In Pictures: the best of Venice at Frieze New York

Frieze New York 2025 features a curated selection of works by artists also showing at the Venice Biennale, including Precious Okoyomon, Alma Allen, Dayanita Singh, Alvaro Barrington, and Paulo Nazareth. The fair highlights pieces ranging from Okoyomon's intimate works on paper at Mendes Wood DM to Allen's bronze wall sculpture at Perrotin, priced between $30,000 and $150,000. Other notable stands include Nabil Nahas's fractal-inspired painting at Lawrie Shabibi and P420, Singh's archival photographs at Frith Street Gallery, and Barrington's carnival-themed paintings at Emalin, alongside a sculpture by Sung Tieu.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Announces 314 New Acquisitions During 50th Anniversary Year

The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden announced 314 new acquisitions in 2025, its 50th anniversary year. The additions span photography, mixed-media works, and contemporary American artists, including pieces by Lorna Simpson, Sarah Sze, Mickalene Thomas, Danny Lyon, Graciela Iturbide, Adam Pendleton, and Mark Bradford. Major gifts include a multi-year donation from collectors Doug and Toni Gordon of 176 works forming an archive of Pendleton's works on paper, as well as 13 contemporary Chinese works tied to a 2022 exhibition. The museum also acquired nine architectural photographs by Ezra Stoller documenting its 1974 opening and 19 prints by Joel-Peter Witkin.

Hirshhorn Museum Collection Tops 13,000 as Major 50th-Anniversary Acquisitions Announced

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, acquired 314 works in 2025, bringing its collection to over 13,000 pieces. The acquisitions, announced in conjunction with the museum's 50th anniversary, include major works by Lorna Simpson, Sarah Sze, Mickalene Thomas, and Adam Pendleton, as well as photographs by Graciela Iturbide, Danny Lyon, Ezra Stoller, and Joel-Peter Witkin. The museum also received 176 works by Adam Pendleton as part of a multiyear gift from collectors Doug and Toni Gordon.

'Trusting that first reaction is important': Nacho Polo and Robert Onuska on the process of collecting

Nacho Polo and Robert Onuska, co-founders of the design gallery Studiotwentyseven, discuss their art collection in an interview with The Art Newspaper. Housed in their Tribeca apartment, the collection spans painting, sculpture, and photography with an emphasis on materiality and sculptural form. They recount their first acquisition—Ron Gorchov's *Autolykos* (2019)—and their most recent purchase, Alex Katz's *Nine Women 5* (2009). The couple also shares their instinctive buying process, a regret over missing a Nick Cave sculpture, and their anticipation for the Jean and Terry de Gunzburg collection at Sotheby's this spring.

Iván Argote brings roving public art project to Chicago streets

Paris-based artist Iván Argote launches a new mobile sculpture titled DIGNIDAD in Chicago on June 12, installed on a flatbed truck that will travel through the city. The project, organized by the Floating Museum as part of its Floating Monuments series, begins in Humboldt Park—a neighborhood central to Chicago's Puerto Rican community—and will also visit Pilsen, Little Village, and potentially other cities like Dallas and Minneapolis. Argote, known for his giant pigeon sculpture Dinosaur on the High Line, worked with curator Carla Acevedo-Yates and local communities to create a work that responds to current political tensions around immigration and dignity.

Still in 'war mode': Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art reopens with exhibitions about conflict

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) has reopened with a weekly rotating post-ceasefire program called 'Art and War,' following weeks of bombardment that forced its closure and prompted emergency efforts to protect its collection. The program began with works by American Pop artists James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Indiana, and this week features three works from Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman series, focusing on Spain. Museum director Reza Dabirinezhad described the challenges of safeguarding the collection during US-Israeli strikes, including removing 80% of the oil from Noriyuki Haraguchi's installation 'Matter and Mind' (1977) to prevent fire risk, and protecting outdoor sculptures by Henry Moore, René Magritte, and Max Bill.

