Installation view of “Celadon Landscape,” now on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Etienne Frossard)

During one of her trips to Korea, Jean Shin met with several ceramic artists in their studios. But, during these visits, she made an unexpected discovery: many studios harbored mounds of discarded shards in their back rooms. As she scanned these piles, the artist quickly realized that the remnants had come from finished ceramic vases that potters destroyed due to minor imperfections. She also realized that the shards could be reborn.

Shin’s resulting sculpture, Celadon Landscape, takes the form of two mosaic vessels, both clad in the repurposed ceramic shards. These shards, however, aren’t simply plastered onto these vases, and are instead strewn across the floor. Taken together, the effect is one of resurfacing, of inhaling once again, as if the two vases have just burst out from a turquoise sea. These oceanic motifs can of course be attributed to the work’s color palette, which echoes and reinvents traditional Korean celadon vases. But they also hint at a very specific journey, one that was taken by each and every shard composing Celadon Landscape.

Nearly two tons of these fragments were shipped from Korea to Shin, donated by kilns in and around the city of Icheon. In that way, Celadon Landscape mines the diasporic experience, unveiling the drama not just of separation, but of recreation.

“The diaspora community, like myself, have somehow been broken away from our birthplace,” Shin recently told Hyperallergic. “And yet in all the displacement and the distance, we’re still Korean, even though our context, language, and customs have shifted.” The shards, then, aren’t simply reminders of a life foregone. Instead, they are vital materials through which to fashion a new world, effectively combining the past, present, and future.

“The fragments [are] a metaphor of the Korean diaspora, vibrant artifacts of the Korean people, their history and culture, that are scattered all over the world to form new identities elsewhere,” Shin writes of the work.

Now, after being showcased at the Crow Museum of Asian Art in Dallas and the Sarasota Art Museum, Celadon Landscape has landed at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. The work occupies the cemetery’s Green-House, which recently opened and serves as the site’s “new front door.” As the inaugural exhibition at the center, Celadon Landscape encourages visitors to participate in its meaning through active engagement. Torn pieces of mulberry paper, all mimicking the work’s celadon color, prompt reflection on a seemingly simple question: Who do we carry with us? Once guests write down their thoughts, they are subsequently collaged by Shin onto a large scroll for the surrounding gallery walls, extending the work beyond its ceramic surface.

“Celadon vases occupy a prized place in Korean cultural history—objects of reverence, painstakingly made and carefully preserved,” Shin explains. “In Celadon Landscape, I shift the gaze to what is usually discarded. I see in their imperfection not loss, but beauty—fragments that still pulse with the memory of Korea’s enduring legacy.”

It’s a fitting message, especially considering the sculpture’s location. Similar to Celadon Landscape, cemeteries demand meditation upon what is lost and what is gained. Under these circumstances, fragments are more than mere remains—they are vessels, much like those that comprise Shin’s installation.

Jean Shin: Celadon Landscape is on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery through January 17, 2027.

In Celadon Landscape, artist Jean Shin repurposes discarded ceramic shards from Korean artisans into monumental mosaic vases.

Installation view of “Celadon Landscape,” now on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Etienne Frossard)

Installation view of “Celadon Landscape,” now on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Etienne Frossard)

The sculpture was produced with nearly two tons of fragments, donated to Shin by kilns in and around the Korean city of Icheon.

Installation view of “Celadon Landscape,” now on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Etienne Frossard)

Installation view of “Celadon Landscape,” now on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Etienne Frossard)

New Yorkers can now enjoy Celadon Landscape, currently on view at Green-Wood Cemetery’s new Green-House through January 17, 2027.

Installation view of “Celadon Landscape,” now on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Etienne Frossard)

Installation view of “Celadon Landscape,” now on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Etienne Frossard)

Installation view of “Celadon Landscape,” now on view at the Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Etienne Frossard)

Exhibition Information:
Jean Shin
Celadon Landscape
April 18, 2026–January 17, 2027
The Green-House at Green-Wood Cemetery
750 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11232

Jean Shin: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Elisa Smilovitz PR.

