Bicoastal Art World Satire ‘Kill Dick’ Imagines Sackler Revenge

Luke Goebel's new novel 'Kill Dick' is a satirical, chaotic takedown of the contemporary art world and its entanglement with the Sackler family, fictionalized here as the Sicklers. The book follows protagonist Susie, the daughter of the Sickler family lawyer, as she navigates addiction, familial disgust, and a numbed existence against the backdrop of 2016 America. Its prose is deliberately abrasive and shocking, mirroring the emotional state of its narrator.

Rare Rauschenberg Experimental Dance Revived at Brooklyn Roller Rink

The Trisha Brown Dance Company is reviving Robert Rauschenberg's first choreographed dance, 'Pelican,' for the first time in 60 years. The single-night performance will take place at the vintage Xanadu roller rink in Brooklyn as part of a 'Pelican Gala,' which also features two long-unseen dances by Trisha Brown. The event coincides with the centennial of Rauschenberg's birth.

Pedro Friedeberg, Surrealist Artist Known for Hand-Chair, Dies at 90

pedro friedeberg surrealist artist dead hand chair

Pedro Friedeberg, the prolific artist and designer central to Mexico’s Surrealist-aligned circles, has died at age 90 in San Miguel de Allende. Born in Italy and having fled to Mexico to escape fascism, Friedeberg became a singular figure in Latin American art, known for his architectural paintings and whimsical, absurdist sculptures. His death was confirmed by his New York representative, Ruiz-Healy Art.

Vera Molnár: Venice Biennale 2022

vera molnar venice biennale

Vera Molnár, a 98-year-old pioneer of computer art, is receiving renewed international attention as her work is featured in a dedicated gallery at the Venice Biennale's main exhibition, "The Milk of Dreams." The article profiles Molnár at her Paris home, tracing her journey from childhood experiments with systematic pastel drawings in Hungary to her 1947 move to Paris, where she transitioned from classical training to geometric abstraction and co-founded the influential GRAV collective.

dries van noten launch foundation venice

Fashion designer Dries Van Noten and his partner Patrick Vangheluwe have announced the launch of Fondazione Dries Van Noten, a new cultural institution in Venice. Housed in the historic 15th-century Palazzo Pisani Moretta on the Grand Canal, the foundation will host residencies, collaborative projects, and exhibitions focused on the intersection of craftsmanship and contemporary art. The inaugural exhibition, "THE ONLY TRUE PROTEST IS BEAUTY," curated by Van Noten and Geert Bruloot, is set to open on April 25 and will feature over 200 objects spanning fashion, sculpture, and collectible design.

Venice Biennale Russia Pavilion Return Controversy

venice biennale russia pavilion return controversy

The Venice Biennale is facing intense backlash following the announcement that Russia will return with a national pavilion for the 2026 edition, marking its first official participation since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and various international activists have called for Russia's exclusion, arguing that the platform is being used to whitewash war crimes and exert political influence. In response, the Biennale leadership has maintained a policy of non-exclusion, stating that any country recognized by Italy has an autonomous right to participate.

basquiat the hole kenny schachter

Kenny Schachter explores the existential threat posed by the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence and its projected impact on the global economy by 2028. Citing the Citrini Report, he highlights a future of mass unemployment among white-collar professionals—the primary demographic for art consumption—who account for over 50% of discretionary spending in the U.S. As tech leaders like Jack Dorsey begin significant workforce reductions attributed to AI, the financial foundation of the art market appears increasingly precarious.

claire tabouret notre dame

French artist Claire Tabouret is currently the subject of a major career retrospective at Museum Voorlinden and a high-profile solo exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. The latter showcases her full-sized maquettes for six new stained-glass windows commissioned for Notre-Dame Cathedral, depicting the Biblical story of Pentecost. These works, created in collaboration with the historic Atelier Simon-Marq, represent a significant shift for the artist as she translates her signature fluid, figurative painting style into the medium of translucent glass.

