'It was my job to create the view': US artist Liza Lou on making colourful works in her windowless warehouse

American artist Liza Lou discusses her recent shift in practice, moving from her famous large-scale bead installations to a new body of work that fuses oil painting with glass beads. After years of collaborative work in South Africa and focusing on monochrome tones, Lou has returned to a solitary studio practice in a windowless warehouse in the San Fernando Valley. This new phase is defined by a "headlong love affair with colour," inspired by the hallucinatory palette of the Mojave Desert and a transition from logical drawing to a more intuitive, freestyle process.

‘I told his family he was HIV positive’: Keith Haring’s best friend on life with the artist as unseen works go on show

A collection of unseen Keith Haring works, including a crib he painted for his best friend's unborn child, is going on display at Sotheby's New York before being auctioned in May 2025. The collection belongs to Kermit Oswald, Haring's childhood friend, and features 20 works, with a 1985 self-portrait estimated at $3m-$5m and the crib valued at $250,000-$350,000. Oswald shares intimate stories of their friendship, from childhood pranks in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, to their move to New York to study at the School of Visual Arts, and Haring's later collaboration with William Burroughs.

Marcel Duchamp & Sturtevant | Dialogues are mostly fried snowballs

Thaddaeus Ropac Milan is hosting a landmark exhibition titled "Dialogues are mostly fried snowballs," marking the first-ever joint presentation of Marcel Duchamp and Sturtevant. The show stages a cerebral confrontation between Duchamp’s original readymades, such as "Porte-bouteilles" and "Trébuchet," and Sturtevant’s radical repetitions of his work. By showcasing these pieces alongside archival materials and films, the exhibition traces how Sturtevant used Duchamp’s style as a medium to investigate the canonization and "understructure" of conceptual art.

Exhibition | Carlos Garaicoa, 'Rituals and Liberty' at Goodman Gallery, New York, United States

Goodman Gallery presents Carlos Garaicoa's first solo exhibition at its New York viewing room, titled 'Rituals and Liberty.' The show features eight works, including five reliefs that blend painting and photography, and sculptural models incorporating 19th-century French engravings. The exhibition precedes Garaicoa's solo show at Museo La Tertulia in Cali, Colombia, in May. Garaicoa, a Cuban-born artist based in Madrid, explores urbanism and how architecture reflects and shapes society, continuing his long-standing interest in decoding urban infrastructures.

'Elizabeth Murray and Betty Woodman' at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles on 19 Mar–25 Apr 2026

David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles is presenting a two-person exhibition featuring the work of Elizabeth Murray and Betty Woodman, on view from March 19 to April 25, 2026. The show brings together paintings and ceramic sculptures from 1982 to 2015, highlighting the artists' shared exploration of the space between two and three dimensions, shaped canvases, and wall-mounted forms.

Dallas Art Fair Foundation Art Acquisition Fund 2026 Prizes Announced

The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) has selected several new works for its permanent collection through the Dallas Art Fair (DAF) Foundation Art Acquisition Fund. During the 2026 edition of the fair, curators and donors chose pieces by artists including Hasani Sahlehe, Caroline Monnet, Gloria Klein, Raymond Saunders, and Nicole Eisenman. The acquisitions span a variety of media, from large-scale abstract paintings and triptychs made of industrial materials to wood reliefs and works on paper.

Inside LACMA’s Visionary New Galleries Floating Above Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has unveiled the David Geffen Galleries, a $724 million concrete-and-glass structure designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. Spanning Wilshire Boulevard, the 110,000-square-foot horizontal gallery space floats 30 feet above ground and features a non-chronological layout intended to encourage wandering. The interior is characterized by pigment-infused concrete walls, floor-to-ceiling windows with specialized metal curtains by Reiko Sudō, and a lack of traditional white-cube galleries.

Turkey Notches Another Successful Restitution After Denver Art Museum Returns 1500-Year-Old Marble Head

The Denver Art Museum has repatriated a 1,500-year-old marble head of a bearded man to Turkey, following a successful restitution claim. The sculpture, which dates back to the fifth century BCE, was originally unearthed in the agora of the ancient city of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir) and was likely trafficked illicitly before entering the museum's collection. The artifact is now on public display at the İzmir Archaeology Museum.