11 Contemporary Emirati Artists To Know

The article highlights 11 contemporary Emirati artists, providing an overview of their practices and significance within the Gulf's evolving art scene. It contextualizes this list against recent major events in the region, including the debut of Art Basel Qatar in early February and the subsequent U.S. attacks on Iran, which caused turmoil across the Gulf, disrupted airline operations, and forced Art Dubai to scale back its event to a smaller fair in mid-May. Artists and galleries in the Gulf also had to temporarily close.

Naked jetskiers, giant bells and a celebrity seagull! Venice Biennale’s wildest moments – in pictures

The Guardian presents a photo essay capturing the most eccentric and memorable moments from the 61st Venice Biennale, running until 22 November 2026. Photographer David Levene documents installations including a concrete 'Origami Deer' evacuated from war-torn Pokrovsk, Ukraine, by artist Zhanna Kadyrova; a seagull that became a minor celebrity after nesting outside the Polish pavilion; and the Holy See pavilion's immersive sound installation curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers. Other highlights include the Egyptian pavilion's touch-and-smell 'Silence Pavilion' and a Polish pavilion film featuring deaf and hearing singers.

Ornamental Carpets Release Wild Animals in Debbie Lawson’s Provocative Sculptures

Debbie Lawson presents a solo exhibition, "In a Cowslip's Bell I Lie," at Sargent's Daughters in New York, featuring her signature large-scale sculptures of life-size animals cloaked in ornamental Persian carpets. Using wire mesh, masking tape, and Jesmonite resin, she meticulously wraps each limb in carpet, creating the illusion that the animals have emerged from the textiles themselves. The show includes works such as "Wild Dog Sundown" (2025), "Red Eagle" (2026), and "Black Cougar" (2025), and draws its title from Shakespeare's *The Tempest*.

What’s Gone Wrong in the Glasgow Art Scene?

Rachel Ashenden surveys the precarious state of Glasgow's visual arts scene in March 2026, following the liquidation and closure of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) after years of mismanagement, a winter shutdown in 2024, and a protest by Arts Workers for Palestine Scotland that led to arrests. She visits artists and organizers across the city, including Rae-Yen Song's exhibition at Tramway, which evolved from a research show at the now-closed CCA, and speaks with Transmission co-founder Alastair Strachan about the city's artist-led legacy.

20 superb exhibitions to visit during the Ascension weekend in Paris

20 superbes expos à visiter pendant le week-end de l’Ascension à Paris

Beaux Arts Magazine has curated a list of 20 must-see exhibitions in Paris for the Ascension long weekend (May 14–17, 2026). Highlights include Hilma af Klint's first major French retrospective at the Grand Palais, a Lee Miller survey at the Musée d'Art moderne de Paris, an Alexander Calder show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, a Matisse exhibition focusing on his late works at the Grand Palais, and a Giovanni Segantini display at the Musée Marmottan Monet. The article also offers recommendations for family-friendly outings, free exhibitions, and evening openings.

The Best Booths at Frieze New York, From Cindy Sherman’s Newest Photos to UFOs

The article reviews the best booths at Frieze New York 2026, held at the Shed in Hudson Yards. It highlights eight standout presentations, including Hauser & Wirth's debut of new Cindy Sherman photographs, Andrew Edlin Gallery's themed booth featuring artists like Paulina Peavy and Melvin Way who explore extraterrestrial themes, and Carlos/Ishikawa's display of Evelyn Taocheng Wang's monumental paintings that engage with Agnes Martin and Georgia O'Keeffe. The author notes that while art fairs prioritize commerce, some galleries successfully balance good art with monetization.

V&A Rising Voices review – can decades of stunning global art really be squished into three rooms?

