The Art Angle

How Warhol's Handmade Art Shaped His Famed Pop Factory

06 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With his themes of repetition and appropriation, Andy Warhol’s work can seem mass produced. He was prone to say that his assistants did his work for...

The Round-Up: Auction Week Hacked!, Maurizio Cattelan's Misfire, Royally Bad Paintings

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is the exhausted end of a jam-packed month of May, and we're staring into what promises to be a similarly jam-packed June. It's overwhelming to thi...

The Art Angle Presents: Artist Jim Denevan on Creating Massive Land Artworks That Are Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

23 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Land art, the movement which emerged in the 1960s and 70s with artists such as Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, and Michael Heizer erecting monumental wor...

The Art Angle Presents: How Curator Yung Ma is Redefining Contemporary Exhibition Models

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who are the rising talents in the art world poised for greatness? Discover them in ‘Up Next’, Artnet’s popular series of profiles introducing yo...

What 'Good Taste' Looks Like in 2024

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is a connoisseur? Who can be one? What role do they play in shaping tastes of the art market and the large expanse of art history? There's perhap...

The Art Angle Presents: How Dealer Alexander Shulan Is Building New Markets for Underrecognized Artists

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who are the rising talents in the art world poised for greatness? Discover them in ‘Up Next’, Artnet’s popular series of profiles introducing yo...

Andrew Bolton, The Reanimator: Life, Death, and Sleeping Beauties at the Met

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There is a lot to unpack—literally and figuratively—in the Metropolitan Museum’s new Costume Institute show, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening F...

Special Preview: Previously Unknown | A History of Independent

04 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We're sharing a special preview of Previously Unknown, a podcast from our friends at Independent New York.  Previously Unknown reframes and reevaluat...

How Jeffrey Gibson Went from Almost Quitting Art to the Venice Biennale

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As anyone who has been listening to this show recently will already know, the world's largest and most closely scrutinized art event—the Venice Bien...

The Round-Up: On the Ground at the Venice Biennale

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is time for another edition of the Art Angle Roundup, where we look at some of the biggest headlining stories of the past month. But really, let's ...

Why Are Art Resale Prices Plummeting?

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The art press is filled with headlines about trophy works trading for huge sums: $195 million for an Andy Warhol, $110 million for a Jean-Michel Basqu...

Why Adriano Pedrosa Sees His Venice Biennale As 'Paying a Debt'

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Next week, the art world will descend into the Venetian Lagoon for the Venice Biennale, the most highly anticipated art event of this year. The Brazil...

Two Critics on the Whitney Biennial

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Every two years, the Whitney Museum of American Art returns with its signature and much-anticipated biennial. Founded in 1931, the Whitney Biennial is...

The Round-Up: Damien Hirst's Formaldehyde Fail, a Photo Star Rediscovered, and Artnet News Turns 10

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Well, it is the end of March, spring has sprung, and April showers are coming in fast and furious. We're back with the monthly Art Angle Round Up, whe...

A Peek Behind the Curtain at Auction Houses

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A few years back, electrifying bidding wars and monumental transactions routinely had us all on the edge of our seats in the auction room, but this so...

A Reporter Goes Undercover in the Art World

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The contemporary art world is nothing if not confusing. It is simultaneously deeply frivolous, and takes itself way too seriously. Its business dealin...

James Fuentes Has His Own Playbook for Success. It’s Working.

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It has been 17 years since James Fuentes first hung a shingle out under his own name. In the years since, he has carved out a unique position in the c...

The Round-Up: Museums vs Patrons, a Contested Sculpture Stars in Venice, and Koons on the Moon

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's episode, hosts Ben Davis and Kate Brown are joined by the newly-minted Artnet Pro editor and veteran art journalist and critic Andrew R...

The Roots of the Harlem Renaissance—and Its Power Today

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The words the “Harlem Renaissance” have immense magnetism for vast numbers of people. In art history, however, the Harlem Renaissance has often be...