frank frazetta captive princess propstore

Frank Frazetta’s 1973 painting 'Captive Princess,' originally created as cover art for Edgar Rice Burroughs’s novel 'The People That Time Forgot,' is heading to auction at Propstore with a high estimate of $1 million. The work, which depicts a dramatic abduction scene involving prehistoric figures, leads a major sale of entertainment memorabilia that includes iconic film props like a 'Jaws' harpoon gun and a C-3PO head.

us figure skating sonja hilma portraits

U.S. Figure Skating commissioned athlete and artist Sonja Hilmer to create custom, elegant line-drawing portraits of each member of the 2026 Winter Olympic team. The black and gold ink portraits, inspired by Italian fashion drawings, were hung above the skaters' beds in the Olympic Village as a personal touch from home.

claire tabouret criticism notre dame cathedral commission

French figurative painter Claire Tabouret has been awarded the commission to create new stained glass windows for Notre-Dame Cathedral, replacing 19th-century works by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus that survived the 2019 fire. Her designs, featuring multiethnic, multigenerational worshipers during Pentecost, were unveiled in the exhibition "Claire Tabouret: In a Single Breath" at the Grand Palais. The project, chosen by President Emmanuel Macron and Archbishop Laurent Ulrich from 110 candidates, has drawn criticism as an act of vanity and a possible violation of heritage guidelines, though Tabouret and Macron remain undeterred.

gerard malanga warhol factory films restored

Three films by Gerard Malanga, a key figure in Andy Warhol's Factory, have been restored and will premiere in Pittsburgh. The 16mm works, transferred to 4K, include "Film Notebooks, 1964–1970," "The Filmmaker Records a Portion of His Life in the Month of August, 1968," and "Andy Warhol: Portraits of the Artist as a Young Man (1964)."

a rhythm 0 for the tiktok age

Artist Briony Godivala is performing a year-long piece called *The Inked Link*, in which she has a QR code tattooed on her forearm that redirects to a new link each day based on public votes. Since January 2025, the voting site has been hacked to repeatedly play an anime episode, and participants have submitted links to pornographic, fascist, and racist content, as well as footage of death. Godivala, a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, previously explored collective responsibility in physical performances where audience members carried her until they dropped her; she now uses social media to continue these experiments in a virtual space.

claude lorrain woburn abbey export bar

The United Kingdom has imposed a temporary export bar on Claude Lorrain's masterpiece "Landscape with Rural Dance" (c. 1640), valued at £9 million ($12 million), to prevent it from leaving the country. The painting, which has hung at Woburn Abbey for over 250 years, is being sold by the Duke of Bedford to fund a major renovation project. The export bar, recommended by a reviewing committee that deemed the work of "outstanding aesthetic importance," gives UK institutions until April 15 to express intent to acquire the painting for the nation.

di rosa art center estate sale

The di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa, California, has listed its 217-acre estate for $10.9 million amid ongoing financial struggles. The property, which houses a significant collection of postwar Northern California art including works by Mark di Suvero, Peter Saul, and Jay DeFeo, was founded by collector Rene di Rosa and his wife Veronica. The center has been seeking financial stability since 2019, when it briefly attempted to sell its holdings before reversing course after local backlash. Director Kate Eilertsen hopes a wealthy philanthropist will purchase the estate and lease it back to the center, or that Napa County may acquire the land for public use while preserving the sculptures.

leonardo da vinci mural milan olympics

A Leonardo da Vinci mural undergoing restoration at Sforza Castle in Milan will be temporarily opened to the public for five weeks starting February 7, coinciding with the Winter Olympics in Italy. Visitors can climb a 20-foot scaffold inside the Sala delle Asse to observe conservators at work on the delicate tempera painting, which was begun shortly before Milan fell to France in 1499 and was later covered by plaster and lost for centuries. The mural was rediscovered in the late 19th century, with further sections uncovered in the 20th century, and the current restoration uses Japanese rice paper and demineralized water to clean the surface.

vienna to temporarily close composer museums amid culture budget cuts

Vienna will temporarily close several museums dedicated to famous composers, including the apartments of Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss, and Joseph Haydn, as part of city-wide budget cuts. The closures, announced on Wednesday, are expected to last up to two years, with Schubert's birthplace also closing for a redesign ahead of the 200th anniversary of his death in 2028. The city's cultural budget has dropped from €29.7 million in 2025 to €28.4 million this year, with further reductions planned for 2027. Other institutions, such as the Prater Museum and Hermes Villa, will also reduce opening hours.