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READ: Ceramic Shards Repurposed Into Monumental Mosaic Vases Explore the Korean Diaspora

“Gothic Passage with Sedilia”

Carving stone is no small feat, but artist Matthew Simmonds makes it look effortless. Within hunks of Carrara marble and limestone, he unearths ornate interiors complete with sturdy Doric columns and graceful archways. The formal aspects—the exacting angles, visual balance, and details—stand in sharp contrast to the coarse, uneven edges in which they’re contained. The juxtaposition evokes the feeling that these places are hidden or otherwise obscured, making us imagine we’ve encountered (or rediscovered) a special place.

Simmonds has had a lifelong fascination with chipping rock, and he honed his sculptural skills while working as an architectural stone carver. His pieces center on sacred spaces, such as cathedrals, and he applies that same reverence to their formal qualities. Simmonds’ 2025 piece titled Gothic Passage with Sedilia highlights this idea. “This sculpture explores in a purposefully simple way a balance of symmetry and asymmetry,” he writes, “and of interior and exterior space, as a passage moves up through the stone between two repeating worlds on either side.” At once, the design is a celebration of perfection and imperfection, showing how one doesn’t exist without the other.

Scroll down to see a selection of Simmonds’ latest works—a small part of his over 20-year oeuvre. For more, read our 2021 coverage of him.

Within hunks of Carrara marble and limestone, artist Matthew Simmonds unearths ornate interiors complete with sturdy Doric columns and graceful archways.

“Gothic Passage with Sedilia”

“Proscaenium”

The formal aspects—the exacting angles, visual balance, and details—stand in sharp contrast to the coarse, uneven edges in which they’re contained.

“Arezzo”

“Firenze”

The juxtaposition evokes the feeling that these places are hidden or otherwise obscured, making us imagine we’ve encountered (or rediscovered) a special place.

“Siena”

“Pisa”

“That Which Remains”

“Window II”

“Chapter House V”

“Essay in Baroque Space IV”

“Lonja”

“Rotunda III”

“Rotunda IV’

Matthew Simmonds: Website | Instagram

All images via Matthew Simmonds.

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How do you like your eggs in the morning? Erika S. Rhinelander likes hers covered in epoxy resin. The Newfoundland-based artist creates hyperrealistic dripping egg sculptures that look as though they’ve just been cracked open.

Rhinelander has been making egg sculptures for around three years, and has a steady stream of egg-lovers scrambling to get their hands on one. Each handmade piece is entirely unique and designed to hang on your wall or sit on any surface—just not someone’s breakfast plate, unless you’re trying to play a trick. Rhinelander uses glossy resin to give every yolk a wet, gooey appearance, making each piece look incredibly real.

While many of Rhinelander’s smaller sculptures depict raw eggs, one recent piece takes the form of a giant fried egg. The larger-than-life wall sculpture was crafted from foam and plaster, then carefully painted and encased in glossy resin to give it a freshly cooked, edible appearance. The artist added the piece to her own kitchen wall as a homage to the sunny side-up snack.

Rhinelander doesn’t just like the look of eggs—she believes they represent something integral to our lives. “I was originally drawn to how simple but crucial eggs are in our lives,” Rhinelander tells My Modern Met. “They’re an important building block of life, not only literally (we all are born from/created with an egg) but culturally, as eggs are one of the most consumed foods on the planet.”

Rhinelander is drawn to turning an ordinary, everyday food product into something worth contemplating. “I remember when I was finishing my first giant egg sculpture, there was a lot of discussion around skyrocketing egg prices,” she recalls. “It struck me as extraordinary how this one item could disrupt an entire system. I love the absurd and surreal, so my intention with my first few egg sculptures was to cause the viewer to pause and look at something so ordinary in a new way.” Rhinelander adds, “By the end of my first giant egg I was the one looking at them in a totally new light.”

Check out some of the artist’s egg sculptures below and buy your own on Erika S. Rhinelander’s Etsy shop.

Newfoundland-based artist Erika S. Rhinelander creates hyperrealistic egg sculptures.

The artist uses glossy resin to give every yolk a wet, gooey appearance, making each piece look incredibly real.

Rhinelander is drawn to turning an ordinary, everyday food product into something worth contemplating.

Erika S. Rhinelander: Website | Instagram | Etsy

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Erika S. Rhinelander.

