• Manif d'art 5, the Québec City Biennial, will explore the role of catastrophes in contemporary life May 1-June 13, 2010.  A catastrophe seems to be always looming in the far distance, but is ever present.   Thirty-six artists react to the notion that catastrophe has become the condition of contemporary life.  Read more here.
• Kunstverein Hamburg hosts Daniel Josefsohn May 1-30, 2010.  The show, Everything's Gonna be Alright Mother, highlights Josefsohn's style of photography which blurs the lines between art, design and fashion photography.  Josefsohn typically uses "unusual motifs and unsettling scenes" to show an irony within the subject matter.  For more read the article on E-Flux.com.
• Art For the World (The Expo) opens this weekend in Shanghai and runs through the end of October.  As the major project of the Shanghai World Expo 2010, Art For the World allows 20 international artists to showcase their sculptures on Expo Boulevard.  For more visit E-Flux.com.
• Disasters will reveal the character of an individual; art will help to heal the destruction caused by disasters.  On May 2, New York artists Swoon will unveil Konbit Shelter - a project representing the "cross-cultural expression of compassion and solidarity in the face of adversity" during the earthquake in Haiti.  Read more on HyperAllergic.com.
• A photographer in rural Michigan accidentally stumbled across a plastic skeleton during the 1990s, which led him to a new hobby in 2007.  Francois Robert traded the plastic skeleton for a real set of bones in 2007 and began arranging his new set into "iconic" shapes.  Check out the article, containing a slide show of his series Stop the Violence, here.
• David Zwerner in New York presents two Swedish artists,  Mamma Andersson and Jockum Nordstrom, in Who is Sleeping on my Pillow through June 12, 2010.  The concurrent solo exhibitions accentuate the different styles of two artists who have spent a significant amount of their lives together.  Read more on ArtKnowledgeNews.com.

• Nick Riggle of HyperAllergic.com shares his opinion about street art fans.  Riggle states that some fans over "hype" the works.  This over "hype" creates a disillusionment, both in the artist and the fan, that makes viewers "expect more from an artist than it is reasonable to expect."  Read more on HyperAllergic.com.
• The Ludwig Museum in Budapest presents "The Science of Imagination," a show focusing on science fiction.  Nine artists will take several different mediums to bring together prevalent issues from the 1940s-1980s.  For more visit E-Flux.com.
• Artist Melanie Jackson will show her works which make an analogy between "gallery, greenhouse and laboratory."  The show at the Drawing Room in London opens May 19, 2010.  Check out the details here.
• In Shanghai, China the Rockbund Art Museum presents "Cai Guo-Qiang: Peasant da Vincis" which features ambitious inventions by Chinese peasants May 4-July 25, 2010.  The exhibition coincides with the World Expo Shanghai and also examines the theme "Better City, Better Life."  Cai Guo-Qiang serves as both a collector and and artist for this exhibit.   Read more on E-Flux.com.
• The Renaissance Society presents "The Seductiveness of the Interval" May 2-June 27, 2010.  The exhibit presents the work of three Romanian artists.  Read more here.
• The Museum of Modern Art and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center announced the artists for "Greater New York."  Over 60 artists will participate in the show that runs from May23-Oct 18, 2010.  For a complete list of the artists click here.
• Millions of people were able to view a remembrance of Jeanne-Claude's work "The Gate."  The piece was displayed in Central Park in New York City.  Read more about festivities that took place earlier this month at ArtKnowledgeNews.com.
• Franz Erhard Walther will have his first solo exhibit in New York in over 20 years.  The German artist displayed interactive, or participatory art long before the current Marina Abromovic exhibit came into play at the MoMA.  Nearly all of his show dates from 1967-1973.  The exhibition runs through Saturday at Peter Freeman, Inc. in SoHo.  For more about the artist visit NYTimes.com.
• "Et Tu, DuChamp?" a piece by Subodh Gupta has been unveiled.  Visit theArtNewspaper.com for more.

  Zachary Proctor, one of Mondo Fine Art's talented artists, says that he is inspired by the masters, and specifically John Singer Sargent.  Sargent was one of the leading American portrait painters during his era.  Zachary says "I do love Sargent but my favorite painter is by far Diego Velazquez."  Incidentally a Wikipedia article states that Sargent used the "alla prima method of working directly on the canvas with a loaded brush, derived from Diego Velazquez."  So it's not surprising to pair the two together.   Diego Velazquez was a Spanish portrait painter during the Baroque period.  According to Zachary "Velazquez is head and shoulders above" the other artists.  Several realist and Impressionist painters have also modeled their work after Velazquez. As for influences in terms of mentors or teachers, Zachary lists Paul Davis for his drawing abilities, Dave Dornan for his paint quality and Tony Smith for his attention to color and soft edges. To see Zachary Proctor's work check out his profile with Mondo Fine Art.

