A guide highlights several art exhibitions and events opening across Richmond, Virginia, this spring. It lists shows at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), Southside Contemporary Art Gallery, Gallery5, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond (VisArts), Anne's Vital Art Studio Gallery, and Quirk Gallery, covering a range from historical prints and portraiture to contemporary emerging artists, activist art, and an annual auction.
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The article reviews the exhibition "MONUMENTS" at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the Brick in Los Angeles, which addresses the legacy of Confederate monuments through contemporary art. It highlights Cauleen Smith's installation "The Warden" (2025), which features a live-feed of the decommissioned Confederate sculpture "Vindicatrix" (also known as "Miss Confederacy") by Edward V. Valentine, originally atop the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Richmond, Virginia. The exhibition is curated by Hamza Walker, Kara Walker, and Bennett Simpson.
The Branch Museum of Design in Richmond, Virginia, has opened a new exhibition titled “Imagining Best Products,” which revisits the radical architectural and graphic designs of the defunct catalog showroom retailer Best Products. Founded in 1957 by Frances and Sydney Lewis, the company commissioned experimental storefronts from architect James Wines and the firm SITE, creating iconic “anti-buildings” that challenged commercial architecture. The show features architectural drawings, models, photographs, sketches, and printed materials, and runs through June 21, 2026.
The article previews the Fall 2025-26 arts and entertainment season in Richmond, Virginia, highlighting cultural venues and events across the city and surrounding counties. Key highlights include the new Foyer Gallery, which opens with a solo exhibition by Patrick Berran titled "Burn Blue," and the Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront, which closes its inaugural season with performances by James Taylor, Leon Bridges, Steve Martin and Martin Short, and Tedeschi Trucks Band. Other venues mentioned include The National, The Valentine, and Hanover Tavern, along with events like "InLight" at Abner Clay Park and a concert by Jason Mraz.
Several Confederate monuments removed from Richmond, Virginia, including the Vindicatrix sculpture from the Jefferson Davis Monument and the Matthew Fontaine Maury sculpture and globe, are being loaned to a national temporary art exhibition in Los Angeles. The Valentine and the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia are sending these artifacts, along with granite slabs from various monument bases, to be part of a show running from October to May that reimagines their place in history. More than 15 monuments from across the U.S. will be featured, and the museums have gathered over 6,000 survey responses from the community to guide future decisions.
Artist Paul Rucker's exhibition "Rewind Resurrection" returns to New York a decade after its debut, featuring his iconic Klan robes reimagined in bold fabrics like pink, Kente cloth, and camouflage. The show, which was censored at York College of Pennsylvania in 2017 following the Charlottesville white supremacist rally, includes KKK memorabilia, data visualizations of prison proliferation, and wooden relief sculptures honoring victims of racial violence. It is Rucker's first New York show, self-funded in a rented Chelsea gallery, and he hopes an institution will acquire the entire installation.