Deutscher Pavillon wird zum Plattenbau

The German Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale has been transformed into a prefabricated concrete slab building (Plattenbau) for this year's edition, designed by artists Sung Tieu and the late Henrike Naumann, who died suddenly in February at age 41 from cancer. Curator Kathleen Reinhardt described the pavilion as part of a highly political Biennale, with Tieu covering the 1938 fascist-era building with a mosaic of over three million tiles depicting a Berlin apartment block that once housed Vietnamese contract workers. Naumann's interior installation features mint-green references to Soviet barracks in East Germany, a cartography of war, and works including a relief of chairs, a curtain of chainmail, and the performance "Trümmerfrau."

Antony Gormley sculpture quietly removed and sold off by UK council

Kent County Council, led by the Reform party, has removed and sold Antony Gormley's early public sculpture 'Two Stones' (1979-81) from outside the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone. The council sold the work back to the artist himself in a private sale to raise funds, citing severe financial pressures and a need to avoid increasing costs for residents. The council's most recent accounts valued the work at £859,000, but the final sale price remains confidential.

New Orleans Galleries’ Spring Sale Blooms With Modern and Contemporary Works

New Orleans Auction Galleries has announced its upcoming Fine Art and Design sale, featuring 279 lots that span over a century of modern and contemporary art. The auction highlights a diverse range of works, including pieces by Mexican modernist José Clemente Orozco, Abstract Expressionist Grace Hartigan, and Southern Regionalist John McCrady. The selection focuses on themes of identity, social consciousness, and the intersection of text and visual media.

Hamed Abdalla | Al Beous, Misery (1961) | For Sale

Hamed Abdalla's 1961 work "Al Beous, Misery" is being offered for sale through Mark Hachem Gallery, listed on Artsy. The piece is an ink on paper from glue relief, measuring 33 × 46 cm, hand-signed, and includes a certificate of authenticity. Abdalla (1917–1985) was a pioneering Egyptian and Arab modernist, known for his "Creative Word" concept blending abstraction and human forms. His career included exhibitions at Cairo's Museum of Modern Art, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Tate Modern, among others.

Painting the park: Artists blossom at Wegerzyn as they make it their classroom

Sinclair Community College associate professor of art Bridgette Bogle took her mixed-level painting class to Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark in Dayton, Ohio, for a plein air painting session. Students ranging in age from 18 to 80, including postal worker Don Adams and lifelong artist Aubrey Botts, set up easels throughout the gardens to paint landscapes outdoors, learning the Impressionist-inspired technique of working quickly in natural light.

The Underrated Architect of the Avant-Garde

Der unterschätzte Architekt der Avantgarde

The Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare in Bolzano is hosting a comprehensive retrospective dedicated to Ilja Sdanewitsch, known as Iliazd, a Georgian-Russian-French avant-garde polymath. The exhibition, titled "Toutité Iliazd. Die Erforschung der Form," showcases his diverse output as a writer, designer, and publisher who viewed the book as a primary art object. The display includes architectural reliefs, textile designs for Coco Chanel, and his significant collaborations with icons like Picasso and Duchamp.

"We are among those in the crowd who are overjoyed"

"Wir gehören zu denjenigen in der Menge, die überglücklich sind"

The Hungarian art scene is celebrating a major political shift following Péter Magyar’s electoral victory over Viktor Orbán, ending 16 years of restrictive cultural policies. Local figures, including gallerist Margit Valkó and artist János Sugár, express immense relief and hope for a future defined by institutional autonomy and international engagement after years of state-led hostility toward contemporary art.

Château-Chinon unveils the astonishing gifts of President François Mitterrand

Château-Chinon déballe les étonnants cadeaux du président François Mitterrand

The Cité des présents-François Mitterrand, formerly the Musée du Septennat, has reopened in Château-Chinon, France, after a renovation. The museum displays thousands of diplomatic gifts received by President François Mitterrand during his 14-year tenure (1981–1995), including a portrait of Prince Charles, a vermeil oasis from the king of Saudi Arabia, and taxidermy lions from the Central African Republic. The collection of 4,800 objects spans 80 countries, with one-third donated by French citizens. The site also houses a fashion museum featuring 5,000 pieces from the 17th century to contemporary designers like Alexis Mabille and Yves Saint Laurent.

