March 26, 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 Social Malpractice in the Age of Cultural Compliance by Ed Woodham for Hyperallergic. Exploring how socially engaged art can be selectively co-opted by institutions, while still leaving room for creative resistance.
Art Asia Pacific
Michele Chan, Potatoes Grow on Trees: Hu Yinping Replants Meaning in Making
The Art Newspaper
Charles Leonard, ‘I have not walked this path alone’: South African artist Gabrielle Goliath on showing her cancelled Venice Biennale project outside the main event
Sarvy Geranpayeh, ‘We are trying to preserve the memory of our people’: archaeologists create map tracking damage to Iran heritage sites
Carlie Porterfield, Important collection of Minimalist art could bring big results at auction
Hadani Ditmars, Canadian foundation with ties to Israel’s biggest real-estate company ceases funding for Toronto Arts Foundation following protests
Aaina Bhargava, Who owns the seas? Shahzia Sikander’s new animation on world trade beamed onto M+ museum facade
Kabir Jhala, Sales at Art Basel Hong Kong reflect a deepening Asian market
Hadani Ditmars, Excavations at Alexander the Great’s rediscovered city in Iraq postponed due to war
Artforum
Laura Brown and Lucy Sante, Lucy Sante on collage and the elimination of possibilities
Polly Watson, Gabrielle Goliath to Show Work Banned from Venice Biennale Outside Main Exhibition
Artnet
Katya Kazakina, Dark Mode: Inside the Art Market’s Private Auction Playbook
Vivienne Chow and Cathy Fan, At Art Basel Hong Kong, the Emphasis Is on Slower, Smarter Buying
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Rubens’s Epic Medici Cycle Gets a Glow Up at the Louvre
Eileen Kinsella, A $30 Million Trove of Minimalist Masterpieces Is Heading to Christie’s
Vittoria Benzine, Long-Lost Photos of Chelsea Hotel Resurface, Revealing a Vanished New York
Richard Whiddington, Mystery Portrait of Black Woman Finally Identified After Six-Year Search
Eileen Kinsella, Toppled Monuments Are Reappearing Across the U.S. Under Trump
Richard Whiddington, OpenAI Scraps Sora, Its Controversial A.I. Video App
Vittoria Benzine, From ‘Game of Thrones’ to ‘Downton Abbey’—Iconic Costumes Go on View in Scotland
ARTnews
Tessa Solomon, At Art Basel Hong Kong, Blue-Chips Report Flurry of 7-Figure Deals, While Others Lament ‘Slower Than Usual’ Sales
Maximilíano Durón, Pat Steir, Famed for Her Abstract ‘Waterfall’ Paintings, Dies at 87
Alex Greenberger, Yto Barrada Says France Had ‘Full Awareness’ of Her Views on Israel When It Chose Her for Venice Biennale
Hannah Dailey, K-Pop Band BTS Performed Two Songs from New Album ‘ARIRANG’ at the Guggenheim on Wednesday Morning
Brian Boucher, Elsa Schiaparelli Gets Her UK Museum Debut at the V&A, in a Show Featuring Dalí, Man Ray, and Picasso
Daniel Cassady, Hauser & Wirth Partner Cristopher Canizares Departs to Start Artist Agency
Anne Doran, Female Pharaoh’s Erasure From Memory Was Not Revenge, Researcher Says
Leigh Anne Miller, Underground Railroad Museum Sues Trump Administration Over Canceled Grant
Andy Battaglia, Brooklyn Museum Plans New $13 M. Home for African Art Collection, One of America’s First
Harrison Jacobs, Newly Authenticated Modigliani Heads to Sale at Art Basel Hong Kong via Pace with a $13.3 M. Price Tag
Alex Greenberger, A Must-See Raphael Retrospective at the Met Proves He Was ‘One of the Greatest Influencers’
ArtReview
From the Editors, Manifesta 16 Ruhr announces list of artists
Cultured
Johanna Fateman, You’ve Heard About the New Museum’s New Building. The New Show Is Even Better.
Julia Halperin, Artist and Erstwhile Archer SAGG Napoli Does Her Best Work While Running
Family Style
Meka Boyle, Set the Stage
Frieze
James Lawrence Slattery, James Richards’s Fever Dream
Junni Chen and Brian Yue, Collector Brian Yue on the Power of Shared Space
Pramodha Weerasekera, ‘Rememory’ and Resistance at the Biennale of Sydney
Galerie
From the Editors, Revolutionary Artist Pat Steir Dies at 87
Silvia Beltrametti, A Dialogue on Creative Expression Between Duchamp and Sturtevant Goes on View in Milan
From the Editors, The Artful Life: 6 Things Galerie Editors Love This Week
Rena Gross, “Raphael: Sublime Poetry” at The Met Awes in Renaissance Star’s First U.S. Retrospective
Paul Laster, Majestic Denali, Seen Through Cynthia Daignault’s Conceptual Yet Painterly Lens
The Guardian
Lucinda Everett, A Mirrored Monet review – painter reflects on his past in a musical with heart and humour
Rachel Hall, Ministers consider charging tourists to enter national museums in England
Eddy Frankel, Angela de la Cruz review – wonky chairs and busted pianos are monuments to resilience
Hyperallergic
Olivia McEwan, Tracey Emin’s Cult of the Self
Isa Farfan, Lebanese Artist Ali Sbeity Reportedly Killed in Israeli Strike
John Yau, Anki King’s Nordic Noir
EDITOR’S PICK - Ed Woodham, Social Malpractice in the Age of Cultural Compliance: What happens when the language of social practice becomes a tool of the very systems it once hoped to challenge?
Isa Farfan, Ghanaian Artist Ibrahim Mahama Allegedly Assaulted by State Police
Lisa Yin Zhang, Remembering Calvin Tomkins, Rhoda Roberts, and Agosto Machado
Nathan Gelgud, Frank O’Hara’s Curatorial Eye
The Los Angeles Times
Leigh-Ann Jackson, Her whimsical sand art feeds off an endless sense of childlike wonder
The New York Times
Jason Farago, Raphael and the Renaissance of Divine Beauty
Holland Cotter, Touching Enlightenment Through a Storied Rockefeller Art Trove
Tom Mashberg, Rare Books Stolen From a Jesuit Archive in Rome Are Returned to Italy
David Belcher, There’s More to Phuket Than Mass Tourism at the Thailand Biennale
Nazanin Lankarani, This Artist Created a Different Kind of Chandelier
Observer
Adam Steiner, Author Adam Steiner’s Essential Reading List for Those Ready to Reinvent Themselves
Jordan Riefe, Gemini G.E.L.’s 60th Anniversary Show Is a Love Letter to L.A.
Elisa Carollo, Are Hong Kong and Mainland China Poised for an Art Market Rebound?
Christa Terry, Observer’s April 2026 Art Fair Calendar (Updated)
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Southeast Asian countries issue energy directives affecting museums amid Iran war
Adam Schrader, Middle East art shipments face major declines as Iran war disrupts flights, sea routes
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.