In Pictures: New Museum curator Gary Carrion-Murayari’s Frieze favourites

New Museum curator Gary Carrion-Murayari shares his personal highlights from the Frieze New York art fair, selecting works by artists including Arthur Simms, Haegue Yang, Abel Rodriguez and Aycoobo-Wilson Rodríguez, Sung Tieu, Maryam Hoseini, Pedro Neves, and Melvin Way. Each pick is accompanied by a brief commentary explaining why the work resonates with him, ranging from underappreciated talents to artists featured in the 2024 Venice Biennale.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies: Artists Revisit the Nude in Shows Across New York

This spring in New York, multiple exhibitions are revisiting the nude as an artistic genre, with artists exploring themes of flesh, harm, aging, and political oppression. Notable shows include Seung Ah Paik's "Self Configuration" series at Bortolami, where she paints distorted self-portraits that recall Surrealist and feminist traditions, and Joan Semmel's self-portraits at Alexander Gray Associates, which continue her decades-long focus on the nude body. These shows are part of a broader trend that also includes the New Museum's "New Humans: Memories of the Future."

New £5.5m record for Islamic glass leads London sales

The spring Islamic and Indian art auctions in London, held at Sotheby's and Christie's in late April, achieved strong results despite geopolitical tensions. Sotheby's Arts of the Islamic World & India sales totaled £14.8m, while Christie's Art from the Islamic and Indian Worlds sale and the Mary and Cheney Cowles collection brought in £17.6m. The top lot was a rare 14th-century Mamluk gilded glass bowl from the Toledo Museum of Art, which sold for £5.5m—a new auction record for Islamic glass. Other highlights included a 17th-century Mughal astrolabe that sold for £2m at Sotheby's, setting a record for an Islamic scientific instrument, and strong sales of Iznik ceramics from two old English collections.

The exhibitions to see in New York during Art Week 2026

Le mostre da vedere a New York durante l’Art Week 2026

The article highlights a selection of must-see exhibitions in New York during the 2026 Art Week, spanning major museums and galleries. At MoMA, three shows explore memory, identity, and artistic experimentation: Elizabeth Murray's retrospective on fragmented painting, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa's works addressing Guatemala's civil war, and Arthur Jafa's curated connections across the museum's collection. The Whitney Museum presents the 82nd Whitney Biennial, featuring 56 artists questioning what it means to be 'American,' alongside an Andy Warhol exhibition of rarely seen polaroids from 1972-73. Hauser & Wirth debuts its first Carol Rama show, highlighting six decades of her experimental, anticonformist art.

New York Is About to Sell $3 Billion in Art. Who’s Buying?

Vanity Fair's Nate Freeman reports on New York's spring art season, where auction houses are poised to sell at least $2.6 billion in art alongside major museum exhibitions (Raphael at the Met, Duchamp at MoMA, Matisse at Acquavella) and the opening of Frieze New York at The Shed. The article follows the social and commercial frenzy, highlighting a David Shrigley gong installation at Anton Kern Gallery's booth and the enduring dominance of New York, where nearly 90% of U.S. art sales occur.

Fair Week in NYC!

New York City is hosting a packed week of art fairs in May 2025, including Frieze at The Shed, Independent Art Fair at Pier 36, TEFAF New York at the Park Avenue Armory, and NADA New York at the Starrett-Lehigh Building. The fairs feature hundreds of international galleries, with Frieze emphasizing Central and South American exhibitors, Independent exploring a dystopian theme, TEFAF offering antiquities and fine art, and NADA celebrating its 12th edition with 121 galleries. The article also notes recent major exhibitions at the New Museum, Whitney Biennial, MoMA PS1, The Met, and MoMA, and includes a guide to Upstate New York art destinations.

New Museum unveils Sarah Lucas's bawdy Bowery commission

The New Museum unveiled Sarah Lucas's sculpture "VENUS VICTORIA" (2026) on May 12 as the inaugural commission for its new public plaza on the Bowery in New York. The work features a pink-hued figure in yellow high heels straddling a giant cast-concrete washing machine, riffing on the classic reclining nude. Lucas's proposal was selected by an all-artist jury including Teresita Fernández, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith. The sculpture will remain on view for two years, after which another commission by a woman artist will take its place.

