Who Stole the Guggenheim’s Picasso?
The museum sues to retrieve a piece stolen in 1961, Dean Millien’s aluminum-foil animal sculptures, and more.
There are only a handful of soon-to-be-cancelled plans left this summer, which ultimately leaves me with far too much time to ruminate on anything and everything.
I want to get to know my neighbors better, but I refuse to take off my headphones when I’m on the go. I say I’ll spend more time making the most of what the city has to offer, but I often just stop at CVS before going straight home. I tell myself I should make more art just for fun, but I’m so critical of my output that I don’t even put anything out.
When I’m not agonizing over my self-defined and over-inflated wrongs, I’m stuck on the untimely loss of Hayden Panettiere, which followed shortly after that of Daveigh Chase; how Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to stalking and shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson; and the unfathomable wickedness surrounding the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
In my attempt to extract myself from this spiral yesterday evening, I encountered a skittish raccoon scuttling up the stoop of an ornate apartment building, an indecisive carpenter bee bouncing between bright orange blossoms at the edge of someone’s patio, and a towering trio of sunflowers that were just past their prime while walking home from my station.
We’re all just trying our best to look after ourselves in the environments we’ve found ourselves in with the tools we have.
In the midst of it all, I’m grateful for artist Dean Millien’s aluminum-foil animal sculptures and Poh Si Teng’s documentary American Doctor (2026) about the genocide in Gaza. I also wish good luck to DCLA’s new deputy commissioner Bryan Joseph Lee, whose record shows care for Black, Brown, and queer artists and audiences. Each of the above possesses an enviable combination of boundless love and fiery drive for transformation.
I’m also eager to see which way the needle moves in the Guggenheim Museum’s newly filed suit against private collectors who are holding onto a Picasso painting from the collection that had been stolen while on loan 65 years ago. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia has the story.
Dean Millien’s Aluminum-Foil Animal World
Entering Dean Millien’s high-ceilinged Bushwick studio, I found the artist watching a Marcel Duchamp interview on his laptop, surrounded by a menagerie of his aluminum foil animal sculptures. When I asked him why, he told me about his recent visit to Duchamp’s current retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. “Seeing his work helps my mind,” he said. “Great artists give me an idea of where I should go. I always trust myself as an artist, but I like to see how others have grown in the past.”
While Millien’s background as a self-taught artist might differ from that of figures like Duchamp, his recent inclusion in MoMA PS1’s Greater New York is proof that the need to make art exists beyond the walls of the commercial art world. Still, what struck me in meeting Millien was his lack of interest in posturing. He’s driven by an urge to keep elevating his practice, taking in influences from art history while sticking with his instincts. Having grown up with a developmental disability, he has spent time working with the city’s ecosystem of organizations supporting artists with disabilities. | Bryan Martin
Read MoreFilm
“American Doctor” Is an Indictment of US Leadership and Media
In a new documentary on Gaza, three humanitarian physicians from the United States navigate the horrors of genocide as they struggle to treat civilians in a buckling, under-resourced hospital in Khan Younis.
Screening this week at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan, journalist Poh Si Teng’s debut feature documentary American Doctor (2026) uses the physicians’ accounts as indisputable evidence of the cruelty inflicted on Gaza.
Urgently produced in one year with on-the-ground footage by the Gaza cinematography company Alef Multimedia, American Doctor premiered at the Sundance Film Festival only weeks after its completion, and has since been acquired by Watermelon Pictures for distribution.
Read MoreAmerican Doctor is screening at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan until August 27.
News
- In 1961, a Picasso was stolen from the University of Pittsburgh, where it was on loan from the Guggenheim. It just resurfaced decades later — and the museum is suing the current owners of the painting to get it back.
- Cultural strategist Bryan Joseph Lee has been appointed deputy commissioner of New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
- Mary Heilmann, a pioneering abstract artist who enjoyed a late-career renaissance after achieving global acclaim in her late 60s, dies at the age of 86.
What Else Is Happening?
- Try something new with a workshop on the traditional art of batik. Participants will be guided through the full batik process, including using natural dyes, and will take away a finished textile piece. (Wed Aug 19) [The People's Forum]
- Join Ugly Duckling Presse for an open studio where you can write letters to friends and make your own mail art! (Thurs Aug 20) [Ugly Duckling Presse]
- The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts is hosting a participatory printmaking workshop combining simple meditative and bodily exercises with spontaneous drawing and responses to found and textured objects. (Thurs Aug 20) [rbpmw-efanyc.org]
- For the first time ever, the Queer|Art x Doll Invasion Auction will be accompanied by an in-person exhibition hosted at Participant Inc. & Salma Sarriedine. (Thurs Aug 20) [Queer|Art]
- Visit the opening reception of Our True Colors, presented by the Women in the Arts Foundation in cooperation with Pictor Gallery. (Thurs Aug 20) [Women in the Arts Foundation]
- Pageant’s Studio Residency at MoMA culminates in Pageant Presents Pageant, a daylong performance marathon comprising 25 short pieces—a combination of new work and existing excerpts from artists who have performed at Pageant’s space in Brooklyn. (Fri Aug 21) [moma.org]
- Artshack Brooklyn is having a student sidewalk sale, where 100% of the proceeds go to the students in their recent classes. (Sat Aug 22) [Artshack Brooklyn]
- Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Arts Center at Governors Island is having Open Studios to invite the public into the workspaces and creative processes of the 2026 Cohort of Arts Center Residents. (Sat Aug 22) [lmcc.net]
- Celebrate the greatest city in the world with a one-night-only literary party aboard the 1885 tall ship Wavertree presented by Dream Baby Press and the South Street Seaport Museum. (Wed Aug 26) [southstreetseaportmuseum.org]
- The New York Residency & Studios Foundation (NARS) is hosting an opening reception for Subject to..., a group exhibition featuring work from the Season III International Residency Artists, curated by NARS Curatorial Fellow Christine Yi-Ting Chen. (Fri Aug 28) [narsfoundation.org]
- Join Thrift4Gaza for their annual summer thrift pop-up in collaboration with Salam Charity. 100% of thrift proceeds will go toward initiatives in Gaza. (Sat Aug 29) [Thrift4Gaza]
- Urban Bat Project NYC and Queer Walks ad Hikes are teaming up to offer one last free Prospect Park Bat Walk! (Sat Sept 5) [Urban Bat Project NYC]
- The Rockaway Film Festival takes place from Sept 2–6, starting with Eternity One, which follows a small fishing community on the verge of being swept away by rising sea levels. [rockawayfilmfestival.org]
