Sanctions, Scandals, and Venice’s Market Fever

Show notes for today's episode of The Daily Art Download — your ten minute crash course in today's art world news. EU imposes sanctions on Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of Russia's State Hermitage Museum https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/29/eu-imposes-sanctions-on-mikhail-piotrovsky-director-of-russias-state-hermitage-museum Ittai Gradel, gems expert who uncovered British Museum thefts, dies aged 61 https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/29/ittai-gradel-gems-expert-uncovered-british-museum-thefts-died-aged-61 Why London’s Whitechapel Gallery Hired an Economist https://news.artnet.com/art-world/whitechapel-gallery-economist-2768633 Comment | The slopification of political art https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/29/slopification-political-art-press-any-key-to-continue East Africa meets Western Europe as Michael Armitage takes on Venice's Palazzo Grassi https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/04/29/east-africa-meets-western-europe-as-michael-armitage-takes-on-venices-palazzo-grassi Venice Bound? Here’s All the News You Need to Know About This Year’s Biennale https://news.artnet.com/art-world/news-explainer-venice-biennale-2758682 Duo Who Sold Fake Warhol, Banksy Plead Guilty in $2M Fraud https://news.artnet.com/art-world/father-daughter-forgery-scheme-2768661 Reclaiming the Self-Taught Artist’s Creative Identity https://hyperallergic.com/self-made-american-folk-art-museum/ How Will the Venice Biennale Impact Alma Allen’s Market? https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/alma-allen-venice-biennale-us-pavilion-market-1234783155/ George Herms, Titan of West Coast Assemblage, Dies at 90 https://hyperallergic.com/george-herms-titan-of-west-coast-assemblage-dies-at-90/