Inside the Art Fraud Feud of the Century

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, much of the art industry was transfixed on the goings-on in a courtroom in downtown Manhattan, where the Russian businessman Dimitry Rybol...

The Enduring Obsession With Abstraction

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The term “abstraction” gets thrown around a lot in the art world, usually as a vague catchall to describe an otherwise inexpressible style of pain...

Unexpected Ways A.I. Might Rewire Art

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial intelligence was one of the hottest topics in art in 2023—and we can predict that it will continue to be a major topic in 2024. We can de...

The Round-Up: Market Predictions, Venice Biennale Shake-Ups, and Marina Abramovic's Skincare

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We are well into 2024 now, coming to the end of January, and looking back at 2023, one of our favorite innovations was this monthly round up here at t...

Ishmael Reed on Basquiat Myths and Realities

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The author Ishmael Reed is known as a major force in literature and has been called one of the key thinkers of multiculturalism. Born in 1938, Reed ar...

The Artist Behind the Art World’s Most Viral Memes

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you like art and are on Instagram, then you probably know the account @freeze_magazine—that's freeze spelled with an E, like "help me, I'm freezi...

Lucy Lippard On A Life In And Out Of Art

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Any short list of the most important art critics of the last decades would have to include Lucy R. Lippard. She would also be at the very top of Artne...

Re-Air: What Is Hypersentamentalism? On the New Tendency in Art

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you follow the mainstream art world, you will know that for the last decade, one of the biggest stories has been a boom in new kinds of figurative ...

The Round-Up: 2023's Ins And Outs

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of the year, it's become something of a tradition for people in all corners of the Internet to review the last 12 months and take a look to...

Artnet's Writers On The Art That Brings Them Joy

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness." That's a quote from the great Bauhaus textile artist Anni Albers that ge...

Klaus Biesenbach on Museums as Social Networks

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Most loyal Art Angle followers will be familiar with the curator Klaus Biesenbach. The German-born artist made his mark in Berlin in the 1990s, foundi...

The Round-Up: A Buyer's Art Market, Italy's Tolkein Furor, and the Blackest, Blackest Black

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Well, we made it to the end of the year (almost!), and we are back at the Art Angle with our monthly Round Up, where we bring together some of our est...

How an Exclusive NYC Cult Influenced the Post War Art Scene

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"I was like reborn," the art critic Clement Greenberg once remembered, "it was the most important event in my life." The event in question was his enc...

How to Look at the Met's Blockbuster Manet/Degas Show

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the biggest art events of the year is currently up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. That, dare we say, once-in-a-lifetime exhibit...

How Artist Marcel Dzama Brings Surrealism to the Stage

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Marcel Dzama has an immediately recognizable style as a visual artist, but his energy has far exceeded the realm of visual art. Born in Winnipeg, Cana...

Curator Helen Molesworth Looks Back on 30 Years of Art Writing

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2018, Helen Molesworth was unceremoniously dismissed from her position as chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. The move pro...

The Art Angle Presents: What's Going On in the Asian Art Market Right Now

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today's global discourse, “Asia” often takes on an expansive, sometimes oversimplified, identity. Especially within the global art market, this...

The Round-Up: London vs Paris, Criticism in the Age of 'Parasocial Aesthetics,' and More Secrets of the Mona Lisa

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the Art Angle is returning with this month's edition of the Round Up, featuring Artnet News Europe Editor Kate Brown, National Art Critic B...

How the World's First Museum Dedicated to Women's Art Is Charting a Path Forward

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In December 2020, Congress approved funding for a new Smithsonian Museum dedicated to women's history to be built on the National Mall in Washington, ...

The Art Angle Presents: Artist Conrad Shawcross and Simon de Pury on Perceptions of Time

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For more than 30 years, the acclaimed British sculptor Conrad Shawcross has been preoccupied with the concept of time. Throughout a career defined by ...

