Ben Davis
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Author of 9.5 Theses on Art and Class and Art in the After-Culture (bit.ly/3sGSYV7). National Art Critic for artnet News. www.benadavis.com
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Articles by Ben Davis
The Great Kelly Clarkson Wind-Up Bird Feud, Explained
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. OK, here’s a very silly but very big story: “Miss Independent” singer Kelly Clarkson is in a furious internet dispute with tiny Brooklyn magic shop the Art of Play over whether or not its staff was rude to her when she inquired about buying a certain singing bird sculpture. Seriously, look it up. Huge story.
Arthur Jafa Is a Major Minor Artist
Arthur Jafa is such a star these days that most art lovers know his story. It wasn’t always so. Until about a decade ago, he was basically an artist’s artist, working between the cinema and art worlds. His reputation only exploded in 2016, when he was in his mid-50s, in the immediate aftermath of Donald J. Trump’s shock defeat of Hillary Clinton.
These 18 Artists Are Dominating U.S. Museums Right Now
I’m back for my September 2026 “Museum Artists” list. I have been doing a version once a quarter, tracking which living artists are showing in the most museums across the United States. This time around, I’ve partnered with Artfacts.net to get the data. Artfacts is the most comprehensive database tracking museum shows, as well as a host of other data about artist careers.
An Art-Famous Shipwreck Washes Ashore
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. A churning nor’easter caused havoc this weekend across the East Coast. Out on Nantucket, the waves turned up bits of a 19th-century shipwreck. The Warren Sawyer, a coastal schooner, was blown off course and ran aground in December 1884 en route to Boston.
Anna Weyant’s Blood-Stained Banner Graces the Met Opera
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. That 60-foot banner of a sinister, shadowy Macbeth across the facade of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center? That’s by painter Anna Weyant (a Met banner vet). It’s there to advertise the Met’s production of that 1847 Verdi opus.
Highs and Lows of Just-Opened Gallery Shows in NYC
The art season kicked off last week, the streets of Chelsea and Tribeca swarmed with gallery-goers. It’s nice to see so much social energy. As for the art, where’s the energy there? I don’t think that any clear “show of the moment” has emerged—at least not as I write this. There’s a strong pull in the direction of installational elements, a lot of whimsy, and plenty of rainbow-colored atmosphere. Topicality is way out. It’s a decorative moment.
A Plague of Padded-Out Art Shows—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. A Diagnosis of What Ails Some Recent Shows… Critics have carped that “Frida Kahlo: The Making of an Icon” at Tate Modern is light on Frida’s actual art, focusing instead on her clothes, jewelry, artists inspired by her, and selections of Frida-branded merch.
On the record: Jackson Township trustees
Jackson Township WHAT: September trustees meeting PRESENT: John Jakubec, Alan Hemphill and Thomas Frost, and fiscal officer Judy Patton Trustees: ● Approved a resolution to pursue a joint fire district among Jackson Township, Milton Township and Craig Beach Village. ● Approved retaining attorney and Western Reserve Joint Fire District fire Chief Chip Comstock to advise on forming a joint fire district. His charge is $5,000.
Salem soda pops up for history in Niles
NILES - Kast Iron Soda Works came to Niles on Thursday to give a "History of Soda Fountains" presentation at the McKinley Birthplace Home that was open to the public. Located in Salem, Kast Iron is an old-school style soda bar partnered with America250-Ohio as an official non-alcoholic beverage provider. Lesley Kline, who co-owns Kast Iron alongside her husband Wil, said that they try to embrace the history of soda.
The 2026 Gwangju Biennale in Pictures
Gwangju, South Korea, is an awfully long way to travel from New York for an art show, but the Gwangju Biennale has earned it. The show persists as Asia’s oldest biennale, and has put on some brilliant editions over the years. In terms of attendance, Gwangju ranks in the top tier—the 2024 outing, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, drew 700,000 attendees, about the same as the Venice Biennale of the same year.
Wall Labels Are in a Sorry State. Here’s How to Fix Them
The simplest step that big art events could take to do better with their audiences—both casual visitors and critics—would be to make the wall labels better. Complaints about museum texts go way, way back: Benjamin Ives Gilman is credited with bringing the “label question” into view with his technical essay, “Museum Fatigue,” from 1916. Tom Wolfe made bad texts the center of his anti-modernist polemic The Painted Word in the ’70s; Aruna D’Souza sounded off on the subject earlier this year.
A New Power Ranking of Art Cities—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning, putting their own spin on it. Something Sure to Start Some Debates… For all the angst, New York remains #1 in art. So says Robert Huggins, an economic geographer, who has hatched a new World Art Cities Index (WACI).
