June 25, 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 How to Meet 1,500 Artists in Five Days by Will Heinrich for The New York Times. Heinrich highlights standout exhibitions, pop-ups, and cultural destinations across the Hudson Valley and Catskills during the seventh annual Upstate Art Weekend.
Art in America
Lua Vollard, Since the 1960s, Marilou Schultz Has Merged Diné Weaving and Digital Worlds
The Art Newspaper
Anny Shaw, Sotheby’s auction of Joe Lewis collection breaks record for most expensive sold in UK
Melissa Gronlund, Misan Harriman to step down as chair of London’s Southbank Centre
Emma Shapiro, Meta and YouTube’s recent losses in youth social media addiction cases may put artists and activists at risk
Constanza Ontiveros Valdés, Green tuff, the stone that shaped Oaxaca’s historic centre, receives international heritage designation
Allison C. Meier, New York City’s oldest library refreshes its historic home
Louisa Buck, Tate Britain and Turner Contemporary take their eco-missions beyond the gallery walls
Benjamin Sutton, Crystal Bridges, fresh off major expansion, hires Courtenay Finn as next chief curator
J.S. Marcus, Morgan Library exhibition offers a visionary view of the history of Tarot
Artforum
Hung Duong, Memory’s Afterimages: Summer shows in Bangkok
From the Editors, Misan Harriman To Step Down as Southbank Centre Chair
From the Editors, Artist Accused of Copying Jean-Michel Basquiat, Thomas Harding, in Prizewinning Works
From the Editors, Manhattan Borough President Pledges $50 Million to NYC Arts Orgs
From the Editors, Paris Museums Close as France Boils
Artnet
Jo Lawson-Tancred, $392.6M Lewis Collection Sale Smashes Records at Sotheby’s, Led by $63.9M Modigliani
Katya Kazakina, Why Are the Zabludowiczes Selling 100 Works at Christie’s?
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Sculpture! Champagne! Celebrities! Inside the Serpentine’s Glitzy Summer Party
Vittoria Benzine, Neglected Frank Lloyd Wright House in Chicago Gets a New Lease on Life
ARTnews
Devorah Lauter, Christie’s Zabludowicz Sale Raises Questions, British Artist Tess Jaray Has Died: Morning Links for June 25, 2026
Carlos Valladares, Satchel Lee Builds Astonishing New Worlds
George Nelson, $63.5 M. Modigliani Nude from Joe Lewis Collection Leads Sotheby’s London Double-Header Auction Totaling $520.7 M.
Anne Doran, Mayan City, Hidden for More Than 1,000 Years, Is Discovered Intact in Mexico
Tessa Solomon, After Splashy Venice Debut, Florentina Holzinger’s ‘Seaworld’ is Coming to Berlin, Brooklyn
Winston Cho, Actress Julia Ormond Threatens Top 200 Collector Michael Ovitz With Bench Warrant
Tessa Solomon, In Open Letter, Hundreds of Artists Urge Mayor Mamdani for Two-Year Ban on AI in Classrooms
Andy Battaglia, Egyptian Archaeologists Unearth Two Tombs That Could Represent Early Development of Funerary Pyramids
Maximilíano Durón, Australian Artist Accused of Copying Work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nicholas Harding
Brian Boucher, Did You Miss the Original Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius? Now You Can Experience It in Augmented Reality in Pompeii
Brian Boucher, Southbank Centre Director Will Leave His Post, Says Departure Is Unrelated to Social Media Controversy
ArtReview
Simon Wu, Josiane M.H. Pozi: When the Internet Was Fun
Digby Warde-Aldam, Audrey Reynolds’s Shadow Figures
From the Editors, Artist Helen Cammock withdraws work from National Portrait Gallery following controversy
Frieze
Megan Williams, Why Liminal Horror Feels Stuck in the Backrooms
Sonja M. Borstner, Yein Lee’s Biomorphic Forms Seek Connection
Annabel Keenan, The Inaugural Medina Triennial: A Thoughtful Show With an Identity Crisis
The Guardian
Hettie Judah, ‘Rude, heavy-drinking and a committed communist’: the Frida Kahlo you can’t buy in the gift shop
From the Editors, In which decade was this drag queen photographed? Find out in the Art Fund museum of the year quiz
Oliver Giles, ‘It’s beautiful and sad to be a human being’: Ragnar Kjartansson brings ‘the best artwork of the 21st century’ to Australia
Mara Yang, Judge orders Trump administration to explain tarp obscuring Kennedy Center
Hyperallergic
Matt Stromberg, Don’t Ask Lari Pittman What His Work Is “About”
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, Remembering Frayda Feldman, James Wagner, and Melodee Strong
Erin L. Thompson, Inside the Mind of an Antiquities Looter
Isa Farfan, Claire Valdez Claims Resounding Win in NYC Primary
Natalie Jenkins, 10 Art Shows to See in Chicago This Summer
Isa Farfan, Mayor Mamdani and Whitney Museum Launch World Cup Poster Project
The New York Times
EDITOR’S PICK - Will Heinrich, How to Meet 1,500 Artists in Five Days: Upstate Art Weekend , starting Thursday, brings together New York artists and audiences, and offers everything from icebergs to Arte Povera to keep you cool.
Alex Marshall, Some European Museums Are Free Havens to Cool Off. Others Can’t Take the Heat.
Brett Sokol, A Billionaire’s Bounty of Basquiats Goes on Display
Observer
Elisa Carollo, For Stephen Lichty, Sculpture Makes Visible What Matter Remembers
Nicolas Vamvouklis, The Biennale of Contemporary Keramics Finds in Rhodes Its Most Resonant Stage Yet
Elisa Carollo, JR’s ‘La Caverne du Pont Neuf’ Is a Portal Into Paris’s Geologic History
OCULA
Phin Jennings, Under the Influence
Lydia Eliza Trail, ‘A Strong Sense of Play’: The Beautiful and the Ugly at Art Basel
Aimee Walleston, Human Interest
Shanyu Zhong, Kiaf Seoul 2026 Highlights the City’s Upcoming Artists and Established Galleries
Puck
Marion Maneker, Condition Report: Kara Vander Weg, Gagosian Gallery
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Federal findings fault Surfside tower’s design as developer’s family surfaces as art collectors
The Wall Street Journal
Kelly Crow, What It’s Like to See Your Nude Portrait Sell for $39 Million
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