June 4, 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 A Mega Gallery Shrinks: Pace Cuts 50 Artists, 50 Staff by Robin Pogrebin for The New York Times. Pace Gallery is downsizing its artist roster and staff, signaling a broader art market shift away from mega-gallery expansion toward a more focused model.
Art in America
Steffani Jemison, 5 Books on Steffani Jemison’s Shelf
The Art Newspaper
Alexandra F. Coego, Gaudí’s Sagrada Família finally shakes off its ‘incompletable’ tag, as Pope prepares to inaugurate its tallest and final tower
Gareth Harris, Quentin Blake’s sprawling Centre for Illustration to launch in London
Ben Luke and Louisa Buck, London Gallery Weekend 2026: our critics pick their top shows
Anny Shaw, Call my agent: why artist management companies are making a comeback
Artforum
Nicole L’Huillier, Nicole L’Huillier on Daniela Catrileo, Patricio Guzmán, and collective songwriting
From the Editors, Alan Saret, Author of Transcendent Wire Sculptures, Dead at 81
From the Editors, French Street Artist JR’s Paris Installation Postponed Due to Wind Damage
From the Editors, Makeda Best to Lead MoMA’s Photography Department
From the Editors, Venice Biennale Faces Legal Action After Including 100+ Artists in Prize Competition Against Their Wishes
Artnet
From the Editors, Pace Gallery Downsizes, Cutting Artists and Staff
Annikka Olsen, Crystal Bridges’s New Expansion Makes Room for More of Its Story
Richard Whiddington, MoMA Names Makeda Best as Photography Curator
Vittoria Benzine, Marisa Merz at 100: Major Retrospective to Span Three Italian Museums
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Newly Unearthed John Lennon Drawings Make Their Public Debut
Vittoria Benzine, Louvre Heist Investigation Reaches Belgium
Richard Whiddington, Oscar Tuazon Resurrects a Lost Scott Burton Work for New York’s AIDS Memorial
Jo Lawson-Tancred, This Masterwork by Irish Painter Gerard Dillon Just Crushed Its Auction Estimate by 450 Percent
Richard Whiddington, Emily Sargent’s Watercolors Arrive at Auction After Decades Hidden in a Trunk
Sonia Manalili and Ben Davis, Arthur Jafa’s Radical Theory of Readymade Art
ARTnews
Tessa Solomon, Artists & Mothers Announces 2026 Recipients of Childcare Grants
Devorah Lauter and Daniel Cassady, Mega Gallery Pace is Dropping Some 50 Artists, 50 Staff in ‘Model Correction’
Daniel Cassady and Alex Greenberger, Kulapat Yantrasast Named Artistic Director of Next Bukhara Biennial
Harrison Jacobs, New Freeman’s CEO, Rana Begum Joins Lehmann Maupin, and More: Industry Moves for June 3, 2026
Daniel Cassady, We Asked Artists, Dealers, Lawyers, and Advisers What Gallery Representation Means Today—And It’s Surprisingly Complicated
Anne Doran, Colorado Governor Signs Artist Corporation Bill into State Law
Daniel Cassady, Follower of Hieronymus Bosch Painting Sells for Over 10 Times High Estimate in Strong Week for Old Masters in New York
Brian Boucher, How Gedi Sibony Makes a Show, By Transforming Street Finds Into Magical ‘Frozen Moments’
ArtReview
From the Editors, The 14 Exhibitions to See in June 2026
From the Editors, Kulapat Yantrasast appointed artistic director of 2027 Bukhara Biennial
From the Editors, Marjane Satrapi, graphic novelist, film director, activist, 1969–2026
From the Editors, Cecilia Alemani to curate 2027 Taipei Biennial
From the Editors, Venice Biennale artists to pursue legal actions over their inclusion in the Lions competitions against their wishes
The Brooklyn Rail
Molly Warnock, Going On
Ralph Ubl, Romantic Futures After the End of Art
Joseph Henry, The Expressionist, As Practiced
Rachel Cohen, Handoff
Molly Warnock, David Reed & Amy Sillman with Molly Warnock
Frieze
Franz Thalmair, The Fabric of Industry: Mining Meets Textiles in Taiwan
The Guardian
Skye Sherwin, ‘We have a shared sky and stars’: the Indigenous American artists challenging our relationship to the natural world
Catherine Slessor, Bricking it! How a ‘crinkle crankle’ wall reinvented the Serpentine pavilion
Andrew Pulver, Martin Scorsese accused of ‘throwing artists under bus’ with AI storyboards
Hyperallergic
Isa Farfan, New Trump Rule Could Cut Enrollment at Nearly Half of Arts MA Programs
Greta Rainbow, Radical Reclamation at the First-Ever ArtPhilly Festival
Max Blue, The Sun Is Shining on Saif Azzuz
Rhea Nayyar, 100+ Artists Threaten Legal Action Over Inclusion in Biennale Awards
Lisa Yin Zhang, Remembering Alan Saret, Julio Le Parc, and Hilde Lynn Helphenstein
Ed Simon, Edward Hopper’s Distinctly American Solitude
The New York Times
EDITOR’S PICK - Robin Pogrebin, A Mega Gallery Shrinks: Pace Cuts 50 Artists, 50 Staff: A challenging art market is forcing even an established player to contract.
Hilarie M. Sheets, Saving Alice’s Adventures in New York. Her Mural Traveled a Rabbit Hole Too.
Celia McGee, Where Sky Meets Water, Sanford Biggers Sees Life’s ‘Drift’
The New Yorker
Dana Goodyear, A Stunning New LACMA Descends Upon a City in Crisis
Observer
Elisa Carollo, The Temporal and Geographical Ambiguity of Mark Manders
Simon Coates, Can Rock Royalty Really Make Art Worth Owning?
Elisa Carollo, At Marianne Boesky, Sanford Biggers Rewrites the Rules of Material Storytelling
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Whitney Museum reports more than $1B in net assets after investment gains
Adam Schrader, McCormick denies copying tiny-figures food photos in Big Appetites copyright case
Adam Schrader, Court Documents: Boffoli copyright infringement cases over Big Appetites
Adam Schrader, Forensic Archive of Iran seeks Rasht Grand Bazaar testimony
The Wall Street Journal
Kelly Crow, Texas and the Smithsonian Are Locked in a Custody Battle Over a Space Shuttle
Michael J. Hatch, ‘Painters, Ports and Profits: Artists and the East India Company, 1750-1850’ Review: Taste Goes Global
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.