Filthy fossil fuels, a dizzying debut and the ominous side of the moon – the week in art

The Guardian’s weekly art roundup highlights the opening of 'Extraction' at Jupiter Artland, an exhibition featuring artists like Marguerite Humeau and John Gerrard that explores the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Other notable UK openings include Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s museum debut at The Whitworth, a survey of Paula Rego’s drawings at Victoria Miro, and a showcase of Thérèse Oulton’s textured landscapes at Vardaxoglou.

Petal passion, super-surreal Polaroids and Billy Childish’s California – the week in art

This week’s art roundup highlights several major exhibitions across the UK, including a floral-themed survey at Kettle’s Yard featuring artists from Henri Rousseau to Lubaina Himid. Other notable openings include Billy Childish’s expressionistic California desert paintings at Carl Freedman Gallery, Katharina Grosse’s site-specific installations at White Cube, and Steve McQueen’s new photography book, 'Bounty', which explores the colonial history of Grenada through its flora.

The Untold Story of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek’s Intimate—and Complex—Bond

Andrew Durbin’s new dual biography, *The Wonderful World That Almost Was*, explores the profound and volatile relationship between photographer Peter Hujar and artist Paul Thek. Spanning from their meeting in the late 1950s to their deaths from AIDS-related complications in the 1980s, the book details how their shared experiences—most notably a 1963 visit to the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo—fundamentally shaped their artistic trajectories. While Hujar captured the mummified remains in haunting photographs, Thek translated the encounter into his visceral "meat pieces" and wax effigies.

Marcel Duchamp at MoMA, Dorothea Tanning book, Leonora Carrington at the Freud Museum, London—podcast

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is launching the first major U.S. survey of Marcel Duchamp’s entire career in over fifty years, a landmark exhibition that will later travel to Philadelphia. Accompanying this resurgence of interest in avant-garde pioneers are two significant projects focused on women of the Surrealist movement: the publication of Alyce Mahon’s comprehensive new book on Dorothea Tanning and a specialized exhibition at London’s Freud Museum featuring Leonora Carrington’s 1940 painting 'Down Below'.

Where Does "Guernica" Belong?

Wohin gehört "Guernica"?

Basque Prime Minister Imanol Pradales has formally requested the temporary transfer of Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece "Guernica" from Madrid to the Basque Country. The proposal seeks to exhibit the monumental 1937 anti-war painting at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for nine months starting in late 2026 to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the town's bombing. While the work depicts the destruction of the Basque town of Gernika by Nazi and Italian fascist forces, it has resided at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid since 1992.

Artemisia Gentileschi Masterpiece Goes to Auction—Without Its Face

The Dorotheum auction house in Vienna is set to auction a rare, autograph replica of Artemisia Gentileschi’s 'St. Mary Magdalen' (c. 1620) that is missing its central focus: the saint's face. Discovered in a private German cellar in 2011 and likely mutilated during the looting of postwar Berlin, the fragment has been authenticated by experts Roberto Contini and Riccardo Lattuada. Despite the missing section, infrared analysis confirms Gentileschi’s hand, and the work is estimated to fetch between $120,000 and $170,000.

Curators Announced for 16th Baltic Triennial

The Contemporary Art Center (CAC) Vilnius has appointed artist Nikita Kadan and curator Natalia Sielewicz as curators of the 16th Baltic Triennial, scheduled for 2027. Kadan is a Kyiv-based artist, while Sielewicz is chief curator at Warsaw's Museum of Modern Art. The duo has proposed "grief and resurrection" as the triennial's theme, framing despair and mourning as spaces for careful listening and potential renewal.

Rare Leonora Carrington Sketches of Her Inner Turmoil Resurface in London Show

Rare sketches by Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, created during her 1940 confinement in a Spanish psychiatric hospital, have been reunited and are on display at London's Freud Museum. The exhibition, "Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal," features sketchbooks that reimagined the hospital as a mythological underworld and served as preparatory studies for her seminal painting Down Below.

Why Beatriz González’s Haunting Paintings Are More Relevant Than Ever

Why Beatriz González’s Haunting Paintings Are More Relevant Than Ever

A major retrospective of Colombian artist Beatriz González, "Beatriz González: A Retrospective," is touring internationally, with recent stops at the Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia in Bogotá. The exhibition, the largest of her 60-year career, showcases over 150 works, including her iconic paintings that appropriate and rework images from art history and mass media to critique political violence, social inequality, and cultural memory in Colombia.

