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Every Flower That Blooms Had a Bee That Believed in It – Kari Black
For Kari Black the environment has never been an afterthought; utilizing his platform and work as an artist to bring awareness back to the original and irreplaceable creations of our planet.
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Young Americans – Ryan Bock’s Patriotic Parody
Opening on the Fourth of July, Ryan Bock’s Young Americans turned America’s 250th anniversary into a provocative examination of patriotism, power, and participation. Through puppetry, satire, multimedia works, and community-driven programming, Bock challenges audiences to question the symbols and systems that shape American identity—and consider their own role in determining what comes next.
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Toys Not Included: Building a Home for Seattle’s Street Art Community
Founded in 2023 by artist GirlSpit, Toys Not Included began almost by accident. After being invited to curate a street art exhibition for a local gallery, she gathered many of her favorite Seattle artists and jokingly titled the show Toys Not Included. While preparing for the exhibition, a group of friends covered the gallery windows with large-scale paste-ups, transforming the exterior into an artwork of its own. The collaboration was so rewarding that they decided to return the following year, unknowingly establishing what would become Seattle’s largest annual street art exhibition.
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SESTRY FELDMAN WORLD: Imagining Tomorrow to Better Understand Today
Stepping inside SESTRY FELDMAN WORLD, the first by Ukrainian twins Sestry Feldman in New York, transports into a future that feels strangely familiar. Set in the year 2050, the exhibition invites audiences into the home of a woman married to artificial intelligence, where family photographs, domestic interiors, paintings, conceptual objects, music, and immersive installation blur the line between science fiction and reality. Yet beneath the speculative premise lies a deeper question: How are the stories we tell ourselves shaping the world we’re already living in?
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Sharifa “Shay”: Photographing Liberation Through the Lens of Shayshotz
In Queens, where culture and identity thrive across generations, interdisciplinary artist and photographer Sharifa “Shay” has dedicated her work to preserving and celebrating Caribbean immigrant communities. Through photography, storytelling, and grassroots mentorship, Shay challenges cultural homogenization, archives overlooked histories, and reimagines liberation as a deeply local, community-driven process.
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Building Bridges and Subverting the “White Cube” – A Q&A with Shrey Mendiratta and Jacqueline Buckley of Westlab + Gallery
Westlab + Galley is a staple in the analog photography scene in NYC, occupying a storefront on Irving Avenue a few blocks away from Maria Hernandez Park. Operating as a full service film lab where you can also grab a cup of coffee, they serve as a gallery space and support creative work in the neighborhood and beyond.
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Caroline Lacoma and the Art of Returning
Some artists use a camera to document. Caroline Lacoma uses one to answer back.
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Red Zone Gallery: Artists for Palestine
“Red Zone Gallery is a collective art event for Palestine. 56 visual and street artists transformed an entire abandoned floor into a gallery. The ruins are not just the setting but part of the immersive experience: a reminder that, if one were to attend an exhibition in Gaza, it might take place in a place like this—at best.”
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UP’s Art News Recent Round-Ups – September 26th, 2025
In this week’s Art News Recent Round Ups – Florida Scrubs Street Art Under DeSantis Directive, UK Artist Restores Unity Mural to Combat Division and Racism, Back with yet another Banksy Update, & Student Voices Bring Color to Corning’s Alleys
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UP4 – From Detroit to SoHo: The Rise of Konstance Patton
In the run-up to our 5th Anniversary exhibition, we’re publishing some stories from the UP archives. From Issue 4: Politics – During the height of the chaotic year, social distancing became our lives. Stores boarded up for fear of rioting and looting, giving the city an apocalyptic look; decked in raw plywood sheets in place of windows. However, artists saw these plain plywood sheets as fresh canvases that could be used to beautify the city and share their messages through art. One such artist was Konstance Patton.