An Art-Statesman’s Heel Turn—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. Four-term Albanian leader Edi Rama has long used his double life as an artist to burnish his international image. His friend, Albanian artist Anri Sala, made Rama’s legend with his video Dammi i Colori (2003), about his effort to rejuvenate Tirana by painting its buildings happy colors.
An Art-Statesman’s Heel Turn—and Other Art World Matters
Plus, Laurie Simmons does Zyn, while Jim Nollman makes entrancing art with orcas. The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the …
What can we learn from Francesca Hong’s loss in Wisconsin?
‘The establishment should not rest on its laurels.’ Photograph: Nam Y Huh/AP The left’s insurgency against the Democratic party establishment has hit its first serious bump in the road in Wisconsin. Democratic socialist Francesca Hong entered Tuesday up by big margins in the polls, the huge betting favorite. She left it just a few thousand votes short of the Democratic nomination. What happened, and how, offers extremely important lessons for both the left and the Democratic establishment.
Natalie Portman’s Art Basel Satire Gets a Release Date—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. Something to Anticipate, and to Dread… What if I told you there was an art satire coming out starring Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Zach Galifianakis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sterling K. Brown, and Charli xcx?
Getting their ducks in a row
STRUTHERS -- The Struthers Rotary Club unleashed 1,500 rubber ducks Saturday at Yellow Creek Park for its 16th annual event. "Everybody can buy a duck for only $5," said Ryan Goist, former Rotary Club president. "We drop a bunch of rubber ducks down here in Yellow Creek.
The American Left Is Making Strides. But Can They Win in November?
The American Left Is Making Strides. But Can They Win in November? Published August 7, 2026 The ideological struggle within the Democratic party continued on Tuesday night with primaries in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia and Washington. The results showed an increasingly intense conflict within the party, with high Democratic primary turnout and bruising ideological battles up and down the ballot.
The Curious Case of the AIR Festival in Aspen
Last week, AIR 2026 was everywhere on art social media, I’m told. Despite the swirl of vivid transmissions from the mountains, the most common question people have asked me about AIR is… “What is it?” The answer might be as simple as saying, as Aspen Art Museum does say in its guide, that it is a “festival of new contemporary art, public dialogues, and live events.” But it’s true that there is something hard-to-pin-down about AIR that I spent my whole time there trying to figure out.
The American left is making strides. But can they win in November?
‘The left has been battle-tested in primaries against moderate candidates ... But a general election in a swing state is a different and less hospitable terrain. Photograph: Rebecca Cook/Reuters The ideological struggle within the Democratic party continued on Tuesday night with primaries in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia and Washington.
Are We Facing a Cultural ‘Turnover Pulse’? And Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer takes over each morning. Felix Salmon’s Bloomberg story “Boomers Are Leaving Behind More Art Than Anyone Wants” introduced me to the idea that we are in the middle of an art-history version of a “turnover pulse,” a term from paleontology describing moments of dramatic species extinction.
Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Big Budget Crisis—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items that are catching their eye from around the art world, picked out by a different writer each morning. This cannot go on: The Philadelphia Museum of Art ran a deficit of $10 million in the just-ended fiscal year, the Philadelphia Inquirer reveals. The coming year, the shortfall promises to be at least that and could swell to almost $16 million—all spent from emergency reserves. Museum CEO Daniel H.
Farmers market sprouts in Struthers
STRUTHERS -- A farmers market Sunday in the parking lot of Selah Restaurant was a collaborative effort among the city, county and local organizations. "The city of Struthers, the Struthers Rotary, the Struthers Garden Club and Mahoning County Public Health teamed up to get a farmers market going on here in downtown Struthers," said Ryan Goist, a member of the Struthers Rotary Club.
Elon Musk’s Threat of an A.I.-Made ‘Odyssey’
It’s amusing that the big conservative online culture-war cause du jour is… a cultural appropriation scandal?
I Watched the Unhinged Anti-Smithsonian Congressional Hearing So You Don’t Have To
Want to have a bad time? Try watching a congressional hearing. Yesterday’s particularly noxious one, “Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian’s Efforts to Reshape the Past” emerged in response to “Saving America’s Story,” the report released by Trump’s White House Policy Council on July 4. It features 160 pages of grievances about the “ideological capture” of the Smithsonian Institution, claiming that it promotes a left-wing activist agenda.
Will Philly Protect Its Beloved Keith Haring?—and Other Art World Matters
The Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer will do it every morning. This is Ben, so my taste runs to public art, art history, and experimental institutions. On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Historical Commission will vote on whether to preserve the exuberant We the Youth mural by Keith Haring as part of its Register of Historic Places. Amazingly, it’s not a sure shot.
