Art News. Vasari Codex

person people schedule Sep 4, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

rabkin foundation 2025 arts journalism grant winners

The Dorothea & Leo Rabkin Foundation in Portland, Maine, has named eight recipients of its 2025 Rabkin Prize for visual arts journalists. Each winner receives an unrestricted $50,000 grant. This year's honorees are Tempestt Hazel, Jessica Lynne, Nicole Martinez, Brandy McDonnell, America Meredith, Eva Recinos, Paul Chaat Smith, and J Wortham. The foundation also commissioned portraits by photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki and will publish a series of interviews with the winners starting September 10.

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trending_up market schedule Aug 26, 2025 visibility 11 link 2 artists

sothebys fee structure trump tariffs

A New Yorker profile of Sotheby's and its billionaire owner Patrick Drahi reveals the chaotic aftermath of the auction house's failed 2024 fee restructuring. The plan, announced in February 2024 and enacted that May, standardized seller's commissions and buyer's premiums but backfired, driving away business and causing profits to plummet. By December, Sotheby's reversed course. The article quotes former and current employees who compare Drahi's management style to Donald Trump's tariff disputes, and recounts a tense June 2024 meeting where contemporary art chairman Grégoire Billault told Drahi he was losing business, only to be told by Drahi that everyone is replaceable.

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article culture schedule Jul 19, 2025 visibility 10 link 2 artists

bernini the ecstasy of saint teresa

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's iconic Baroque sculpture *The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa* (1647–1652) is examined in detail, depicting the Spanish Carmelite nun Saint Teresa of Ávila in a moment of divine rapture as an angel pierces her heart with a golden arrow. The artwork, housed in the Cornaro Chapel at Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, was commissioned by Cardinal Federico Cornaro and remains one of Bernini's most celebrated and controversial masterpieces, blending theatricality, religious fervor, and virtuosic marble carving.

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article culture schedule Jun 20, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists

sean monahan

Trend forecaster and writer Sean Monahan, known for coining the term "vibe shift" and popularizing "normcore" through the collective K-HOLE, reflects on cultural trends, platform fatigue, and the possibility of a long-awaited cultural shift. In an interview with Artnet News, Monahan discusses his journey from art school to brand consulting, the legacy of post-internet art, institutional decay, and why the 2020s may finally be congealing into a definable decade. He currently runs the Substack newsletter 8Ball, which decodes contemporary aesthetics and social dynamics.

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gavel restitution schedule Jun 20, 2025 visibility 9 link 1 artist

spanish court franco heirs return cathedral statues santiago

Spain's Supreme Court has ordered the heirs of former dictator Francisco Franco to return two 12th-century religious statues depicting Isaac and Abraham to the city of Santiago. The sculptures, originally part of the Portico of Glory at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, were removed under Franco's administration in the mid-20th century and transferred to the Meirás Palace at the request of Franco's wife. The court ruled that the transfer was illegal and that the statues remain the property of the city, rejecting the family's claim that they were purchased through an antique dealer in 1954.

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article news schedule Jun 12, 2025 visibility 8 link 3 artists

vast roman villa under excavation in france

Archaeologists from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) have uncovered a massive 43,000-square-foot Roman villa at Sainte-Nitasse in Auxerre, France, during excavations ahead of a road construction project. The villa, dating from the 1st to 3rd centuries C.E., features a central garden with a basin and fountain, thermal baths with an underfloor heating system, and rooms including a reception room, kitchen, and working area. Previously known from 19th-century records and a 1960s dig that revealed a smaller 7,500-square-foot building, the new findings reveal what Inrap calls “one of the great villas of Roman Gaul,” with thick walls, marble, mosaics, and frescoes indicating aristocratic owners.

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article culture schedule Jun 10, 2025 visibility 10 link 1 artist

photographer documents her changing body with stunning self portraits

British photographer Polly Penrose documented her changing body over seven years in a nude self-portrait series titled "A Body of Work." The project involved physically demanding poses taken on self-timer, leaving her bruised and aching, as she hammered her body into various spaces. Penrose described the process as a punishing, repetitious fight to fit into each setting, with the resulting images capturing both visible physical transformations and concealed emotional changes.

