The Art World This Week, 25 July 2025

Amy Sherald pulls Smithsonian exhibition over claims of censorship, Scotland and Wales will return to Venice Biennale after a hiatus, The Art Show and Taipei Dangdai will not take place in 2026, and more. Here’s Ocula‘s briefing on the art world news you might have missed.

Institutions

Amy Sherald Cancels Smithsonian Show Over ‘Culture of Censorship’

Painter Amy Sherald has cancelled a scheduled exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. after museum representatives allegedly suggested removing a portrait of a transgender person posing as the Statue of Liberty to placate the Trump administration. 

Scotland Names Artists Bugarin + Castle for 2026 Venice Biennale 

Glasgow artists and cabaret performers Davide Bugarin and Angel Cohn Castle will represent Scotland with a collateral event of ‘spatial and drag-inflected interventions’ during next year’s Venice Biennale. Scotland did not participate in 2024, citing financial constraints.

Wales Appoints Manon Awst and Dylan Huw for Venice in 2026 

Caernarfon-based artist Manon Awst and Cardiff writer Dylan Huw will represent Wales at Venice with a collateral event supported by Welsh galleries Oriel Davies and Oriel Myrddin. Wales last showed in Venice in 2020. 

Gwangju Biennale Foundation Appoints New President

Youn Bummo, former Director of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, has been appointed president of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation. The writer and historian of Minjung art will lead the organisation from Monday, ahead of the 2026 Gwangju Biennale.

Art Fairs and Market

Phillips Reduces Fees for Early Bidders at Autumn Sales

Amid a slower market, Phillips has introduced incentives to generate more momentum and certainty for sellers, with written bids placed 24 hours before an auction’s start time benefiting from a lower buyer’s premium at its live sales across categories. Read more.

The Art Show and Taipei Dangdai Not Happening Next Year 

Fair organisers Art Dealers Association of America and The Art Assembly announced days apart they would not be staging their annual fairs in New York and Taipei, respectively, citing the need to reassess their operations and viability. Read more.

Frieze Sculpture to Return to Regent’s Park This September

Frieze Sculpture will open ahead of Frieze London and Frieze Masters with a staging of work by 14 artists—including Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Reena Saini Kallat, and Erwin Wurm—at London’s Regent’s Park from 17 September to 2 November 2025, curated by Fatoș Üstek under the theme, In the Shadows.

Awards

Kimsooja Receives French Order of Arts and Letters Award

South Korean artist Kimsooja was recognised for her contributions to global art and cultural exchange on Wednesday. With this award, the conceptual artist, who studied lithography in France, has risen to the second of three ranks, having received a first accolade in 2017.

Galleries

Harper’s to Open First International Outpost in Bangkok

New York gallery Harper’s will open a 2,500-square-foot gallery on the ground floor of Siam Patumwan House in central Bangkok next spring. The location will boast an artist residency, hospitality programme and an advisory service for Southeast Asian collectors.

New York Gallery TOTAH Opens Italian Satellite Location 

Lower East Side gallery TOTAH, founded by Milan-born dealer David Totah 2016, will open an outpost on the island of Pantelleria, Italy, on Friday, inaugurated with an exhibition of new paintings by Italian artist Luca Pancrazzi. Cabin Fever is on view until 5 October 2025.

Gallery Representations

Marwan Bassiouni Joins Lawrie Shabibi

Photographer Marwan Bassiouni, who is known for intimate captures of Islamic tradition in the West, is now represented by Lawrie Shabibi in the Middle East and North Africa, with the Dubai gallery opening an exhibition of Bassiouni’s work on 18 September 2025.

Obituaries

Radical Painter Raymond Saunders Dies at 90

Raymond Saunders, the abstract painter best known for the 1967 essay ‘Black is a Color’, passed at the age of 90. His galleries—David Zwirner, Casemore, and Andrew Kreps—said he will be ‘dearly missed’. —[O]

Main image: Marwan Bassiouni, New Swiss Views #40-1, Switzerland (2022) (detail). Pigment print on fine art paper. 150 x 200 cm. Courtesy the artist and Lawrie Shabibi.