NOT REAL ART

05/29/2026

For Mental Health Awareness Month, we asked 10 artists to share how they confront inner demons, cope with outside stress, and care for their mental well-being.

Here's what mixed-media artist Nikki Painter told us:

“I have dealt with depression off and on, and my most effective way of combating it has usually been to get productive in the studio. A few other things I use for self-care include checking in with family and friends, regular exercise, establishing a routine (this includes celebrating the completion of small tasks, which can be anything, including something like emptying the dishwasher), and focusing my thoughts toward gratitude, either through journaling or a few minutes of concentration/meditation.”

Read the full feature: https://artsy.short.gy/7DlZOR 💙 Then tell us your favorite self-care rituals below.

05/26/2026

For Mental Health Awareness Month, we asked 10 artists to share how they confront inner demons, cope with outside stress, and care for their mental well-being.

Here's what photographer MJ Bentley told us:

“Somatic work and studying are keys to my mental health. Yoga is important to me, as is wellness, meditation, sound baths, and having some level of spirituality.”

Read the full feature: https://artsy.short.gy/7DlZOR 💙 Then drop us your favorite self-care rituals below.

05/22/2026

For Mental Health Awareness Month, we asked 10 artists to share how they confront inner demons, cope with outside stress, and care for their mental well-being.

Here's what illustrator Grace Netanya told us:

“Have a well-balanced life. It’s really easy as an artist to place your entire identity and sense of fulfillment on your work. There is a stereotype of the ‘obsessed artist’ who stays in their studio, in a creative frenzy, and forgets about the world. This idea is often romanticized, but it’s not healthy. It’s important to invest in interests other than your art. You can’t be an art-making machine, and artists who live interesting lives make more interesting art anyhow!”

Read the full feature: https://artsy.short.gy/7DlZOR 💙 Then tell us your favorite self-care rituals below.

05/20/2026

Ever feel like bugs are crawling all over your skin? You’re not alone. Lately, it seems like the world is pressing in from all sides. Social media melodrama, endless dopamine loops, and the same headlines about prices climbing higher while paychecks stay right where they are. Tack on a pandemic hangover that refuses to lift, and it’s no wonder so many of us are running on fumes.

As Mental Health Awareness Month unfolds, we asked six artists to share how they confront their inner demons, navigate external pressures, and care for their mental well-being.

Read all 10 responses here: https://artsy.short.gy/7DlZOR

05/06/2026

Modern Love is our May 2026 exhibition, and it's packed with work that's complicated, tender, strange, and raw.

From declarations of self-love to memories of painful rejections, from fleeting encounters to moments of intense connection, the artists in this show take on intimacy and eros from every angle.

You'll see oil paintings of "robosexuals," Japanese-inspired embroidery of couples sexting, futuristic sculptures on the dehumanization of modern relationships, and candid self-portraits made for hookup apps.

See the full exhibition at the link below.

https://artsy.short.gy/Tv7hhE

05/05/2026

Michael Moore builds machines that look like they escaped from a mad scientist's fever dream: scrap steel, blinking warning lights, vintage oddities, all wired together in his garage.

And now one of those machines might land him in Artforum.

Michael is a finalist in the People's Artist Contest, a national public-vote competition presented by Artforum, Johnny Depp, and Art of Elysium.

He was one of the very first guests on the NOT REAL ART podcast, and he's been making gloriously weird kinetic art ever since. His piece 'Dr. Dirtknapp's Cremation Station' got him to the finals. (He says it nearly gave him a heart attack in the process.)

Voting is open May 4–14 at peoplesartist.org. Takes about 30 seconds. And it could mean everything to a self-taught artist from Chicagoland who's been building his own path, one salvaged part at a time.

Full episode + voting link: https://artsy.short.gy/Vt8mx0

Go vote for Michael. 🔩

04/16/2026

Engineering teaches you to solve for variables. Caregiving teaches you that some variables cannot be solved, only held.

Sarah Buckius has worked inside both systems, and the tension between them runs through everything she makes. As a mechanical engineer, she was trained to identify a problem, define the variables, and design toward a solution. As a cancer survivor and mother of three — including premature twins with serious early health challenges — she learned that caregiving does not work that way.

"Caregiving is a process that feels never-ending, with no real beginning or end," she says. "It is messy, chaotic, and human." And much of it is entirely unpaid.

What strikes Sarah is how much caregiving resembles the foundational labor that makes technological progress possible and how thoroughly economic systems have managed to keep that labor off the books. The next generation of engineers, designers, and inventors is raised by someone. That work counts. It just does not get counted.

Artist and engineer Sarah Buckius reveals how women’s unseen work complicates conventional ideas of progress and what technology can solve in a patriarchy.

03/31/2026

Talk to artists about AI, and you’ll find a spectrum of responses. Some see it as a new creative partner, others as a threat to what makes art meaningful. We asked artists from our exhibitions about their stance on using artificial intelligence in their work. Their answers reveal just how complicated this moment is.

Some artists are eager to experiment, others are holding back. For many, AI is a tool with real potential. For others, it raises questions about authorship, ethics, and what we lose when the process becomes automated.

Artists like Josh Urban Davis, Michael Ricciardi, Chris Combs, and Noah Scalin are each finding their own way through this territory. Our latest exhibition, "Out of Bounds: Pushing the Lines Between Technology and Art," brings these tensions into focus.

Read the full story below.

We asked four artists from our recent exhibitions how AI is shaping their creative work—and what they see coming next.

03/24/2026

Art and AI: Can they coexist? Our latest exhibition, 'Out of Bounds,' brings together artists who are exploring what it means to be creative in the age of AI.

Some artists see incorporating AI into their work as both an opportunity and a challenge, while others anticipate untold evils unleashed by Big Tech in the years ahead. One thing is clear: human hands still matter. Check out their answers below, and let us know: what does creativity mean to you in the age of AI?

Artists featured in our recent tech-themed exhibition, 'Out of Bounds,’ reflect on how AI is reshaping creativity and artistic expression.

03/17/2026

If you’ve ever wondered how neon art comes to life, here’s your chance to find out. Kacie Lees, a Brooklyn-based artist and educator, is lighting up our latest exhibition, Out of Bounds: Pushing the Lines Between Technology and Art, with her glowing work. Kacie’s pieces explore everything from spirals and lightning bolts to the quirks of working with glass and gas.

In this week’s Q+Art interview, Kacie gets into the nitty-gritty of neon, shares what really happens in her workshops, and even drops a solid dad joke. She also talks about the meaning behind her featured installation, “Inner Beams,” and what attendees can expect from her upcoming classes.

Check out the article for the full interview, details on her upcoming workshops, and a peek into the Out of Bounds exhibition. Link below.

Working across neon, video, and print, teaching artist Kacie Lees recreates iconic symbols and shapes that pulse with color, light, energy, and emotion.