BEST?

Lizards of Brooklyn – Artist Meriem Bennani speaks to Artnet News about her viral video series starring two chilled-out lizards navigating their new reality.

Secrets Revealed – Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring had eyelashes too, new research reveals. The artist apparently opted to paint over the feathered detail in the work’s finished state.

Kids Coloring Koons – How do kids spend their time in quarantine? We asked 32 children for their take on a very conceptual art coloring book, and they really delivered.

Peter Schjeldahl Opens Up – The New Yorker art critic spoke to our own Ben Davis on this week’s episode of the Art Angle podcast.

Sotheby’s Dives Into the Web – The auction house launched a new digital marketplace for a group of eight blue-chip art galleries.

LA Gallery Gets Creative – The LA and Seoul-based gallery Various Small Fires is the first to be featured in a new Artnet series highlighting new business models being developed in the age of coronavirus.

Museums Begin to Reopen – In Belgium and Italy, museums are planning to slowly reopen to visitors, offering a blueprint for the rest of the world.

Gamers Get Artsy – The latest iteration of the Nintendo game “Animal Crossing” features a glut of forged masterpieces that players must avoid buying from a shifty (virtual) dealer.

WORST?

Germano Celant Has Died – The Italian critic, who in the 1960s coined the term Arte Povera to describe the radically economical art of a group of artists, died from the coronavirus at age 80.

Remembering Artist Zarina – The Indian-born artist, know for her prints that depicted maps and city plans, and who focused on issues of displacement, died at age 83.

Hack Attack – Cyber criminals hacked the server of Zaha Hadid Architects, locking staff out of the network and stealing confidential information for ransom.

The Feds Are Onto Inigo – Federal authorities are turning up the heat on disgraced art dealer Inigo Philbrick, issuing subpoenas to businesses and individuals who did business with him.

Auction Trouble – Data from the Artnet Price Database reveals a startling 76 percent decline in total global auction sales in March compared with March 2019.

Prado in Peril – The Madrid-based museum is forecasting that it will lose 70 percent of its income due to the coronavirus.

Van Eyck To Vanish – The Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent will have to refund preordered tickets to people who will now not be able to see its blockbuster Van Eyck exhibition, which ends before the museum reopens.