Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is As New York Prices Artists Out, New Haven Is Drawing Them In by Daniel Cassady for ARTnews. The rising costs in New York are driving more artists to New Haven, where affordable spaces, a growing creative community, and proximity to New York offer a sustainable alternative.
Art in America
Kelly Presutti, Why Surrealists Turned to Animals to Plumb the Human Psyche
The Art Newspaper
Gareth Harris, UK government places export bar on £71m Rembrandt portrait
Carlie Porterfield, Art fair Art-o-rama’s winning formula: low fees, young blood, bold ideas
Gabriella Angeleti, New documentary chronicles the late Brazilian artist Amélia Toledo’s boundary-pushing work
Elizabeth Fortescue, Chief executive of Sydney’s anticipated Parramatta Powerhouse museum steps down two months before grand opening
Larry Humber, Curveball at the Art Gallery of Ontario as Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease showcases painting skills
Martin Bailey, Pioneering US collector Albert Barnes turned down both of Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Nights’
Artforum
Ela Bittencourt, Unsparing Bleakness, Unbridled Eroticism: Toyen’s Taboo-Breaking Art
Kelly Ma, American Dream: Doug Aitken’s Spectacle of Vibes
From the Editors, Granite Noguchi Sculpture to Be Installed at the New Orleans Museum of Art
From the Editors, Yayoi Kusama, Whose Infinity Rooms Dazzled, Dies at 97
From the Editors, Frieze Abu Dhabi Announces Lineup for Inaugural Show
From the Editors, LACMA Sued Over Extensive Data Breach
Artnet
Katya Kazakina, $97 Million Rembrandt Portrait Slapped With U.K. Export Bar
Sonia Manalili and Margaret Carrigan, Why Artists Keep Turning to Tarot
Min Chen, Landmark Ultraman Archive Comes to Auction—and Other Collectibles News
Gabi Vidal-Irizarry, Wet Paint in Montauk! Everybody’s at the Ranch, Lucien Smith’s Secret Painting Session, and More Juicy Art-World Gossip
Margaret Carrigan, Sydney Museum CEO Exits Amid Spending Scandal—and Other Art World Matters
Vittoria Benzine, The Forgotten Literary World of Yayoi Kusama
Vittoria Benzine, Long-Unseen Mondrian Heads to Auction as the Artist’s Market Heats Up
ARTnews
EDITOR’S PICK - Devorah Lauter, As Right-Leaning Politicians Attack Cultural Institutions, a Basque Country Museum Director Believes in a Different ‘Vision of the Museum Worth Fighting For’: Nicknamed the “Little Louvre,” a hidden gem of European masterpieces in France’s Basque Country was given a new lease on life last fall.
Gameli Hamelo, Collector and Patron Hasnaine Yavarhoussen Is Determined to Bring Madagascar’s Art Scene to the Rest of the World
Maximilíano Durón, Riverside Art Museum Appoints Vivian Zavataro as Next Executive Director
Daniel Cassady, For 20 Years, Turkish Media Star Vuslat Made Art in Secret. Now She’s on the Biennial Circuit
EDITOR’S PICK - Daniel Cassady, As New York Prices Artists Out, New Haven Is Drawing Them In: Is New Haven one possible cure for a metastasized New York real estate market?
Anne Doran, Demolition of Tbilisi Arts Complex Sparks Protests
Francesca Aton, Neolithic Figure Astride a Leopard Unearthed in Turkey: ‘Unlike Anything Seen Before’
Daniel Cassady, At Peter Marino’s Foundation, Centuries of Art History Devilishly Collapse into Each Other
Tessa Solomon, Artist Gao Zhen Receives Three-Year Prison Sentence for ‘Slandering China’s Heroes’
Hikmat Mohammed, $1.98 M. Worth of Gold Pieces Stolen From the Treasure of Villena
Francesca Aton, Germany’s 100-Year-Old Merz Academy Declared Insolvent
Sandra Salibian, Claire Denis Is Miu Miu Women’s Tales Latest Iteration’s Director
Maximilíano Durón, MoMA to Stage Major Exhibition on Mid-Century African Modernism, Centered on the Concept of ‘Emancipatory Art’
ArtReview
Philippa Snow, ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’; or, The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema
From the Editors, Ryoji Ikeda wins 2026 Nam June Paik Prize
From the Editors, Lisa Havilah steps aside as CEO of Powerhouse Parramatta ahead of its opening
The Atlantic
Financial Times
Tom Faber, Ryan Gander: ‘I want things that surprise me. I want better art’
George Parker and Franklin Nelson, Andy Burnham retreats from backing return of Parthenon sculptures to Greece
Frieze
From the Editors, Peter Kahng’s Top Pick From Frieze Seoul 2026
From the Editors, You Kim’s Five Picks from Frieze Seoul 2026
The Guardian
Jonathan Jones, A gallery glow up, spooky sculpture and a magical modern – the week in art
Hyperallergic
From the Editors, Hyperallergic Fall 2026 New York Art Guide
Anna Lee, Police Break Into Vancouver Gallery After Confusing Sculpture for Person
Rhea Nayyar, Major Queer Art Auction Features Peaches, Chappell Roan, and Chani Nicholas
Michael Glover, Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press Gets an Exhibition of Its Own
Valentina Di Liscia, Four Native Artists Commissioned for Counterpublic Triennial
Valentina Di Liscia, Yayoi Kusama, Artist of Infinities, Dies at 97
The Los Angeles Times
Emily Tarinelli, Taxidermy sound bath? How an unconventional idea works at the Natural History Museum
The New York Times
Holland Cotter, Yayoi Kusama, Pop Artist Who Expanded and Endured, Dies at 97
Patricia Leigh Brown, 6 Feet Under in Art Coffins That Are Over the Top
Penelope Green, Laura Spector, Who Turned a Loathsome Vine Into Art, Dies at 71
Observer
Elisa Carollo, At 50, Pittsburgh’s Mattress Factory Still Says Yes to Artists
Adam Robb, In Sioux City, Disparate Visions of the American West Converge
Elisa Carollo, Cj Hendry, Price Laddering and a New Collecting Model for the Kidulting Economy
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, SVA faculty union weighs unfair labor charge over rewritten contracts
The Wall Street Journal
Brian P. Kelly, Yayoi Kusama (1929-2026): An Artist Who Captured Infinity
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