The V&A Museum in London has mounted an exhibition titled "Rising Voices" that attempts to summarize three decades of the Asia Pacific Triennial, a vast survey of contemporary art from Asia, Australia, and the Pacific organized by Queensland Art Gallery. The show crams works from multiple continents, island nations, and Indigenous cultures into just three rooms, featuring bark cloth paintings from Papua New Guinea, Indigenous Australian abstracts, shark sculptures from the Torres Strait, and Tahitian textiles. Many works address colonialism, political oppression, and tyranny, with artists like Elisabet Kauage, Pala Pothupitiye, and Svay Ken using art as resistance. The exhibition includes pieces by Maryam Ayeen, Abbas Shahsavar, Lila Warrimou, Pennyrose Sosa, Aline Amaru, Brenda V Fajardo, and Heri Dono.

Zineb Sedira review: A chic ode to revolutionary cinema, brainy boozers – and exceptional berets

Zineb Sedira's exhibition at Tate Britain presents a cinematic and sculptural homage to La Cinémathèque Algérienne, the Algerian film archive founded in 1965 that became a hub for leftist African filmmakers. The show recreates a 1970s Algerian cafe in Paris, complete with a jukebox, books on revolutionary cinema, and a model movie theater screening a documentary about the archive's director, Boudjemaâ Karèche. Sedira, born in Paris to Algerian parents and based in London, weaves personal and political narratives to explore identity, diaspora, and the role of art in social change.

Dinosaurs roam New York’s Bowery

Amanita gallery in New York’s Bowery is presenting a rare exhibition pairing a John Chamberlain sculpture, *Gondola Marianne Moore* (1982), with three full, mounted Maiasaura dinosaur skeletons from the Upper Cretaceous period. The fossils, which are 62% to 85% real bone, have never before been exhibited in New York, let alone in a commercial gallery. Amanita partner Jacob Hyman emphasizes the show is not a gimmick but a serious exploration of sculpture, compression, and time, linking Chamberlain’s crushed automobile-part gondolas to the natural preservation of fossils.

Coco Fusco and Jeffrey Gibson’s Public Lectures, Free Admission at MCA Denver, and More: Industry Moves for May 13, 2026

This week's art industry moves include Coco Fusco and Jeffrey Gibson being named speakers for Johns Hopkins University's Sam Gilliam Lecture Series, with free talks scheduled in Washington, D.C. Other notable developments: MCA Denver received a $1 million gift from the Precourt Foundation for free youth admission through 2031; Xavier Hufkens now represents painter Richard Aldrich; Galatea will represent the estate of Brazilian self-taught painter Grauben do Monte Lima; Green Art Gallery added Sharjah-based artist Fatma Al Ali; Chris Sharp Gallery now represents sculptor Richard Rezac; and the Oakland Museum of California received a ceramics gift and $1 million endowment from the Brian and Edith Heath Foundation. Additionally, a Banksy painting from the "Crude Oils" series is estimated at $18 million for an upcoming Fair Warning auction at Tiffany & Co.

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Abstract Painter Who Refused to Conform, Dies at 84

Mary Lovelace O’Neal, an abstract painter known for her gestural, unruly works that defied categorization, died on Sunday in Mérida, Mexico, at age 84. Her galleries, Jenkins Johnson and Marianne Boesky, announced her passing. O’Neal produced sprawling paintings characterized by tangles of drippy strokes, often using lamp black pigment to create intensely black canvases. She rejected labels like Abstract Expressionist or Minimalist, insisting she was simply a painter. Her series "Whales Fucking" (1979) and a 2020 exhibition at Mnuchin Gallery revived her profile, leading to inclusion in the 2024 Whitney Biennial.

Iris Van Herpen’s Groundbreaking Work Presented in New Exhibit at Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum opens "Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses," a mid-career retrospective of the Dutch fashion designer known for pioneering 3D-printed garments. The exhibition, which originated at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2023, features over a decade of van Herpen's work, including her first 3D-printed garment from 2010, pieces worn by celebrities like Lady Gaga, Björk, and Beyoncé, and new works such as an algae dress grown from 125 million living organisms. Organized by senior curator Matthew Yokobosky, the show spans eleven themes exploring van Herpen's fusion of traditional craftsmanship with technology, science, and nature.

