts Center in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, is hosting an opening reception for the exhibition 'Fantastical' on May 7. The event will feature food, entertainment, and the attendance of participating artists, with the exhibition itself running through June 14. The center is also accepting artist submissions for the show on April 30 and May 1.

Ladders take flight at latest Dixon exhibition

The Dixon Gallery & Gardens in Memphis is hosting a free exhibition titled "Ladders Take Flight" featuring works by artists Dolph Smith and Colleen Couch, on view until June 29. The show presents a fantastical world of ladder-inspired sculptures and mixed-media pieces, inviting visitors to explore imaginative forms and narratives.