Artists

Comment | How do we protect artists from gallery insolvency?

A recent spate of closures has led to calls for legislation—but education is important, too

Diaryblog

Before banana fame, Maurizio Cattelan made ends meet delivering letters—and sperm

The mischievous artist has revealed an early CV with some (re)productive roles

Hungarian art community takes stock of populist Orbán era’s enormous toll

After 16 years of Fidesz rule, artists and cultural institutions assess the damage and consider what comes next

Okiki Akinfe wins inaugural £30,000 emerging artist prize at Frieze London

The Dasha Shenkman Focus Fund joins longstanding fair awards from Tate, Frieze, the Arts Council and others

A brush with... Gabriel Orozco—podcast

Orozco talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to film-makers, and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack and Aimee Dawson
Sponsored byBloomberg Connects

Comment | Mark Wallinger’s latest work reflects his mastery of making big ideas accessible

The artist's new series of paintings can be traced back to René Descartes

Gazanews

A year into the Gaza ceasefire, art is a means of survival

Palestinian artists inside and outside the Gaza Strip share their experiences of loss, displacement and survival, and how art continues to help them navigate life amid an uncertain ceasefire

Artists in Bogotá protest deep cuts to Colombia’s cultural budget

President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office last month, has proposed a 30% slash in funding for the cultural ministry next year

Amid affordability crisis for artists, Vancouver’s city council establishes cultural land trust

The model—already deployed in San Francisco, Helsinki and London—aims to protect creative communities from rampant real estate speculation and development

Peter Max, artist who achieved ubiquity marrying Pop art and psychedelia, has died, aged 88

A celebrity in his own right who also created riotous portraits of many famous and powerful people, Max made images that became inseparable from the legacy of the Summer of Love and countercultural movement

Comment | Sunil Gupta’s intimate photographs show how art and activism can work together

The images in the British-Indian artist’s retrospective at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, England, are both tender and powerful

Online platform connects hundreds of emerging Iranian artists with collectors abroad

The Continuum initiative provides rare access to a global audience and market

Obituariesfeature

From the flower field to the infinity room: a story of Yayoi Kusama’s journey to becoming a superstar artist

Discouraged from pursuing an artistic career as a young woman, Kusama went on to inspire millions with her performances, installations, paintings and more

Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist who enthralled people worldwide with her polka dots and mirror rooms, has died aged 97

The artist, who died on 14 August at a hospital in Tokyo, drew record crowds with her innovative installations, paintings and soft sculptures

Art marketanalysis

When galleries go bust, artists and collectors can struggle to recover their works—here, legal experts offer advice

Without proper written agreements, consigners sometimes find themselves in a protracted and costly process

Comment | Kyiv must not let bureaucracy destroy the culture that Russian drones have already damaged

After multiple assaults from Moscow, now the artist community Nahirna22 faces eviction

Art marketfeature

A guide to artist agents and consultancies

An A-Z of organisations and individuals that offer professional services to artists beyond traditional gallery representation

‘Criminalisation of dissent’: Indian artist remains behind bars after workers’ protest

Srishti Gupta was arrested in April this year, fitting a broader pattern of crackdowns on activists

The Artists Information Company, the UK's largest artists’ membership organisation, relaunches as Artists Now

Founded in 1980, the organisation has also developed a Green Manifesto to guide artist members toward a more environmentally responsible practice

A lifetime of war: meet the 94-year-old Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Dubovyk

Having survived his country’s numerous adversaries from Stalin to Putin, the artist has opened his first large-scale retrospective in Kyiv

Cuban artist-activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara travels to Miami following end of prison sentence

The artist was held in government custody before being expelled from Cuba while a human rights organisation filed a legal petition for his release

Diarynews

Tottenham talent: Lee Alexander McQueen’s foundation launches north London art hub

Sarabande Foundation’s new space features artist studios as well as a cafe and an education space

Art worldcomment

Comment | Why should artists stay in cities like London and New York when financial pressures are making it harder than ever?

Josh Kline’s viral essay highlights how creative people lose gumption in the face of financial burden, but we should all strive for community instead of competing for the wealthy’s attention

Chloe Wise: ‘I’m trying to put all of these things into a mishmash soup’

Better known as a painter, the artist’s new video and installation show explores extrasensory perception using tropes from science fiction, religion, consumer culture and art history

Uganda’s Umoja Art Gallery team forced to cancel attendance at Africa Basel fair after visas denied

The situation faced by the gallery—which has still sent works to the fair despite its representatives not being present—adds pertinence to a nearby project about barriers in the art world

In Pictures: highlights from Art Basel’s Unlimited section, focused on monumental projects

Curated this year by MoMA PS1's Ruba Katrib, Art Basel's large-scale sector has a monumental air

Ibrahim Mahama: ‘All these things are the stains; they are part of the story’

As he recovers from a brutal physical attack, the artist talks about his Münsterplatz commission and why it is important to preserve the memory of objects that have a complex history

Shuang Li shows how wild weather mirrors our fractured world

For her show at Kunsthalle Basel, the Chinese-born artist has drawn inspiration from the online videos of amateur storm chasers and how they are a metaphor for the current media landscape

Artistsinterview

Anish Kapoor: ‘Just because a thing is big, it doesn’t mean it’s of any interest or even good’

With a retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London, the Turner Prize-winning artist—known for his monumental creations and use of rich pigments—explains why he continues to be drawn to feminine imagery, how rituals are important to his art, and what it is like working with the blackest black

Art marketanalysis

Call my agent: why artist management companies are making a comeback

A spate of new organisations are challenging traditional gallery models to support artists in different ways