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READ: People Are “Scrambling” to Get One of These Giant Hyperrealistic Egg Sculptures

 

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Whether stained or textured, colored or shaped, glass boasts a magical ability, one that can elevate and warp spaces, objects, and surfaces alike. That notion is at the heart of Marius Boekhorst’s newest solo exhibition at Emanuele Catellani Contemporary (ECC), a by-appointment art advisory and curatorial studio based in Chieri, Italy.

The showcase revolves around Violet, a sculpture that cleverly combines a patterned glass case with a lush bouquet of flowers. From a distance, the work seems relatively mundane, perhaps resembling a commonplace—though nevertheless elegant—centerpiece. But once proximity is gained, Violet’s conceit immediately becomes clear. The artist’s delicately textured glass distorts the flowers it envelops, transforming petals and stems through optical abstraction. The result is a canvas in miniature, where the flowers appear to have been rendered with loose, almost Impressionist brushstrokes.

“The patterned glass breaks the [flowers’] exuberant colors up into illusive tones that resemble an abstract painting,” Boekhorst writes in an Instagram post. “The glass serves as the canvas and the flowers as the paint.”

As a “three-dimensional still life,” in the artist’s words, Violet challenges expectation without being unapproachable. In fact, the sculpture encourages an attentive eye, specifically designed for spatial engagement and repeated viewing from various different angles. “This combination,” Boekhorst continues, “creates an illusion with an interplay of transparency, blurriness, visibility, and distance.”

This isn’t the first time that Boekhorst has experimented with abstracting the natural world with the help of glass. Violet Frosted offers a similar exploration of the “nostalgic sentiment derived from something as commonplace as patterned glass,” per the artist. As its title suggests, though, the work is even hazier than its counterpart, thanks to its frosted composition. This texture is equally innovative, but may remind us more of Pointillism than of Impressionism. The artistic technique, which emerged in the mid-1880s and was pioneered by artists such as Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, involves distinct dots of pure color, carefully arranged in patterns that, when viewed in their entirety, reveal a comprehensive image. Violet Frosted operates within that framework, all while pushing the material boundaries of glass and, by extension, of flowers.

“[Violet] invites viewers to reconsider the everyday by shifting perspective on the overlooked,” ECC writes of the exhibition. “Through this reframing, Boekhorst reveals the quiet and often unexpected beauty within the mundane, discarded, and nostalgic.”

Violet is now on view at ECC through May 31, 2026. To learn more about the artist and his exciting designs, visit Marius Boekhorst’s website and follow him on Instagram.

Multidisciplinary artist Marius Boekhorst combines optical abstraction and the natural world through a clever glass sculpture.

 

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Titled Violet, the work comprises a patterned glass case containing a bouquet of flowers that, when viewed up-close, resembles an Impressionist still life.

 

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Exhibition Information:
Marius Boekhorst
ECCPROJECTS #35
May 4–May 31, 2026
Emanuele Catellani Contemporary
Via Martiri della Libertà 2, 10023, Chieri, Italy

Marius Boekhorst: Website | Instagram

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READ: Patterned Glass Box Makes Encased Flower Bouquet Look Like an Impressionist Painting From Every Angle

 

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In Dale Chihuly’s mind, there is “nothing that possibly compares to Venice.” The Italian city’s “light, history, and breathtaking architecture,” he continues, “have been a constant source of inspiration for me.” Indeed, the master glassblower has harbored a fascination with Venice that can be traced back decades. In 1996, he exhibited Chihuly Over Venice, comprising 14 chandeliers suspended over canals, markets, bridges, and courtyards throughout the city. Now, exactly 30 years later, Chihuly triumphantly returns to Venice with a new set of three glassblown sculptures.

These monumental works are installed along the Grand Canal as part of Chihuly: Venice 2026, an aptly-titled exhibition that hints at the artist’s enduring connection with the city. Keeping with the rest of Chihuly’s oeuvre, these pieces are equally serpentine and unexpected, vibrating with bold colors, tangled forms, and a graphic sense of movement. One sculpture, for instance, bursts with red, orange, and blue tendrils, resembling a fiery explosion that cannot be contained. Another piece is more lateral, its golden threads illuminated and vertically climbing toward the sky. Completing the series is yet another glassy, tentacle-like cluster, this time boasting cooler tones. With its vibrant greens and deep blues, the sculpture seems to mimic Venice’s waterways, repurposing an aquatic palette to fully harmonize with its surroundings.

