May 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 New York art world spared worst of logistics woes by Adam Schrader for The Art Newspaper. The war in Iran is straining and raising the cost of global art shipping ahead of New York’s spring fairs, though most galleries say their plans remain on track.
The Art Newspaper
Sarvy Geranpayeh, Iran has not withdrawn from 2026 Venice Biennale, pavilion commissioner says
Eve M. Kahn, Underground Railroad stop in New York threatened by real-estate development
Aimee Dawson, Arts engagement linked to slower biological ageing, study says
Dale Berning Sawa, British MPs face Hobson’s Choice for restoration of the crumbling, unsafe Palace of Westminster
Gareth Harris, Gozo Yoshimasu wins first Serpentine x Flag Art Foundation Prize
Rosie Spencer, Bringing back the salon: UK organisation aims to revive Brighton’s contemporary art scene
Julie Baumgardner, A sonic tribute to the act of speech on New York City’s Roosevelt Island
Osman Can Yerebakan, Cai Guo-Qiang joins White Cube
Gabriella Angeleti, New York’s 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair focuses on Afro-Brazilian art
EDITOR’S PICK - Adam Schrader, New York art world spared worst of logistics woes: While the war in Iran has complicated art-market activities in the Middle East, the impact on this month’s fairs appears minimal.
Hannah Sage Kay, ‘Common ground for me is everywhere I step’: Mohammad Omer Khalil on his five-institution show
Benjamin Sutton, ‘I am very decisive’: designer Jennifer Gilbert on what she collects and why
From the Editors, Nine shows to see during Frieze New York
Artforum
Xue Tan, Haus Der Kunst chief curator Xue Tan on Aphex Twin and Alexej von Jawlensky
From the Editors, Renowned Gallery Air de Paris Bankrupted, Closing This Week
From the Editors, Somali Cultural Organizations Unhappy With Somalia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
From the Editors, Trevor Paglen Will Curate Art Basel’s ‘Zero 10’ Digital Initiative
Artnet
Min Chen, For Fashion Iconoclast Iris van Herpen, ‘Nature Is the Best Artist’
Katie White, Eva Helene Pade Paints the Thin Line Between Ecstasy and Violence
Richard Whiddington, The British Museum Is Recreating the Bayeux Tapestry’s Medieval Woodland
Vittoria Benzine, All 3.5 Million Pages of the Epstein Files Are Now on View at This Pop-Up Exhibition
Margaret Carrigan, Art Collectors Bet on Known Quantities Amid Market Reset
Richard Whiddington, Newly Recovered Love Letters by John Keats Could Net $2 Million at Auction
Bruno Bischofberger and Silvia Sokalski, Basquiat’s Former Dealer on the Making of an Art World Icon
ARTnews
Daniel Cassady, Trump Administration Sued Over Wildly Over-Budget Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Changes
Brian Boucher, Leading French Gallery Air de Paris Is Declaring Bankruptcy and Closing After 36 Years
Leigh Anne Miller, Clothing Brand Hurley Is Collaborating with Keith Haring Estate on Capsule Collection
Harrison Jacobs, Across Venice, Artists Defy Censorship to Mourn and Memorialize Gaza
Brian Boucher, Cigarette Taxes Have Funneled $270 M. Toward Arts and Culture in Cleveland Since 2007
Andy Battaglia, Art and Cultural Engagement Can Slow the Pace of Aging: Report
Maximilíano Durón, Man Arrested for Allegedly Planning Terrorist Attack at Louvre
Tessa Solomon, Venice Biennale’s Russian Pavilion and Pussy Riot Spar Over Usage of Protest Footage
ArtReview
Rachel Ashenden, What’s Gone Wrong in the Glasgow Art Scene?
From the Editors, Trevor Paglen to cocurate Swiss edition of Art Basel’s digital art initiative
The Brooklyn Rail
David Ebony, Edwin Schlossberg: Unseen Layers
Amber Jamilla Musser, Lauren Halsey: sister dreamer lauren halsey’s architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles
Alex Grimley, Hans Hofmann
Patrick Hill, Gisela Colón: La Montaña, El Monolito
Tom McGlynn, In The Company of Still Life
Frieze
Jonathan Odden, 7 Shows to See During Frieze New York 2026
Hyperallergic
Sarah Bond, Archaeologists Discover Mummy Buried With Lines From Homer’s Iliad
Hrag Vartanian, How Dayanita Singh Organized a Major Show in Venice
Clara Maria Apostolatos, Maia Chao Performs the Museum
Rhea Nayyar, Rare Early Basquiat Works Return to Brooklyn After HBCU Tour
Rhea Nayyar, Hundreds Lambast Trump’s $7.5M Plan to Whitewash Eisenhower Building
Jennifer Samet, Beer With a Painter: Keith Mayerson
The New York Times
Tim F. Schneider, Julia Halperin and Zachary Small, Can Three Auction Houses Sell $2.6 Billion Worth of Art in One Week?
Ted Loos, In Chicago, a Big Name Art Show Where the Drawings Dominate
Farah Nayeri, From Michelangelo to Gina Lollobrigida and Beyond, an Artistic Culture Thrives in Tuscany
Tariro Mzezewa, A Photographer of Newark’s People Gets a Show Among the People
Mercedes Hutton, Uli Sigg Wants to Help Chinese People ‘View Their Own Art.’ Simple, Right?
Will Higginbotham, Spotlighting the Woman Who Brought European Modernism to California
Penelope Green, Leigh Magar, High-End Milliner Turned Indigo Artist, Dies at 57
Observer
Elisa Carollo, The Top Collections Leading the May Marquee Auctions
Elisa Carollo, Archie Rand On the Irreducibility of Painting in a Digital Age
Daniel Grant, Why Sports Venues Are Betting Big on Fine Art
OCULA
Rosa Rahimi, Brick by Brick
Roisin Agnew, Spirituality and Sex Appeal: On the Ground at the 2026 Venice Biennale
Izabella Scott, Little Slop of Horrors
Zian Chen, Taiwanese Artist Li Yi-Fan Will Make You Feel Screen Melancholy
Naomi Rea, Art Basel Doubles Down on Digital Art with Zero 10 Expansion
From the Editors, Art Osaka 2026 Returns with Expanded Venues
Philippa Kelly, Frankfurt’s MMK Acquires Estate of Late German Pavilion Artist Henrike Naumann
Lydia Eliza Trail, Florentina Holzinger’s Viral Venice Show Heads to Berlin
Puck
Ingrid Abramovitch, The Dutch Eco-Futurist Master
Sculpture
Sophie Barfod, Jakkai Siributr
Spike Art
Adina Glickstein, Never Midcurve
Aodhan Madden, Seeking Quiet at the Venice Biennale
T Magazine
Max Lakin, Matt Dillon’s Lesser-Known Life as a Visual Artist
Vogue
Leslie Camhi, Marcel Duchamp and His Women
Grace Edquist, The Wondrous Life of Anni Albers
Wallpaper
Gameli Hamelo, At 1-54 New York 2026, Afro-Brazilian art takes centre stage for the first time
Stephanie Gavan, In Venice, it’s the tourists who have caught Hernan Bas’ eye
Whitehot
Manuela Annamaria Accinno, ‘Sleeper Wave’ at Elizabeth Moss Galleries: Jenna Pirello’s Pictorial Gesture Against Impermanence
WM, Eleanor Conover/Abattoir Gallery
Noah Becker, Unfinished Surfaces: Material, Tension, and Tactility in Miao Tan’s Practice
Sivan Lavie, Vivien McDermid’s love letter to animism
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.