March 13, 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 Sydney Biennale 2026: politics is everywhere – but with nuance, beauty and heart by Dee Jefferson for The Guardian. Artists address politics, memory, and colonial histories at the 2026 Biennale of Sydney.
Art in America
Alex Greenberger, Cindy Sherman’s 1997 Horror Movie Flop Is Coming to Blu-Ray. Is the World Finally Ready for It?
The Art Newspaper
Dale Berning Sawa, Victor Vasarely’s crumbling Aix legacy to be restored
Artforum
Sofia Thiệu D’Amico, War hangs heavy: Vietnamese performance in New York
Tschabalala Self, Artist Tschabalala Self’s Top Ten
From the Editors, Researchers Link Two Unattributed Works To Michelangelo
From the Editors, European Ministers Call on Venice Biennale to Exclude Russia
Artnet
Kate Brown, Women Old Masters Have Been Selling Big. Will the Momentum Continue at TEFAF?
Jo Lawson-Tancred, David Hockney Takes on the Bayeux Tapestry With a 300-Foot iPad Epic
Sarah Cascone, How Frida Kahlo’s Mythic Life Became Artistic Legend
Kate Brown and Sonia Manalili, Kim Gordon Was Always an Artist First
John Chiaverina, Why Is Painter Josh Smith Rapping? What Are Artists Excited About Right Now? Wet Paint Has Answers!
Kate Brown, Van Gogh Museum Adds Rare Work by a Woman Artist to Its Collection
Sarah Cascone, Why the Art World Still Falls Short on Equity for Women Artists
Richard Whiddington, A New Show on Picasso’s Religious Roots Opens in a Spanish Cathedral
Vittoria Benzine, Thomas J Price’s Tallest Sculpture Rises Outside London’s V&A East
Vittoria Benzine, King Charles Portraitist Jonathan Yeo’s Paintings Get the A.R. Treatment
Min Chen, Oops, Typo! A New Exhibition Embraces 500 Years of Printed Mistakes
ARTnews
George Nelson, Massive, 44-Foot-Long David Hockney Print to Headline Christie’s Spring Prints Season in London
George Nelson, Brooklyn Museum’s Chief Claims That Male Museum Directors Retire, While Their Female Counterparts Get Fired
Tessa Solomon, Meg Webster, Comme des Garçons, and DIA Art Foundation Have Partnered on a New Perfume
Maximilíano Durón, Collector Bob Rennie Donates 24 Works to National Gallery of Canada
From the Editors, Netflix Is Developing a Series About Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
Anne Doran, Denver Art Museum Reveals 2025 Acquisitions, Including Works by Tishan Hsu, Berthe Morisot, and More
Alex Greenberger, Former MoMA Director Glenn Lowry Says Leon Black Is a ‘Solid Trustee’ Amid Epstein Controversy
Andy Battaglia, Missing Page of Archimedes Manuscript Found in France, Shedding Light on Century-Long Mystery
Brian Boucher, A Superior Salvator Mundi, and 5 Other Strange and Wonderful Masterpieces at TEFAF Maastricht
Alex Greenberger, The Venice Biennale Claims It’s Neutral—But No Art Exhibition Ever Is
Tessa Solomon, Leaked Texts Show UNT Leaders Feared ‘Barking from Austin’ Before Anti-ICE Show Cancelation
Alex Greenberger, Biennale of Sydney Denies Discrimination as Jewish Group Denounces Pro-Palestine Artists
Daniel Cassady, Slave Ship Relic to Depart Smithsonian’s African American History Museum After Decade on View
Alex Greenberger, Keisha Scarville Wins Brooklyn Museum’s $25,000 Uovo Prize
ArtReview
From the Editors, ArtReview Podcast | Episode 3: Noémie Goudal
James Balmount, The Interview: Kei Ishikawa
Alexander Harding, Nat Faulkner: The Stuff of Photography
From the Editors, 16th Gwangju Biennale announces theme
The Brooklyn Rail
Amanda Millet-Sorsa, Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck
Ekin Erkan, Stanley Whitney Henri Matisse
Brandt Junceau, Rodin’s Egypt
Vittoria Benzine, Sterling Ruby: Atropa
Mark Van Proyen, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings
Financial Times
Jill Krasny, The visions of Giangiacomo Rossetti
Frieze
Ela Bittencourt, ‘The Secret Agent’ Finds Desire in the Archive
The Guardian
Zanele Muholi, South African photographer Zanele Muholi: ‘My mother worked for a white family. I remember the pools I wasn’t allowed to swim in’
Julian Borger and Deepa Parent, Dismay as ancient heritage sites across Iran damaged in US-Israel bombing
Jennifer Rankin, Venice Biennale risks losing EU funding over planned Russia involvement
EDITOR’S PICK - Dee Jefferson, Sydney Biennale 2026: politics is everywhere – but with nuance, beauty and heart: The festival became a political flashpoint well before the program reveal – but the featured works focus not on spectacle and slogan but on a polyphony of voices singing their own songs
Hyperallergic
Isa Farfan, Brian Eno and 200+ Artists Urge British Museum to “Stop Erasing Palestine”
Sarah Rose Sharp, Pete Hegseth Goes to War With Press Photographers
Valentina Di Liscia, Art Movements: Look Who’s Headed to Perrotin Gallery
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, Required Reading
Lisa Yin Zhang, The Tiny Brooklyn Project Space Resisting the Gallery Machine
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, A View From the Easel
The New York Times
Arthur Lubow, The Titan of Land Art Moves Indoors and Gets Intimate
Elisabeth Vincentelli, ‘Bughouse’ Review: Inside a Solitary Artist’s Unwieldy Mind
Observer
Daniel Grant, Inside the Increasingly Litigious World of High-Value Art Sales
Elisa Carollo, In Kochi, a Biennial Becomes a Civic Laboratory
Cyrus Naji, Meet the Collector: Karun Thakar’s Mission to Share the Hidden Histories of Indian Chintz
Jordan Riefe, Collector Jordan D. Schnitzer’s David Hockney Holdings Come Home to Portland
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, After Louvre break-in, lidar surveillance enters the museum security debate
Adam Schrader, Drone survey launched to map war damage at Syria’s Palmyra ruins
Adam Schrader, Photographer, punk singer Amy Taylor clash in court over sale of Vogue Portugal images
Adam Schrader, Court Documents: Amy Taylor Response to Copyright Counterclaim in Photo Dispute
The Wall Street Journal
Holly Peterson, MoMA’s Former Director on How to Handle Artists and Billionaires
The Washington Post
From the Editors, Museum and gallery exhibits in the D.C. area this week
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.