In many ways, retrospection lies at the heart of Chihuly: Venice 2026. After all, the exhibition marks the anniversary of Chihuly Over Venice, which became the subject of a PBS documentary and attracted millions of viewers in the United States. Following the landmark project, Chihuly quickly gained recognition for his pioneering glass sculptures, whose structural and technical sensibility, the artist acknowledges, is deeply influenced by Venetian tradition. This dialogue, though, emerged long before the artist’s 1996 exhibition, originating instead in 1968 during a Fulbright Fellowship. The program took Chihuly to the Venini glass factory on Murano, where he experienced firsthand the island’s rich legacy of glassblowing, which dates back to the 13th century.

From there, it didn’t take long for Chihuly to experiment with a Venetian approach to glass. By the time he returned to the U.S., he began sharing his knowledge with other American artists, co-founding the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle in 1971 and recruiting Italian artists to teach there. This relationship undoubtedly grounded Chihuly Over Venice three decades ago, and once again grounds Chihuly: Venice 2026 in the present day.

“For us, coming back to Venice is just necessary,” Leslie Jackson Chihuly, the artist’s wife and Chihuly Studio’s president and CEO, said as she inaugurated the new exhibition. “It’s our home.”

The three installations are accompanied by a showcase at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, where visitors can encounter drawings, photographs, videos, and archival materials that chart the evolution of Chihuly’s practice, as well as the making of Chihuly Over Venice.

“Venice has always been a crucible for Chihuly, a place where he confronted tradition, expanded his vocabulary, and embraced the creative risks that transformed his work,” Suzanne Geiss, the exhibition’s curator, remarked. “Chihuly: Venice 2026 brings that history full circle.”

Chihuly: Venice 2026 will be on view through November 14, 2026, at the Istituto Veneto and alongside the Grand Canal.

Three decades after his iconic Chihuly Over Venice exhibition, master glassblower Dale Chihuly returns to the Italian city with Chihuly: Venice 2026.

 

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The presentation, which coincides with the Venice Biennale, showcases three glass sculptures alongside the city’s Grand Canal, with a presentation of archival materials at the nearby Istituto Veneto.

 

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Exhibition Information:
Dale Chihuly
Chihuly: Venice 2026
May 5–November 14, 2026
Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti
San Marco 2945 – 30124, Venice, Italy

Dale Chihuly: Website | Instagram

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Detail, “The Palmist,” 2011. Lost-wax bronze casting. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

Leonora Carrington was primarily celebrated as a surrealist painter and novelist by the time she died in 2011 at the age of 94. But, as a new exhibition at New York’s L’Space Gallery reveals, the British-born artist was an equally adept sculptor. Across several bronze sculptures, intricate golden jewelry, and even an interactive tarot reading booth, the show, which is aptly titled Shape of Dreams, seeks to unveil a new dimension to Carrington’s practice.

Born in 1917, the same year that Guillaume Apollinaire coined the term “surrealism,” Carrington first gravitated toward sculpture when she was around 18 or 19. One of her first sculptural works was a concrete bench in the form of a horse’s head, created for her home in Ardèche in the south of France, where she lived with fellow surrealist artist Max Ernst. The piece hints at the stylistic ethos that she would come to develop throughout her career, and yet Carrington viewed sculpture as a more personal and intimate endeavor.

“She regarded many of [her sculptures] almost as talismans: protective objects imbued with symbolic and spiritual meaning, often intended for her domestic environment,” Fermín Llamazares, president of the Leonora Carrington Council, tells My Modern Met, adding that the artist would return to the medium intermittently at different points in her life.

Upon escaping to Mexico City during World War II, Carrington explored three-dimensionality with renewed vigor. She would often design theatrical sets and marionettes, conjuring fantastical environments that “extended her imaginative universe,” per Llamazares. Emerging later were her bronze sculptures, which she produced as part of a project developed with her sons. Aside from expanding her visual language, these works also served a practical purpose, presenting a natural evolution within the broader trajectory of her practice. Toward the end of her life, Llamazares explains, the artist’s eyesight had deteriorated and she suffered from severe arthritis, ultimately preventing her from painting with ease.

