March 18, 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 Nearly 200 Venice Biennale participants sign letter demanding cancellation of Israeli pavilion by Sarvy Geranpayeh for The Art Newspaper. The Art Not Genocide Alliance delivered a letter to the Biennale’s leadership urging cancellation of the Israeli pavilion and warning of possible boycotts.
The Art Newspaper
Joe Ware, Helen Legg appointed artistic director of London’s Royal Academy of Arts
Martha Lufkin, US congress passes revamped Holocaust recovery bill that sidesteps many legal defences
EDITOR’S PICK - Sarvy Geranpayeh, Nearly 200 Venice Biennale participants sign letter demanding cancellation of Israeli pavilion: Signatories include artists Alfredo Jaar, Yto Barrada, Rosana Paulino, Meriem Bennani and Cauleen Smith, along with curators such as Binna Choi and Carles Guerra.
Artforum
From the Editors, Lisa Yuskavage
Hung Duong, Nation-Branding: Dib Bangkok opens
From the Editors, Lost Page From Archimedes Palimpsest Reappears In French Museum
From the Editors, Transformative Director Madeleine Grynsztejn to Leave MCA Chicago
From the Editors, Over Half of the Sudan National Museum’s Holdings Looted Within Two Years
From the Editors, “Wild Card” James Taylor-Foster to Helm Hong Kong’s Para Site
Artnet
Ben Davis, The Tensions Seething Beneath the Surface of the 2026 Whitney Biennial
Vivienne Chow, This Small Dorothea Tanning Painting Sold for $120,000 per Square Inch—and Set a New Record
Richard Whiddington, Lawsuit Settles Who Really Bought Beeple’s $69 Million NFT
Vittoria Benzine, Rare Letter Reveals Cash-Strapped Monet Once Put His Paintings Up as Collateral
Min Chen, Is Math Art? Werner Herzog Says Yes
Richard Whiddington, Lost Joan Miró Drawings Reemerge at Auction
Cathy Fan, China’s Tech Capital Wants to Be an Art Hub, Too
ARTnews
Leigh Anne Miller, Remnants of 3,400-Year-Old Loom in Spain Sheds Light on Bronze Age Textile Production
Anne Doran, Painting in the Vatican’s Collection Is Newly Identified as an El Greco
Harrison Jacobs, Court Decision Ends Dispute Over Who Actually Bought Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days for $69.3 M.
Shanti Escalante-De Mattei, In the Whitney Biennial, Artists Explore the Horrifying Boundary Between Human and Machine
Alex Greenberger, MCA Chicago Director Madeleine Grynsztejn to Depart After 18 Years
Daniel Cassady, Egidio Marzona, Collector Who Built a Monument to the Avant-Garde, Dies at 81
ArtReview
From the Editors, Maja Malou Lyse on Representing Denmark at the 61st Venice Biennale
Eddy Gibb, Michael Clark’s Controlled Movements
From the Editors, 182 Venice Biennale participants sign letter demanding exclusion of Israel from 2026 exhibition
From the Editors, Para Site appoints new executive director
From the Editors, Pi Li appointed founding director of Shenzhen’s Róng Museum, set to open 2027
From the Editors, Trevor Paglen named winner of the 2026 LG Guggenheim Award
The Brooklyn Rail
Wallace Ludel, Zarina: Beyond the Stars
Alfred Mac Adam, Francesco Clemente: Travel Diary
Alfred Mac Adam, Jasper Johns: Between the Clock and the Bed
Michael Wolf, Ursula von Rydingsvard: states of becoming
David Whelan, Hans Hofmann
Financial Times
Aaina Bhargava, A guide to Hong Kong’s best under-the-radar art spaces
Alice Cavanagh, Inez & Vinoodh: ‘Taking a photograph is an act of love’
Julie Belcove, Shahzia Sikander: ‘I’ve carried the erasure of feminine narratives’
Frieze
Juliet Jacques, The Mysterious Slovenian Collective That Had No Stars
Gemma Rolls-Bentley, For Catherine Opie, Community Persists Amid Erasure
Cat Kron, Raymond Saunders At His Eloquent, Excoriating Best
The Guardian
Jennifer Rankin, ‘Old masters too’: Ghent exhibition celebrates female artists of the baroque
Kelly Burke and Nick Miller, Banksy has been unmasked (again). But does this major Reuters investigation actually tell us something new?
Jonathan Jones, In Bloom review – this rip-roaring history of botanical adventurers disturbs and delights
Rosamund Brennan, The world’s largest light installation shines on a small Australian town
Hyperallergic
Isa Farfan, Your Go-To Guide to NYC’s Spring Art Fairs
Liz Kim, The Canonization of Frida Kahlo
Sadaf Padder, Artists Set Islamic Futurism Into Motion
Adam Broomberg and Michele Faguet, When a Palestinian Artist Asserts Her Own Humanity
Rhea Nayyar, Dozens of Venice Biennale Artists Demand Israel’s Exclusion
David Markus, I’m an NYU Contract Professor. This Is Why We Plan to Strike.
The New York Times
Tom Mashberg, Got an Idea About Who Robbed the Gardner Museum? Get in Line.
Reggie Ugwu and Scott Reyburn, What to Know About Banksy and the Effort to Unmask Him
Observer
Christa Terry, Abbi Kenny, Beyond the Still Life
Elisa Carollo, Art Central, Hong Kong’s ‘Discovery Fair,’ Is Back With a Record Lineup and an Eye on the Future
Christa Terry, The First Jim Irsay Collection Sale Sets 23 World Auction Records
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, SVA’s ‘Mentors’ show pairs students with top photo professionals
Adam Schrader, Lawyer says Yves Bouvier will stand trial in Paris after ‘exhaustive’ Picasso probe
The Wall Street Journal
Kelly Crow, Banksy’s Identity Has Been Revealed. Expect His Art to Sell for a Lot More.
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.