Art

A painting depicting Jesus Christ as a Looney Tunes character has caused uproar during an art competition in Sydney. Created by Australian artist Philjames, who is no stranger to subverting pop cultural iconography for shock responses, the composition mirrors the biblical tale of when Jesus spoke to the daughters of Jerusalem, comforting them as he bore the cross on his shoulders. But instead of sorrow and angst on the faces of his subjects, Philjames overlaid hysterical cartoon faces.The 2023 oil painting was submitted to the Blake Art Prize exhibition at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, which recognizes works that reflect on religion and spirituality. After swarms of online criticism, however, organizers pulled Jesus Speaks to the Daughters of Jerusalem (2023) fearing "violence" from p...

For Sarah Sze, art is equal parts observation and participation. Her monumental installations are intricately layered like a spider web of disparate images spanning history and personal experience, inviting onlookers to roam in and around a cosmic matrix that conflates physical and digital experiences with micro and macro perspectives. At Gagosian's rue de Ponthieu location in Paris, the New York-based artist is showcasing her Pictures at an Exhibition, which previously debuted at the inaugural Thailand Biennale. Set amidst a dimly lit space, Sze's video installation takes over the entire first floor of the gallery, as tiny paper screens are brought to life through video and light, resulting in a kaleidoscopic effect that pours across the space. "The boundaries of my artwork are never fram...

Saatchi Yates presents a provocative two-person exhibition featuring the works of Nokukhanya Langa and Bruce Nauman. This show dives deep into the absurd, drawing a line between Langa’s radical contemporary art and Nauman’s conceptual films.Langa’s new "Black Paintings" are paired with a survey of Nauman’s groundbreaking black and white films. Her Post-Minimalist aesthetic, filled with abstract motifs, lines, dots, and scribbles, complements Nauman’s repetitive, task-like exercises. Langa's canvases, with their cryptic phrases and meaningless arrows, critique contemporary post-internet culture, highlighting futility, alienation, and online identity.Both artists explore the interplay between image and language. Nauman’s films, dating back to 1965, feature repetitive actions that spotlight t...

Paris Saint-Germain may be a Parisian football club but it's got a particularly avid global following, especially in Japan, where, over the last decade, it's partnered with Edifice to open a line of special stores. Now, the two are celebrating a decade of partnership — with a little help from Amsterdam-born, Paris-based artist Pieter Ceizer — by opening a weekend-long "Paris Loves Japan" pop-up by PSG's Parc Des Princes Stadium.At the center of this pop-up is a new take on Ceizer's famed Woody sculpture line and a duo of hand-drawn T-shirt designs. The hand-painted Woody sculptures are dressed in PSG's familiar blue, red and white palette, feature the club's crest, read "Paris" on one side and "Tokyo" on the other, and, in a fine bit of fan service add "Est Magique" in small text on both s...

HVW8 is bringing a slice of Los Angeles to its Berlin flagship through a new group exhibition entitled Timepiece. Curated by participating artists Paul Flores and Henry Fey, the show dives into the mythology around LA — from the City of Angel's reputation as the entertainment capital of the world, the overlooked nuances of daily life to its natural beauty through the lens of native Angeleno's, who reinterpret these colors and visual signifiers through their respective practices. Fey is known for manipulating analog printing techniques through digital means. At times, his collage works conflate daily observations — a palm tree or a faux Roman bust — with corporate branding and unassuming photographs, resulting in abstracted compositions that aim to capture the constant flux of the present m...

Gagosian will soon play host to a new group exhibition featuring an intergenerational cast of Black artists who probe into the intersection of social consciousness through nonrepresentational forms. Curated by Antwaun Sargent, Social Abstraction is a two-part show in Beverly Hills and Hong Kong which will bring together a star studded lineup of work from the likes of Lauren Halsey, Theaster Gates, Amanda Williams and more.Each artist dissects perception of city and self through traditional materials, such as oil and acrylic paints, as well as unusual modes of expression, from hair glue, resins to wigs. Lauren Halsey, who is working on opening a sculpture park in South Central in 2026, created a relief using synthetic hair that billows down to the floor to exude a sense of power; whereas, f...

The late Richard Serra's legacy will live on in a new sculpture park opening in Northwest Florida in 2026. Dubbed the Longleaf Art Park, the forthcoming project is helmed by the Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation and will be an addition to the Watersound community. Prominently in the center of the OLI Architecture-built space will be Serra's monumental Passage of Time, a 217-foot long 540,000-pound sculpture crafted in thick weathered steel plates that size over 13 feet high. The trapezoidal structure that will house the sculpture joins Longleaf's aims to blend art with nature, a project that was in the works prior to Serra's passing back in March. “The importance of access to a piece of work as significant as Richard Serra’s Passage of Time cannot be overstated, and the impact it will have...

According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), a new mysterious monolith was spotted in the Nevada desert over the weekend. First reported by LVPDSAR, a search and rescue unit formed by volunteers, the structure is located near Gass Peak north of the Las Vegas Valley.In 2020, the first metal monolith was sighted in Utah. Soon after the news emerged online, a series of other similar-looking metal columns were being reported internationally. To this day, the origin of the Utah monolith remain a mystery.The Nevada Desert monolith follows faithfully with the steel structure that was found in Utah, boasting a shiny, mirror-like finish that’s reminiscent of the one from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 cult classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey.MYSTERIOUS MONOLITH!We see a lot of weird things...

While football fans were packing into pubs to watch UEFA EURO 2024, several members of the climate group Just Stop Oil sprayed an orange powdered paint over a portion of Stonehenge. The protestors proceeded in defacing the megalithic structure around noon local time in Salisbury, Wiltshire on June 19, just a day prior to summer solstice, which is believed to be one of the dates in the calendar year where ancient civilizations once performed rituals and ceremonies around the prehistoric columns.A number of British politicians came out to lambast the group's actions, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who labelled it a “disgraceful act of vandalism." It's certainly not the first time Just Stop Oil has taken over headlines for targeting artworks as a way to galvanize awareness towards the ...

Sagan Lockhart spent years photographing the early years of many of hip-hop’s most popular artists today. Living in Los Angeles, Lockhart found himself photographing the likes of Playboi Carti and Mac Miller years before they found mainstream success.He was eventually tapped by Odd Future to serve as the collective’s unofficial photographer.“To me, it was always important to build mutual relationships,” Lockhart told Hypebeast in a Diaries earlier this year. “What I was really looking for is these up-and-coming artists that I could see had some sort of potential. You know, this guy’s going to be the shit.”Well over a decade into his career, the photographer will be releasing his debut photo book, I Don’t Play. Designed and published by ism, the 220-page book will contain a bulk of his mate...

Spanish contemporary artist Okokume is set to open her new solo exhibition in Tokyo’s JPS Gallery at the end of the month. Titled Saó, this exhibit follows from Okokume’s last showcase in Paris as she continues to delve into her emotional and creative evolution through her artistic explorations.The title of the exhibition hail from an old Catalan term that describes the essence of opportune moments, maturity as well as perfection. These themes and ideas pervade the artist’s works, inviting the audience on a self-reflecting journey through the exhibits, while also learning to embrace the beauty in acceptance.The centerpiece of the exhibition is a triptych of acrylic and oil pastels-painted canvases, united through pastel-colored skies, river, fauna and a blue-hair girl alongside Okokume’s h...