An exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, 'Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore: The Seeing Stone,' presents the collaborative and subversive work of the French artists and life partners. The show features over 200 objects, including photographs, photomontages, and manuscripts, focusing on their radical self-portraiture and resistance to gender and social norms.
Brittany Nelson, a Brooklyn-based artist, explores the intersection of space exploration, queer identity, and early photochemistry in her work. Her 2024 show "I Can't Make You Love Me" at PATRON Gallery in Chicago featured bromoil prints of images from NASA's Mars rover Opportunity, which she describes as a "lesbian icon." She also creates works like a programmed typewriter that types the word "Starbear," inspired by letters between sci-fi writers Ursula K. Le Guin and Alice B. Sheldon. Nelson is currently developing new work focused on telescope arrays, following a residency at the SETI Institute and a two-person exhibition at Luhring Augustine in New York.
Artnet News celebrates Pride Month by spotlighting queer artists featured on the Artnet Gallery Network. The article highlights five artists: Kyle Dunn, whose intimate paintings blend smooth and photorealistic surfaces; Tom of Finland, the iconic queer artist known for hyper-masculine, erotic illustrations; David Hockney, whose early work depicts an intimate bedroom scene; Anthony Goicolea, whose photography and paintings explore sexuality and adolescence; and Michela Griffo, an activist and artist whose work examines queer desire and domestic unease.
The Palm Springs Art Museum has unveiled "A Queer Arcana," an ambitious exhibition exploring the intersection of LGBTQ+ culture, occultism, and esoteric spirituality. Spanning the 20th and 21st centuries, the show features a diverse array of media—including a major four-banner commission by the collective Hilma’s Ghost—and is organized into thematic sections such as Tarot, Sex Magick, and healing. The project emerged from the museum’s Q+Art initiative, a unique program dedicated to queer art histories within a general art museum context.
London’s spring art season kicks off this March with a diverse array of high-profile exhibitions across the city's major institutions. Highlights include the Serpentine Galleries hosting concurrent shows by David Hockney and Cecily Brown, while the National Portrait Gallery presents the first major UK museum survey of American photographer Catherine Opie. Other notable openings include a George Stubbs focus at the National Gallery and a comprehensive look at the Baroque architecture of Sir John Vanbrugh at the Sir John Soane’s Museum.
Diedrick Brackens presents his first solo exhibition in the Bay Area, "gather tender night," at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Guest-curated by Eungie Joo, the show features 15 tapestries from 2020 onward and three new works from 2026, including the immersive installation "clearing (2026)." Brackens, a Black queer artist and CCA professor, uses hand-dyed cotton and acrylic yarn to weave narratives of personal memory, myth, and the natural world, drawing from West African weaving, California fiber art, European tapestry, and Gee's Bend quilting. His approach, influenced by the "sloppy craft" ethos of his mentor Josh Faught, embraces unfinished edges and visible process as acts of refusal against polished traditions.
Conceptual artist Danh Vo discusses his multifaceted practice in a new podcast interview, exploring how his work weaves together personal autobiography, queer identity, and his experience as a Vietnamese immigrant. The conversation delves into his collaborative methods, his use of found objects ranging from religious sculptures to household items, and his upcoming exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and White Cube in New York.
Artist Christina Quarles has launched her first solo exhibition with Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles, titled "The Ground Glows Black." The new body of work features her signature fluid, elastic depictions of bodies, but introduces a more "untethered" and monochromatic aesthetic influenced by recent personal trauma. The paintings and works on paper were created in the aftermath of the Eaton fire, which destroyed the artist's home and community in Altadena.
Artists Anne Imhof and Tyler Mitchell engage in a cross-disciplinary dialogue reflecting on their recent solo exhibitions, "Wish You Were Gay" at Kunsthaus Bregenz and "Wish This Was Real" at C/O Berlin. The conversation explores the intersection of performance, photography, and the choreography of space, with both artists discussing how they manipulate the viewer's physical and emotional presence within an installation.
This fall, Los Angeles museums are presenting a diverse array of exhibitions that explore community, justice, and historical reclamation. Highlights include a historical survey of Mail Art in Latin America, a traveling exhibition of radical Chicano prints from the Smithsonian at the Huntington, a show at the Getty drawn from the Guerrilla Girls' archive, and a two-person exhibition at Skirball pairing Philip Guston with Trenton Doyle Hancock. Other notable shows include 'Monuments' co-organized by the Brick and the Museum of Contemporary Art, solo exhibitions by Guadalupe Maravilla at REDCAT and by American Artist on Octavia E. Butler, and the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art. The article also lists shows at Oxy Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and other venues, featuring artists such as Ken Gonzales-Day, Tavares Strachan, and Stanya Kahn.