“The bronzes became a way for her family to support her continued creative production by translating her imagery into sculptural forms,” Llamazares continues. “The works allowed Carrington to remain artistically engaged while also helping to preserve and extend her legacy.”

That idea is at the heart of Shape of Dreams. Throughout the exhibition, we encounter a rare assortment of Carrington’s sculptures, the majority of which were crafted during her later years. Many works also resemble hybrid, if not entirely mythological, beings, ranging from a bird-like woman whose palms are engraved with faces to a crescent-headed figure peering down at a bowl resting in its lap. These sculptures radiate with a singular sense of magic, tugging at our subconscious with their bizarre mysticism.

“When I first encountered Carrington’s sculptures in Mexico nearly two years ago, I was struck by the feeling that her paintings had suddenly stepped into physical space,” Lili Almog, L’Space Gallery’s director, tells us. “The same dream figures, mystical creatures, and spiritual symbols that inhabit her canvases were now standing before me as living presences. It felt less like viewing sculpture and more like entering her subconscious world.”

That sensation undoubtedly informs Shape of Dreams. After all, Almog notes, the gallery hoped to make the works “feel animated, almost as if they had emerged directly from the artist’s inner visions into our present moment.” The effect certainly comes through, reminding us that Carrington’s inner world extended far beyond painting or literature. It also reached into physical, three-dimensional spaces, forcing us to contend with our own dreams, our spirituality, and, perhaps most of all, our imaginations, no matter how abstract.

“For Leonora, surrealism wasn’t just a mere artistic aesthetic or process,” Llamazares concludes. “It was more of a way of life, and she lived and breathed the surrealist ethos.”

Leonora Carrington: Shape of Dreams will be on view at L’Space Gallery in New York starting May 14 through July 25, 2026.

Throughout her life, Leonora Carrington was best known for her surrealist paintings and novels. A new exhibition reveals she was also an adept sculptor.

“The Inventor of Atole,” 2011. Lost-wax bronze casting. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

Detail, “Unknown,” 2010. Lost-wax bronze casting. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

“Catwoman,” 2011. Lost-wax bronze casting. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

“Sol Negro.” 0.925 Sterling Silver, 24k Gold Plated, and gemstones. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

“Cantana Muda.” (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

Now on view at L’Space Gallery in New York, Shape of Dreams presents a rare selection of Carrington’s sculptures, many of which are inspired by surrealism, mysticism, mythology, and hybridity.

“Bailarin.” 0.925 Sterling Silver, 24k Gold Plated, and gemstones. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

“The Ship of Cranes,” 2010. Lost-wax bronze casting. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

“Syssigy.” 18k gold, diamonds, and sapphires. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

“The Palmist,” 2011. Lost-wax bronze casting. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

Portrait of Leonora Carrington. (Photo: Courtesy L’Space)

Exhibition Information:
Leonora Carrington
Shape of Dreams
May 14–July 25, 2026
L’Space Gallery
524 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011

L’Space Gallery: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by L’Space Gallery.

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READ: A Rare Presentation of Leonora Carrington’s Surrealist Sculptures Have Landed in New York

 

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At just 20 years old,  Yanran Chen (aka Chloe Chen) is already building an expansive artistic universe, one where sculpture becomes a vessel for identity and the uncanny. Best known for her dreamy, manga-inflected visual language, the rising Chinese artist extends her practice beyond illustration into sculptural works that feel both futuristic and deeply human.

Chen’s early immersion in drawing and later studies at institutions such as the Rhode Island School of Design and Kyoto Seika University shaped her hybrid aesthetic, which pulls from anime, sci-fi, and experimental cinema. Her sculptures, however, are where this visual language fully materializes.

Often rendered with hyper-smooth, almost synthetic surfaces, Chen’s three-dimensional works merge soft, doll-like human features with mechanical or cybernetic forms. In pieces like Nightmare Robot (2024), multiple eerily lifelike faces emerge from a compact, machine-like body, suggesting fragmented identity, artificial consciousness, and the tension between organic emotion and technological form.

