Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is Are Fairs and Museums Getting Too Cozy? by Sonia Manalili and Margaret Carrigan for Artnet. Examining the growing trend of art fairs facilitating museum acquisitions and the potential impact on curatorial independence.
Art in America
Nicole Kaack, How Janine Antoni Simultaneously Disturbs and Delights
Emily Watlington, 5 Books on Dena Yago’s Shelf
The Art Newspaper
Gareth Harris, Largest Roman mosaic opens to the public
Anzhela Khachaturova, Major Swiss museum acquisition proves far larger after extra works revealed in donor’s unopened portfolios
Anna Brady, Marlow Moss, overshadowed De Stijl pioneer, gets first London show in decades
Artforum
Pablo Larios, New Drone Gods: Cao Fei Follows the Tech to the Provinces
Emily Sandstrom, Pop Art: Walking All Over New York’s New Balloon Museum
Bennett Smith, Serious Play: Pope.L Balances Anguish with Humor
From the Editors, Collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos Donates 51 Works to Greek and Scottish Museums
From the Editors, After Many Delays, Kanal-Centre Pompidou in Brussels Will Open in November
Artnet
Kenny Schachter, Go Rogue! Kenny Schachter Has Advice for Artists—and as Usual, Scoops!
Margaret Carrigan, Embattled Kennedy Center Warns of Bankruptcy, Closure—and Other Art World Matters
EDITOR’S PICK - Sonia Manalili and Margaret Carrigan, Are Fairs and Museums Getting Too Cozy?: Plus, Bonhams pilots a new resale-royalties scheme and fashion mogul Peter Simon’s collection heads to Christie’s.
Vittoria Benzine, Bob Ross Paintings, Found on Craigslist, Could Fetch Six Figures at Auction
Vittoria Benzine, Florentina Holzinger on What Her First Ukraine Trip Taught Her About Art and War
Katya Kazakina, Thomas Ruff’s 9/11 JPEGs Broke My Heart All Over Again
Jo Lawson-Tancred, U.K. Pushes to Standardize Auction Data—and More Industry Intel
ARTnews
Maximilíano Durón, Alice Diop to Take on Miu Miu’s 2026 Art Basel Paris Commission
Tessa Solomon, Trump Demands ‘Strange Modernist’ Sculpture Be Replaced by George Washington Statue
Maximilíano Durón, ‘I Live for My Art. That’s Really All There Is to It’: Read One of Yayoi Kusama’s Final Unpublished Interviews
Devorah Lauter, French Artist Claude Lévêque Ordered to Stand Trial for Rape and Sexual Assault of Minors
Hikmat Mohammed, Tschabalala Self’s Fourth Plinth Sculpture in London Receives Mixed Reviews
Brian Boucher, Tensions Ran High as Charlie Kirk Memorial Sculpture Was Unveiled in Times Square
Francesca Aton, Ancient Mausoleum Discovered Along Peruvian Coast
Maximilíano Durón, Rosalyn Drexler’s Art Shines at New York’s Garth Greenan Gallery and Rachel Comey’s Runway Show
Alex Greenberger, George W. Bush Reveals New 9/11 Paintings: ‘When America Is in Trouble, Americans Respond’
Devorah Lauter, Before Thieves Stole A Now-Missing Renoir Painting, Family Says Nazis Had Already Done So—And It Belongs to Them.
ArtReview
Nicole Kaack, Sophie Becker’s House of Puppets
Declan Long, The Lesser-Told Story of the Carnsore Folk Festivals
Alexandra Symons-Sutcliffe, Kate Millett: The Crisis of Visual Language
From the Editors, Marlies Ritter, ceramicist who thought with her hands, 1941–2026
The Atlantic
James Parker, George Lucas’s Next Great Epic Is an Art Museum
Susan Tallman, Look Closer: Edward Steichen’s Sunflower
The Brooklyn Rail
Ami Xherro, Notes from the Flamingo Revolution
Jessica Saxby, Association A4: Migrant Farmers, Agro-Ecology, and Anti-Fascism
Kate Shannon Jenkins, Women Sleeping
J. Caurine, Accidents Will Happen
Financial Times
Jackie Wullschläger, High Waters by Massimiliano Gioni — what makes a good Venice Biennale?
The Guardian
Briana Ellis-Gibbs, ‘He would have been the center of everything’: the art exhibition imagining if Emmett Till lived
Edward Helmore, Trump asks Smithsonian to install ‘Colossus statue’ of George Washington with exhibit
Charlotte Higgins, Bayeux tapestrymania has gripped Britain. But what does it say about our own age of war and upheaval?
Hyperallergic
From the Editors, Good Muslim Artist, Bad Muslim Artist
Hakim Bishara, The Battle of New York
Naeem Mohaiemen, Standing in the Shadow of No Towers
Anna Lee, Brooklyn, Say Hello to Your First Craft Supply Library
Phillip Pyle, Anna Lee and Rhea Nayyar, 15 Fall Art -Ennials, From St. Louis to Dakar
Rhea Nayyar, School of Visual Arts Ends Photography MFA Program
David S. Rubin, Joel-Peter Witkin’s God-Loving, Gender-Bending Art
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, A View From the Easel
Chanelle Chevelle Russel, Pope.L Invites Us to Think Through the American Dream
The New York Times
Holland Cotter, Arthur Jafa, the Great Disrupter, Readies a ‘Big Bang’
Aruna D’Souza, Don’t Call Him Pop: A New, Improved Roy Lichtenstein Is at the Whitney
Zachary Small, An Indigenous Painter Sees a Vermeer, and the Sparks Fly
Julia Jacobs, Kennedy Center Warns of Bankruptcy Unless Trump’s Name Is Added
Jane Margolies, An Art School Building Reveals Skills Beneath the Skin
Observer
Elisa Carollo, Seoul’s ParkSeoBo Museum Isn’t a Temple to Its Namesake
John Scott Lewinski, 25 Years Later, 9/11’s Artifacts Still Call for a Different Level of Curatorial Care
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Labor board defers charge that The Met fired a worker over union activity
Adam Schrader, FOIA Documents: NLRB defers a discipline charge against the Met to arbitration
Adam Schrader, Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery sets spring 2027 for free admission
Adam Schrader, Eastman Museum workers allege anti-union campaign after filing for election
Vanity Fair
Eve Batey, A New Photo Exhibit Asks a Heartbreaking Question: What If Emmett Till Had Lived?
Nate Freeman, Move Over, Chelsea: Tribeca Is New York’s New Gallery Mecca
The Wall Street Journal
Julia Halperin, A New Lawsuit Alleges an International Andy Warhol Forgery Scheme
Melik Kaylan, ‘Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy’ Review: East Meets West, Beautifully, at the Met
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