The Armory Show, New York's premier art fair, is dedicating its 2025 Focus section to artists and galleries from the American South, running September 4-7. Curated by Jessica Bell Brown, executive director of the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, the section features 13 galleries, including Martha's from Austin and Wolfgang Gallery from Atlanta, with works exploring themes of queer identity, Black communities, and Southern cuisine. The fair, now under director Kyla McMillan and owned by Frieze, aims to amplify the region as a nexus for diasporas and challenge preconceived notions about the South.
The National Portrait Gallery in London is hosting "To Be Seen," the first major UK museum exhibition dedicated to the American photographer Catherine Opie. Curated in collaboration with the artist, the show spans over 30 years of work, including her seminal 1991 series "Being and Having" and her Holbein-inspired portraits of the LGBTQ+ community. The exhibition is further expanded through a series of interventions where Opie’s contemporary photographs are placed in direct dialogue with the gallery’s permanent collection.
The article highlights sixteen must-see exhibitions in South Florida during Miami Art Week, including a comprehensive museum survey of Joyce Pensato at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, a group show of Brazilian women artists titled "Mulheres: Proposals from Brazil" at ArtNexus Space, and Jack Pierson's exploration of queer Miami at the Bass Museum of Art. Other featured shows include Lawrence Lek's NOX Pavilion at the Bass, among others, spanning painting, photography, sculpture, and multimedia installations.
Ben Millett, a quilt maker based in Des Moines, Iowa, is presenting his first solo exhibition of quilts at the Des Moines Art Center as part of the Iowa Artists 2025 series. The show, on view through November 2, features approximately 20 quilts that explore themes of queer identity, pop culture, and the practice of quilting itself. Millett draws on Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, and queer abstraction, using solid-color fabrics inspired by the Progress Pride flag to create works that navigate transitions and nuance.
A new book titled "William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love" by biographer and critic Philip Hoare explores the life and work of William Blake, focusing on the three years the artist spent in Felpham, a coastal village in England, starting in 1800. Hoare argues that the ocean profoundly influenced Blake's art and poetry, using the sea as a metaphor to examine Blake's visionary prints, poems like "Milton," and his androgynous, fluid figures. The book also weaves in a cast of other historical figures—including Herman Melville, Paul Nash, and Nancy Cunard—whom Hoare dubs "sea monsters" for their rebellious, queer, and amphibious spirits.
The 'Spectrosynthesis Seoul 2026' exhibition, opening March 20 at the Art Sonje Center, is the fourth installment of the Sunpride Foundation's series showcasing LGBTQ+ art across Asia. It features over 70 artists, including new commissions, and focuses on the experiences of marginalized communities during Korea's modernization and the queer histories of specific Seoul neighborhoods.
Jill Westwood's 1980s photographic and sculptural work exploring feminine power, kink, and queer identity is being exhibited at NEVEN gallery in London. The exhibition presents archival material that was largely unseen for decades, focusing on themes of dominance, submission, and the female gaze within subcultural scenes.
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in SoHo has emerged as a vital hub for New York’s downtown performance scene through its intergenerational exhibition, "Sacred and Profane." Featuring a collaborative residency between poet Pamela Sneed and performance artist Carlos Martiel, the programming centers on themes of Black maternal grief, queer identity, and the exhumation of suppressed histories. Recent performances included Martiel’s "No Resurrection," a ritualistic piece involving his mother and a mound of earth, and Sneed’s readings that address the collective trauma and "urgent care" status of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) is presenting two early summer exhibitions: "Out Loud 2025" and the "2025 Gala Art Auction: The Factory." Out Loud 2025 features work by 17 young artists from Utah high schools who completed a 12-week workshop series, exploring themes of queer identity, childhood nostalgia, and coming-of-age through diverse media including painting, ceramics, collage, and video. The 2025 Gala Art Auction showcases works by 57 Utah artists available for purchase.
The article is a transcript or description of a podcast episode featuring an interview with painter Louis Fratino. He discusses his artistic practice, which focuses on memory, daily life, and queer identity, and cites influences from Henri Matisse to Bhupen Khakhar. He also reveals details about his studio life and answers philosophical questions about art's purpose.