Sarah Lucas Unveils VENUS VICTORIA at the New Museum’s Bowery Plaza

The New Museum has unveiled "VENUS VICTORIA," a new public sculpture by British artist Sarah Lucas, inaugurating the museum's outdoor plaza at the junction of Bowery and Prince Street in downtown Manhattan. The sculpture, which features Lucas's signature Bunny figure seated atop a giant washing machine, was selected by an all-artist jury including Teresita Fernández, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith. It opens on May 12, 2026, and will remain on view for two years as the first of five commissions dedicated to public sculpture by women artists.

Frieze New York Diary: a charity sale and rogue underwear

Frieze New York is underway, with notable highlights including a provocative marble sculpture of underwear by Reza Aramesh at the Iranian gallery Dastan, representing the last garment removed before imprisonment. Meanwhile, collectors Susan and Michael Hort are hosting a charity sale at their Tribeca townhouse benefiting the Rema Hort Mann Fund, featuring a popular "Buy What You Love" section where $150 works on paper are sold anonymously. Actor Lucy Liu is also making waves with a new exhibition titled "Hard Feelings" at Alisan Fine Arts on the Upper East Side, showcasing deeply personal paintings about memory and family.

Beauty by Volume: On the Art-Book Trail of Chicago

This article is a guide to finding art books in Chicago, tracing a walking trail that begins at the Chicago History Museum and continues to the Graham Foundation and the Newberry Library. The author reflects on beloved but now-closed art bookstores like Rizzoli's Water Tower Place, Prairie Avenue Bookshop, and Golden Age, then proposes a contemporary route for discovering art, architecture, and design books in the city's remaining cultural institutions and museum shops.

With New Tribeca Outpost, Gratin Gallery Doubles Down on Young Artists

Gratin Gallery, founded by Talal Abillama, is opening a new outpost in Tribeca at 15 White Street, leased for ten years. The space will debut on May 15 with “Blinds and Shutters,” the first U.S. solo exhibition of Spanish sculptor Mónica Mays. The gallery, which started on Avenue B in 2022 and later moved to Grand Street, is expanding despite a challenging art market. Abillama cites the need to be closer to collectors who avoid the 15-minute walk from Tribeca to Chinatown. The new location sits near Luhring Augustine and Ortuzar Projects, and will officially open in November after renovations.

A Roma è tutto pronto per il weekend delle gallerie d’arte: mostre, progetti speciali, inaugurazioni. Il programma

The fourth edition of Roma Gallery Weekend will take place from May 15 to 17, 2026, featuring 31 galleries across Rome. The event kicks off with a new Gallery Night on May 14, where simultaneous openings and special projects serve as a concentrated prologue. Participating galleries include established names like Gagosian, Galleria Continua, and Lorcan O'Neill, as well as emerging spaces such as Amanita and Cantadora. Highlights include exhibitions of Francesca Woodman, Tracey Emin, Friedrich Kunath, and Carlos Garaicoa, alongside site-specific interventions and group shows.

Exhibition | Kelly Akashi, 'Heirloom' at Lisson Gallery, 508 West 24th Street, New York, United States

Kelly Akashi presents her first exhibition with Lisson Gallery in New York, titled 'Heirloom,' featuring a new body of work that explores loss, grief, and absence through sculpture. The exhibition includes bronze, Corten steel, flame-worked glass, and carved stone pieces, many inspired by her garden and personal artifacts like an inherited stone ring and her grandmother's lace tablecloth. It coincides with her participation in the 2026 Whitney Biennial and a commission for John F. Kennedy International Airport's New Terminal One.