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article news schedule Apr 29, 2025 visibility 11 link 1 artist

natalie white equal rights amendment

Artist Natalie White was present in the Virginia legislature on January 15 when both houses voted to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, providing the 38th state needed to meet the threshold set by Congress in 1972. White has been a dedicated advocate for the ERA since 2015, organizing a 250-mile march from New York to Washington in 2016, painting "ERA NOW" on the Capitol steps, and staging civil disobedience performances at the state capitol. She has also helped file a lawsuit against U.S. Archivist David S. Ferriero to compel official recording of Virginia's ratification, arguing that the original congressional deadline is unconstitutional.

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article news schedule May 21, 2026 visibility 5 link 4 artists

Open Letter in Support of the Artist Asel Kadyrkhanova

An open letter initiated by members of the Kazakhstani and international art community protests the removal of artist Asel Kadyrkhanova's work *Machine* (2013) from the Kazakhstan pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The mixed-media installation, which addresses Stalinist repression through a vintage typewriter, arrest warrants, and red threads, was dismantled on May 5, 2026, reportedly by order of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Culture and Information, just before the pavilion's opening. The artist and curator were allegedly pressured to alter the work beforehand, and the ministry initially cited restrictions from the Italian side, but the Italian Ministry of Defense denied involvement.

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museum exhibitions schedule Mar 23, 2026 visibility 27 link 10 artists

Images of a Visionary World

Film Notes has published an essay by Mats Antonissen analyzing Henri Michaux's 1963 film "Images du monde visionnaire." The essay situates the film within Michaux's decade-long exploration of psychotropic substances, the history of pharmaceutical filmmaking, and postwar avant-garde cinema. This publication coincides with an exhibition at the Vandenhove Centre in Ghent dedicated to the film and related works, on view through May 2026.

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person people schedule Mar 16, 2026 visibility 14 link 5 artists

John Smith on Being John Smith

Artist-filmmaker John Smith discussed his latest autobiographical film, 'Being John Smith,' in an interview with Nataliia Serebriakova following a screening. The film explores his lifelong relationship with having one of the most common English names, a subject he was finally inspired to tackle after witnessing a Pulp concert where the crowd became a unified mass during the song "Common People." He describes the project as cathartic, addressing the daily jokes and challenges of individuality tied to his name.

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rate_review review schedule Mar 4, 2026 visibility 22 link 6 artists

The Left Side of History: On Haile Gerima’s Black Lions—Roman Wolves

The article is a critical essay analyzing Haile Gerima's 2026 film 'Black Lions—Roman Wolves: The Children of Adwa,' focusing on its exploration of Italy's colonial occupation of Ethiopia and the repression of this history. The author uses a scene from Gerima's earlier film 'Teza'—featuring children playing near a decaying fascist monument in Ethiopia—as a starting point to discuss how colonial memory and trauma are cinematically excavated.

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article culture schedule Feb 25, 2026 visibility 21 link 8 artists

After Farce: Ubu, the Imperialist

The article examines the cultural and artistic response to Donald Trump's presidency, tracing how artists and critics initially invoked Alfred Jarry's absurdist character Ubu to make sense of Trump's first term. It argues that the second term has moved beyond farce into a normalized, active remaking of the international political order, with Trump pursuing overt imperial ambitions that exceed Jarry's original satire.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 15, 2026 visibility 12 link 10 artists, 3 galleries

Bow Arts launches open call for 2027 East London Art Prize

Bow Arts has announced an open call for the 2027 edition of the East London Art Prize, now entering its third cycle. The prize will support 12 shortlisted artists with exhibitions, mentoring, and career development, awarding one artist £15,000 and a solo exhibition at Nunnery Gallery, and another a year-long studio residency. The judging panel includes Brendan Cormier, Alex Needham, Marine Tanguy, and artist Michelle Williams Gamaker, with submissions open from 14 May to 16 August 2026.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 14, 2026 visibility 9 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

Floral photography makes space for grief at Plug In ICA

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg is presenting 'Transcendence,' a dual exhibition pairing Sheila Spence's 'Lexicon of Loss'—floral prints made by pressing roses on a flatbed scanner—with 'Observance,' a video installation by the late Toronto artist April Hickox, who died in 2025. The two artists, who first met at the Banff Centre in 1989, reconnected four years ago after both experienced profound loss: Spence's long-term partner died, and Hickox faced a cancer diagnosis. Their collaboration, conceived during daily conversations, brings together works that explore grief through botanical imagery and moving image.