Army veteran witnessed end of Cold War
WARREN -- The Berlin Wall, a physical symbol of the Cold War, fell on Nov. 9, 1989, when East Germany opened its border crossings. More than 200,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed in West Germany and one of those soldiers was Blair Carmichael, who was born in Fulton, Missouri. He enlisted in the Army later than most at the age of 25 in 1988 after parting ways with his fiancee at the time. "I had a relationship that went south and broke off the engagement," Carmichael, 63, said.
Raphael Is the Met’s Post-Pandemic Prince! And Other Art World Matters
Artnet Bulletin is our new daily digest of five items from around the art world that are worth knowing. A different writer will do it every morning. This is Ben, and my tastes run to art theory, art reviews, curiosities, and the art-and-politics beat. Not that it was in doubt, but the New York museum is bragging that its much–lauded “Raphael: Sublime Poetry” exhibition was a blockbuster, wowing more than half a million visitors.
The Almost-Canonized: A Closer Look at the Artists Museums Are Showing Now
As I mentioned in my post looking at the Museum Artists of June 2026, I’ve found that the top ranks have remained pretty stable over the last year. Having spent so many hours looking through the data of which artists were showing where, I thought it was worth looking a little farther down to see if there was anything else that popped out.
These 18 Artists Are Having the Biggest Moment at U.S. Museums Right Now
We are midway through the year, and I have just finished my quarterly “Museum Artist” list. Below is my ranking of which living artists have been getting the most attention in U.S. museum shows in June 2026. This time out, I looked at about 350 museums, and found about 3,500 artists on view. Of those, just 720 appeared in more than one museum show during the month.
The Democratic Party Is Being Hit by a Leftist Tidal Wave
The party’s leadership is deeply out of touch with its base. A leftist politics of collective struggle is cresting across the US A tectonic shift has occurred in American politics over the last month, beginning with Chris Rabb’s victory in Pennsylvania and now culminating in New York. The Democratic party has been hit by a leftward tidal wave. Rabb’s win was a warning shot – a socialist winning in a seat that had been an establishment stronghold. Two weeks later, the left won across Los Angeles.
The Democratic Party is being hit by a leftist tidal wave
A tectonic shift has occurred in American politics over the last month, beginning with Chris Rabb's victory in Pennsylvania and now culminating in New York. The Democratic party has been hit by a leftward tidal wave. Rabb's win was a warning shot – a socialist winning in a seat that had been an establishment stronghold. Two weeks later, the left won across Los Angeles. Two weeks after that, the left swept the elections in the District of Columbia.
Boston’s Dashing Museum Prankster Does Not Exist
I woke up this morning with multiple people writing to ask me if I was going to say anything about the hilarious story about the Boston bro who was arrested for posing as a museum guide. The story was buzzing across my various feeds.
What’s Going on With the Met’s Odd New Giacometti Show?
I keep accidentally calling the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s new show “Giacometti and the Temple of Doom.” What is my unconscious telling me? That it’s a thrilling adventure? That it’s cursed? That it feels like its main point is spectacle, like a big summer movie?
What Was the Art World Like the Last Time the Knicks Were in the Championship?
I’m a total bandwagon fan, but here in New York, it’s hard not to be into the Knicks right now. (Sorry to San Antonio readers: The Spurs are awesome, too!) I’m told Knicks fans are long-suffering—but just how long? For all the fellow clueless art types wandering into Knicks watch parties, here’s some cocktail party art-history for you, to give a sense of just how long the wait has been for your fellow New Yorkers. Enjoy! Last time the Knicks got to duel it out for the big prize was pre-millennium.
First Impressions of a Venice Biennale Torn Apart by the Present
I’m having difficulty settling on my first impressions of “In Minor Keys,” the main exhibition at the 61st Venice Biennale, which opens to the public on Saturday. I’m torn between a lot of different feelings. Which maybe makes sense, because the world is in escalating chaos, and the biennial itself is being torn by it from all sides.
The Defining Themes of Today’s Biennial Art
On the international biennial circuit, what are the definitive themes and styles of the last four years? In a separate article, I laid out the artists who appeared in the greatest number of editions of the 130 biennials I analyzed.
What Biennials Reveal About the Art World
We talk a lot about biennials. Art is in some ways a very local, in-person thing. Yet artists and creators and writers are also part of a global conversation, looking at and thinking about each other across borders, and these big, recurring art festivals can serve as an opportunity or a prompt to think about that bigger conversation. One of the biggest, the Venice Biennale, is coming up next month. It’s centered around a show called “In Minor Keys,” curated by the late curator Koyo Kouoh.
The Artists Who Ruled the Biennial Circuit Over the Last Four Years
Who are the artists who are getting the most attention from international curators—not just in one show, but in many? I’ve done the exercise of tallying up names before. It helps to give substance to vague impressions I have, while also always snapping into focus things I had totally failed to notice. With the major media moment of the Venice Biennale coming up the first of May, it seemed like a good time to try it again.