Tracey Emin’s Cult of the Self

A major retrospective of Tracey Emin's work, "A Second Life," is on view at Tate Modern in London. The exhibition presents the artist's deeply personal and confessional body of work, including iconic pieces like "My Bed" and "Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made," which chronicle intimate experiences of love, trauma, and self-exploration through text, objects, and raw imagery.

Jeamin Cha wins Hermès Foundation Missulsang

Jeamin Cha wins Hermès Foundation Missulsang

Korean media artist Jeamin Cha has been awarded the 21st Missulsang prize by the Hermès Foundation. She will receive KRW 30 million and production support for a solo exhibition at Atelier Hermès in Seoul, opening in May 2027.

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.

Marie Zolamian’s Paintings Remain Little Mysteries

A retrospective of Tracey Emin's work at Tate Modern reveals how her art, frequently interpreted as raw personal confession, is deeply intertwined with the broader cultural and social forces of her time. The review argues that her oeuvre serves as a witness to a specific era, moving beyond purely autobiographical readings to reflect wider societal currents.

Tracey Emin’s Retrospective Bears Witness to an Era

Tracey Emin's major retrospective, 'Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul,' has opened at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The exhibition pairs Emin's deeply personal works, including her iconic 'My Bed,' with paintings by Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch, exploring shared themes of love, loss, and existential anguish.

Joachim Trier on the Art of Calculated Chaos

A major retrospective of Tracey Emin's work has opened at Tate Modern in London. The exhibition presents a comprehensive overview of the artist's career, featuring her confessional and often provocative works that have defined her public persona.

LR Vandy’s Rope Sculptures Disentangle Histories of Colonialism and Transportation

London-based artist LR Vandy has opened her first solo museum exhibition, "Rise," at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The show features a series of sculptures crafted from nautical materials like Manila rope, ship's helms, and hull-shaped wooden forms, many of which were created in her studio at the Chatham Historic Dockyard. The works explore the complex intersections of maritime history, trade, and the labor systems that powered the Age of Discovery.

Gardar Eide Einarsson Leaves You in the Dark

Gardar Eide Einarsson’s latest exhibition at Maureen Paley’s East London space presents a haunting exploration of dissociation and coded information. The show features two distinct series: 'Closed Caption,' a collection of monochrome black gouache paintings featuring isolated subtitles from films, and 'Incendiary Test Area,' a set of hyperrealistic woodblock prints created in collaboration with master Shoichi Kitamura. These prints depict the interiors of mock 'Japanese' houses built by the US Army for fire-bombing tests during World War II.

Thomas Zipp, artist with a sideways sense of history, 1966–2026

German artist Thomas Zipp, known for his dark, punk-infused explorations of history and science, has died at age 60. Throughout a career spanning painting, sculpture, and immersive scenographic installations, Zipp blended a Dadaist sensibility with a deep interest in politics, neuroscience, and the nuclear age. His work often challenged viewers with complex, opaque environments, such as his notable 2013 Venice Biennale installation that transformed a palazzo into a psychological sanatorium.

Precious Okoyomon’s Whitney Biennial Installation Is on View After a Delay, and It’s a True Shocker

Precious Okoyomon's major installation for the 2024 Whitney Biennial, titled 'Everything wants to kill you and you should be afraid,' opened after a brief delay. The work, featuring around 50 stuffed animals and racist dolls suspended by nooses, was moved from the museum lobby to the eighth floor to provide more space for viewers to engage with its disturbing yet beautiful mix of childhood nostalgia and violence.

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Made Human Again

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) is hosting "Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings," a comprehensive exhibition that draws from the artist’s complete archives. The show highlights Cha’s multidisciplinary practice, spanning film experiments, performance documentation, and her signature linguistic explorations. By pairing finished artworks with archival materials and personal ephemera, the exhibition reveals a playful, puckish side of the artist that is often obscured by the tragic circumstances of her death and the heavy themes of exile and dislocation in her work.

‘It’s essential for understanding what is going on in Ukraine’: new exhibition explores wartime limb loss

Prominent Ukrainian artist Nikita Kadan is launching a new exhibition titled 'A New Integrity' at Pavilion 13 in Kyiv. The installation features prostheses suspended in mid-air, accompanied by a soundscape of recorded testimonies from veterans who have experienced limb loss during the ongoing Russian invasion. The project, commissioned by the non-profit RIBBON International, uses these mechanical replacements to symbolize the broader losses of territory, people, and future perspectives that Ukraine has endured.

