May 7, 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 First Impressions of a Venice Biennale Torn Apart by the Present by Ben Davis for Artnet. Critic Ben Davis provides his first impression of the 2026 Venice Biennale, highlighting themes of spirituality, colonialism, and identity amid mounting geopolitical crisis.
Art in America
Emily Watlington, Venice Diary Day 2: “In Minor Keys” Is a Major Statement on Perseverance and Play
Andy Battaglia, Aneta Grzeszykowska Shoots Poetic Portraits in a Mask of Herself at Age 14
The Art Newspaper
Hadani Ditmars, No money, more problems: 85% of US museums in urgent need of building repairs
Melissa Gronlund, Major protests take place at Venice Biennale previews
Hilarie M. Sheets, Brandywine Conservancy and Museum picks architects for $100m expansion project
Richard Unwin, Polish pavilion at Venice Biennale explores fluidity of language with film recorded underwater
From the Editors, Our pick of the best pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale
Charlotte Jansen, Lotus Kang channels desire into Bvlgari’s Venice Biennale pavilion
From the Editors, Alvaro Barrington takes a road trip to the Venice Biennale
Kimberly Hatfield, Latino community organisation opens $33m arts centre in Boston
Tim Schneider, Beware the technology rat trap: Cooper Jacoby’s standout contribution to New York’s Whitney Biennial
Claire Wrathall, Van Cleef & Arpels cashes in on lucrative secondary market for vintage jewellery
From the Editors, How sweet it is: chocolate Russell Crowe at the Malta Pavilion
From the Editors, Nature is healing? Seagull lays eggs in the Giardini during Venice Biennale preview
Artforum
Pablo Larios and Sung Tieu, Venice Biennale 2026: Sung Tieu Refaces the German Pavilion
Thomas Patier and Matías Duville, Venice Biennale 2026: Argentina’s Matías Duville on volition and regulation
Pablo Larios, Venice Biennale 2026: Henrike Naumann’s Last Work
From the Editors, Bulldozer Plows Across Thousand-Year-Old Indigenous Land Art During Border Wall Construction
From the Editors, Venice Biennale Swamped in Protests Ahead of Planned Strike
From the Editors, Chanel Will Launch New Culture Fund Fellowship With the Guggenheim
From the Editors, Selfie-Friendly Pedro Reyes Sculpture Sparks Controversy at LACMA
Artnet
EDITOR’S PICK - Ben Davis, First Impressions of a Venice Biennale Torn Apart by the Present: ‘In Minor Keys’ is a dense, devotional, déjà vu biennial.
Richard Whiddington, New Louvre Chief Christophe Leribault Reveals His Vision for the Museum Post-Heist
Charlotte Burns, A Pavilion of Ruins: Germany Reconsiders Its Past in Venice
Richard Whiddington, A Vienna Theater Opens Its Prized Klimt Ceiling Paintings to Tours During Restoration
Richard Whiddington, A Landmark Benjamin Franklin Collection Is Hitting the Auction Block
Margaret Carrigan, The Price Points Powering the Art Market
Richard Whiddington, A Vienna Theater Opens Its Prized Klimt Ceiling Paintings to Tours During Restoration
ARTnews
Maximilíano Durón, At the Venice Biennale, Koyo Kouoh’s ‘In Minor Keys’ Looks Deeply at Lush Gardens and a Scarred Earth
Tessa Solomon, The Bahamian Pavilion Brings Junkanoo to Venice in a Biennale Standout
Daniel Cassady, Robert Therrien Estate Leaves Gagosian for David Zwirner, Olney Gleason Now Represents Jill Magid, and More: Industry Moves for May 6, 2026
Anne Doran, Manhattan D.A.’s Office Returns More Than 650 Looted Artifacts to India
Daniel Cassady, The Biennale Isn’t a Court. Tell That to the Protesters.
Andy Battaglia, US Border Wall Construction Damages 1,000-Year-Old Indigenous Land Art in Arizona
Sarah Belmont, Claude Monet’s Market Triumph: 12 Record‑Smashing Paintings That Define an Era
Daniel Cassady, Malaysia Showcases Recovered 1MDB Artworks, From Picasso to Miró
Brian Boucher, Ceramics Are Everywhere, in Museums, Galleries, and Fairs—Has the Market Caught Up?