Tate St Ives to host first UK museum exhibition of groundbreaking artist

Tate St Ives will present the first UK museum exhibition of Aleksandra Kasuba, a Lithuanian American artist (1923–2019), from May 2 to October 4, 2026. The show spans seven decades of her career, featuring early paintings, mosaics, sculptures, and public artworks, including the spatial environment *Spectrum: An Afterthought* and a recreation of her *Live-In Environment*. Works are drawn from the Lithuanian National Museum of Art's collection, where Kasuba donated her pieces.

Rafał Zajko Is Hatching a Plan

Rafał Zajko's exhibition 'The Egg Egg' at Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, Poland, brings together 50 works from the past decade across two floors of a former power station, organized into nine 'acts'. The show features modular installations like 'Funny Games' (2025), a set of pastel-colored platforms on wheels with ceramic reliefs, and monumental sculptures such as 'Sisyphus' (2025), a suspended ceramic bobbin evoking textile factory tools. Performances by Agnieszka Szczotka, including 'Song to the Siren' (2026), activate works like 'Amber Chamber III Echo' (2025), blending archaism, futurism, and themes of labor and technology.

AT THE ART GALLERIES

The article announces a series of May art exhibitions across multiple galleries in Key West, Florida. The Studios of Key West opens four solo shows: Tim Marshall Curtis's "Giants Among Us" featuring towering sculptures, Carole Faye's "Reverence/Irrelevance" with works made from scavenged materials, Andree B. Carter's "Roots of a City" textile paintings, and Wayne Garcia's "Once There Was a Railroad" hand-carved reliefs. Other venues include the Key West Collective featuring Steve Bikis and Brad Gruss, Harrison Gallery showcasing Santa Fe artist Melinda K. Hall, Gallery on Greene honoring Peter Vey, and Shade and Shutter Gallery highlighting Mark Klammer's pottery.

Exhibition | 'New Voices in Paris Now: Between Memory and Matter' at Alisan Fine Arts, Alisan Atelier, Hong Kong

Alisan Fine Arts is presenting 'New Voices in Paris Now: Between Memory and Matter' at Alisan Atelier in Hong Kong as part of its 45th anniversary programme. The exhibition features four contemporary Chinese artists—Li Donglu, Qi Zhuo, Shi Qi, and Yao Qingmei—who currently live and work in Paris. Each artist explores themes of memory, cultural identity, and material transformation through diverse media including oil painting, eroded film, paper reliefs, and blown-glass sculptures. The show runs parallel to 'The Chinese Avant-Garde in Paris' at the gallery's Central location, both part of the French May Arts Festival.

‘The extremely happy part of the crowd’: Hungarian arts figures hope for change after 16 years of Orbán rule

The 16-year tenure of Viktor Orbán has come to an end following a landslide victory for Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party in the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election. The shift in power has sparked widespread celebration among Hungary’s progressive art community, which has long felt stifled by Orbán’s nationalist and socially conservative agenda. Figures from major Budapest galleries and the contemporary art scene report a profound sense of relief, signaling a potential departure from the "illiberal democracy" that dominated the country for nearly two decades.

Jeremy Frey: The Generational Impact of a New Artistic Path

Indigenous weaver Jeremy Frey, a 2025 MacArthur Fellowship recipient, will participate in an upcoming public conversation with Hyperallergic Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian. The discussion will explore Frey’s unique practice of Passamaquoddy basketry, which involves harvesting natural materials like black ash and sweetgrass to create intricate vessels and innovative relief prints that bridge the gap between traditional craft and contemporary sculpture.

Can a Venice Biennale Pavilion Be Rock ‘n’ Roll? At the Belgium Pavilion, Miet Warlop Makes the Case.

Miet Warlop, a Belgian artist known for her avant-garde theater work, is representing Belgium at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a performance-installation titled "IT NEVER SSST." The project transforms the Belgian Pavilion into a chaotic, sensory-filled space where performers climb wooden structures, bang drums, and break plaster boards inscribed with multilingual text, reflecting the noise and misunderstandings of contemporary life. Curated by Caroline Dumalin, the pavilion blurs the line between theater and visual art, with live performances occurring only part of the time while sculptors continuously remake plaster reliefs throughout the Biennale's run.

