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A US appeals court overturned an $8.8 million judgement against artist Ryder Ripps and his business partner Jeremy Cahen, who were previously ordered to pay Yuga Labs, creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, for creating copycat NFTs. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 23 that Yuga Labs had not sufficiently proven that Ripps and Cahen's tokens would confuse buyers. The case, originally filed in June 2022, alleged trademark infringement, false advertising, and cybersquatting. Ripps and Cahen argued their works were satirical appropriation art, while Yuga Labs denied claims of racism tied to the BAYC imagery. The ruling sends the case back to federal court for a trial on trademark and cybersquatting claims.

A monkey mountain kronikle

Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis is hosting a return exhibition of American printmaker Tom Huck, known for his large-scale satirical woodcuts. Huck, who works from his studio Evil Prints in Park Hills, Missouri, draws inspiration from Northern Renaissance masters like Albrecht Dürer, as well as José Guadalupe Posada, Honoré Daumier, and William Hogarth. His intricate carving and cross-hatching technique creates works that blend festive celebration with social criticism, which he describes as "rural satire" based on life in small-town southeast Missouri.

Comment | Digital art today has a narcissism problem

Art Basel Miami Beach's new digital art section, Zero 10, featured a heavily subsidized presentation curated by Eli Scheinman, bypassing the fair's usual selection process. The centerpiece was Beeple's installation "Regular Animals" (2025), which displayed dog-like robots with humanoid masks of figures including Kim Jong-un, Elon Musk, and Beeple himself, which critics argue lacks substantive critique and relies on shallow satire.

Rawya El Chab Tends to the Wounds of Lebanon's Civil War

Lebanese performance artist Rawya El Chab has debuted the second installment of her trilogy, "Crossing the Water," at The Brick in Brooklyn. The performance explores the collective trauma of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and her family's subsequent flight to the Ivory Coast, blending personal memory with political satire and mythology. By embodying various roles—from suspicious neighbors to puppet-like politicians—El Chab navigates the complexities of life under military occupation and the persistent feeling of surveillance.

This unpublished comic tries to tell us what the Biennale of the future will be like

Questo fumetto inedito prova raccontarci come sarà la Biennale del futuro

Hurricane (Ivan Manuppelli), a leading figure in Italian underground comics, creates an original comic titled "Biennale 2126" for Artribune, imagining what the Venice Biennale might look like in the future. In an accompanying interview, he discusses his satirical approach, the enduring relevance of underground comics, and the importance of critiquing power through art.

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The Gallerist, a new satire directed by Cathy Yan, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film follows struggling gallerist Polina Polinski (Natalie Portman), who is betting everything on a one-artist debut at Art Basel Miami Beach. After an obnoxious art influencer, Dalton Hardberry (Zach Galifianakis), dies accidentally by impalement on a sculpture titled The Emasculator, Polina and her assistant Kiki (Jenna Ortega) conspire to pass off his corpse as part of the artwork, duping wealthy clients. The ensemble cast also includes Catherine Zeta-Jones as a legendary dealer reminiscent of Marian Goodman, Da'Vine Joy Randolph as the earnest artist Stella Burgess, and Sterling K. Brown as Polina's ex-husband.

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Zoe Dubno's novel *Happiness & Love* is a satire of the art world, heavily borrowing from Thomas Bernhard's 1984 novel *Woodcutters*. The book follows an unnamed narrator who relentlessly criticizes the vapid, social-climbing denizens of the downtown New York scene, using the word "stupid" over twenty times. The narrator laments the art world's obsession with wealth and clout over meaning and beauty, but her own hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness are evident. The novel has received superficial coverage from outlets like *New York Magazine*, focusing on the author's lifestyle rather than the book's content.

Louvre Museum to Install Locks on Doors After Heist

The Louvre Museum announced it will install locks on its doors for the first time in its history, following a brazen heist last fall where robbers stole priceless items in under seven minutes. The new "state-of-the-art entry inhibition protocol" will involve locking doors and windows after hours, with visitors being checked for bobby pins and paper clips, deemed the greatest security threats.

