Crime A Michigan Dealer Charged With Conning Collectors Out of More Than $1.6 Million Is Expected to Strike a Plea Deal The dealer, Wendy Beard, faked life-threatening health scares and invented fake employees to dodge payments to clients. By Taylor Dafoe, May 30, 2023
Art World Artist Jesse Krimes Is Heading Up a New Nonprofit to Help Formerly Incarcerated Artists Find Creative Careers The organization was founded with a major gift from Agnes Gund’s Art for Justice Fund. By Taylor Dafoe, May 26, 2023
On View Artist Trevor Paglen Sounds the Alarm on Our New Era of ‘Psy-Ops Capitalism’ in a Reality-Testing Show at Pace Gallery We're moving from “surveillance capitalism” to an even more manipulative era, the artist said. By Taylor Dafoe, May 23, 2023
Law A Washington-Based Artist Who Falsely Claimed Native Heritage to Sell His Work Has Been Hit With an 18-Month Sentence The man, Jerry Chris Van Dyke, sold more than $1,000 worth of carved pendants based on Aleut masks in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. By Taylor Dafoe, May 23, 2023
Art Fairs An Alternative to Frieze? 21 New York Galleries Have Banded Together for a Group Show of Works From the 1970s Bortolami, Karma, and Kasmin are among the galleries participating in 'That ‘70s Show,' organized by dealer Eric Firestone. By Taylor Dafoe, May 17, 2023
Art World Australia Is Investigating Claims That Workers at an Aboriginal Arts Center Altered Works by Indigenous Artists Tjala Arts said that the staff members were 'art assistants' working under the direction of the local artists. By Taylor Dafoe, May 16, 2023
Art History Did Michelangelo Have a God Complex? An Expert Has Suggested That He Painted Himself Into ‘The Creation of Adam’ In a recent paper, the scholar Adriano Marinazzo posited that the artist based his depiction of God on his own likeness. By Taylor Dafoe, May 15, 2023
Auctions Two Rare Rembrandt Portraits Will Hit the Block at Christie’s in July—199 Years After They Were First Sold by the Auction House The rediscovered paintings are believed to be the last known portraits by the artist in private hands. By Taylor Dafoe, May 15, 2023
Politics 600 Cultural Figures Have Signed an Open Letter Protesting an Art Exhibition Sponsored by Data Analytics Firm Palantir The show was organized by Walter Smerling, a curator who has come under fire for his connections to toxic philanthropy. By Taylor Dafoe, May 11, 2023
Museums The Met Museum Plans to Hire a Team of Provenance Researchers Amid Increased Scrutiny Around Its Collection Museum director Max Hollein announced four new initiatives related to the institution's collecting policies. By Taylor Dafoe, May 11, 2023
Crime Stolen Ancient Tomb Carvings Sat in Storage at the Met Museum for Decades. Now, They’ve Been Returned to China The objects are among 89 antiquities seized by the D.A. as part of a years-long criminal investigation into Shelby White’s collection. By Taylor Dafoe, May 10, 2023
NFTs The Quilters of Gee’s Bend Head to the Blockchain, Collaborating With a Young Generative Artist on a Series of NFTs The project will go live on May 17 on Arsnl. By Taylor Dafoe, May 10, 2023
Archaeology A California Man Repatriated 30 Ancient Artifacts He Found in His Father’s Cupboard After Reading a Viral Article About Repatriation The objects were likely created between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC, according to an illicit antiquities trafficking expert. By Taylor Dafoe, May 9, 2023
Crime An Elderly Man Spray-Painted a Miriam Cahn Painting at a Paris Museum After Right-Wing Attempts to Censor It Failed The Palais de Tokyo will keep the defaced painting on view until the end of the show next week. By Taylor Dafoe, May 8, 2023
Art Fairs Art Basel Has Named Maike Cruse, Head of Gallery Weekend Berlin, the Director of Its Flagship Fair in Switzerland Cruse is one of three directors recently hired by the company to oversee its fairs around the world. By Taylor Dafoe, May 4, 2023