This fusion of the intimate and the artificial is central to her practice. Drawing from dreams and speculative futures, Chen creates sculptures that feel like artifacts from an alternate reality, uncannily familiar yet slightly unsettling. Her works often echo the visual logic of comics and gaming culture, while pushing into more philosophical territory about what it means to exist in a digitized world.

These ideas come together most clearly in her 2025 exhibition Neon Dreamland, presented at Art Focus in Beijing. The immersive show featured a series of collectible and large-scale sculptures alongside paintings and installations, inviting viewers into a fully realized “dreamscape” where reality and fantasy dissolve into one another.

Rather than existing as standalone objects, Chen’s sculptures function as characters within a larger narrative ecosystem. Some resemble avatars or companions, while others feel like emotional extensions of the artist herself, capturing states of anxiety, nostalgia, and transformation. This approach aligns her with a new generation of artists who treat sculpture not just as form, but as storytelling.

Despite their polished, almost toy-like appearance, Chen’s works carry a quiet emotional weight. They ask viewers to consider how identity shifts in an age shaped by screens, avatars, and virtual presence, where the boundaries between the physical and digital self continue to blur.

With her sculptural practice still evolving, Yanran Chen is already carving out a distinct space in contemporary art, one where tenderness, technology, and surrealism coexist in striking, otherworldly form.

Artist Yanran Chen creates surreal sculptures that combine doll-like human features with sleek mechanical forms to introduce a dreamlike, futuristic world.

 

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Drawing from anime, sci-fi, and personal memory, the sculptor creates hybrid figures to explore identity and artificial consciousness.

@ocula.art In her debut China solo exhibition, the 20-year-old artist Yanran Chen transforms Tang Contemporary Art’s new space, ART FOCUS, into a portal between fantasy and reality. ‘I want people walking into this exhibition to feel like these things have appeared in your mind before—but now they’ve become real,’ she told Ocula. On the first floor, paintings, sculptures, and even her own studio table invite viewers into her personal dreamscape. The second floor reveals an entirely different realm—a sci-fi collaboration with anime label WaarWorld, based on Liu Cixin’s ‘The Supernova Era'. Here, sculptural characters from the ‘Players Series’ blend post-human aesthetics with playful surrealism, shown in full for the first time in China. Curated by Yuan Hong and presented as part of Beijing Art Season ‘Neon Dreamland’ opens today and is on view until 6 July. Discover more exhibitions to see in Beijing on Ocula—link in bio. #YanranChen #TangContemporaryArt #BeijingGalleryWeekend #Ocula ♬ original sound – Ocula

 

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Presented as part of a larger narrative universe, the works invite viewers into an immersive dreamscape where reality and fantasy begin to merge.

 

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Yanran Chen: Website | Instagram

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READ: 20-Year-Old Artist’s Surreal Sculptures Blur the Line Between Human and Machine

Embed from Getty Images

Banksy has once again surprised the public with an unexpected artwork, this time stepping beyond his signature stencil murals and into sculpture. The anonymous artist recently unveiled a new installation in central London and placed a mysterious figure in the middle of one of the city’s most historically loaded locations.

The work now stands in Waterloo Place in St James’s, London, an area lined with monuments that commemorate Britain’s military, political, and imperial history. Unlike the surrounding statues, which typically honor historical figures, Banksy’s sculpture shows an anonymous suited man striding confidently forward while carrying a large flag that billows over his face and completely obscures his vision. The dramatic composition creates an immediate visual contradiction: although the figure appears purposeful and determined, he cannot see where he is going.

Banksy confirmed the work by posting images of the sculpture on Instagram shortly after it appeared. While the artist did not provide an official statement, the symbolism has already sparked widespread interpretation. Many viewers and critics describe the piece as a commentary on nationalism, patriotism, and the dangers of blindly following political ideologies or national symbols.

The placement of the sculpture carries particular weight. Waterloo Place contains several monuments that celebrate British military victories and imperial history, which makes it an intentional setting for a work that questions power, authority, and the narratives embedded in public monuments. By inserting a contemporary anonymous figure among these traditional statues, Banksy creates a dialogue between historical memory and present-day politics.

According to reports, a team installed the sculpture overnight without prior notice, in keeping with Banksy’s longstanding practice of anonymity and surprise. The unauthorized installation quickly attracted crowds, and passersby gathered to photograph and speculate about its meaning before Banksy publicly authenticated it online.