Fotografiska's Bold New Model For Museums

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How can art institutions adapt to meet the changing cultural landscape in the coming decades, and what are the new models that will evolve to fill the...

Hal Foster on the Age of Art Theory

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hal Foster is one of the most well-known thinkers about art today. In a career that spans several decades, he is known for important much-cited books ...

The Round-Up: A Glut of Paintings, a Fraudster's Reckoning, and an Art Prank Gone Wrong

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The fall art season is now officially in full swing. We've had a big round of fairs already around the world with the Armory Show, Independent 20th Ce...

Artist Carol Bove on Curating Legendary Polymath Harry Smith

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Harry Everett Smith is an odd figure to come across in an art museum. That's because he's not known primarily as a visual artist at all. For most, Har...

Grow or Go? In an Uncertain Market, Three Art Experts Debate the Future

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What does the future of the art market look like? It's a big and thorny question that cannot possibly be answered with a few simple words. From the bi...

What's Causing the Crisis in Art Criticism?

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are endless ways to write about art, but if you tell someone that's your job, the first thing they're likely going to think is that you write ar...

The Round-Up: The British Museum's Crisis, A.I. Art on Trial, and Dealer Beef in Montauk

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We're back this week with The Roundup, where we dissect some of the biggest headlines that have been causing a stir over the last weeks in the art wor...

Why Digital Art Lives Fast and Dies Young

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're going to be talking about a relatively new and novel career within art, one you might not have thought of because it didn't even really ex...

Why the Art Market's Struggles Spell Opportunity

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

So... how is the art market doing these days? If you want to know the answer, you’re in luck, because the latest issue of Artnet’s biannual Intell...

The Pleasures and Paradoxes of Seurat's Iconic 'Sunday Afternoon'

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In John Hughes's classic 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the cohort of truant teenagers make a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, and spend so...

How Surrealist Artist Leonora Carrington Carved Her Space in a Male-Dominated World

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Despite being among the most-celebrated surrealists of the last century, British born artist Leonora Carrington is still overlooked as compared to her...

The Round-Up: Frieze's Expansion, Pollock's NFTs, and Barbenheimer's Impact

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It used to be that the art news slowed down in the summer months, but these days, it seems like the art news never takes a break. So we're trying some...

A Security Guard's Love Letter to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s every art lovers dream. To be alone, after hours, inside one of the world’s most august art museums. Away from the throngs of selfie-stick-wi...

How Meow Wolf Turned Into an Unlikely Art Juggernaut

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The company’s origins are the stuff of legend. A scrappy band of Santa Fe artists with a penchant for building fantastical installations from mounds...

The Stunning Fall of Lisa Schiff, Art Advisor to the Stars

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Just about everyone who works in the New York art world knows Lisa Schiff, an art advisor to the rich and famous who worked with celebrities like Leon...

Inside the Controversy Over Hannah Gadsby's 'Pablo-matic' Show

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso. To mark the occasion, an international event called Picasso Celebration has been o...

Why This A.I. Art Pioneer Thinks Text-to-Image Generators Are Killing Creativity

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When artificial intelligence first arrived in the art world in 2017, it was received warmly and with open arms. A.I.-generated works by artists like O...

Jenny Holzer on the Raw Power of the Well-Wrought Phrase

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past five decades, American artist Jenny Holzer has been engaging in thought-provoking interventions into public space that unflinchingly add...

What Is Hypersentimentalism? On the New Tendency in Art

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you follow the mainstream art world, you will know that for the last decade, one of the biggest stories has been a boom in new kinds of figurative ...

James Murdoch on His Vision for Art Basel and the Future of Culture

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the Covid summer of 2020, the art world was jolted by a very different kind of drama when reports surfaced that MCH Group, the Swiss corporation be...

Among the Spiders With Mind-Bending Artist Tomas Saraceno

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the studio of Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno, there’s an expected sound—vibrations of a spider working on its web—a sound normally impercep...

