April 15, 2026
Your morning brew of art world media
Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is Fair Enough by Phin Jennings for OCULA. Jennings argues that art fairs now dominate the global art market, but their rapid expansion is straining galleries and undermining local art scenes.
The Art Newspaper
Gareth Harris, ‘A fresh look at contemporary culture’: Gus Casely-Hayford, director of V&A East, takes us inside the new London museum
Angella d’Avignon, Olafur Eliasson stages public wake for the Great Salt Lake in Utah
Benjamin Sutton, Miami Beach’s Bass Museum picks architect for new pavilion
Caroline Roux, ‘It was my job to create the view’: US artist Liza Lou on making colourful works in her windowless warehouse
Melissa Gronlund, Art Dubai announces updated gallery list for postponed 2026 edition
Artforum
Adam Szymczyk, Can Global Exhibitions Still Provoke? New Lessons from Documenta 14
Smooth Nzewi, Are African Biennials Gateways—or Extraction Zones?
From the Editors, LACMA Sets May 4 Opening Date for $724 Million “Curvaceous Concrete Sandwich” as Reviews Pour In
From the Editors, American Artist, Penny Arcade Among 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship Cohort
From the Editors, European Commission Tells Venice Biennale to Ditch Russian Pavilion
From the Editors, Goldsmiths Art College Staffers Will Fight Proposed Cuts
Artnet
From the Editors, Artnet and Artsy Come Together Under Shared Leadership
Kate Brown, Painting Has Entered Its Performance Era
Kenny Schachter, Gallery Not Paying? Call Kenny Schachter’s Kollection Agency. He Gets Results!
Sarah Cascone, The Incredible Story of Edmonia Lewis, America’s First Black and Indigenous International Art Star
William Van Meter, Inside ‘Prince of Prints’ Jordan Schnitzer’s Sprawling Collection
Katya Kazakina, Sotheby’s Sued by Cushman and Wakefield Over Unpaid $10.2 Million Commission
Vittoria Benzine, Never-Before-Seen Stanley Kubrick Photos Debut in New York
Richard Whiddington, A Bodybuilder’s 3,300-Year-Old Egyptian Stele Heads to TEFAF
ARTnews
Daniel Cassady, Sotheby’s Sued Over $10.2 M. Fee as Cash Squeeze Comes Into Focus
Harrison Jacobs, Former High Museum COO Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Theft Charges
Maximilíano Durón, Joyce Awards to Relaunch After Yearlong Pause with $100,000 Unrestricted Grants for Great Lakes Artists
Anne Doran, Native Americans Played Dice Games Far Earlier Than Previously Known, Study Shows
Andy Battaglia, Brian Eno, FKA Twigs, Jim Jarmusch Among Sound Artists Commissioned for Vatican Pavilion at Venice Biennale
Maximilíano Durón, After Five Years of Community Building, Social Practice CUNY Initiative to End in 2027
Alex Greenberger, Hampshire College, Whose Alumni List Includes Many Well-Known Artists, to Close After 51 Years
Alex Greenberger, Artists Criticize Somalia’s First-Ever Venice Biennale Pavilion: ‘This Pavilion Does Not Speak for Us’
Harrison Jacobs, 2026 Guggenheim Fellowships Go to Sonya Clark, John Miller, and American Artist
Devorah Lauter, French Politicians Vote in Favor of Bill on Artifacts Looted During Colonial Era: ‘A True Historic Monument’
Daniel Cassady, IFPDA Print Fair Draws Record Crowds as Expansion Into Drawings Gets a First Test
ArtReview
Ella Frears, ‘Volcano Snake Sun, September’: A Poem by Ella Frears
From the Editors, Theme and artists announced for British Art Show 10
The Brooklyn Rail
Jason Rosenfeld, Thomas Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture
Ara H. Merjian, Gabriele Münter: Contours of a World
Terry R. Myers, Arshile Gorky: Horizon West
Sara Farrell Okamura, Michelle Lopez: Shadow of a Doubt
Alfred Mac Adam, Édouard Vuillard: Early Interiors
Joshua Chee Sandford, Yuko Mohri: Falling Water Given
Frieze
Ethan Price, Could ‘The Antwerp Six’ Thrive in Today’s Fashion Industry?
Salena Barry, Joy Labinjo’s Women Take Their Place in the Gallery
The Guardian
Nadia Khomami, Paris art enthusiast wins €1m Picasso painting in €100 charity raffle
Quinn Moreland, ‘I wanted my work to be shameless’: 93-year-old artist Joan Semmel on her trailblazing nudes
Sian Cain, Trump tweets, penguins and human-sized chess: NGV unveils blockbuster 2026 Triennial
Catherine Slessor, V&A East architecture review – from ceramics to codpieces, this is a honey-coloured treasure trove of human ingenuity
Ben Eastham, V&A East collection review – a dazzling wealth of inspiration to fire up the geniuses of the future
Hyperallergic
Rhea Nayyar, Mexican Artist Alleges Plagiarism of Femicide Project
Isa Farfan, These Are the Winners of the 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship
Paddy Johnson, Art Problems: Do I Need to Go to Art Fairs?
Moonoka Begay and Zach Feuer, Nikyle Begay Resurrects Century-Old Diné Weavings
Isa Farfan, Beloved CUNY Social Practice Art Program to Shut Down
Julia Curl, 40 Years Later, Houston’s FotoFest Keeps Its Edge
Olivia McEwan, Michaelina Wautier Finally Known by Her Name
The New York Times
Sam Lubell, Rebuilding After Fires, L.A. Neighbors Join Forces and Innovate
Mark A. Stein, A New York Museum Honors Its Real-Life ‘Indiana Jones’ Dinosaur Hunters
Alex V. Cipolle, At a Difficult Time, a Minnesota Museum Offers Respite to Somalis
Ted Loos, A Benefactor Gets Personal at the Museum She Founded 25 Years Ago
Observer
Christa Terry, Inside Public Art Fund’s 2026 Spring Benefit, New York’s Most Civic-Minded Soirée
Elisa Carollo, James Taylor-Foster On Curatorial Fluidity and Para Site’s Next Chapter
Elisa Carollo, Consonni Radziszewski Launches With a Three-City Footprint
Brook S. Mason, Inside the Most Valuable Single-Owner Design Sale in Sotheby’s History
OCULA
EDITOR’S PICK - Phin Jennings, Fair Enough: Has the expansionary march of the art fair gone too far? And what should gallerists do about it?
Daniel Szehin Ho, The Next Wave
Puck
Marion Maneker, The High Priest of High Concept
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Former High Museum of Art executive charged for embezzlement
Adam Schrader, IcelandAir is giving a really bad photographer $50,000 and a free trip
Adam Schrader, Real estate firm sues Sotheby’s over sale of its former building
Adam Schrader, Court Documents: Cushman & Wakefield v. 1334 York
Adam Schrader, Beatty says no review preceded Kennedy Center renaming, shutdown
The Wall Street Journal
Lane Florsheim, The New Restaurant Where You Can Bid on Masterpieces From the Table
Whitehot
Raphy Sarkissian, Kyle Staver: Radioactive Luminosity
Jonathan Goodman, Louise Bourgeois at Hauser & Wirth
Anthony Haden-Guest, Layla Love wants to make art that could stop wars
Art Spell is a subscription-based daily roundup of art news and reviews to help you stay current with what’s being reported on in the visual arts community. The profits from Art Spell are donated to organizations supporting art journalists and writers.