claire tabouret notre dame windows grand palais

French artist Claire Tabouret is presenting her full-scale maquettes for Notre-Dame Cathedral's new stained glass windows at the Grand Palais in Paris, in an exhibition titled "In a Single Breath." The six windows, each over 20 feet tall, were selected by a committee from over 100 submissions last December, replacing 19th-century designs by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The project has sparked controversy: conservation group Sites and Monuments launched a petition with over 328,000 signatures and a legal case arguing the replacement violates the 1964 Venice Charter and French historic monuments law. A Paris administrative court ruled in favor of the state in late November, but the group plans to appeal. Tabouret's designs are now being fabricated by the historic Atelier Simon-Marq glass workshop.

juergen teller bottega veneta summer 2026 campaign

Juergen Teller has photographed Bottega Veneta's Summer 2026 campaign, set against the iconic landmarks of Venice, including the Palazzo Contarini Polignac and the Venice Giardini. The campaign features models Liya Kebede and Anine Van Velzen, and arrives ahead of the 2026 Venice Biennale. It also marks the debut collection of Louise Trotter, who joined Bottega Veneta as creative director last year, drawing on the house's 50-year archives and reimagining signature items like the Lauren and Knot bags.

kochi muziris biennale closure christian protests

India's Kochi-Muziris Biennale was forced to close briefly in late December 2024, just weeks after its mid-December opening, following protests by Christian groups over a painting of the Last Supper by artist Tom Vattakuzhy. The work was displayed not in the main biennial exhibition, “For the Time Being,” but in a side exhibition called “EDAM” at the Garden Convention Centre in Kochi. Christian organizations, including the Kerala Latin Catholic Association and the Syro-Malabar Church, condemned the painting as offensive and called for its removal, questioning the use of public funds. Vattakuzhy, who is from a Christian family, said he did not intend to offend and that the work was inspired by a play based on a poem about Mata Hari. The biennial's curators and president defended the work, refusing to remove it on grounds of censorship, and organizers announced the exhibition would reopen on January 2.

sothebys saudi arabia second auction art luxury

Sotheby's will hold its second auction in Saudi Arabia, titled "Origins II," on January 31 in Diriyah, following its first auction in the kingdom in February 2024. The inaugural sale, also called "Origins," achieved $17.3 million within pre-sale estimates but had a 65.8% sell-through rate, with 40 of 117 lots unsold, particularly jewelry and handbags. The upcoming auction will focus exclusively on fine art, featuring over 70 works by international and Middle Eastern artists, including Anish Kapoor, Andy Warhol, Mohammed Al Saleem, Mahmoud Sabri, and Samia Halaby. The sale is scheduled just before the inaugural Art Basel Qatar.

pussy riot labeled extremist organization by russias justice ministry

Russia’s justice ministry has officially designated Pussy Riot, the feminist punk rock band and art collective co-founded by Nadya Tolokonnikova, as an “extremist organization.” The ruling follows a December 15 closed-door hearing at Moscow’s Tverskoy Court, where prosecutor general Alexander Gutsan filed a lawsuit against the group. The designation bans all Pussy Riot activities in Russia and allows the state to seize property of members and their families, and to prosecute anyone supporting the group. Tolokonnikova told ARTnews the group will appeal, calling the decision a source of “anxiety and bureaucratic nonsense.” In September, five members were sentenced to 8–13 years for spreading “fakes” about the Russian military, and Tolokonnikova was placed on Russia’s wanted list in 2023 after her performance *Putin’s Ashes*.

tuan andrew nguyen 2026 high line plinth commission

The High Line in New York has selected Vietnamese artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen to create its next plinth commission, titled *The Light That Shines Through the Universe*, opening spring 2026. The 27-foot sandstone sculpture reimagines one of the Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, replacing the lost hands with melted brass artillery shells. The work is an "echo" meant to invoke memory of the lost cultural treasures.