• Nottingham Contemporary presents "Uneven Geographies" May 8-July 4, 2010.  The art visually depicts "the transnational mobility of capital, goods and people in today's global networks."  Thirteen artists from five different continents bring to light the effects of globalism on the world's economy.  Read more on Nottingham Contemporary's website.
• The Casino Luxembourg, often mistaken for an actual casino, presents "Ceci n'est pas un Casino," translated "This is not a Casino." The works for this show, contrary to it's title, attempt to evoke the idea of gaming; Each piece seems to invite the viewer to come and play.  The show runs from May 1-September 5, 2010.  Read more on E-Flux.com.
• HyperAllergic.com reports that Shepard Fairey's May Day installation has been defaced multiple times.  Pictures included on the website.  For more about the May Day show check out Deitch.com.
• Chicago Tribune writer Lauren Viera reports about the longevity of Art Chicago.  "Do we still care about this art fair," she asks.  Read the article here.
• The Independent reports that Russian art is the hot new commodity in the art market.  Read more here.
• The Tate Modern opened ten years ago,just after the completion of the Millenial Bridge, and its director Nicholas Serota has been with the museum since its inception.  Recently he answered questions from various people, such as "if you were a work of art, which would you be and why?"  Read his answers on Guardian.co.uk.com.

• "The Problem of Asia," an exhibition about how Asia is perceived internally and externally, will run April 30-May 22, 2010 in Sydney Australia.  The event is comprised of several Asian artists including Ai Weiwei.  Check it out here. 
• The KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Germany will host a three day "class" with art talk about artistic practice and visual culture April 30-May 2, 2010.  Fifteen artists, philosophers, curators, and writers will teach, aiming for the exchange and mediation of knowledge, skills and subject matters.  For dates and times check it out on E-Flux.com.
• Two contemporary art institutions are collaborating to bring together the show "Romania Cultural Resolution."  Cultural resolution is "an analysis of contemporary cultural discourse through art."  The event focuses on the Post-Communism experiences of the artists.  Read more here. 
• Pal Sarkozy, father of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, unveiled an exhibit of his digital artworks set to run April 24-May 9, 2010.  The exhibit features images of women, religion and his life as an immigrant.  Art Knowledge News reports here.
• The Pinchuk Art Centre in the Ukraine presents a show with 19 leading contemporary artists with the theme of Sexuality and Transcendence April 24-September 16, 2010.  The show includes works from world renowned artist Jeff Koons.  Read the article on Art Knowledge News' website.

• Simon Hantaï, known for developing pliage a process where the artist folds the canvas, paints exposed sections, and unfolds it to reveal the finished work, is on display at the Paul Kasmin Gallery through April 24.  This process has kept his work interesting and fresh precisely because the artist may not know the actual outcome ahead of time, in fact Art Fag City picked one of his pieces for a weekly highlight.
• "And then it was my turn [...] I had been seated for something like half a minute when she lifted her head and looked at me [...] She was looking at me and at me only."  Colm Toibin of the New York Review of Books shares his experience with Marina Abromavic at her show at the MoMA.  Read it here.
• L.A. street artist David Choe has grown from a "petty criminal" to a internationally renowned artist.  His show "Nothing to Declare" opens this weekend in L.A.  Read Choe's story on LATimes.com.
• Brent Green will exhibit his films and kinetic sculptures at U.C. Berkley in a show called "Perpetual and Furious Refrain."  One of Green's pieces on display includes "a monolithic 13-voice sound machine based on Thomas Edison's early wax cylinder recorders."  Check it out here.
• The Walther Collection in Germany presents "Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity" opening June 2010. The show combines the work of three generations of African artists and photographers with modern and contemporary German photography.  Read the full story on E-Flux.com.
• The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is set to exhibit "Utopia Matters" May 1-July 25, 2010.  The show involves work about "Brotherhoods to Bauhaus" from different artistic movements up to the present.  Check out the article on E-Flux.com.
• The Sydney Biennale of 2010 has announced its program for this year.  The Biennale runs from May 12-August 1, 2010 and is set to have over 50 artists' talks.  All events are free, but reservations are required.  For more info visit the 17th Sydney Biennale's website.

