Art

Heather Benjamin’s New Strangeness Bloom, now on view at Olympia in NYC, explores the complexities of womanhood through surreal, symbol-filled paintings. Drawing from her background in zine-making, Benjamin blends mythology, memory and self-exploration into dreamlike desert landscapes.Her figures, part deity and part drifter, navigate barren worlds where strange flowers thrive under electric skies. These blooms, both real and symbolic, represent resilience in harsh environments. Inspired by Surrealism and outsider art, Benjamin’s work mixes the raw and the fantastical: floating lovers, cryptic phrases on cowboy hats and butterflies emerging from shattered mirrors. Referencing Diane di Prima’s Loba, the exhibition reimagines femininity through a warped Americana lens. Elements like polished...

At Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Ayoung Kim’s Many Worlds Over bends time and space, immersing visitors in a reality where past, present and future collapse into one. Running through July 20, the exhibition is Kim’s first solo show in a German museum, bringing together her work with AI, video, game simulations and sculpture to explore identity, queerness and belonging.At its core is "Delivery Dancer," a futuristic Seoul where a female delivery driver and her identical double move through overlapping dimensions. In this world, time loops and fractures—what should be a simple delivery route turns into a collision of alternate realities.Kim’s virtual landscapes don’t stay on screens. The gallery itself shifts, mirroring her themes of fluidity and disorientation. Visitors ...

Tiwani Contemporary in Lagos is kicking off its 2025 exhibition program with Belonging In-Between, a solo showcase of works by Emma Prempeh. At just 28, the U.K.-born artist has already made a mark with her distinctive, rich impressionistic paintings. The exhibition comes fresh off the announcement of her inclusion in Pharrell Williams' upcoming Femmes exhibition in Paris.In Belonging In-Between, Prempeh captures her mother’s homecoming to St. Vincent, four decades after migrating to London. The trip marked a profound encounter with the places and spaces that shaped her mother’s early life, prompting a wider reflection on matrilineage and the stories that make a family.At the heart of the exhibition is, as the gallery notes, “Prempeh’s pursuit of understanding what home or belonging means ...

Musicians may take center stage with chart-topping hits, but the visual artists shaping their album covers, tour posters and music videos often remain in the shadows. The Center for Contemporary Art & Culture at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, is shining a light on these unsung creatives with Eyes and Ears: A Survey of Visuals in Music 2020-2024. Curated by Bijan Berahimi, founder of the multidisciplinary studio FISK, the show presents an extensive collection of music ephemera—vinyl packaging, tour posters, merchandise, and a rotating selection of music videos co-curated by Noah Porter. Rather than a static display, the exhibition evolves over time, with Berahimi continually refreshing the selection to showcase a broad spectrum of music genres and visual aesth...

On March 29 at 9 p.m. EDT, Interspecies Love Letter: Sky Painting for EARTH to SPACE will illuminate the Potomac River in D.C. with large-scale projections and custom fireworks provided by the acclaimed Sky Ladder artist, Cai Guo-Qiang. Commissioned by the Kennedy Center, the event debuts Guo-Qiang's custom AI model, cAITM, which is the mechanism behind the projections in the fireworks display. The fireworks install narrates cosmic stories, inviting viewers to ruminate on humanity’s relationship with Earth and the universe. Part of the EARTH to SPACE festival, the project emphasizes “cooperation and care” on an interplanetary scale as described the Kennedy Space Center in a statement. Moreover, a companion exhibition, cAITM Lab, will run from March 28 to April 13 in the center's Skylight P...

SCAD deFINE ART 2025 honors Zanele Muholi, a South African visual activist known for documenting Black queer identity and marginalized communities. Through photography, film and sculpture, Muholi challenges stereotypes and highlights the need for representation.The exhibition features key works, including Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness), a series of black-and-white self-portraits where Muholi transforms everyday objects into powerful symbols of race and body politics. Brave Beauties celebrates trans women and nonbinary individuals in empowered poses, while Faces and Phases documents Black lesbians in South Africa facing discrimination. A new series of lightbox self-portraits continues Muholi’s exploration of identity and visibility.Muholi describes their work as a tool for repres...

London-based artist Rong Bao first turned heads with her 2023 debut solo exhibition at Saatchi Gallery. Fitting titled Rong Bao Is Me, the show welcomed audiences into Bao's whimsical universe through a lively romp of inflatable sculptures and immersive installations. The survey transformed the familiar into something wonderful, punctuating the typical solemnity of white-walled galleries with a refreshing burst curiosity.Now, Bao will inaugurate Carl Kostyál's Hong Kong space with a new solo show. Running from March 23 through April 30, the eponymous exhibition delves deeper into her ongoing exploration of mischief and defiance through a tactility, materiality, form and her signature sense of wit. “In my artistic journey, playfulness and humor are the core elements from which I craft a sur...

Ai Weiwei has built a career on defiance. Whether smashing ancient artifacts or filling museum floors with handcrafted porcelain sunflower seeds, his work is a challenge to authority, a refusal to accept history at face value. Now, Seattle will host his most expansive U.S. exhibition yet.Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei, opening this week at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), spans 40 years of work—over 130 pieces that confront power, censorship and cultural identity. Iconic works like "Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn" (1995), "Study of Perspective" (1995–2011), and "Sunflower Seeds" (2010) will be on view, alongside new pieces making their international debut.For the first time in its history, SAM will dedicate all three of its locations to a single artist. The Seattle Asian Art Museum ...