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THE HEADLINES
THE WAIT FOR VENICE CONTINUES. When art historian and writer John Ravenal received an email from the State Department, he didn’t have high hopes are a series of setbacks. But instead, the message told him that the US government had chosen his and artist Robert Lazzarini’s proposal for Lazzarini to represent the country at the 2026 Venice Biennale, the Washington Post writes. For Lazzarini, known for his mind-bending sculptures that distort perception and space, the opportunity promised to be transformative. For the Trump administration, which lagged behind other nations in announcing its artist, the Biennale also carried diplomatic weight, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. Ravenal, who had championed Lazzarini since giving him his first museum show at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2003, felt both thrilled and anxious. The selection was a milestone for both men. But within three weeks, everything unraveled. Negotiations with a partner institution collapsed, and the commission was withdrawn before any public announcement. The reversal was a blow to Lazzarini and reignited the international art world’s pressing question: Who will ultimately represent the United States at Venice?
Related Articles
AUCTION RECORD. The original cover photograph for David Bowie’s landmark 1973 album Aladdin Sane sold for £381,400 ($497,088) at Bonhams London on November 5, setting a new auction record for both an album cover and its photographer, Brian Duffy. Often dubbed the “Mona Lisa of Pop,” the image remains one of the most recognizable in music history. The concept for Bowie’s red-and-blue lightning bolt came from Duffy himself, while makeup artist Pierre La Roche executed the look. Artist Philip Castle added the finishing touch, a delicate airbrushed teardrop on Bowie’s collarbone. According to Duffy’s son, Chris, the album’s title came from a misheard conversation: “Duffy asked David what the album was called, and he said, ‘A Lad Insane.’ Duffy heard it as ‘Aladdin Sane’—and the rest is history.” Duffy, who died in 2010, was part of the celebrated “terrible trio” of 1960s British photographers alongside David Bailey and Terence Donovan. He collaborated with Bowie on five shoots, including the covers for Lodger (1979) and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980). The sale, part of “Bonhams’s The Mona Lisa of Pop: The Duffy Archive,” also included Aladdin Sane contact sheets (£19,200) and Bowie’s studio stool (£2,816). The previous album-cover record, $325,000, was set in 2020 for Led Zeppelin’s debut album.
The Digest
The Florentine Diamond, a legendary jewel of the Hapsburg dynasty, was thought to be lost after not being seen since 1919, but it’s actually been safe in a Canadian bank for decades. [New York Times]
Gagosian has teamed up with movie director Wes Anderson to recreate the New York studio of American artist Joseph Cornell at the mega-gallery’s Paris HQ. It will be part of an exhibition curated by Jasper Sharp and titled “The House of Utopia Parkway,” which is slated to run from December 16 to March 14, 2026. [ARTnews]
London’s Saatchi Gallery, famous for its 1987 exhibition introducing the Young British Artists including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, has turned 40. [Aesthetica]
The long-anticipated opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza has reignited calls for the British Museum to repatriate the Rosetta Stone, a key artifact seized by British forces in 1801 that enabled the deciphering of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. [Artnet News]
The Kicker
TALL AMBITIONS. Denver-based cryptocurrency entrepreneur, Ross Calvin, recently unveiled an ambitious plan to build a 450-foot-tall statue of the Greek Titan Prometheus on Alcatraz Island, the Economic Times reported. Calvin, founder of the American Colossus Foundation and CEO of the bitcoin-mining firm Parhelion, wants his statue to be taller than New York’s Statue of Liberty. Named The Great Colossus of Prometheus on Alcatraz, the statue would surpass the tower above Lady Liberty by more than 100 feet, according to the foundation’s website, and serve as a “beacon of optimism.” Constructed from a nickel-bronze alloy, the project is estimated to cost around $450 million.