June 11, 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 The Crisis of the Museum Is the Crisis of the White Cube by Paco Barragán for Observer. Arguing that museums’ core crisis lies in the outdated “white cube” model, which no longer aligns with contemporary art, audiences, or social expectations.
Art in America
Emily Watlington, After Drawing Women Trapped in Labyrinths for Years, Kyung-Me Painted Herself Free
The Art Newspaper
Constanza Ontiveros Valdés, Shipwrecks linked to the ‘golden age of piracy’ discovered in the Bahamas
John-Paul Stonard, Comment | Georg Baselitz’s final exhibition is a warning that history is repeating itself
Hadani Ditmars, ‘Marks that speak across time’: rock carvings and drawings discovered in Oman
Susan Morris, New film about Leonora Carrington blends fact with fiction
Gabriella Angeleti, Former director of Rio’s Museu de Arte Moderna ordered to pay breach-of-contract fine
Carlie Porterfield, Independent 20th Century adds 75% more exhibitors as it moves to the Breuer Building
Dale Berning Sawa, Paris exhibition explores the vanishing worlds of photographer Madeleine de Sinéty
From the Editors, Influential art world figure Joe Hage moves from the shadows to take top billing
Artforum
Pablo Larios and Alexandre Estrella, The Catfish Knows First: Alexandre Estrela on His Art of Seismic Anticipation
Aaron Fagan, Some Fiction, Some Exposition: On Lynne Tillman’s Flaneurial Stories and Essays
From the Editors, Columbus Museum of Art Will Offer Free Admission for Visitors Aged 25 and Under as Part of New Initiative
From the Editors, 2026 Gwangju Biennale Announces Participants, Including Matthew Barney and CAMP
From the Editors, Phillips Collection Receives Historic $15 Million Gift
Artnet
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Frieze London Returns With 172 Galleries—and a Few Notable Absences
Andrew Russeth, Dépendance, Maverick Brussels Gallery, Calls It Quits
Andrew Russeth, California Art Dealer Esther Kim Varet Falls Short in House Bid
Vittoria Benzine, Scientists Think They’ve Found a New Way to Spot Fake Van Goghs
Matthew Campbell, The Trade in Looted Antiquities Endures for One Reason: Demand
Richard Whiddington, Pope Leo Blesses Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia
Vittoria Benzine, Phillips Collection Receives Record $15M Gift
ARTnews
Maximilíano Durón, Frieze Lines Up Nearly 300 Galleries for Its Two London Fairs in October
Harrison Jacobs, Gagosian and Olney Gleason to Present Solo Exhibition for Lee Krasner in France
Tessa Solomon, A Prized Lucian Freud Nude, Estimated at $47 M., is Poised to Break Records at Sotheby’s
Leigh Anne Miller, Valentine Willie, Visionary Advocate of Southeast Asian Contemporary Art, Dies at 71
George Nelson, ‘London Needs Some Lobbying’: 50,000 Attend London Gallery Weekend as Dealers Fight Narrative of City’s Decline
Brian Boucher, Sotheby’s London to Offer Two Monets With Blue-Chip Provenance, Estimated at up to $67 M.
Maximilíano Durón, Guggenheim Museum to Livestream Select World Cup Matches, Screen Art Film on Legendary Football Star Zinédine Zidane
Daniel Cassady, Independent 20th Century Heads to the Breuer With Its Biggest Edition Yet
Devorah Lauter, Pace Plans to Give Up 8,600-Square-Foot London Gallery as It Continues to Cut Costs
ArtReview
Martin Herbert, ‘Correctomundo: Selected Writings 2001–2026’ by Bruce Hainley, Reviewed
From the Editors, Gwangju Biennale 2026 announces artist list
From the Editors, Valentine Francis Willie, champion of Southeast Asian contemporary art, 1954–2026
From the Editors, Elfie Semotan, fashion photographer, 1941–2026
BOMB
Melissa Joseph, Kim Dacres by Melissa Joseph
Eliza Barry Callahan, Sophie Friedman-Pappas by Eliza Barry Callahan
The Brooklyn Rail
Marjorie Welish, Karla Black
Phong H. Bui, Matt Dillon: Porto-Novo to Abomey
Natalie Prizel, Leon Kossoff
Jason Rosenfeld, Manet & Morisot
Ara H. Merjian, Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds
Financial Times
Melanie Gerlis, Collector Christian Duerckheim: ‘I want a painting that nobody has seen before’
Christian House, The Antinoris once mingled with the Medicis — they’re still commissioning art today
Charlotte Jansen, Newcastle’s finest photographer: Tish Murtha by Kuba Ryniewicz
Frieze
Rebecca Anne Proctor, Can Figurative Abstraction Sway Historic Memory?
From the Editors, Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2026 Celebrate Global Artists and Histories
Justin Chance, Must-See: A Chaotic Show Pairs Dinosaur Fossils with Modern Sculpture
The Guardian
Jonathan Jones, Hepworth in Colour review – salty Cornish seascapes compressed into immaculate sculptures
Lillian Wilkie, ‘She slept in the hallway on a lawn chair’: how Bettina’s astonishing art outgrew her Chelsea Hotel room
From the Editors, Don’t lose sight of the big picture in art galleries
Hettie Judah, ‘I’m carrying rage like a blood-filled egg’: the best of Glasgow International – review
Hyperallergic
Isa Farfan, Phoenix Art Museum Receives Largest Gift of Native American Works
Jennifer Samet, Beer With a Painter: Samia Halaby
Isa Farfan, Largest-Ever Arthur Jafa Survey Coming to New Museum
Lisa Yin Zhang, Remembering Willie Valentine, Marjane Satrapi, and John Claridge
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, What Carmen Maria Machado Wants You to Know About Power
Chie Xu, An Artist Duo’s Haven of Synthetic Hair
The New York Times
Jason Farago, For Painting’s Great Skeptic, Gerhard Richter, History Is a Blur
Philip Gefter, Duane Michals, Artist of Wit and Courage
Nina Siegal, This Artist’s Face Is Her Canvas, and Her Calling Card
Jonathan Griffin, In the Fastest-Warming City in the U.S., These Artists See Hope
Malia Mendez, A.I. Chatbot Helps a $100 Thrift Store Painting Sell for Over $250,000
Observer
Christa Terry, Sébastien Léon’s Material Exploration
Jennifer Ashley Wright, How Pamela Harriman Became the Most Powerful Socialite in American Politics
Dan Duray, Séamus Kealy On Returning to Ireland, Artist-Centered Institutions and What the RHA Could Become
Caleb Anderson, Marteau & Co Is Bringing the Art World Model to Independent Watch Auctions
EDITOR’S PICK - Paco Barragán, The Crisis of the Museum Is the Crisis of the White Cube: What’s the use of decolonizing the canon, decolonizing the collection and decolonizing the program if we don’t decolonize the white cube itself—the container that still structures how art is seen, experienced, classified and legitimized?
Puck
Marion Maneker, Condition Report: Cybele Maylone, The Aldrich Museum
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Weekly Recap: A weirdly successful month, somehow
Adam Schrader, Dallas whale mural was covered by ads for years before FIFA dispute
Vanity Fair
Nate Freeman, At Prada Mode, a Brand Offers Conceptual Art, Punk Rock, and Katz’s Delicatessen
Wall Street Journal
Peter Plagens, ‘Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes’ Review: Diminutive, Not Diminished, Sculpture
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.