The piece also marks a notable evolution in Banksy’s practice. Although the artist is internationally known for politically charged murals and street interventions, this latest project shows a continued interest in public space beyond walls and flat surfaces. By creating a three-dimensional monument, Banksy adopts the visual language of official public art while simultaneously undermining it.

Critics describe the sculpture as an “anti-imperialist monument” and note how its presence in such a historically symbolic location reframes the surrounding statues and invites viewers to reconsider what and whom societies choose to commemorate. The obscured face transforms the flag into both an object of pride and a visual barrier, suggesting that symbols meant to unify can also conceal.

As with many of Banksy’s works, the power of the piece lies in its ambiguity. The artist offers no caption or explanation and lets the sculpture’s symbolism and context carry the message. In a city where monuments often reinforce legacy, authority, and national identity, Banksy’s latest intervention asks a simple but provocative question: what happens when devotion to symbols prevents us from seeing clearly?

The sculpture remains on view in Waterloo Place, where it now stands among London’s official monuments and quietly challenges the values many of them were built to celebrate.

Banksy unveiled a surprise sculpture in central London featuring a flag-blinded figure in a historic public square.

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The installation sparks debate as its symbolism reframes Britain’s monuments and questions ideas of nationalism and authority.

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The work remains on view in Waterloo Place, where it quietly challenges how societies construct memory and meaning in public space.

 

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Banksy: Website | Instagram

Source: Banksy confirms he’s behind statue in central London

READ: Banksy Unveils New Sculpture in Central London That’s Already Sparking Debate

“The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin at Legion of Honor (Photo: Yair-haklai via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Visitors to the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco are welcomed by a monumental, 6-foot-tall bronze cast of The Thinker, one of French artist Auguste Rodin’s most iconic works. Positioned in the museum’s Court of Honor, the sculpture is a striking focal point within an institution founded to showcase a celebrated collection of Rodin’s art.

The original Thinker was sculpted by Rodin around 1880-1881. The brooding figure depicts the Italian poet Dante who is considered one of the greatest writers of the Middle Ages. Originally, the sculpture was meant to sit at the center of the tympanum of The Gates of Hell, an ambitious doorway for a planned Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris that was never completed.

Nonetheless, The Thinker became a work in its own right, and by 1889, it was exhibited in Paris at the Exposition Monet-Rodin at the Galerie Georges Petit. A 27-inch bronze cast from 1896, now housed at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, reflects the sculpture’s original size. Other casts sit at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Kunsthalle Bielefeld in Germany, Columbia University in New York, Pushkin Museum in Moscow, and other notable establishments around the world.

There are thought to be around 28 to 30 official bronze casts of The Thinker, most of them produced by expert foundries working under Rodin’s supervision. One of the most important was the Alexis Rudier Foundry, which was responsible for casting many versions during Rodin’s lifetime, including the one placed in the courtyard of Legion of Honor.

San Francisco socialite and philanthropist Alma de Bretteville Spreckels acquired the sculpture with the help of her friend Loie Fuller in 1924. Fuller was a pioneering American dancer who moved in avant-garde circles in Paris and helped connect collectors with artists like Rodin.

A passionate supporter of the arts, Spreckels went on to build an impressive collection of Rodin’s work. The Thinker was one of the earliest pieces she purchased and became part of a group of more than 70 sculptures that she would later donate to the Legion of Honor, helping shape it into one of the most important Rodin collections outside of France.

Find out more about the incredible Rodin collection at Legion of Honor on the museum’s website. Legion of Honor is also home to an impressive collection of historic and contemporary art from around the world.

Visitors to the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco are welcomed by a monumental, 6-foot-tall bronze cast of The Thinker, one of French artist Auguste Rodin’s most iconic works.

Positioned in the museum’s Court of Honor, the sculpture is a striking focal point within an institution founded to showcase a celebrated collection of 70 Rodin works.

The brooding figure depicts the Italian poet Dante who is considered one of the greatest writers of the Middle Ages.

Legion of Honor is also home to an impressive collection of historic and contemporary art from around the world.

Here’s what some of the museum’s visitors thought of The Thinker.

 

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Legion of Honor: Website | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Legion of Honor.

