Five Artists in the News: Peter Blake’s Mixed Feelings about Sgt Pepper, Push back to Shahzia Sikander’s golden female and Remembering Jacob Rothschild and Rosa de La Cruz

The patron and philanthropist Jacob Rothschild (1936-2024) loved commissioning eye-catching works for the family home, Waddesdon Manor, not least by Joana Vasconcelos. Last year, the Portuguese artist unveiled the giant Wedding Cake, her second large-scale work there, and Rothschild’s final flourish.

Peter Blake has mixed feelings about Sgt Pepper even though The Beatles’ album cover is his most famous collage, he tells the Financial Times. The veteran Pop artist was speaking as his little-known sculptures and new collages went on show at Waddington Custot in London.

Shahzia Sikander's monumental sculpture of a golden female figure, last seen in New York, has been denounced as 'Satanic' by a Texas anti-abortion group. They plan a “prayerful” protest when it is unveiled at the University of Houston this week, Artforum reports.

Mark Bradford is among the artists who owe Los Agneles-based collector Eileen Harris Norton. Together they created the artist’s nonprofit Art + Practice (A+P). She talks to Artnet News about championing artists of color, particularly women, ahead of Frieze LA, when she launches her new book.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres has a special place in Rosa de la Cruz’s collection. The Miami museum founder who has died at 81, made sure her friend, the late Cuban-American artist’s billboard, featuring a flying bird, is on long-term display in the private museum she created with her husband, Carlos.

In other news

Nan Goldin is among the thousands of artists and curators who have signed an open letter calling for Israel to be excluded from the Venice Biennale. The letter claims art that officially represents Israel is an endorsement of its “genocidal policies” in Gaza.