At Art Basel's Unlimited section, Hauser & Wirth is presenting Felix Gonzalez-Torres's 1991 performance work "Untitled" (Go-Go Dancing Platform), in which a local go-go dancer performs a silent disco atop a small lit stage for five minutes at unspecified times. The piece, created shortly after the deaths of the artist's partner and father, explores themes of renewal, rebirth, and masculinity, according to Hauser & Wirth partner Cristopher Canizares.
At Frieze London 2025, the Artist-to-Artist section features emerging artists selected by established names, including René Treviño chosen by Amy Sherald and Ilana Harris-Babou nominated by Camille Henrot. Treviño's solo presentation centers on the sculpture 'Regalia, Moscas Brillantes (Rojo)' (2025), which addresses queer resistance and colonial histories through a fusion of Aztec and European aesthetics. Other presentations include Katherine Hubbard's photographs about her mother's dementia (nominated by Nicole Eisenman), T. Venkanna's delicate works on gender and patriarchy (picked by Bharti Kher), Ana Segovia's subversive cowboy paintings (selected by Abraham Cruzvillegas), and Neal Tait's paintings (chosen by Chris Ofili).
Space One Eleven Art Center in Birmingham is launching two concurrent solo exhibitions: "Navegando la Masculinidad de la Frontera / Navigating the Border’s Masculinity" by El Paso-based artist José Villalobos and "see saw sawn" by local sculptor Jason Tanner Young. Villalobos’s work utilizes sculpture and performance to deconstruct machismo and queer identity within Norteño culture, while Young, an Associate Professor at the University of Montevallo, presents a body of work rooted in his extensive background in wood and expanded sculpture practices.
LA Timpa “Come Back” at Cell Project Space, London
LA Timpa has opened a new solo exhibition, "Come Back," at Cell Project Space in London. The show features a multi-channel video installation and sound work that continues the artist's exploration of the body, technology, and queer identity through digitally manipulated and visceral imagery.
Philadelphia-based queer artist Daniel de Jesús, also a cellist and composer, is featured in a group exhibition at the William Way LGBT Community Center that opened July 10, 2025. In an interview with Emma Cieslik, de Jesús discusses their paintings blending Catholic iconography, mysticism, and queer identity, drawing on symbols like Saint Sebastian and the unicorn. They describe how a Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition on colonial Latin American art inspired their exploration of religious syncretism and the reclamation of Catholic imagery by queer and trans people.
Art Sonje Center in Seoul has launched "Spectrosynthesis Seoul," the first large-scale institutional exhibition in South Korea dedicated specifically to queer art. Organized in partnership with the Sunpride Foundation, the show features 74 international and Korean artists across two major sections, exploring themes of identity, sign language bias, and the historical queer spatiality of Seoul neighborhoods like Itaewon.
Swedish-born, Brooklyn-based artist Helena Calmfors presents 'Floral Disciplines,' her debut solo exhibition at The Untitled Space gallery in New York, on view from October 23 to November 7, 2025. Curated by Indira Cesarine, the show features watercolors, photography, and performance that explore queer identity, eroticism, and power through the visual language of BDSM, blending floral imagery with fetish iconography to challenge patriarchal and heteronormative frameworks.
The William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia has opened its 19th Annual Group Art Exhibition, featuring three local LGBTQ+ artists: Daniel de Jesús, Kenzi Crash, and James Rose. The artists were selected from participants in the center's January Juried Art Exhibition, with local artist Gabriel Martinez serving as the designated judge. Art Exhibitions Manager Jake Foster curated the show, which presents each artist's individual work without a unifying theme. De Jesús blends mysticism, Catholic iconography, and queer identity; Crash presents a photography installation exploring queer intimacy; and Rose debuts a new series of self-portraits examining identity and emotion. The exhibition runs through August 28 and is also viewable online, with 65% of sales going to the artists.
Kansas City’s spring art season features a diverse lineup of exhibitions across several key local venues, highlighting regional talent and identity-driven narratives. Notable shows include a group exhibition by the Kansas City Art Institute’s AAPI Association at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center and a collaborative project between Kansas City and Chicago galleries titled "Queer Ecologies II" at the Charlotte Street Foundation, which explores the intersection of queer identity and environmental science.
Southern California-based artist Jo Ann Block will debut a new solo exhibition titled "The Meaning of Life: A Self Portrait" at the Studio Channel Islands Art Center on April 4, 2026. The multidisciplinary showcase features sculpture, video, and painting organized into immersive installations that trace the artist's personal history and lived experiences.