Can we practice for crises in art?

"Können wir in der Kunst für die Krisen üben?"

Belgian theater director Miet Warlop is presenting her work "It never SSST" at the Belgian Pavilion during the Venice Biennale. The installation combines performance, sculpture, a radio show, and objects, featuring six performers, musicians, dancers, and a sculptor who periodically calls "Freeze" to capture movements in plaster reliefs. Warlop, known for her physically exhausting ritualistic performances like "One Song," discusses the piece's themes of ceaseless activity and the body as a resource, as well as the challenge of engaging visitors who often rush through the pavilion.

The Order of Symbolism, Signs and Sensibility

The Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio) is hosting a major retrospective titled 'Rubem Valentim: a ordem do sensível,' featuring approximately 180 works spanning four decades. Curated by Raquel Barreto and Phelipe Rezende, the exhibition showcases Valentim’s unique fusion of modernist abstraction with the spiritual symbols of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous cosmologies. The presentation includes paintings, reliefs, and sculptures, culminating in monumental works like 'Templo de Oxalá.'

What Brakes Through: “Teresa Tyszkiewicz. Stories That Tell Themselves” at Profile Foundation.

Teresa Tyszkiewicz's exhibition "Stories That Tell Themselves" at Profile Foundation in Warsaw showcases the Polish artist's process-driven practice spanning video, performance, and relief-like paintings made with pins, nails, metal plates, ropes, and fabrics. Curated by Bożena Czubak, the show highlights Tyszkiewicz's use of the body as a medium—often naked and immersed in organic materials—to explore emotions, intuition, and unconscious desires, as seen in works like the 1980 film "Grain." The artist, who began her career in the late 1970s alongside Polish neo-avantgarde filmmakers but rejected their conceptual tendencies, developed a tactile, laborious approach that invites sensory engagement.

Young talent shines at fourth annual student art show

Slanted Art Co-Op in Montrose hosted its fourth annual student art show, featuring high school artists from four of the six school districts in the county. Students displayed works in acrylic, oil, pastels, ceramics, and mixed media, with some pieces available for sale. Notable participants included Forest City senior Amanda Borsheski, whose acrylic painting "Mandarin" and other works won multiple awards, and Blue Ridge senior Madison Gaylord, who exhibited a paint-dotted vinyl record and a relief sculpture. The event was curated by the students themselves and included awards such as Judges Delight and People's Choice.

City Galleries Burst with Spring Art (sponsored)

The City of Gaithersburg is presenting spring art exhibitions across four of its galleries, along with the Arts Barn Spring Artisan Market. Shows include "Beyond The Canvas," a three-dimensional exhibition of relief and sculptural works by 27 artisans at the Arts Barn; the Gaithersburg Fine Arts Association’s 40th Annual Membership Juried Exhibition at Kentlands Mansion, juried by artist J. Jordan Bruns; "Big, Bold & Bright" at the Activity Center at Bohrer Park, featuring large-scale abstract works; and an Asian-influenced exhibition by the Harmonious Art Group at the Benjamin Gaither Center celebrating Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The Spring Artisan Market on April 25 will offer handcrafted gifts from local makers.

Katara exhibition showcases 170 artworks by 29 artists

The Katara Cultural Village Foundation in Doha, Qatar, inaugurated the “Contemporary Graphic Art” exhibition on Monday evening, featuring 170 artworks by 29 artists from Qatar and various Arab and international countries. The exhibition showcases diverse modern printing techniques, including relief, intaglio, porous, flatbed, and monochrome printing, and will run until May 18 in Hall 18 at Katara.

Gallery: NYC, Stockholm artists probe how history is staged in Tallinn show

Zody Burke and Klara Zetterholm have opened a joint exhibition titled "Ersatz Strata" at Temnikova & Kasela Gallery in Tallinn, Estonia. The show examines how history is staged and reimagined, using reliefs, sculptures, printed works, kinetic elements, and industrial residue to create a fictional archaeological site. A live performance by Los Angeles-based artist 011668 accompanied the opening. The exhibition runs through August 15.