Ben Luke
Ben Luke is a contributing editor and podcast host at The Art Newspaper
Who is Octavia Butler and why is the art world obsessed with her writing?
The late author’s sci-fi stories have inspired artists such as Alberta Whittle, Candice Breitz, Toyin Ojih Odutola and Precious Okoyomon
‘It sounds like a cliché to say you’ve fallen in love with Italy’: artist Emma Talbot on her greatest influences
The artist tells us about her favourite music, artists and the cultural experience that changed the way she sees the world
Summer of Seoul: why the South Korean capital is a new art world hub
Plus, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize winner: a basket made with horsehair
Documenta 15: why is the show so scandalous?
Plus, the Warhol-Prince copyright dispute, and Juan Muñoz at Spain’s Centro Botin
Velázquez’s Pope eclipses Bacon's 'silly' screamers
A firsthand encounter with the Spanish artist's portrait of Pope Innocent X in Rome puts the later interpretations in perspective
A brush with... Megan Rooney
An in-depth interview with the artist on her cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Maxine Kumin to Henry Moore
Francis Bacon: why Tate returned a 1,000-piece archive
Plus, US photographer of queer women, Alice Austen; and Michel Majerus at Art Basel
Musicals to motherhood: the Serpentine Galleries' Lucia Pietroiusti on her greatest influences
The curator tell us about her favourite books, television shows and artists
Why virtual reality is a medium still in need of ‘cradling’
Artists and developers using VR have made huge leaps, but a better user experience is long overdue
A brush with... Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
An in-depth interview with the artist on her cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Gustave Moreau to Peter Pan
Stan Douglas on working with music, cinema and time—and why he stopped making video for five years
The ground-breaking artist is showing his early work Onomatopoeia in Art Basel's Unlimited section
Crypto crash: what now for NFTs and the art world?
Plus, Norway’s mega-museum and a Spanish-American screen in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
A brush with... Emma Talbot
An in-depth interview with the artist on her cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Sassetta to Klimt
New shows reveal how Picasso was inspired by the Old Masters
Plus, Chris Levine's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II; and a rise in political interference in museum leadership
A brush with… Stan Douglas
An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Agnes Martin to Samuel Beckett
The hunt for looted Cambodian objects—are they hidden in the West's museums?
Plus, the dark truth of the Marcos family’s extravagance and Ruth Asawa at Modern Art Oxford
The enigma of Philip Guston: two books unpack artist's fascination with dualities
Coinciding with opening of controversially postponed Guston show, these publications are vital to grasping the artist's contribution to post-war American art
Frieze Week in New York: mammoth auction sales and a shifting art fair landscape
Plus, the Albers Foundation plans a Senegal space, and a golden Indian manuscript at the British Library
Saving Ukraine’s heritage: an eyewitness account of relief efforts
Plus, the Cezanne blockbuster at The Art Institute of Chicago and Nicola L.’s Gold Femme Commode at Alison Jacques
A life saved by art: Lonnie Holley on making work inspired by trauma, 'garbage'—and being stranded on an English island
Known for his sculptures assembled from material other people might consider rubbish, the US artist will be performing his improvised voice and piano compositions during London Gallery Weekend
London Gallery Weekend: the must-see exhibitions in West and Central London
As the event kicks off on Friday 13 May, critic Ben Luke chooses the best shows to visit
America's racial reckoning: inside the controversial Guston show
Plus, London's new Queer Britain museum and a rediscovered work by Caterina Angela Pierozzi
Macron wins: what now for the French art scene?
Plus, Walter Sickert at Tate Britain and Gordon Parks at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Matisse’s masterpiece The Red Studio recreated 100 years later for New York show
The objects in the painting—including several of the artist's own works—have been brought together for an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, which later travels to Copenhagen
The women-dominated Venice Biennale has been criticised for sacrificing quality—revealing just how necessary such progressive projects really are
Described by some as a “politically correct” move, around 90% of the artists in Cecilia Alemani's exhibition 'The Milk of Dreams' are female
The stuff of dreams: Cecilia Alemani delivers a perfectly judged Biennale
The Milk of Dreams is a "show of ripples and resonances, one that honours its artists"
The best of the Venice Biennale: our critics’ review
Plus, artists Francis Alÿs, Sonia Boyce, Shubigi Rao and Na Chainkua Reindorf on their national pavilion shows; and a Bellini masterpiece
Marlene Dumas at Palazzo Grassi review—exhausting and uplifting at once
Venice exhibition elegantly displays the tension between seduction and repulsion in the South African artist's work
Photographer Edward Burtynsky on his Ukrainian heritage and our 'predator species running amok'
Plus, Winslow Homer at the Met and China's Russia problem
A brush with... Nari Ward
An in-depth interview with the artist on his greatest cultural influences, from The Staples Singers to Piero Manzoni