Rocío Sáenz: Wild Order

ROCÍO SÁENZ: ORDEN SALVAJE

Mexican artist Rocío Sáenz presents "Orden salvaje" (Wild Order) at the Museo de las Artes de la Universidad de Guadalajara (MUSA), an exhibition featuring over 60 works created over three years. Spanning painting, ceramics, photography, and drawing, the collection explores the tension between beauty and horror, specifically addressing the harrowing reality of forced disappearances in Mexico. The exhibition is designed as an open studio, showcasing the artist's creative process alongside finished pieces that utilize black humor and satire to navigate themes of death and reconstruction.

Aiza Ahmed: ‘I’m finding ways to explore humanity’

Interdisciplinary artist Aiza Ahmed is presenting a solo exhibition of new paintings and woodcut sculptures with New York gallery Sargent's Daughters at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar. The 28-year-old, who splits her time between residencies in Doha and New York, uses the theatrical Wagah-Attari border ceremony between India and Pakistan as a central subject to explore identity, nationalism, and power dynamics.

German Provocateur Artist Sentenced to 8.5 Years in Prison in Russia After Mocking Putin

German carnival float artist Jacques Tilly has been sentenced in absentia to 8.5 years in a Russian prison. A Moscow court convicted him on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military and insulting religious feelings due to his satirical floats depicting President Vladimir Putin, including one showing Putin in a blood-filled bathtub painted like the Ukrainian flag.

donald trump jeffrey epstein statue returns email release 1234761586

A controversial statue of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, originally titled *The Secret Handshake* and later renamed *Why Can't We Be Friends?*, has reappeared in Washington, D.C., outside the Busboys and Poets Art Cafe. The anonymous artists behind the work, which depicts the two men holding hands, timed its return to coincide with the release of a new tranche of Epstein-related emails by the House Oversight Committee. The statue first debuted on the National Mall in September but was removed by the National Parks Service for exceeding size regulations, before briefly returning. The artists have now renamed it *Best Friends Forever* and included plaques alluding to a birthday message allegedly written by Trump to Epstein.

5 Art Job Openings That Are Definitely Not Exploitative

Hyperallergic published a satirical list of five fictional art world job openings, each parodying exploitative or absurd practices common in the industry. The positions include an Instagram comment moderator for a collector, an assistant to a famous artist with invasive demands, a "sentence complicator" for an art institution, a residency where the artist pays to work, and an endurance-based performance art participant compensated only with "exposure."

Art exhibition in Daegu shut down over satire of ex-President Yoon

An art exhibition in Daegu, South Korea, was shut down after featuring works by artist Hong Sung-dam that satirize former President Yoon Suk Yeol. The exhibition, titled "Art for the Future: Daegu, Art, Answer the Zeitgeist," was held at the district-run Bongsan Cultural Center and organized by the Daekyung Art Research Institute. Three paintings—"Donghak-uiguk," "Ddong-gwang," and "Pal-gwang"—depicted Yoon in provocative contexts, including nudity and references to political controversies such as the doctors' strike and his wife Kim Keon Hee. On the first day, the center requested removal of the works; after the institute refused, the center required artists to sign a liability pledge. Ultimately, Ryu Kyu Ha, head of Daegu's Jung-gu District Office, ordered the exhibition hall closed, citing regulations against political works. Two other galleries remain open with about 50 works by 19 artists.

A New Look at Rabelais and His World

The article examines the philosophical and literary significance of laughter in François Rabelais's work, particularly *Gargantua and Pantagruel*, contrasting his celebratory view with the predominantly negative assessments of laughter in Western philosophy from Plato to Hobbes. It highlights how Rabelais channels a durable tradition of folk humor as a form of affirmative relief from oppression and official solemnity.

WATCH: Robot ‘tech billionaire’ dogs roam new art exhibition

A new art exhibition features robotic dogs designed to resemble tech billionaires, roaming the gallery space as interactive artworks. The installation combines robotics, artificial intelligence, and satire to critique the influence and eccentricities of Silicon Valley's elite.

Natalie Portman tries to sell a corpse and film-makers traffic in art-market stereotypes in The Gallerist

Cathy Yan's new black comedy caper *The Gallerist*, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, follows Miami-based dealer Polina Polinski (Natalie Portman) as she tries to sell a corpse impaled on a sculpture during Art Basel Miami Beach. The film, co-written by Yan and James Pedersen, features a cast including Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Zach Galifianakis, Jenna Ortega, Charli xcx, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and leans heavily on art-world stereotypes for its farcical humor.