The art world gets a media merger.

Good afternoon, everyone. Last night, I went to the annual FIT Gala where I spoke with a group of alumni about what graduating from the school meant to us. I met Rowell Concepcion, the designer behind Binata Millinery, and told him all of the hot hat wearers I know and love (, , Natalie Shine). Gap CEO Richard Dickson was being honored at the gala, and I went down a rabbit hole of interviews and articles about his career on the car ride home. He was responsible for hiring the genius Zac Posen, and Dickson told BoF back in 2024 that customers were going to see “A lot more content coming out of Gap Inc.’s brands, and I do believe it’s going to be a significant point of differentiation for us.” A year after that interview, this banger dropped. Today’s newsletter includes: An art world media merger, the rise of The Influencer Novel, and why New Yorkers are fleeing the city for the Fourth of July this year. Artsy and Artnet merged today. The two art-world websites, which each feature ways to learn about art (news, editorial) and to buy art (they are two of the largest art marketplaces on the internet), will now exist under the ownership of former Goldman Sachs partner Andrew Wolff. After purchasing Artnet last year for $73 million, Wolff has bought one of Artnet’s main competitors, consolidating Artsy and Artnet under one roof. Combined, Artsy and Artnet get over 7 million monthly visitors across 190+ countries and reach over 9 million followers across social channels. Per the press release I received this morning, “Together, the brands hold an unmatched trove of both primary- and secondary-market data, opening the door to entirely new art market insights and analysis.” The press release also alludes to a future where the two brands are using more AI tools to assess and act upon that shared data. Per Pitchbook, Artsy, which was founded in 2009, raised over $32 million last year. Early investors include Peter Thiel, Larry Gagosian, Wendi Deng, and Dasha Zhukova. Good news: It sounds like Artnet’s journalism will continue. And so, now that these two have merged, I’m going to need Artnet’s gossip column, Wet Paint, to start publishing on a slightly more frequent schedule. Finally, while we’re here, what other art writers/newsletters have you been enjoying? The FT reported that investors are questioning OpenAI’s $825 billion valuation. An early backer told the paper, “It’s a deeply unfocused company.” Another OpenAI investor said they weren’t happy about the TBPN deal. “It’s a distraction and it irks me.” The Fourth of July is on a Saturday this year. It’s also America’s 250th birthday. Tribeca Citizen wrote about the city’s celebration plans, and some New Yorker’s plans to flee the city in order to avoid the millions of tourists coming to town to watch fireworks (and SAIL4TH 250, the largest international maritime gathering in modern American history). I am the perfect height (5’7”) for Cormac McCarthy’s Lotus. I’ve always wanted flip headlights, the most face-like of all car features. The S&P closed up 0.80%, and the NASDAQ closed up 1.59%. Both the S&P and NASDAQ hit record highs during the day. The NASDAQ has now increased for the last 11 days in a row, which is the longest streak since November 2021. If the NASDAQ finishes up next Monday and Tuesday, it will match the longest-ever winning streak in 1992, and I will throw a “1992 Party” in London next week. Maybe. Charlie Tyson wrote about the rise of a new subgenre of fiction, The Influencer Novel, for The Baffler. The piece references Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear (about a Harvard-educated tradwife who wakes up stuck in the year 1855), Sydney Rende’s I Could Be Famous (a short story series about a hyper-masculine actor who is rumored to be a cannibal), Tanya Grant’s Made You Look (about a group of influencers at a resort who die one by one), and Lior Torenberg’s Just Watch Me (about a smoothie-store employee turned livestreamer). Tyson notes that these books don’t treat influencing as a ridiculous career that none of us could fathom doing (like Elizabeth Olsen’s role in Ingrid Goes West, or the plastic surgery-obsessed character in Allie Rowbottom’s Aesthetica) but more as something that could come for anyone in creative fields. Tyson writes, “It is clear that something has broken, that influencing rushes in when other economic paths have failed. Influencer fiction’s hunger for Hollywood represents a fantasy about opportunities that are no longer available, nostalgia for life before our current regime of precarity, exposure, and cultural fragmentation.” Toronto readers, can you please explain Nut Bar to me? What role will this smoothie shop play in the West Village? In early March, I asked all of you to consider taking a “Bride Survey.” The full results will be published later this week, but I wanted to give you an early look at some of the responses I received. Here’s what some brides answered to the question: What was the most expensive beauty or wellness treatment you did before your wedding, and how much did it cost? How did it make you feel? “Microneedling - I think it helped! I would say the issue is that once you start it becomes so hard not to do more. Dysport, GLP-1s, filler... I did some in addition but not others. You’re never going to look like Emma Stone unless you get actual plastic surgery.” “This isn’t really what you’re looking for, but on the day of our rehearsal dinner tasting (which we brought our mothers to), my mother-in-law-to-be let me know that I should lose 5lbs. This was pre-Ozempic so I spent a few grand on juice cleanses.” “We did a hot yoga class beforehand, and drove to Miami for an all-night ayahuasca ceremony afterwards. Both left me feeling high in the best way.” “Beauty was much different in 2004! I splurged on a Georgette Klinger facial the night before the rehearsal dinner. Total cost maybe $175 including tip.” “Botox for $550. Made my makeup go on better but physically bad. Personal training for $2,000. Couldn’t keep it up right before my wedding so felt stronger but not aesthetically better.” “Got a blowout at Dry Bar the morning of my wedding for $60.” Later this week, I’ll publish the full results of the survey: everything from budgets and beauty treatments to the one piece of advice you’d give a bride attending their own bachelorette party, the most honest advice you’d given any future bride, and more secrets about your wedding you’ve never told anyone.