minneapolis institute of art closes alex pretti killing ice

The Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) announced it would remain closed on Sunday for safety reasons after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, during an ICE operation in Minneapolis on Saturday. The shooting occurred just blocks from the museum, and MIA had already closed early on Saturday following the news. The closure was part of a broader Day of Truth and Freedom protest against ICE operations in Minnesota, and the NBA also postponed a Timberwolves game in response to the incident.

trump epstein drawing

The House Oversight Committee has released a crude drawing that President Donald Trump reportedly gave to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. The sketch, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, features a marker outline of a naked woman with Trump's apparent signature placed where her pubic hair would be. Trump has denied creating the drawing, claiming he has never drawn, and has filed a $10 billion libel lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch. The New York Times compared Trump's signature on the drawing with his correspondence from 1987 to 2001 and found they "closely matched."

katya kazakina front page award

Artnet News senior reporter and columnist Katya Kazakina has won the Newswomen’s Club of New York’s 2025 Front Page Award for specialized reporting in arts and entertainment for the second consecutive year. The award recognizes her July story “Keeping Up With the Clients: The Art World Lifestyle Can Be Dangerously Alluring,” which investigated how dealers and advisors overextend themselves financially and legally to maintain social ties with wealthy patrons. The piece grew out of her earlier scoop on dueling lawsuits between ultra-high-end art advisors Barbara Guggenheim and Abigail Asher.

artists former staffers accuse london gallery nonpayment

Artist Brittany Fanning has publicly accused London-based Pictorum Art Group of failing to pay her for works sold in a group show three years ago. She and other artists, including Finn Johnson who obtained a court judgment, claim they are owed money. Former staffers also report unpaid wages. The gallery, which operated on Portman Square, was dissolved in July, and attempts to reach its directors, brothers Jackson Navin and Matthew Navin, were unsuccessful. Fanning, who has shown at galleries like Mindy Solomon and Steve Turner, says she is owed around $9,140 total, including for the painting *Shark Lover*.

sasha suda philadelphia art museum

Sasha Suda, the former director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has filed a lawsuit against the institution less than a week after her abrupt firing. The legal complaint alleges breaches of contract, bad faith, unfair treatment, and abuse. Suda, who served for three years, is seeking two years' severance and damages, represented by high-profile art world attorney Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel. Her ouster came shortly after the museum unveiled a controversial rebranding, changing its name from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the acronym PhAM and introducing an unpopular griffin logo. The museum has stated the lawsuit is without merit. Louis Marchesano, deputy director of curatorial affairs and conservation, is currently serving as interim leader.

perrotin relocating hong kong gallery

Emmanuel Perrotin announced that his gallery is relocating from K11 Atelier Victoria Dockside back to Central, Hong Kong’s business district, where it first opened in Asia in 2012. The gallery vacated Dockside on October 1 after six years, citing the need to better serve its community, enhance accessibility, and reduce operational costs. The move follows Pace Gallery’s announcement that it will close its H Queen’s location by the end of October, and comes amid a broader shake-up in Hong Kong’s gallery scene, with other blue-chip dealers like Lévy Gorvy Dayan also shuttering spaces.

sfmoma cuts nearly 40 staffers amid labor talks

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has cut 29 positions, nearly 8 percent of its workforce, with 26 of those affected being members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 29. The layoffs, which include 20 full-time and 9 part-time roles, were announced abruptly with less than a day's warning, drawing criticism from union officials who say they were not given a chance to discuss alternatives or negotiate severance. Museum director Christopher Bedford stated the cuts were necessary due to financial challenges, and that enhanced severance packages were provided to union members. The affected staff reportedly hold public-facing or visitor service roles, and it remains unclear if curatorial or senior-level positions were included.

