“I’m in love with the shape of you,” said Ed Sheeran to the missile … or so says political cartoonist Benjamin Slyngstad. The satirical drawing is one of a delicious flurry of artistic lampoons of the self-proclaimed “singer with a flow,” who made headlines for dumping Macklemore from his tour after the rapper made a speech against the genocide in Gaza. Staff Writer Anna Lee rounds up some of the best artworks calling out Sheeran’s cowardice (and poking fun at his eminently mockable lyrics).
More to chew on in today’s newsletter, including the one-hit wonder that is Anish Kapoor, the lineage of Sankofa in Black American ironwork, and Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara’s Pocket Review of Chilean artist Johanna Unzueta’s drawings on hand-dyed paper and homespun fabrics. Also, Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia wades into the mixed bag of the bizarre TIME100 Art in this week’s edition of Art Movements — who approved putting Amy Sherald and Trump’s favorite Christian speed painter on the same list?
—Lakshmi Rivera Amin, associate editor
Artists and Illustrators Throw Ed Sheeran for a Loop
Ed Sheeran is getting lambasted in a flurry of online protest art and memes after the Irish pop star axed rapper Macklemore from his Loop Tour for making pro-Palestine comments.
“Who knew his music would be the second worst thing about him,” wrote the Chicago cartoonist Jesse Duquette, who also posted an incisive illustration imagining Sheeran casting new bandmates in 1933. | Anna Lee
Tauba Auerbach: “Zephyr Zephyr” at Paula Cooper Gallery
The artist debuts a new series of paintings, photographs, and sculptures now on view at the 521 West 21st Street gallery through October 24.
News
- The British Museum reverses its photography policy for the Bayeux Tapestry exhibit less than a week after it opened to ticket holders, prohibiting visitors from taking pictures of the piece.
- ChaShaMa, an organization that provides subsidized studios to artists, is losing half of its space inside the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
- Hungary’s controversial House of Terror Museum, established under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban to exhibit the country’s history of fascist and communist violence, has temporarily shuttered as the new government conducts a “content review.” [Bloomberg]
- The House of Representatives has voted to hold financier and MoMA board member Leon Black in contempt for his refusal to comply with subpoenas related to Jeffrey Epstein investigations. [PBS News]
From Our Critics
Visions of Johanna Unzueta
The Chilean artist’s drawings on hand-dyed paper and homespun fabric are like natural pills against language. | Hakim Bishara
Anish Kapoor Is a One-Trick Illusionist
What does the British artist have to offer beyond monumental scale and costly optical illusions? | Olivia McEwan
Cosmo Whyte Returns to the University of Michigan With a Powerful New Exhibition at Stamps Gallery
Stamps School of Art & Design alumnus explores memory, migration, and who shapes history in an exhibition spanning drawing, sculpture, and installation. On view through December 12, 2026.
Features
African-American Blacksmiths Forge a Lineage of Sankofa
Blacksmiths in the South have long embedded West African symbolism into gates, rails, and window bars, proof that the craft evolved with every hand that held the hammer. | Trelani Michelle
A Tiny Hot Dog Art Show and Other Treasures at Affordable Art Fair
Dylan Martinez’s glass-blown water balloons, Deanna Billy Project’s mini wiener paintings, and Abu Oluwaseyi’s abstract portraits all caught my eye at this year’s NYC edition. | Anna Lee
Art Movements
The Best and the Absolute Worst of the TIME 100 List
Amy Sherald shines on the magazine’s uneven list, Artadia names a new director, Johnny Depp’s awfulness, and more in Art Movements. | Valentina Di Liscia
Hyper Links
- Rolling Stone’s CT Jones speaks to Miss Rachel about her advocacy for the children of Palestine and refusing to compromise her values.
- Take us back to Wattpad circa 2013! Mihika Agarwal reports for the Walrus on the company’s new “data-driven” approach to cranking out content and how diehard users are reacting.
- Mayor Mamdani’s bringing 17 ADA-accessible public bathrooms to all five boroughs of New York City this fall. The age of spending $7 to use a coffee shop’s restroom just might be coming to an end …
From the Archive
Emily Mason’s Quest for Color and Truth
The late painter was influenced by Abstract Expressionism, but she had none of the hubris of its male artists. For her, painting was not about an experience, it was an experience. | Barbara Stehle