The Art Angle Presents: How the Intersection of Art, Design, and Technology Is Evolving

23 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The landscape of technological advancement in the art and design world is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. In recent years, we have witnessed the ...

What Does Connoisseurship Mean in the Digital Age?

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is connoisseurship, and what does it mean in the present day when Chat-GPT or even plain old Google can answer nearly any art historical question...

Google’s A.I. Art Guru on the New Age of Disruption

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The arrival of A.I. will profoundly change the art world—if it hasn't already. A.I.-generated works have proliferated with the rise of A.I. art gene...

What Is ‘Quantitative Aesthetics,’ and How Is It Changing Art?

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most exciting things about being an art journalist is that art as a subject is ridiculously protean: what it looks like is always changing,...

An Oral History of Ryan McGinley’s ‘The Kids Are Alright,’ 20 Years Later

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

February 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of photographer Ryan McGinley’s seminal exhibition “The Kids Are Alright” at the Whitney Museum of A...

Re-Air: How A.I. Is Changing the Business of Being an Artist

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today in the spring of 2023, it feels almost impossible to escape news, rumors, debates, think pieces, open letters, diatribes, scandals, lawsuits, or...

How Roy Lichtenstein Became a Super-Villain to Comic Book Artists

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When you hear the name Roy Lichtenstein, an artistic style immediately comes to mind. In the early 1960s, Lichtenstein’s use of comic books as an in...

How Does Data Give You the Edge in the Art Market?

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The art market of today is a thriving global industry with a diverse community of buyers and sellers from all over the world who compete privately, an...

Re-Air: Are Climate Activists’ Art Attacks Helping or Hurting Their Cause?

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In recent months, headlines around the world have blared the news of a startling new trend of activism where protesters physically attack famous artwo...

Re-Air: Why Vermeer’s Many Secrets Are Now Coming to Light

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Next to the Mona Lisa, Johannes Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring is quite possibly the most famous portrait of all time. The 17th-century paintin...

How the Heist Movie ‘Inside’ Turns Art Into a Thief’s Salvation

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In a new feature film called Inside, an art heist goes terribly wrong for a thief named Nemo. Nemo is played by the world-renowned actor Willem DaFo...

The Triumphant, Tragic Life of Nazi-Era Artist Charlotte Salomon

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

All around Europe, there are small brass bricks inlaid into the ground before the front doors of apartment buildings and houses. These bricks are like...

Hito Steyerl on Why the Metaverse Has Already Failed

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Given the manifold political, climate, and technological crises unfolding just two months into 2023, one wonders if that ominous future our species so...

The Art Angle Presents: How Three Artists Envision What a Goddess Means Today

24 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In ancient mythology, figures like Athena and Aphrodite were exalted as paragons of virtue, strength, and beauty. Artnet and Cadillac invited three ar...

Hilma af Klint Pioneered Abstract Art. But That Is Only Part of Her Story

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Swedish painter Hilma af Klint died nearly 80 years ago in relative obscurity, but you might not immediately realize this if you look her up today...

What Is Afrofuturism, and Why Is It So Relevant Today?

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One art movement has become a household name in a way that few recent art movements can match. This is Afrofuturism. From the Metropolitan Museum of A...

Marc Spiegler on the Evolution of the Art Business (and Life After Art Basel)

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For Art Basel, the most well known art fair in the world, the fourth quarter of 2022 marked the end of one era, and the beginning of another. In early...

Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova on Art, Activism, and Vladimir Putin

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Born in Norilsk, an industrial Siberian town inside the Arctic Circle, Nadya Tolokonnikova was just 18 when she moved to Moscow and became a founding ...

What Can the Art World Learn From an Occult Practitioner?

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Here at Artnet, we typically look to thorough data and the hard facts to tell us what to make of the wily, unpredictable art world. But every now and ...

4 Predictions on How the Art Industry Will Transform in 2023

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Well, it's happened again. Tim Schneider has gone prophetic, again. At the beginning of every year, our trusted art business editor goes through the S...