An Abandoned Shipyard in Venice Is Getting a New Life Thanks to This Congolese Choreographer

Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula is staging "The Galeazze Project," a performance in a 16th-century shipyard complex in Venice that has been inaccessible since World War II and never open to the public. Commissioned by the nonprofit Scuola Piccola Zattere, the work will bring up to 500 people into the 32,291-square-foot open-air ruin for two nights during the 2026 Venice Biennale preview week. The rental fee from the performance will help stabilize and restore the floors of the historic Galeazze site.

art paul mccarthy show performance

Cultured magazine profiles legendary 80-year-old artist Paul McCarthy during his Paris exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, titled “SS EE Saint Santa Eva Elf.” The article follows the journalist's three-day pursuit of McCarthy, covering a screening of his films *A&E Adolf & Eva/ Adam & Eve Cooking Show* (2022/2023) and *A&E Adolf & Eva/Adam & Eve Mother* (2022/2025), which feature psychosexual themes referencing Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun alongside Adam and Eve, co-starring actor Lilith Stangenberg. The exhibition includes large raw drawings created during improvised, multi-camera performances with Stangenberg, where they play twisted Santa and elf characters. McCarthy also has concurrent shows at The Journal Gallery in Los Angeles and SOLO contemporary art space in Madrid.

art world gallery dinner politics parties

Art-world insiders share their best and worst experiences at gallery dinners, from seating disasters and VIP-only food queues to intimate gatherings and haunted-house Halloween parties. Contributors include collectors, artists, curators, writers, and gallerists who recount memorable evenings hosted by figures like Jose Martos and White Cube, revealing the social dynamics that define these events.

art collector francis j greenburger omi awards

Francis J. Greenburger, a real estate developer, philanthropist, and literary agent, discusses his lifelong art collection and philanthropic initiatives in an interview with CULTURED. He recounts buying his first painting at age 14 for $25, navigating the 1970s SoHo art scene at Max's Kansas City, and founding the Francis J. Greenburger Awards in 1985 to honor under-recognized artists with a $12,500 prize. Greenburger also details his role at Art Omi, a nonprofit arts center in the Hudson Valley with a sculpture park, residency programs, and the upcoming Art Omi Pavilions project, which will offer 18 artists and collectors individual sites across 190 acres. He is also releasing a book, *Autobiography of a Skyscraper*, about Chicago's 1000M tower.

art pat steir khajistan hc westermann

Pat Steir's early installation "Mirage 1975" has been restaged at Hauser & Wirth's Soho location, marking the 50th anniversary of her first-ever installation originally at the State University of New York in Oneonta. The exhibition runs through August 15, 2025, and coincides with the publication of the monograph "Pat Steir Paintings 2018–2025." Separately, the exhibition "Spasial Program by Khajistan" is on view at SculptureCenter in Long Island City through July 28, 2025, presenting a vast archive of rare, illicit, and suppressed media artifacts from the Islamicate world, curated by Lahore-born filmmaker Saad Khan.

Matthias Grolier nommé à la tête de France Muséums

Matthias Grolier, former chief of staff to Laurence des Cars at the Louvre, has been appointed director general of France Muséums, succeeding Hervé Barbaret after two consecutive three-year terms. The agency, created in 2007 from a Franco-Emirati agreement, oversees the Louvre Abu Dhabi partnership and coordinates contributions from 21 partner institutions including the Louvre, Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Orsay, BNF, and Quai Branly. Grolier brings a background in international business law and government advisory roles, though he has never led a heritage institution or museum.

The Enviable Life of a 1970s Soho Gallerist

Paula Cooper opened her pioneering gallery in Soho in 1968, betting on the then-desolate industrial neighborhood as artists began moving into its lofts. She cultivated deep, personal relationships with the artists she represented, such as Lynda Benglis and Joel Shapiro, as well as with other major figures like Jasper Johns, fostering a slower, more humane art world pace. Her success helped transform Soho into a major gallery district, attracting institutions like Sonnabend and Castelli.