pussy riot russia designation extremist group

A Moscow court designated the feminist art collective Pussy Riot as an extremist organization on December 15, following a lawsuit from Russia's Ministry of Justice. Founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, currently living in exile, condemned the ruling, warning that owning a balaclava, having a song on a computer, or liking a post could lead to prison time. She learned of the lawsuit while finishing her durational performance "Police State" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which she described as a warning about surveillance authoritarianism. Tolokonnikova co-founded Pussy Riot in 2011 and was previously imprisoned for performing anti-Putin songs at a Moscow cathedral.

best art world movies 2025

Artnet News has published a roundup of the best art world movies of 2025, highlighting films that explore the anxieties, ambitions, and contradictions of the contemporary art scene. The selection includes Kelly Reichardt's heist film *The Mastermind*, about a man stealing Arthur Dove paintings from a museum; the satire *Auction*, which follows a Parisian auctioneer discovering a long-lost Egon Schiele; the documentary *Art for Everybody*, reexamining Thomas Kinkade's legacy; and Ira Sachs's *Peter Hujar's Day*, a gentle portrait of the photographer's daily life. Spike Lee's *Highest 2 Lowest* also features, marking his entry into the old-guard canon.

lalanne hippopotame bar 31m sothebys record

François-Xavier Lalanne’s copper sculpture-bar 'Hippopotame Bar' sold for $31.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York, more than tripling its $7–10 million estimate after a 26-minute bidding war among seven bidders. The work, commissioned in 1976 by patron Anne Schlumberger and unique in its copper execution, set a new auction record for the artist and became the most expensive work of design ever sold at auction. The sale capped a year of strong performance for Lalanne’s hybrid animal-furniture works, which have consistently outperformed expectations even in a tougher art market.

georgia okeeffe new mexico desert protected zone

A conservation plan is underway to protect 26 square kilometers of New Mexico desert near Abiquiu that inspired Georgia O’Keeffe’s iconic paintings. The land, owned by a charitable arm of the Presbyterian Church, is being safeguarded through a partnership with the New Mexico Land Conservancy and the state government, with a $920,000 award from a state conservation trust. The protected area includes sandstone bluffs, grasslands, and views of Cerro Pedernal, while preserving access for film productions and ranchers.

tudor portrait auction record

A 16th-century portrait of Thomas Howard, the 4th Duke of Norfolk, by Hans Eworth sold for £3.2 million ($4.2 million) at Sotheby’s Old Masters sale in London on December 4, setting a record as the most expensive Elizabethan portrait ever sold. The painting was purchased by the art advisory Clore Wyndham on behalf of the Duke of Norfolk and the trustees of Arundel Castle, where it will be displayed. The work, painted in 1562, depicts Norfolk at the height of his political power, dressed in opulent Tudor fashion, and is one of only two known portraits of him.

russia pussy riot justice ministry extremist organization

Russia’s justice ministry is seeking to have Pussy Riot, the feminist punk rock art collective, designated as an extremist organization, with a hearing set for December 15 at Moscow’s Tverskoy Court. The lawsuit, filed by prosecutor general Alexander Gutsan, aims to ban the group’s activities in Russia, marking the first time Pussy Riot faces official allegations of extremism. The move coincided with a performance of Police State by member Nadya Tolokonnikova at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where she transformed the theater into a replica Russian prison cell for a five-day immersive piece. Tolokonnikova, who was previously imprisoned by Russia on religious hatred charges, has been placed on the country’s wanted list, and other members have received lengthy prison sentences for spreading alleged "fakes" about the Russian military.

john oliver bob ross auction public media

A 1987 Bob Ross painting, *Cabin at Sunset*, sold for $1.04 million in a benefit auction hosted by late-night comedian John Oliver, setting a new auction record for the artist. The work was painted during the second episode of the 10th season of Ross's television series *The Joy of Painting*. The online sale, which concluded November 24, included 65 eclectic lots—from presidential wax figures to a signed bucket of dolls—and raised funds for the Public Media Bridge Fund, which supports independent broadcasters amid federal cuts to public broadcasting.