A gallery glow up, spooky sculpture and a magical modern – the week in art
This week’s art round-up highlights major new exhibitions across the UK, alongside obituaries and notable developments from the wider art world.
– Durham’s new gallery opens with Victory Over the Sun, a light-art survey featuring Olafur Eliasson and Ceal Floyer. – Tate Modern presents a major Ana Mendieta exhibition, while Jupiter Artland shows Sgàire Wood’s sculpture. – St Ives hosts Claire Curneen’s death-themed sculptures, and London’s Eyes in the Soil explores art engaging with the earth. – Yayoi Kusama died aged 97; the Japanese artist was known for her infinity rooms, polka dots and ideas of infinity. – Other news includes the death of Betye Saar, a Spanish theft of Bronze Age gold, and Gao Zhen’s imprisonment in China. – The featured historical work is Aelbert Cuyp’s A Herdsman with Five Cows by a River, praised for its quiet, luminous naturalism.
- UK galleries launch prominent new art exhibitions.
- Yayoi Kusama dies aged 97.
- The round-up spans art news, controversy and history.
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The round-up covers exhibitions and other developments across the art world, from galleries in Durham, London and St Ives to sculpture at Jupiter Artland in Scotland. The shows feature artists working with light, the natural world, death and the body.
It also records the deaths of artists Yayoi Kusama and Betye Saar, and reports on a theft of ancient gold in Spain and the imprisonment of Chinese artist Gao Zhen. The stories reflect how art news spans new work, artists’ lives and the protection and freedom of cultural expression.
The historical painting by Aelbert Cuyp offers a quieter point of reference: a herdsman and cattle beside a river, rendered with soft light. It shows how older works remain part of the conversation alongside contemporary exhibitions.