Deutscher Pavillon wird zum Plattenbau

The German Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale has been transformed into a prefabricated concrete slab building (Plattenbau) for this year's edition, designed by artists Sung Tieu and the late Henrike Naumann, who died suddenly in February at age 41 from cancer. Curator Kathleen Reinhardt described the pavilion as part of a highly political Biennale, with Tieu covering the 1938 fascist-era building with a mosaic of over three million tiles depicting a Berlin apartment block that once housed Vietnamese contract workers. Naumann's interior installation features mint-green references to Soviet barracks in East Germany, a cartography of war, and works including a relief of chairs, a curtain of chainmail, and the performance "Trümmerfrau."

Almost Everything in the World Depends on This Substance

"Fast alles in der Welt hängt von dieser Substanz ab"

Artist Monira Al Qadiri presents her exhibition "Hero" at the Berlinische Galerie, focusing on oil tankers as central figures. The show explores the hidden violence and scale of the petroleum industry through a large wall painting of the supertanker Hero, miniature tankers with satirical names, and a video work depicting their destruction. Al Qadiri connects this to her long-term artistic investigation of oil's imagery and materiality.

Art Lovers Movie Club: Elisabeth Brun, ‘Big Tech Blues’, 2025

ArtReview's Art Lovers Movie Club presents Elisabeth Brun's film 'Big Tech Blues' (2025), an auto-documentary that follows a small village in northern Norway as it resists the installation of a SpaceX Starlink 'Gateway' transmission site. The film blends personal essay, documentary footage, and interviews with residents who protest the hub over concerns about noise pollution, radiation, and environmental impact on the rural coastline. Brun contrasts slick Starlink promotional material with slow, intimate scenes of the landscape and community organizing on Facebook, highlighting the irony of using digital tools to fight digital infrastructure.

Photographer Giles Duley brings images of historic and current wars into dialogue in Manhattan pop-up show

British photographer Giles Duley has opened a pop-up exhibition titled "Distortion/Memory/Resilience" in a 77th-floor penthouse at Sutton Tower in Manhattan, running from 12 to 24 May. The show features haunting war photography alongside installations—Youth, Childhood, and Memory—that draw parallels between historic and current conflicts. Duley, who lost both legs and an arm after stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan, uses a camera obscura, children's art from war zones, and side-by-side images of injured children from the London Blitz and Beirut to create an immersive experience. The exhibition is presented by the luxury tower's developer and includes benefit dinners hosted by Duley.

Basquiat’s Former Dealer on the Making of an Art World Icon

Bruno Bischofberger, who served as Jean-Michel Basquiat's exclusive worldwide dealer from 1982 until the artist's death in 1988, reflects on Basquiat's life and legacy in an excerpt from the forthcoming book *Basquiat: The World of Jean-Michel*, published by Assouline. Bischofberger contrasts Basquiat's raw, politically charged approach with Andy Warhol's detached, commercial style, and recounts personal memories of Basquiat's visits to Switzerland, where he absorbed everything from visual art to folk art and design.

A Pavilion of Ruins: Germany Reconsiders Its Past in Venice

The German Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale features a dual presentation exploring the country's layered political history. Artist Sung Tieu has cloaked the pavilion's fascist-era facade with a mosaic reconstruction of a GDR housing estate for Vietnamese contract workers, where she lived as a child. Inside, the late Henrike Naumann's immersive installation 'The Home Front' uses furniture and design to stage a confrontation between East and West German domestic and political ideologies. Naumann died in February 2025 at age 41, but her fully realized concept was completed collaboratively by her partner and curator Kathleen Reinhardt.

The Price Points Powering the Art Market

The article, part of the Artnet Intelligence Report: Year Ahead 2026, analyzes art market performance by price bracket in 2025. The $1 million-to-$10 million range was the strongest segment, with sales totaling $3.5 billion—a 20.8% increase from 2024. Sales above $10 million rose 36.1% to $2.3 billion, boosted by high-priced masterpieces at New York's November auctions. The $100,000-to-$1 million bracket saw $3.2 billion in sales, up 6%. Meanwhile, works under $10,000 and in the $10,000-to-$100,000 range grew less than 1%, indicating cautious buyer behavior.