Raymond Pettibon, Chris Johanson | You're Not Worth Much (Hand Signed by Raymond Pettib… (2017) | For Sale

This article is a sales listing for a collaborative artwork by Raymond Pettibon and Chris Johanson, titled "You're Not Worth Much" (2017), hand-signed by Pettibon. The listing includes a biography of Pettibon, detailing his career, exhibitions, and gallery representation by David Zwirner, as well as his influences and major museum shows.

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.

Michael Garner Explores Truth, Systems & Constructed Reality

Michael Garner, an artist with a background spanning social science and intelligence work, creates immersive works that blend science, espionage, philosophy, and absurdity. His recent exhibitions include a show at the Bomb Factory Art Foundation featuring a vending machine dispensing mock classified information, and a presentation at the Austrian Cultural Forum London exploring his newly acquired Austrian citizenship through neural pathway paintings in the colors of the Austrian flag.

V&A East targets young people

Le V&A East vise les jeunes

The Victoria and Albert Museum has opened a new branch called V&A East in Stratford, east London, within the former Olympic Park. The £135 million (€155.8 million) building, designed by O'Donnell and Tuomey, features 479 sand-colored concrete panels and houses around 500 objects from the V&A's collection across two permanent galleries titled "Why We Make." The museum opened on April 18 and is part of the East Bank cultural complex supported by the London municipality. It prioritizes local engagement and mediation tailored to attract younger audiences, with exhibitions addressing social justice and environmental themes.

Peter Frankopan unveils BRUSK museum's inaugural exhibition exploring Bruges history

Historian and author Peter Frankopan has curated the inaugural exhibition at BRUSK, a new museum in Bruges, Belgium. Titled "Bigger Picture: Connected worlds of Bruges 900-1550," the show explores the city's medieval role as a global hub for trade, culture, and politics, featuring over 250 objects from 90 lenders worldwide. A rare loan from the Vatican Library—a portrait of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I—is a highlight. The exhibition opens alongside a digital work by Refik Anadol and a fresco by Laure Prouvost.

FAD News: Sarah Lucas unveils new public sculpture commission for New Museum plaza

The New Museum has unveiled a major public sculpture by Sarah Lucas titled "VENUS VICTORIA," installed on its new outdoor plaza as part of the OMA-designed expansion on the Bowery. The large-scale work, which opened on May 12, 2026, and will remain on view for two years, inaugurates a long-term commission series dedicated to public sculpture by women artists. Lucas was selected by an all-artist jury including Teresita Fernández, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith, and is the first of five artists to be commissioned over the next decade. The sculpture extends Lucas's Bunny series, placing a reclining figure atop a giant washing machine to subvert traditional monumental statues.

Virginia MOCA hosts free Community Day at new museum location

Virginia MOCA hosted a free Community Day on Saturday, May 9, at its new Virginia Beach location, in partnership with Virginia Humanities. The event featured inaugural exhibitions including Nina Chanel Abney: The Pursuit of Happiness and Seamless: Art and Design, along with hands-on art making, live performances, artist demonstrations, a U-Haul art gallery, food trucks, and workshops for all ages.

A Firenze nasce la “nuova” istituzione GAMB che riunisce la Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze e i Musei del Bargello (con nuovo logo d’autore)

A new museum institution called GAMB (Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze e Musei del Bargello) has been established in Florence, unifying seven cultural sites under a single autonomous museum system. The sites include the Galleria dell’Accademia, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Orsanmichele, Casa Martelli, Palazzo Davanzati, Cappelle Medicee, and the former Church of San Procolo. A new visual identity designed by Milanese studio Migliore+Servetto features a pictogram that maps the geographic distribution of the venues, along with a custom typeface and color palette unique to each location. The launch also coincides with the start of a public restoration project for the base of Benvenuto Cellini’s *Perseo* at the Bargello, open to visitors from May 12 to September 5, 2026.