Contemporary art exhibitions around the world offer a unique opportunity to experience different cultures and points of view through the lens of contemporary art. For artists, curators and collectors, art openings mean an opportunity to connect with a wider audience, showcase their work and expand their creative networks.
This year, after the restrictions due to Covid-19 were lifted, large crowds of people could be seen in art galleries and art museums. Attending these events can expand your artistic horizons, challenge your preconceptions, and inspire new ideas and creativity.
2023 promised to be an interesting year for contemporary art exhibitions, and indeed it has been. Let’s take another look at the top events in the world of contemporary art in 2023.
“Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a must-see when traveling to New York. One of the special art openings this year is the exhibition Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid.
Cecily Brown is a British artist known for her vibrant and sensual abstract work. Her art combines elements of figurativeness and abstraction. This artist’s paintings often depict fragmented and distorted figures, landscapes, and objects, layered with gestural brushstrokes and saturated colors.
Her work often explores themes of sexuality, desire, and the body and her dynamic and expressive style has earned her critical acclaim and a prominent place in the contemporary art world. Without a doubt, Death and the Maid is one of the must–see art openings this year.
“DAVID HOCKNEY” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo is hosting DAVID HOCKNEY, the most extensive solo exhibition of British artist David Hockney (b. 1937 in Bradford, UK) in Asia. The ongoing until Nov 05, 2023 exhibition showcases over 100 selected works, ranging from Hockney’s early works created in California in the 1960s to recent large paintings of his native Yorkshire landscape.
David Hockney is a celebrated British artist known for his vibrant and colorful paintings, prints, and photographs. Hockney is widely regarded as one of the most innovative post-war artists, working for over 60 years in a variety of media including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, and stage design. The artist is recognized for his depictions of the California landscape, portraits of friends, and his use of new technologies in art, such as the iPad.
“María Berrío: The Children’s Crusade” at the ICB, Insititute of Contemporary Art Boston
Berrio’s recently concluded exhibition of contemporary art featured new and existing works from her Children’s Crusade series, which combines the history of the medieval crusade with contemporary mass movements of people across borders. Her paintings reimagine migrant children through figures such as birds and human-animal hybrids, and explore questions of freedom, control and protection.
Maria Berrio is an artist based in New York. This bright representative of contemporary art creates breathtaking large-scale paintings using a unique process of combining torn Japanese paper with watercolor. Her surreal and romantic works are inspired by poetry, folklore and magic and motivated by the social and political realities affecting migrants, women and children.
“Daniel Boyd: RAINBOW SERPENT (Version)” at the Gropius Bau Museum, Berlin
Considered today one of Australia’s most important contemporary artists, Daniel Boyd’s contemporary art exhibition featured works that challenge colonial narratives. This artist strives to highlight the resilience and richness of indigenous cultures.
The artist is known for his unique approach to image creation, which involves layering, fragmenting, and painting over images to create complex and subtle images.
The exhibition titled “RAINBOW SERPENT (VERSION)” by Daniel Boyd was concluded in July and it was the most comprehensive display of Boyd’s art in Europe to date.
The contemporary art exhibition countered the colonial narrative of Australia’s history by engaging transnational networks of resistance, Indigenous knowledge production, and personal family histories.
“Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms” at the Tate Modern, London, UK
The Japanese representative of contemporary art is widely known for her avant-garde and highly immersive installations that explore themes of infinity, self-obliteration, and the cosmos.
Tate Modern has announced that due to overwhelming public demand, the Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Rooms of Mirrors exhibition would be extended for another year. The exhibition featured two major installations by the artist, as well as early documentation of her experimental performances and recent sculptural work that continues her interest in infinite space. The exhibition, which opened in June 2021, ran until June 2023.
Despite ongoing social distancing measures, demand for tickets to the exhibition was exceptional. By extending the exhibition for another year, Tate Modern hoped to satisfy the public’s enormous interest in the work of Yayoi Kusama and provide another opportunity to experience her unusual art installations. Yayoi Kusama is widely recognized as one of the most celebrated artists working today, and her work continues to captivate and inspire audiences around the world.