‘It’s a world heritage site, but it’s my home’: the last resident of Casa Milà on life in Gaudí’s masterwork

Ana Viladomiu, a 70-year-old writer, is the last remaining tenant of Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Milà (La Pedrera) in Barcelona, a UNESCO World Heritage site that receives about a million visitors annually. She has lived in the luminous apartment since 1988, originally moving in with her then-husband Fernando Amat, owner of the iconic design store Vinçon. Viladomiu holds a rare renta antigua (fixed-rent contract) that allows her to stay until she or Amat dies, after which the not-for-profit foundation managing the building will take ownership. The rest of the building now houses offices and cultural event spaces.

Comment | The slopification of political art

The article critiques the rise of AI-generated political imagery, such as Donald Trump depicted as Jesus and viral Lego videos of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, arguing that these shallow, generic visuals fail to provide meaningful or lasting cultural commentary on current conflicts. The author contrasts this with the inventive, humorous resistance seen during the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, which later influenced a generation of Turkish artists.

Dark Mode: Inside the Art Market’s Private Auction Playbook

A secret, invitation-only auction for a single Andy Warhol portrait of Brigitte Bardot was held at a private bar in New York on November 19, 2025, during the major public auction week. Organized by the online platform Fair Warning and presided over by former Christie's auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen, the event attracted elite collectors and resulted in a $16.7 million sale, making it the most expensive Warhol of the season.

The Tensions Seething Beneath the Surface of the 2026 Whitney Biennial

The 2026 Whitney Biennial has quickly generated a consensus among critics, prompting a deeper analysis of its underlying themes. The exhibition features a notable tension between works exploring artificial intelligence, such as Zach Blas's maximalist installation and Cooper Jacoby's emotionally resonant sculptures, and a contrasting trend of delicate, nostalgic art focused on domesticity and ecology, exemplified by artists like Kelly Akashi and Jasmin Sian.

venice biennale russia pavilion eu funding

The European Union has threatened to withdraw a €2 million grant from the Venice Biennale following Russia's decision to return to the international exhibition for its 61st edition. The EU Commission warned that providing a platform for a Russian national pavilion risks legitimizing figures connected to the Kremlin and violating sanctions, while Biennale organizers have defended the move as a commitment to artistic freedom and a rejection of censorship.

phillips modern contemporary sale london

Phillips’s Modern and contemporary evening sale in London concluded with a total of £13 million ($17.3 million), marking a 16 percent decline compared to the previous year's equivalent auction. The sale was led by Andy Warhol’s "Mao" and Vilhelm Hammershøi’s "Interior of Woman Placing Branches in Vase on Table," both of which fetched £1.6 million including fees. Despite the overall contraction in total sales, the auction saw a significant breakout for Danish painter Anna Ancher, whose work "Young Girl Reading a Letter" sold for £154,800, tripling its high estimate and setting a new auction record for the artist.

by the numbers sothebys london march 2026

Sotheby’s London Modern and Contemporary evening sale in March 2026 achieved a robust £130.6 million ($175 million), marking a significant 108.6 percent increase over the previous year's equivalent auction. The event was a "white glove" sale, with all 53 offered lots finding buyers, led by a Francis Bacon self-portrait that fetched £16 million. A notable highlight was a record-breaking £5.2 million sale for Leon Kossoff’s "Children’s Swimming Pool," which sparked a competitive ten-buyer bidding war.

sayre gomez interview precious moments kids sculpture gritty

Artist Sayre Gomez has opened a new solo exhibition titled "Precious Moments" at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles. The show features paintings of gritty urban landscapes alongside sculptures of his own children, modeled after Precious Moments collectible figurines, dressed in the kids' actual clothes and placed in the gallery's rafters.

art market minute jan 12

Artnet's Price Database reveals signs of recovery at the top end of the art market in 2025, following three years of contraction. The article highlights gains in high-value sales, exemplified by Gustav Klimt's "Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer" pictured at Sotheby's Marquee Sales Series in New York. It also notes a growing trend of small and emerging galleries working with artists' estates, and reports that roughly half of art-backed loans by non-bank businesses defaulted in 2024.