Alex Greenberger, UK’s Palestinian Ambassador Calls on Government to Have British Museum Reinstate the Word ‘Palestinian’
Leigh Anne Miller, In Protest of Israeli Pavilion, Activists and Unions Plan Strike on Venice Biennale’s Opening Day
Alex Greenberger, Robert Therrien Estate Leaves Gagosian After Nearly Three Decades and Joins David Zwirner
Maximilíano Durón, Guadalupe Rosales Brings East LA to Venice for the Biennale
ArtReview
Max Crosbie-Jones, Tuguldur Yondonjamts’s Animalistic Realm
From the Editors, Venice Biennale opening marked by protests
The Brooklyn Rail
Leah Modigliani, Reading the Room
Jack Flam, Jack Flam
Michela Sacchetto, R. Mutt @ Die Mutter
Molly Nesbit, Molly Nesbit
Charles Gaines, Marcel Duchamp and the Death of Radical Art
Agnieszka Kurant, Redistribution
Financial Times
Lucy Davies, Allison Katz: ‘I like the idea of images that can go beyond themselves’
Charlotte Burns, Artists once flocked to New York — now they’re struggling to survive in it
Frieze
Angel Lambo, Arsenale Review: Where Voices Resist Erasure
Andrew Durbin, National Pavilions Review: Who’s Afraid of Meaning?
Chlore Stead, National Pavilions Review: Porta-Potties, Porn and a Defiant Rave
The Guardian
Chloë Ashby, ‘A daring flash of pubic hair’: the extraordinary, monumental nudes of Sylvia Sleigh
Lanre Bakare, Pussy Riot protest at Venice Biennale forces Russian pavilion to briefly close
Philip Oltermann, From Eurovision to the Venice Biennale, culture contests are being overshadowed by politics
Hyperallergic
Liz Hirsch, Steven Durland, Champion of Performance Art, Dies at 75
Rhea Nayyar, Israeli Pavilion Artist Made Legal Threats Before Venice Biennale Jury Resigned
Taliesin Thomas, 10 Exhibitions to See in Upstate New York This May
Lisa Yin Zhang, Remembering Georg Baselitz, Nicole Hollander, and Doris Fisher
Greta Rainbow, Shoot the Shit With Jack Kerouac
Hakim Bishara, Hundreds Protest Israel’s “Genocide Pavilion” at Venice Biennale
Avedia Hadjian, Pussy Riot and Topless Activists Rally Against Russian Pavilion at Venice Biennale
The New York Times
Jason Farago, An American Artist Plops His Sculptures on a World Stage
Vanessa Friedman, A Fashion Revolution at the Met
Alex Marshall, These Toilets in Venice Have the Art World Aflush
Alexis Soloski, Is It an Art Gallery? A Museum? A Theater? A Dream?
Kate Guadanigno, The Trailblazing Artist Who Traded Manhattan Lofts for a Life Upstate
Observer
Christa Terry, At the New Museum Spring Gala, the Art World Turned Out for Lisa Phillips
Naima Morelli, How Sweden Built One of Europe’s Most Stable Art Markets
Dan Duray, De Pont Director Maria Schnyder On Why Financial Independence Is a Museum’s Greatest Asset
Elisa Carollo, LAS Art Foundation Pushes Quantum Art Forward in a New Venice Commission
Puck
Marion Maneker, Top Guns
Marion Maneker, Life of Si
Spike Art
Cem A., 7pm in Berlin
Vanity Fair
Nate Freeman, The Only Guide to This Year’s Venice Biennale You Will Ever Need
Vogue
Grace Edquist, Larger Than Life, the Work of Helen Frankenthaler Takes Over Gagosian
Lilah Ramzi, Every Artwork Referenced on the 2026 Met Gala Red Carpet, Explained
Whitehot
Joseph Nechvatal, Matisse 1941–1954 Grand Palais March 24 to July 26 2026
Liam Otero, Exhibition Review: “Martin Wong - Popeye” at P.P.O.W., Tribeca (on view through May 30, 2026)
Chris Clarke, Ways of Being: Róza El-Hassan and Réka Lőrincz - ICA-Dunaújváros, Hungary
Serena Hanzhi Wang, Object-Oriented Ontology and Time of Things
Aliza Katzman, James Warren’s Half-life of a Sign
Byron Armstrong, Why Artists Making Space for Art Making Builds Community in the Best Way
Chloe Alto, Andrew Luk & Lite Zhang: “Anything I can throw weighs one pound” at ACCENT SISTERS, curated by Jenny Wang
Isabella St. Ivany, Eric White - Interviewed by Isabella St. Ivany
Noah Becker, Adam Krueger on Teaching Tattooing at RISD
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