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READ: Discover the Story Behind Rodin’s Monumental ‘Thinker’ Sculpture at the Legion of Honor Museum

“Resting Head I”

After almost 300 years, Kosta Boda has undoubtedly mastered the art of glass. For centuries, the Swedish heritage brand has deftly combined tradition and innovation, producing glassware firmly rooted within Scandinavian design principles. But at the center of Kosta Boda’s contemporary success is Bertil Vallien. Now, the 88-year-old artist has come all the way from Sweden to Brooklyn for his latest solo exhibition, offering us a glimpse into his decades-long practice.

Staged at Robert Lehman Gallery, Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art gathers 35 works by Vallien, each exploring his experimental approach to glass production, his technical diligence, and imaginative subject matter. Throughout his 64-year career, he has popularized black glass; perfected the modern method of glass sand-casting, earning him an international reputation as the “father of a lost technique;” and, above all else, challenged the limits of what glass can be, both as a medium and as a craft. That range is effectively captured in the exhibition, spanning everything from transparent boats and disembodied heads, to surreal sculptures and colorful vases.

“Glass has a quality that is truly exceptional,” Vallien has said. “No other material can fascinate in the same way, create such optical effects, or evoke reflections on both permanence and impermanence.”

In Starman, Vallien’s reverence for glass shines through with incredible clarity. Perhaps nothing embodies this better than his Resting Head series, which, as its title suggests, consists of glass heads with contemplative, if not unsettling, expressions. Such faces have become something of a specialty for Vallien, becoming a regular motif but one that’s still flexible enough for the artist to bend depending on his mood. Resting Head I, for instance, entombs a head within an egg-like form, its facial features barely visible through the frosty glass. His Azur sculptures, on the other hand, bear a remarkable transparency without sacrificing their striking, blue color palettes. Comparing these works only reveals Vallien’s fluency within the medium—in other words, he’s able to perform many different feats all at once.

“Vallien has been dancing with the gods of glass since 1963, when he began working at Åfors Glassworks,” Douglas Heller, a consultant for the exhibition, notes. “There, he was granted the rare freedom to move fluidly between roles—as a designer for industrial production and as an independent studio artist. In the decades that followed, Vallien reshaped the landscape of the glass world.”

For Vallien, that landscape is one of myth and magic. Featured in Starman is the Idun’s Magical Apples series, a testament to the artist’s interest in storytelling. These works not only reference Sweden’s national fruit, but the apple as an origin point—biblical or not—within the cycle of life. Beyond that, Idun is a Norse goddess whose magical apples are said to grant eternal youth, yet another play on mythological tradition. The Ships series is similarly grand, conjuring images of Norse ships sailing the high seas toward the unknown.

“Even after all these years, it’s still just as exciting to open the annealing oven and witness the glowing, dangerous molten glass transform into ice and cold,” Vallien once remarked. That excitement is palpable in this dazzling exhibition, not to mention in Vallien’s enduring partnership with Kosta Boda.

Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art will be on view at Robert Lehman Gallery in Brooklyn through June 7, 2026.

In Starman, New Yorkers can explore Bertil Vallien’s 64-year career in glass art and his enduring collaboration with Swedish heritage brand Kosta Boda, whose history spans nearly 300 years.

A glass sculpture produced for Kosta Boda

Installation view of “Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art” at Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Hanna Grankvist)

A glass vase produced for Kosta Boda

Installation view of “Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art” at Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Hanna Grankvist)

“Equilibrium”

On view at Robert Lehman Gallery in Brooklyn, the exhibition gathers 35 works by the 88-year-old artist, offering an expansive glimpse into his innovative practice.

Installation view of “Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art” at Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Hanna Grankvist)

A glass sculpture produced for Kosta Boda

Installation view of “Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art” at Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Hanna Grankvist)

Installation view of “Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art” at Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Hanna Grankvist)

Installation view of “Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art” at Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Hanna Grankvist)

Installation view of “Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art” at Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: Hanna Grankvist)

Exhibition Information:
Bertil Vallien
Starman: Sixty Years of Exploring Glass Art
April 3–June 7, 2026
Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass
647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Bertil Vallien: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Cultural Counsel.

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READ: 88-Year-Old “Father of a Lost Technique” Exhibits Over 60 Years’ Worth of Amazing Glass Art