‘It smells like my ranch!’ Diva of dirt Delcy Morelos and her amazing 30-tonne earthworks

The article profiles Colombian artist Delcy Morelos and her immersive earthwork installations, focusing on two major works: 'The Womb Space' in Mexico City, which has drawn over 60,000 visitors in its final month, and 'Origo', a new 24-metre-wide outdoor pavilion opening at the Barbican in London. Morelos creates vast soil sculptures sourced from specific regions, evoking sensory experiences of smell, touch, and memory, and invites visitors to contemplate their connection to the earth. The piece includes her reflections on Andean cosmovision, the sacredness of nature, and her 14-year artistic inquiry into soil as a humble yet life-sustaining material.

How Does an Art Fair Stand Apart? TEFAF NY Has an Answer.

TEFAF New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory from May 15-19, featuring 88 dealers and galleries from 14 countries across four continents. The fair distinguishes itself from competitors like Frieze, NADA, and Independent by offering an unusually broad range of works—from Modernist paintings and contemporary sculpture to ancient artifacts, fine jewelry, and design. Notable exhibitors include Gagosian showing Kathleen Ryan’s bejeweled fruit sculptures, Thaddaeus Ropac presenting newcomer Eva Helene Pade, and Belgian dealer David Lévy pairing Keith Haring with Willem de Kooning. Design is a particular highlight this year, with galleries such as Sarah Myerscough, Gomide&Co, and Modernity Stockholm showcasing everything from Shaker-inspired chairs to Brazilian modernist furniture and Scandinavian classics.

Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa “Lugar de Consuelo (Place of Solace)” at MoMA, New York

MoMA's Kravis Studio is presenting Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa's multimedia work "Lugar de Consuelo (Place of Solace)" (2020), marking the artist's first solo presentation at the museum. The work, jointly acquired in 2022 through MoMA's Latin American and Caribbean Fund and Fund for the Twenty-First Century, includes prints, drawings, costumes, sculptures, videos, and a related performance that explore political and personal histories of Guatemala.

Between Tropes and Treats at NADA New York

The 12th annual New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) fair opened at the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Manhattan, featuring a wide array of contemporary works. Critic Rhea Nayyar notes that while many booths felt interchangeable due to prevalent trends like zany sculptures, shiny materials, and kitschy vibrancy, several standout pieces offered genuine engagement. Highlights include Elena Roznovan's maternal ephemera embedded in concrete with bondage tape, Kelly Tapia-Chuning's deconstructed serapes addressing colonial violence, and Niniko Morbedadze's folkloric illustrations.

Exhibition at the Sarasota Art Museum uses shadows to explore the way identity changes based on experiences

Sarasota Art Museum presents 'Penumbra,' a solo exhibition by textile artist Maria A. Guzman Capron. The show features 10 works, including traditional wall hangings and a suspended 15-foot textile sculpture titled 'Sombra,' all exploring how identity shifts based on context and experience. Curator Lacie Barbour explains that the title refers to the penumbra—a liminal space between light and dark—serving as a metaphor for the multiplicity of identities. Capron, who was born in Milan to Peruvian and Colombian parents and later moved to Texas, draws on her own cross-cultural experiences, using hand-dyed, painted, and screen-printed fabrics to create layered portraits of multi-faceted figures.

Grand Rapids Art Museum presents: ‘Decadent Spirit: French Art at the Turn of the Century’

The Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) has announced its summer exhibition 'Decadent Spirit: French Art at the Turn of the Century,' on view from May 29 to September 6. Featuring over 130 works spanning 1880 to 1910, the show highlights artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Jules Chéret, Hector Guimard, and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, alongside early film pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière, Georges Méliès, and Alice Guy-Blaché. The exhibition includes works on paper, painting, sculpture, metalwork, interior and urban design, and early film, exploring the cafés, streets, theaters, and domestic scenes of fin-de-siècle Paris. It closes with an 1899 French motorcar, symbolizing the era's new mobility.