• Art Knowledge News reports that the Glasgow School of Art is hosting Alice Channer's show "Inhale, Exhale," a show specifically designed to fit the space in the Mackintosh Gallery.  Her work is intended to "clothe" and compliment the architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh inside the gallery.  This exhibition comes as part of the Glasgow International Festival 2010.
• The Model in Ireland presents "Dorm" May 2-July 4, 2010.  The show opens with a "Public Sleepover Project" allowing people to spend the night within the building.  The exhibit involves over 20 international artists collaborating on several projects including interactive pieces.  Visit the official website for more info.
• The Washington Post reports that the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum will be relocating the bookstore to the basement.  Artist Doug Aitken is in charge of the redesign of the space.  He plans to make the entrance to the museum "an educational experience."  Aitken's preliminary ideas involve the use of mirrors and natural light.  Read more here.
• Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea presents an exhibit of Gilberto Zorio through June 27, 2010.  Zorio attempts to defy space and to create art that overcomes "the notion of art as the crafting of completed and independent forms."  These interests lead to a certain ephemeral quality about his work.  Read more here.

Aaron Bushnell, one of Mondo Fine Art's artists, gave us a little insight into his inspiration as an artist.  He says, "I am inspired by great realism and also by abstract artists, particularly color field painters: Mark Rothko, and especially Wolf Kahn."  Rothko's works were characterized by intense colors and often minimal shapes such as rectangles.  Kahn has worked with bright, nontraditional colors to create images or landscapes.  Both of these inspirations are evident in Aaron's work. Aaron recently studied under another Mondo Fine Art artist, Michael Workman, and said the experience has been life changing.  While working with Michael Workman, Aaron adopted the basic Buddhist principle of doing whatever one does, and doing it well - no matter the task.  Aaron says "while [this is] an incredibly simple concept, it can take a lifetime to master. It doesn't matter if you are preparing surfaces to paint on, or setting reference to photograph, or framing, or marketing. Whatever you do in life, do it to the very best of your ability." This Buddhist principle has helped Aaron to cut down on distractions.  He points out that "anyone can learn the technical things to become a great draftsman. However to become a great artist, you need to have the mental focus." He has worked hard this year to maintain the mental focus and as a result his "paintings have reached a new level that has been wonderful" for him as an artist. Check out some of Aaron's available works HERE.

• The OPAL Contemporary Art Space in Turkey presents Daniel Garcia's show "Postcapital" which focuses on "social, political, economic, and cultural worldwide changes" from 1989-2001.  The show is free and is open from April 21-June 27, 2010.  Read more here, or visit the official website.
• The Office for Contemporary Art Norway presents Sheela Gowda with her first ever solo exhibition.  The exhibition takes the form of a dialogue between two of Gowda's pieces.  Read more on E-Flux.com.
• WYSTAWA, a show at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, uses shop windows to become a space for new artistic works.  The artists will use the glass and the enclosed space to create multi-levelled rooms, these spaces will remain open to the public April 24- June 20, 2010.  Check it out on E-Flux.com.
• Two museums in Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Institute of Contemporary Art, currently have exhibitions about the art of tattooing.  Read more on Boston.com's Art Review.
• Street photography, the act of taking pictures in the streets, often with bright flashes, became popular in the 1960-70s as a way to document the everyday bustle in the city.  But now the issues of privacy have affected the way street photographers work.  To read about influential artists and the issues they are currently facing check out Guardian.co.uk's article.
• HyperAllergic.com reports that Adolf Hitler was rejected by the Vienna Academy of Art twice, but his work will finally go to auction.  Read more here.  
• The Kunstmuseum Basel presents the work of Gabriel Orozco through August 8, 2010.  Orozco, a world renowned contemporary artist, explores the marginal zones of perception, changing vantage points and locations in a continuum of ceaseless transformation through his art.  Check out the show here. 

• The ArtAids Dakar: Tous ensemble will take place in Senegal as part of the Dakar Biennial 2010.  African and European artists have worked together to raise awareness and decrease negative stigmas about AIDS.  ArtAids Dakar takes place May 8-9, 2010.  Read more here or visit the Art Aids Website.
• Daniel Hug and Michael Neff commented on the current state of the economic downturn and how it is affecting art sales.  According to Hug and Neff the crisis is just beginning for new artists.  Read the quotes on ArtForum.com.
• Emre Huner is exhibiting for the first time at a European gallery with his show "The New Horizon" at Stroom Den Haag in the Netherlands.  The show deals with "shattered images of modernity" through the use of found photographs, books, films etc.  Read more on E-Flux.com. 
• Art Chicago and NEXT present The Invitational Exhibit of Emerging Art April 30-May 3, 2010.  There will be over 220 galleries, both national and international.  Visit ArtChicago.com or NEXTArtFair.com for more info.
• HyperAllergic.com's Hrag Vartanian comments on Banksy's film "Exit Through the Gift Shop."  Read it here. See the April 14 blog post for another article about Banksy.  
• L.A. based gallery Leslie Sacks has a show with Shane Guffogg and Jon Krawczyk, "neo-modernists with a contemporary twist."  ArtKnowledgeNews.com calls the show "totally American, yet international as the abstraction that was the earmark of progressive 20th century art."  Read more here.