Why is Leonard Cohen so downright content these days?

Fred Wilson has an uncommon touch with common things. His art—and the discomfort it provokes—is in the context. Could be why the carabinieri didn’t quite get it at the opening of the fiftieth Venice Biennale, where he is America’s representative.

Larry Gagosian sits at the pinnacle of the art world, with his architect-designed galleries and an A-list roster of artists and clients. But his famous wheeling and dealing, the government claims, included millions of dollars in evaded taxes. Has he painted himself into a corner?

Banished to the sidelines during the art world's post-eighties hangover, painting is finally back in the picture. But the new generation of New York painters is smitten with technology, suspicious of hype, and avowedly sober.