Visions of Depravity | Ben Davis
Ceija Stojka’s small paintings at the Drawing Center swarm with such harrowing incident that viewers may not spot the mystery in the bottom right corner of many of her canvases. There, arcing over her signature, is a jagged black mark. Sometimes it forks like a lightning bolt. Only in a few of the paintings is the mark clearly discernible as the crooked branch of a tree.
Here's What LACMA's Lavish New Building Looks Like | Artnet News
At long last, and with plenty of civic fanfare, the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is ready to welcome its first visitors to its decades-in-the-making new flagship building, designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. You ascend via stairs or elevator to the concrete-and-glass David Geffen Galleries, which are held aloft, gracefully straddling Wilshire Boulevard. From the outside, the new building’s profile is both spacey and organic feeling.
Are We Too Reverent of Marcel Duchamp?
Marcel Duchamp is an enigma that art history swallowed and got stuck in its throat. What do we do with him now? I left the Museum of Modern Art’s big new show of Duchamp not sure if I know, or the museum knows, or if the public will know. The exhibition, organized by Matthew Affron, Michelle Kuo, and Ann Temkin, gives you a massive dose of The Duch, with deep cuts and most of the greatest hits that can travel.
Eversheds Sutherland targets funds finance growth with key appointment
Linn joins the global law firm’s London office from Reed Smith, where she was a partner, bringing with her a strong track record of advising leading banks, alternative lenders and fund sponsors on complex, cross border funds finance transactions. Her arrival reiterates the firm’s wider Corporate Finance group’s ambition to further build out a market-leading funds finance practice, with Linn set to play a central role in leading and growing the offering.
Raphael and the Cult of Beauty as a World-Historical Force
The Met’s giant “Raphael: Sublime Poetry” show needs no sales pitch. Raphael is one of the shining stars of European art history, even if he has played both hero and heel roles: as standard setter for graceful beauty or symbol of academic over-refinement to be rebelled against. Because a Raphael show is such a sure thing, I scratch my head when the Met’s opening gallery text introduces Raphael, in its very first line, as “one of the greatest influencers of all time.” I don’t get it.
Northern Disco Lights 2016 720p WEBRip-YTS
The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife S01E12 Versions: 1.4GB Radioactive Emergency S01 Pack Versions: 9GB The Teacher S02E01 Versions: 195MB 258MB 349MB 1.4GB The Man in the High Castle S04 Pack Versions: 3.4GB The Man in the High Castle S01 Pack Versions: 2GB Oshi No Ko S02E01 Versions: 66MB 88MB 126MB 763MB Oshi No Ko S03E11 Versions: 149MB 199MB 293MB 1.6GB Oshi No Ko S02E11 Versions: 70MB 93MB 136MB 713MB The Man in the High Castle S03 Pack Versions: 5.1GB White House Plumbers S01...
'Reality Decay’ Is at the Root of All the Bad News | Artnet News
Reality is decaying fast. It is hard to explain the news if you think only in terms of facts and material interests, because so much of it is about fantasies running out of control. Thinking about all this, trying to understand, my mind turns to an artwork by the artist Paul Chan from 2009 called Sade for Sade’s Sake.
Are We Entering a Post-Individual Era of Art?
The New Museum opens its new building this week. And it’s doing so with a big show called “New Humans: Memories of the Future,” about how artists rethought what it means to be human through technology. It’s a topic on a lot of people’s minds. Among the many artists whose visions feature in the show is Christopher Kulendran Thomas. Kulendran Thomas has a lot going on.
'New Humans' and the Strange End of Contemporary Art as We Know It | Artnet News
My takeaway from the opening of “New Humans: Memories of the Future” is that the project of “contemporary art” may be ending. Sorry, that’s a big statement for a piece that’s just meant to be a first reaction to this giant exhibition, which is the opening statement from the newly expanded New Museum. I have to spend more time there, but I enjoyed the new NuMu’s spiffy addition from the firm OMA. As for the show, it’s a trip, and not at all what I had expected.
The Tensions Seething Beneath the Surface of the 2026 Whitney Biennial
I am a little dizzied by how fast consensus has formed around the 2026 Whitney Biennial, even though I was one of its many early reviewers. Just a week out from its opening, and it feels like most of the various possible takes have been taken. This is particularly disconcerting in that it’s a slow-burn show, in some ways trying not to be easily definable.
Here's All the Art in the 2026 Whitney Biennial | Artnet News
I’ve already published a first take on the 2026 Whitney Biennial, as have a bunch of the other critics—consensus forms fast these days! So far that consensus says “above average.” Not that I disagree with that, but almost certainly consensus forms too fast. This is a show that benefits from spending some time with it. Curators Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer are putting the stress on mood here, but for the most part it’s not a big mood. It helps to steep in it a bit.
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