The Tamesis
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, art news Newsletter about the art market and beyond. Register here Receive it every Wednesday.
Happy Wednesday! Here’s a roundup of the moves and shakers in the art trade this week.
Industry trends
Gladstone appoints Jana Soin as first London director: Soin, who will be tasked with expanding Gladstone’s presence in the UK and Europe, previously worked at Aicon Gallery and Christie’s, and spent seven years at Pilar Corrias.
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South Arts opens spring 2026 grant cycle: The area nonprofit will launch its latest round of funding Wednesday to provide grants to arts nonprofits and community organizations.
Pilar Corrias vs. Alexis Ralaivao: The London gallery will represent the artist in partnership with Olney Gleeson. His first UK solo exhibition is currently on view at Pilar Corrias’s Pipeline Street space.
Queens Arts Fund announces 129 2026 recipients: The New York Foundation for the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs have awarded $493,350 in grants to artists, collectives and small nonprofits in Queens.
Amoako Boafo will have his first Italian solo exhibition at Palazzo Grimani: The Ghanaian artist will have a new exhibition at the Venice Museum from May 6 to November 22, to coincide with the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Big Number: $10.2 million
That’s the value of the commission Sotheby’s allegedly failed to pay, according to a new lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court by real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. At issue is the $510 million sale of its former New York headquarters. The brokerage claimed it helped secure a tenant for a medical school in 2023, saying the deal “set the stage” for an eventual sale and triggered a contractual right to a 2% commission. Sotheby’s disputes the allegations and calls the lawsuit “baseless.”
Read this.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Russian art scene came to a standstill: artists representing Russia canceled their Venice Biennale exhibitions, Moscow’s Garage Museum of Contemporary Art closed, and many artists fled. But Nailya Allakhverdiyeva, director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, persisted in running her independent institution until that became impossible in 2024, when the Russian government threatened her with severe consequences if she did not comply with their demands. She then left Russia, new york times Now there’s an exciting profile of her that shows the many forms censorship can take. “Officially,” Allakhverdieva told reporters. era“, “There is no censorship in Perm. But as criticism of contemporary art continues to explode, you yourself begin to view each work through this lens, trying to anticipate the opinions of the disaffected. It’s a constant process of managing your fears. ” —Alex Greenberg, Associate Editor