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museum exhibitions schedule Feb 6, 2026 visibility 15 link 1 artist, 2 galleries

Press Release: Pace University Art Gallery Presents Siobhan McBride’s Summer Remembers Winter

Pace University Art Gallery presents *Summer Remembers Winter*, a solo exhibition by painter Siobhan McBride, opening February 14, 2026. The show features new works exploring disjointed spaces, memory, and identity shaped by dislocation, reflecting McBride's experience as a Korean-born, U.S.-raised adoptee. The exhibition includes a free public reception on February 19 and an artist talk on March 5, running through March 21, 2026.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jan 16, 2026 visibility 14 link 8 artists, 3 galleries

FSU's Museum of Fine Arts presents exhibit examining humanity through things we collect, keep and carry

Florida State University's Museum of Fine Arts (MoFA) will present the exhibition "Like everything alive that we try to hold forever" from January 29 to June 27, 2025. Curated by Elizabeth Diggon, Naomi Potter, and Shauna Thompson of Esker Foundation and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), the show features seven international artists—including Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Diane Borsato, Stephanie Dinkins, Bridget Moser, Sondra Perry, and Miya Turnbull—whose work in photography, sculpture, and video examines the complex relationship between humans and non-human objects, touching on themes of identity, colonialism, artificial intelligence, and digital technologies.

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trending_up market schedule May 23, 2025 visibility 15 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

Zóbel pieces headline Leon Gallery’s ‘The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction’

Leon Gallery's 'The Spectacular Mid-Year Auction' in Makati City features several key artworks from the Zóbel de Ayala family collection, including Fernando Amorsolo's 'The Burning of Manila'—one of the largest Amorsolo paintings ever auctioned—and multiple pieces by Fernando Zóbel, such as 'Versión en Toledo', 'Variante Sobre Un Tema de Cassatt', 'Talgo', and 'Pequeño homenaje a Stravinski'. Other notable lots include Anita Magsaysay-Ho's 'Water Carriers', Vicente Manansala's 'From the Market', and Hernando R. Ocampo's 'Miners'. The auction, scheduled for June 7, 2025, marks Leon Gallery's 15th anniversary in the art business.

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candle obituary schedule May 1, 2026 visibility 21 link 1 artist

Stephanie Chernikowski, 84, Dies; Photographed the ‘Rough Magic’ of Punk

Stephanie Chernikowski, a photographer who documented the raw energy of New York City's punk scene in the 1970s, has died at age 84. She captured iconic images of bands like the Ramones, Blondie, and the Patti Smith Group performing at legendary clubs such as CBGB, preserving the "rough magic" of that era.

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candle obituary schedule Apr 29, 2026 visibility 14 link 1 artist

A Curator Died Suddenly. Could the Venice Biennale Be Saved?

Koyo Kouoh, the curator of the Venice Biennale’s centerpiece exhibition, died suddenly of cancer at age 57, just months into her tenure. She left behind a detailed plan for the exhibition, which her assistants are now working to realize in her absence.

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museum exhibitions schedule Apr 21, 2026 visibility 15 link 1 artist

An Artist Asks: Without Darkness, Who Are We?

Artist Jan Tichy has created a new exhibition that explores the consequences of light pollution and the disappearance of natural darkness. The project, titled "Without Darkness, Who Are We?", involved extensive research and collaboration with scientists including entomologists and neurobiologists to understand the ecological and psychological impacts of artificial light.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 12, 2026 visibility 12 link 3 artists

Dries Verhoeven on Representing the Netherlands at the 61st Venice Biennale

Dries Verhoeven will represent the Netherlands at the 61st Venice Biennale (2026) with a new work titled *The Fortress*, installed in the Dutch Rietveld Pavilion in the Giardini. The 25-minute performance piece transforms the sunlit pavilion into a darkened bunker, featuring a raw vocal composition using only false vocal cords. Verhoeven describes the work as a meditation on transition and self-preservation, reflecting a Western society caught between its enlightened self-image and a dark vision of the future. The piece responds to geopolitical unrest outside the Biennale grounds and is designed to be melancholic and confrontational, contrasting with the main exhibition's theme, *In Minor Keys*.