Why the Very Serious Artist Paul Chan Is Taking a Breather

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Anyone who's driven by a car dealership in the U.S. has probably seen them: Inflatable nylon figures with smiley faces, bending and twisting in the br...

Re-Air: What Is the Metaverse? And Why Should the Art World Care?

29 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Well, what do you know? The year of 2022 has officially come to a close, and here at The Art Angle, we are in a reflective. It was an amazing year fo...

An End-of-Year Art-World Quiz Show Extravaganza

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Well, the end of the year is upon us and it is also the end of an era here at Artnet News. Our fearless executive editor, Julia Halperin, is leaving h...

Is Progress in the Art World Just a Mirage?

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Inside the art world, one of the defining narratives of the past decade has been a renewed push for gender and racial equity. Much of the attention in...

Are Climate Activists’ Art Attacks Helping or Hurting Their Cause

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On October 14, two activists, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, walked into the National Gallery in London and threw a can of tomato soup on Van Gogh...

Jerry Saltz on What It Takes to Be an Art Critic Today

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to be an art critic today? How do you choose what to write about and how do you even choose what to look at in an age where seeing a...

The Art Angle Presents: How Four Mexican Photographers Captured the Maya Riviera’s Raw Beauty

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This special episode of the Art Angle is produced in partnership with Belmond.  Recently, four photographers got a dream assignment. They were dispat...

How the Rubells Built an Empire Out of Minting Art Stars

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What do Sterling Ruby, Oscar Murillo, Kennedy Yanko, and Aomoako Boafo have in common? Beyond being some of the most sought-after contemporary artists...

Why Vermeer’s Many Secrets Are Now Coming to Light

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You've seen it. A woman in a blue turban set against a black background looking over her shoulder like you just called her name. She's wearing a heavy...

How the Lucas Museum Plans to Tell Riveting Stories Through Art

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been a challenging few years for art museums. But Sandra Jackson Dumont, the director and CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angel...

How—and Why—Paul Allen Built His Billion Dollar Art Collection

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A glittering forest with a floor covered in leaves by Gustav Klimt. A country road painted with psychedelic purples, greens, and pinks by David Hockne...

How A.I. Is Changing the Business of Being an Artist

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the borderlands between art and technology, no single development has sucked up more oxygen this year than the rise of image generators powered by ...

Can Artists Beat Flippers at Their Own Game?

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

"Flipping" was once a dirty word in the art market. But that is no longer the case. Over the past decade, speculative reselling has become big busines...

Can Art Basel Make Paris the World’s Art Capital Once Again?

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The art world was caught by surprise earlier this year when it came to light that Paris’s long-standing art fair, FIAC, was being ousted from its pr...

Why the Art World Is Such Hard Place to Be a Parent

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A brand-new publication, penned by the London-based critic and Artnet contributor Hettie Judah, is trying to tear down a dusty old myth that hangs aro...

‘Hope’ Poster Artist Shepard Fairey on Art and Activism Today

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Few living artists have created an artwork as instantly recognizable as Shepherd Fairey’s Hope poster, which has become the stuff of legend as the f...

How the Universe Taught Wolfgang Tillmans to Make Art

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When visitors go to see Wolfgang Tillmans’s new retrospective at the museum of modern art, one of the first things they'll likely notice is that few...

Rick Lowe on How Art Can Solve Real-World Problems

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The year was 1990, and artist Rick Lowe had invited a group of high school students into a studio. Standing surrounded by his billboard size paintings...

How K-Pop and Connoisseurship Made Seoul a New Art Capital

08 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the art industry descended on Seoul, South Korea, for the inaugural edition of Frieze art fair’s Asian outpost. It was a major affair, pa...

Re-Air: Why Art Biennial Superstars Exist in a Parallel Universe

01 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This year was a big one for biennials with the Whitney Biennial in New York, the Venice Biennale in Italy and Documenta in Kassel, Germany as well as ...