Artnet News editors and writers compiled a list of the worst art of 2025, calling out works they found lazy, cynical, overhyped, or ethically dubious. Highlights include Flora Yukhnovich's site-specific painting installation at the Frick Collection, which critics deemed middling and out of place among the museum's historic masterpieces; Jeff Koons's eight-foot-tall Hulk (Tubas) sculpture, sold for $3 million at Frieze New York and described as an obnoxious trophy piece; and actor Adrien Brody's interactive gum wall installation, which invited visitors to stick chewed gum onto a canvas.
The article matters because it reflects a growing critical pushback against high-profile, commercially driven art that prioritizes spectacle and market value over aesthetic or conceptual rigor. By calling out works at prestigious venues like the Frick Collection and major art fairs like Frieze, the piece underscores tensions between institutional prestige, market forces, and artistic quality—a recurring debate in the contemporary art world.