This Week in Art + Some Fuel for Your Creativity

From lost Renaissance gems to South Asia’s big flex, art this week is about rebalancing the scales. Whether it's ancient work resurfacing, global voices rising, or collectors chasing new narratives, one thing’s clear: the art world’s not sleeping. And neither should your curiosity.

TOP 5 ART STORIES OF THE WEEK not to miss

1. Two Icons Collide: Yayoi Kusama & Saint Phalle in London

When two giants of radical, polka-dotted, color-saturated creativity collide, you pay attention. Opera Gallery’s upcoming two-woman show, Inner Child, pairs Yayoi Kusama and Niki de Saint Phalle in a riot of sculpture and paint that promises to be loud, bold, and deeply personal.
Their art is therapy, rebellion, and joy splattered across the walls.

🟡 Kusama once said she paints “to cure my illness,” while Saint Phalle's playful aesthetics hid a fierce critique of patriarchy. Two different paths, but one raw, shared energy.

So, a spring break in London, maybe? 👉 Read the full preview

2. Renaissance Revival: Lost Masterpiece Unearthed

After chilling in museum storage for a casual 150 years (whoops), a major painting by Lavinia Fontana (one of the first pro women painters to go full-time pro) has been rediscovered.
It’s a major win for art history and a nudge to curators everywhere: maybe that dusty crate in the corner is more than just old oil and canvas.
🎨 Fontana painted over 100 works in the 16th century, balancing elite commissions with raising 11 children. A Renaissance-era mic drop. 🙂
👉 Full story on Artnet

3. Sarah Sze Gets $100K Prize

Sarah Sze just won the inaugural women’s artist prize from ICA Boston, and that’s a $100,000 check.
Her intricate, mind-mapping installations have redefined what sculpture can be, and this recognition feels like a long-overdue “Finally!”
🔍 Sze represented the U.S. at the Venice Biennale in 2013. Her work mixes science, architecture, and chaos theory, just like a lab exploded in slow motion.
👉 More on Artsy

4. Ancient Art Flip: Pompeii Painting Turns Out to Be a Mantegna

Art historians got a plot twist: a painting discovered in Pompeii is now believed to be an original Andrea Mantegna. Yes, that Renaissance legend.
This is the art-world equivalent of finding a Rembrandt in your grandma’s attic.
🏛️ Mantegna was court painter to the Gonzaga family and helped pioneer perspective in Renaissance art. Finding one of his works outside of a palace? Mind-blowing.
👉 Hyperallergic has the scoop

5. Dragon Vase Breaths Fire at Auction, Sells for $3.7M

A rare 18th-century Chinese ‘Dragon’ vase just torched its auction estimate, selling for over $3.7 million (six times what they expected). Collectors went wild. Dragons still slay.
🐉 The vase dates back to the Qianlong Emperor’s reign, an era when art and craftsmanship reached imperial perfection. Only a few like this exist outside museums.
👉 Auction highlight here

Hot Take: The Art World's Compass Just Tilted East

Art Basel Hong Kong used to be Asia’s art fair. Now it’s the art fair redefining where power lives in the global art market.

This year’s edition features 240 galleries from 42 countries. It shows a seismic rise in voices from India, South Asia, and across the region. Five Indian galleries (up from four last year), heavy hitters like Anant, Vadehra, and Jhaveri Contemporary, are shaping the conversation.

🧭 Translation? The art world’s gravity is shifting. Slowly, surely, Eastward.

The data speaks: India, with 1.4 billion people and an emerging class of collectors, now competes for fair real estate with Belgium, a country 100x smaller. And while the Western market softens, South Asian galleries say they're selling back home just fine, thank you very much.

✨ One of the fair’s most buzzed-about booths? Ghanaian artist El Anatsui’s glittering installation made from bottle caps and scrap metal. This is a proof that material magic and cultural storytelling are center stage in this new era.

What we’re watching:

• South Asian artists getting serious global traction (Kapoor, Kazim, Kunhan).

• Diaspora narratives becoming central, not peripheral.

• Collectors in the East shaping taste, not just following it.

It’s not just a fair, but a mirror showing us the future; and the frame is no longer gilded in Western gold.

Steal This Idea: Follow Your Weird 💡

Next time you find yourself deep-diving on something bizarre … like Victorian hair art, neon gas tubes, 1970s sci-fi fonts … don’t fight it. That rabbit hole is a creative goldmine.

🎯 A new feature in It’s Nice That makes the case for turning obsessions into output. Whether it’s frogs, fire escapes, or Finnish typography, following your fixations adds authenticity, originality, and joy to your work.

🛠️ Steal This: Make a quick "I'm Obsessed With…" list right now. Then challenge yourself to incorporate one of those oddities into your next piece, pitch, or post.

Creative Fuel from Japan: Go Down This Rabbit Hole 🐇

This month, Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs honored four incredible multidisciplinary artists with the 2024 Art Encouragement Prize: Takashi Ishida, Yoshiaki Kaihatsu, Chiharu Shiota, and Hiroshi Kanechiku.

Each of them bends space, time, or meaning in their own way—whether it’s thread installations that feel like memory (Shiota) or haunting animation loops that mess with perception (Ishida).

✨ Your creative mission (should you choose to accept it):
Google these artists. Look at their work. Let it wash over you. Let it spark something.

Start here. You won’t regret it.

Music for Your Studio: The Sound of Silence (and Soul)

This year, Arvo Pärt turns 90, and the world is celebrating with music that feels like a quiet prayer in a noisy room.

If you’ve never listened to Pärt’s compositions, this is the time. His minimalist, spiritual style has moved listeners from concert halls to film scores, and into stillness.

🎼 Explore the list of global performances and find one near you (or stream something from Spiegel im Spiegel to Fratres, goosebumps guaranteed).
👉 Find an Arvo Pärt concert near you

A quote from Pärt himself, as humble and profound as his music:
"The world suffers from everyone trying to change it. Changing the world is an act of aggression. I only want to change myself. If someone likes what I've done, that’s already enough."

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST. . . A SINCERE ARTIST TALK

In case you missed, I had some beautiful talks with artists recently (and many more to come very soon!).

One of them was Lucía Martínez Mayer (Buenos Aires, 2000), an emerging talent in the world of comics and illustration. She shared about her creative process and inspiration, and of course beautiful artwork.

“I think I managed to capture how desperate and necessary the hug is, while also showing how beautiful destruction can look. During the pandemic, we were isolated, and all kinds of animals suddenly appeared all over the world. Beauty and tragedy were all mixed together.”

Read her full interview here. And if her art touches you, show her some love by following her on social media. ♥

That’s it for this time. Thank you so much for reading.

If this week’s issue sparked something in you, share it with a fellow creative or reply with your favorite story. We’re here to make the art world less mysterious and way more fun.

Stay inspired. Stay weird. See you next week.