BEST?

Pro Sports to the Rescue – artnet News’s own Tim Schneider delivered a two-part opus on how FIFA and Major League Baseball offer a proven game plan to solve the gallery system’s mid-level crisis.

Rock-Star Artists Reveal Their First Big Break – Seven contemporary artists recall the unforgettable moments that launched their careers—from Dara Birnbaum’s serendipitous trip to Italy, to photographer Torbjørn Rødland encounter with a curator who became a champion.

An Internet Guru With a Penchant for Parchment? –  Editor-in-chief Andrew Goldstein spoke to Jerry Yang, the billionaire founder of Yahoo!, about his enviable collection of Chinese calligraphy, and how the tech guru sees the future for art in the ancient craft.

One Museum’s Future, Funded by a Vase – A rare Chinese vase went from sitting in an Oklahoma museum’s storage to garnering $14.5 million at a Christie’s auction, and that seven-figure-sum will yield “transformative” dividends for the art institution.

A Pioneer in the Land of Putin – Curator Katerina Gregos told artnet News about leading the first Riga Biennial in the age of fake news, #MeToo, her sickness with “toxic political correctness,” and how she’s combating the much-bemoaned “biennialization” in the art world.

Banksy Bonanza – The art dealer Steve Lazarides is selling a slew of rare Banksy artworks in his London gallery, and he’s betting on making record sales for the elusive street artist.

From Dogged Reporter to Art Dealer – Former artnet News senior writer and man-about-town Brian Boucher joins Sperone Westwater Gallery as creative director.

WORST? 

Drunk and Disorderly? No, a Zeolot – In Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery, an unruly visitor attacked a famed Russian painting with a metal pole—at first he blamed his vandalism on too much vodka, but later admitted that his nationalist ideologies fueled his violence.

How a Purple Intern Has the Art World Seeing Red – Con artist or performance artist? Ben Davis dissects how a faux-socialite ascended the ranks of the contemporary art world by using the flimsiest of arty references to manipulate the “influencer economy.”

The Berkshire Museum Backlash – The Association of Art Museum Directors will impose sanctions on the Berkshire Museum and La Salle University Art Museum—the harsh move is indicative of a sea change regarding deaccessioning policies across art collections.

Koons’s Flower Is Wilting in Paris – The saga of Jeff Koons’s Tulip sculpture has been anything but a bed of roses, and this week the French Culture Minister rejected the proposed location of the work, which has been mired in scandal since its inception.

French Law Sides With Lady Gaga – The chameleon-like French artist Orlan has lost her lawsuit filed against pop goddess Lady Gaga, whom she accused of violating her copyrights regarding Gaga’s Born This Way music video.