BEST?

Did Leonardo Have a Lazy Eye? – A research professor says that a rare eye disorder may be at the root of Leonardo da Vinci’s painterly genius.

Banksy Milks His Prank for All It’s Worth – Banksy refused to relinquish the spotlight this week, uploading another video to his Instagram page to confess that despite flawless practice runs of the shredding stunt, a malfunction at Sotheby’s was to blame for only completing half the job. He also announced that, despite rumblings that Sotheby’s had a hand in the prank, “they weren’t” in on the trick.

Charles White Gets His Due – The late artist Charles White is at long last being recognized by institutions and the art market for his extraordinary work that inspired a generation of artists including Kerry James Marshall and David Hammons, and is now the subject of a retrospective at MoMA.

FIAC 2018 in Photos – Feast your peepers on Grayson Perry’s satirical selfies, Katharina Grosse’s phosphorescent tree trunks, and more eye-catching art at the Grand Palais.

A Purrfect Tribute – Conceptual artist Sophie Calle enlisted 38 chart-topping musicians to record sonic tributes to her late cat, Souris, who died in 2014. The list of kitty-loving crooners includes Bono, Pharrell Williams, and the National. You might call it a pet project for them.

Pay to Play – In this week’s Gray Market, Tim Schneider looks at the murky relationships artists have with corporations, and why we should bust the negative stereotypes about artist-brand collaborations.

A Primo Rothko Heads to the Auction Block – The de Menil Collection is offering up a suite of impressive works at Christie’s upcoming postwar and contemporary sales, anchored by a moody Rothko and four works by Joseph Cornell.

In Remembrance of Mel Ramos – The pop artist made his career painting pin-up style women, the works often featured scantily clad or nude women, often posed with strategically placed boxes of candy and sweets.

WORST?

Major Museums Ax Saudi Funding – A yearlong Arab art initiative is forcing museums to reconsider funding from Saudi Arabia. The Met, the Brooklyn Museum, and Columbia University have all made public gestures of rejecting their respective programs’ ties to the Misk Art Institute, an organization affiliated with the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who many believe ordered the torture and killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Gagosian Defends Jeff Koons – Larry Gagosian is going to bat for his client Jeff Koons, rejecting a lawsuit over extended waiting periods for the artist’s work by essentially saying that everyone—especially sophisticated collectors with high-priced art advisors—knows that Koons takes forever to make his sculptures.

Trump and Lincoln Are Buds, According to Trumps’s New Artwork – A recent 60 Minutes interview at the White House revealed an artwork hanging on the president’s wall called The Republican Club, featuring Trump, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, and other notable Republican presidents having a rollicking good time at a saloon. The work is being compared to Dogs Playing Poker, and memes have cropped up with some strategic photoshopped additions—though some suspect it’s all a wily trap for liberals.

An Art Experience With Extra Cheese – Brooklyn’s newly opened Museum of Pizza is definitely not an upper-crust art institution, according to artnet News’s Sarah Cascone.