May 6, 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 Alma Allen’s US Pavilion Is One of the Emptiest Shows at the Venice Biennale by Maximilíano Durón for ARTnews. Durón argues Alma Allen’s U.S. Pavilion fails to engage meaningfully with the country’s current social and political realities.
Art in America
Emily Watlington, Venice Diary Day 1: At the Giardini, Artists Refuse to Make Fascism Cozy
The Art Newspaper
Helen Stoilas, Two truths? US 250th anniversary programmes take differing approaches
Gareth Harris, Cultural workers at Venice Biennale to strike over Israel’s participation
Alexander Herman, Today’s war, tomorrow’s loot: attempts at stemming the illicit trade in art
Benjamin Sutton, Artists made their mark at 2026 Met Gala
Constanza Ontiveros Valdés, Pedro Reyes’s new Lacma commission sparks criticism in Mexico
From the Editors, ‘She had a fresh, informed eye’: mural depicting late Venice Biennale curator Koyo Kouoh displayed in lagoon city
Elena Goukassian, David Nahmad maintains that his Modigliani was not looted by the Nazis
Hadani Ditmars, 1,000-year-old archaeological site bulldozed during construction of Mexico-US border wall
Ifeoluwa Adedeji, Hotel and art hub Casabianca opens on Italy’s Lake Como
J.S. Marcus, Filippo Lippi painting—once the centrepiece of Florence’s Palazzo Medici chapel—to undergo two-year restoration
Artforum
Thomas Patier and Maja Malou Lyse, Venice Biennale 2026: Denmark’s Maja Malou Lyse introduces her pavilion
Julius Pristauz, After the Afterparty: Berlin Art Tests Its Pulse during Gallery Weekend
Ela Bittencourt, Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski, Venice Biennale 2026: Poland’s Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski on Liquid Tongues
Ei Arakawa-Nash, Yuming Forever: Ei Arakawa-Nash on the J-Pop Icon Who Soundtracked Their Life
From the Editors, Amy Sherald Dresses as Her Own Painting for Art-Themed Met Gala
From the Editors, Anish Kapoor Condemns Inclusion of US in Venice Biennale
From the Editors, Siteless Athens Arts Institution NEON Closing After 14 Years
From the Editors, New Flagship Space for SAMoCA Announced As Part of Saudi Vision 2030
Artnet
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Alma Allen Offers a Quiet Vision in Venice—Even as Questions Swirl Around the U.S. Pavilion
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Pussy Riot Storms Russia Pavilion at Venice Biennale
Charlotte Burns, A Pavilion of Ruins: Germany Reconsiders Its Past in Venice
Caroline Goldstein, Katie White and Min Chen, Here’s How Stars at the 2026 Met Gala Nodded to Art History
Richard Whiddington, Iran Withdraws From 2026 Venice Biennale
Richard Whiddington, A Landmark Benjamin Franklin Collection Is Hitting the Auction Block
Richard Whiddington, A Grandmother’s Keepsake Turns Out to Be an Imperial Chinese Robe Worth Thousands
Margaret Carrigan, The Price Points Powering the Art Market
Min Chen, Treasures From Matthew Perry’s Estate Head to Auction for a Good Cause
ARTnews
Maximilíano Durón, Guadalupe Rosales Brings East LA to Venice for the Biennale
Harrison Jacobs, Gabrielle Goliath Discusses Her Canceled South African Pavilion as She Shows New Work in a Venice Church
Harrison Jacobs, Abbas Akhavan Transforms the Canada Pavilion Into a Greenhouse, Daring Viewers to Leave Behind Their Preconceptions
Brian Boucher, Pussy Riot and FEMEN Join Forces in Punk Protest in Venice: ‘Russia Kills! Biennale Exhibits!’
EDITOR’S PICK - Maximilíano Durón, Alma Allen’s US Pavilion Is One of the Emptiest Shows at the Venice Biennale: The silence is deafening.
Alex Greenberger and Leigh Anne Miller, How Well Do the Met Gala’s Attendees Know Their Art History? We Critique Looks by Madonna, Hunter Schafer, and More
Brian Boucher, Barry X Ball’s Wild Sculptures Are Perfectly at Home at Venice’s Grand Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore
Daniel Cassady, Billionaire Collector Ken Griffin Buys Second Rare Constitution Printing
Daniel Cassady, Nahmad Seeks to Reopen Modigliani Restitution Case With New Witnesses
Harrison Jacobs, Dozens of Venice Biennale Artists Stage ‘Drone’ Perfomance in Protest of Israel’s Participation
Alex Greenberger, Venice Biennale’s fierce pussy Group Says City Censored Posters About Queer and Trans People
Sarah Douglas, With Nearly 30,000 Clay Earth Bricks, Dana Awartani Remakes History in the Saudi Arabia Pavilion
ArtReview
From the Editors, Venice Biennale opening marked by protests
From the Editors, Nicholas Pope, sculptor whose career came in two acts, 1949–2026
Financial Times
Jacob Urist, The artists finally finding fame in their 80s
Mason Currey, Does great art require solitude?
The Guardian
Hugh Kinsella Cunningham, Stitches in time: the artist chronicling the DRC’s blood-soaked history in embroidery
Charlotte Higgins, Stick a euro in the slot for the lights! The mesmerising, strictly Venetian works of Lydia Ourahmane
Lanre Bakare, Dark clouds, protests and resignations dampen start of 61st Venice Biennale
Eddy Frankel, Lubaina Himid’s British pavilion at the Venice Biennale review – alienation in a green and pleasant land
Charlotte Higgins, ‘I paint the kind of people I’m attracted to’: Hernan Bas on hiding from the world in Venice
Hyperallergic
Avedis Hadjian, Pussy Riot and Topless Activists Rally Against Russian Pavilion at Venice Biennale
Valentina Di Liscia and Isa Farfan, Culture Workers Announce Venice Biennale Strike in Israeli Pavilion Protest
Rhea Nayyar, Met Gala Memes That Ate the Rich and Left No Crumbs
Matt Stromberg, 10 Art Shows to See in Los Angeles This May
Sheila Regan, Rosy Simas on Creating a Space for Peace in Minneapolis
Jasmine Weber, At 90, Printmaker Mohammad Omer Khalil Gets His Due
Isa Farfan, Rare Keith Haring Self-Portrait and Intimate Works Go on View in NYC
The New York Times
Alex Marshall, With Free Vodka, and a Few Protests, Russia Returns to the ‘Art Olympics’
Matteo de Mayda, The Sights of the Venice Biennale
Will Higginbotham, Khaled Sabsabi’s Rocky Road From Australia to the Biennale
Diana Budds, A Loft with Past Lives Gets an Owner Making a New One
The New Yorker
Zachary Fine, Domenico Gnoli’s Dizzying Closeups of the Everyday
Observer
Elisa Carollo, Dabin Ahn’s “Nocturne” and the Slow Meditative Work of Grief
Leigh Scheps, Inside the Hottest Met Gala Afterparties
Elisa Carollo, How Frieze New York Is Doubling Down On Engagement and Institutional Reach
Elisa Carollo, In the Polish Pavilion, “Liquid Tongues” Rewrites Our Hierarchy of the Senses
T Magazine
Nicole Acheampong, Why an Artist Known for Grand Installations Loves Miniature Figurines
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