In London, Tracey Emin is Concerned with Death and Resurrection

In London geht es Tracey Emin um Tod und Auferstehung

Tracey Emin has opened a major exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. The show, which follows her battle with an aggressive bladder cancer diagnosed in 2020, presents a new chapter in her work, focusing on themes of trauma, triumph, and the body.

Edmonia Lewis Was the Earliest Known Black Artist to Depict Emancipation. This Is Her First Retrospective.

The Peabody Essex Museum is hosting "Said in Stone," the first-ever comprehensive retrospective dedicated to Edmonia Lewis, a pioneering 19th-century sculptor of Black and Ojibwe heritage. The exhibition assembles a significant body of her marble works, including the landmark sculpture "Forever Free" (1867), which is recognized as the first formal visual representation of emancipation by a Black American artist. The show traces her journey from her upbringing with her Ojibwe family and her traumatic years at Oberlin College to her eventual success as an expatriate artist in Rome.

‘It was a way of processing violences I’ve survived’: how iconoclastic musician Arca beat burnout with frenzied painting

The acclaimed Venezuelan electronic musician Arca, born Alejandra Ghersi, is transitioning into the visual arts with her first institutional exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Titled "Angels," the body of work consists of visceral, heavily textured paintings created using a chaotic mix of oils, acrylics, melted plastic, and latex. Ghersi turned to the physical medium as a therapeutic response to professional burnout, using the permanent nature of painting to process personal trauma and reconnect with the raw creative enthusiasm she felt before her music career became a global profession.

British artist Simon Fujiwara’s new Luxembourg exhibition tackles Guernica, syphilis and the death of a Japanese pornstar

British artist Simon Fujiwara has opened a major career survey, 'A Whole New World,' at Mudam Luxembourg. The exhibition features a reinterpretation of Picasso's *Guernica* using his cartoon character Who the Baer, alongside works addressing his personal experience with syphilis and a commemorative installation for Japanese gay porn star Koh Masaki. The show is structured as a thematic 'theme park' exploring contemporary issues.

Steve DiBenedetto’s Cosmic Sense of the Absurd

Artist Steve DiBenedetto presents a new body of work in his solo exhibition, "Spiral Architect," at Derek Eller Gallery. The show features 17 paintings ranging from large-scale canvases to intimate works, all characterized by a restless movement between abstraction and figuration. DiBenedetto utilizes a process-heavy technique of adding, scraping, and reworking oil paint to create dense, visionary landscapes filled with octopi, cellular forms, and Rube Goldberg-esque machinery.

Artist Offers Haunting Meditation on the 2025 L.A. Fires for the Whitney Biennial

Artist Kelly Akashi has created a major installation for the 2026 Whitney Biennial titled 'Monument (Altadena)', a 13-foot-tall chimney and walkway made of clear glass bricks. The work is a direct response to the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, which destroyed her home and studio, leaving only the original brick chimney standing. She collaborated with mason Christian Inga to meticulously reconstruct this remnant in a new, spectral form.

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Language of the Dispossessed

A major retrospective of artist and writer Theresa Hak Kyung Cha highlights her pioneering work in feminist conceptual art, focusing on videos and performances that explore displacement, language, and the violence of cultural hegemony. The exhibition, born from recent reassessments of her legacy, reconstructs the image of an artist whose brief career anticipated contemporary struggles with nationalism and identity.

Exhibition | Everlyn Nicodemus, 'Without History' at Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Everlyn Nicodemus presents 'Without History' at Goodman Gallery in Cape Town, marking her first solo exhibition with the gallery and a rare return to the African continent since the 1980s. The show, organized in partnership with Richard Saltoun Gallery, features major bodies of work including the 'Woman in the World' cycle and the 'Wedding' series. These works, created while Nicodemus lived across Europe, explore themes of trauma, gender, and spiritual survival through a practice that blends painting with deep archival research and social anthropology.

Review: “Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try” at the Holocaust Museum Houston

The Holocaust Museum Houston is currently hosting "Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try," an exhibition focusing on the early works of the Holocaust survivor and NO!art movement founder. Organized by the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the show highlights Lurie’s "War Series," featuring paintings, drawings, and never-before-seen ephemera created as a means of processing the trauma of his imprisonment in camps like Buchenwald. The works, ranging from the immediate post-war period to decades later, serve as a visceral record of memory and loss, including tributes to his family members murdered in the Rumbula Forest massacre.