Will Fenstermaker

Writing

EssayAn Atlas of Invisible ImagesAs computer vision and AI increasingly influence everyday life, several artists reveal the hidden images that secretly govern these systems.Social Research • 2023
OpinionTaking Back IvyAs artists, novelists and designers restore the aesthetics of WASP America, the line between sartorial critique and nostalgia for power begins to blur.Frieze • 2026
ProfileYto Barrada’s Rules of the GameA public artwork in the form of a playgroud, her Le Grand Soir comments on postcolonial architecture and experimental pedagogy.The Nation • 2025
ArticleJulia Stoschek Takes Over Variety Arts TheaterInside the collector of video art’s ambitious exhibition of moving-image art that insists on communal viewing as a radical act.The Los Angeles Times • 2026
ReviewJane Dickson’s Sublime in TrafficHer paintings inhabit the same routes of self-actualization and Manifest Destiny that structure a Robert Frank or Jack Kerouac road trip—but there’s less optimism here.The Brooklyn Rail • 2024
InterviewIn Conversation with Lawrence Abu Hamdan“A careful analysis of extreme acoustic experiences teaches us how listening can operate more generally as a collective tool for political action.”The Brooklyn Rail • 2023
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Projects

Current

Totei

Commissioning and editing features on art, architecture and design at a new arts and culture magazine.
Han Seungmin seated in his stainless steel chair before a brownstone stoop with matching railingsOrigin StoriesHan Seungmin’s White Picket ChairWritten by Megan C. Reynolds • Photographed by Tonje Thilesen
2022–2025

Sotheby’s

Senior Editor and Head of Editorial, US and Europe, commissioning auction campaigns, features and collecting guides on categories from fine art to watches and more.
Black-and-white portrait of a suited man seated beneath a large angular window framing a brick building.FeatureHow Brutalism Became Both a Utopian Dream and a Dystopian MemeWritten by Kate WagnerCase StudyCollecting GuidesAn evergreen series helping collectors identify the right object and confidently make a high-value purchase.Jeffrey Gibson holds a colorful textile in a studio, standing before blue and pink geometric artwork.FeatureJeffrey Gibson on Representing the US at the Venice BiennaleWritten by Melissa Smith • Photographed by Menelik PuryearA Sotheby’s art handler in white gloves holds Jackie Robinson’s graded 1948 Leaf rookie card.FeaturePortrait of Jackie Robinson in GoldWritten by Rowan Ricardo PhillipsMark Hoppus leaps through his living room beside Banksy’s Crude Oil (Vettriano), propped on the floor.FeatureHow a Banksy Painting Turned Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus into a ‘Punk Medici’Written by Mark Hoppus • Photographed by Mark MontgomeryAn art handler in a dark suit stands behind the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius, holding it upright on a plinth.FeatureThe Joachim-Ma and Antonio Stradivari’s Golden PeriodWritten by Toby FaberCharles Simonds leans over a miniature clay landscape, shaping it with a fine tool.FeatureThe Enchanted Worlds of Charles SimondsWritten by Christopher Alessandrini • Photographed by Benedict EvansHanif Abdurraqib in a red sweatshirt, standing before patterned blue wallpaper.FeatureInside Hanif Abdurraqib’s Sneaker CollectionWritten by Hanif Abdurraqib • Photographed by Jay GullionLeonora Carrington’s painting Les Distractions de Dagobert, a dense dreamscape of figures, boats and fire.FeatureWhen Surrealism Came to MexicoWritten by Christopher AlessandriniA Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph with a salmon dial, lying on its box and papers.Collecting GuideA Collector’s Guide to Patek PhilippeWritten by Stephen Pulvirent
2017–2022

The Met

Colaunched Perspectives, the museum’s online magazine, and made artist videos, exhibition podcasts and interactive formats reaching millions of visitors.
Wangechi Mutu's bronze seated figure in a niche of The Met's Fifth Avenue facadeArtist InterviewsContemporary Artist CommissionsDirected by Kate FarrellCase StudyClose LookAn interactive feature designed to spotlight permanent-collection works through guided narrative sequencing and mobile-first storytelling.Black-and-white photograph of Alice Neel seated on the floor among her portraits.PodcastAlice Neel: People Come FirstWith Jordan Casteel, Jasmine Wahi and Miguel LucianoProfile of a marble bust by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, a woman with a rope bound across her shoulders.PodcastFictions of Emancipation: Carpeaux RecastWith Elizabeth Colomba, Delphine Diallo and Fabienne Kanor • Interviewed by Melissa SmithMagazine LaunchPerspectivesPerspectives is The Met’s online magazine and the museum’s home for deep dives on art, interviews, personal essays and scientific discoveries.Detail of Paul Cadmus’s The Fleet’s In!: sailors lounging and flirting on a park wall with women and a small dog.FeaturePaul Cadmus and the Censorship of Queer ArtWritten by Bryan MartinFilm still of two women seated outdoors among leaves, one in a striped dress, one in a blue headscarf.Round TableStorytelling and West African CinemaWith Rahmatou Keïta and Fanta Régina Nacro • Interviewed by Yaëlle BiroCase StudyPrimersA guided introduction designed to meet visitors where they are, turning complex exhibitions into approachable, intuitive stories.
2017–2025

Art Press

Commissioning and editing reviews, interviews and artist profiles for The Brooklyn Rail, Frieze and TheGuide.art.
A dark gallery at SculptureCenter with Claudia Pagès’s video of a flooded stone cistern projected across a wide screen.FriezeThe Discontinuous History of Claudia Pagès’s ‘Typo-Topo-Time Aljibe’Written by Travis DiehlScreens showing Gabriel Massan’s animated game world glow in a darkened gallery at Laboratorio Arte Alameda.FriezeGabriel Massan’s Games of Reefs and RainWritten by Evan MoffittDread Scott, in glasses and a patterned shirt, rests his chin on his hand.TheGuide.artIn Conversation with Dread ScottWritten by Rachel Cargle • Photographed by Clifford Prince KingNour Mobarak stands in black among white-flowering shrubs, hands clasped.TheGuide.artIn Conversation with Nour MobarakWritten by Rachel Small • Photographed by Naima GreenSara Cwynar sits in a director’s chair before a wall of collaged magazine clippings and painted fruit.TheGuide.artIn Conversation with Sara CwynarWritten by Rachel Small • Photographed by Maya FuhrPortrait of Will Fenstermaker, pencil on paper by Phong H. Bui.Critics PageTo Declare a New WorldPortrait by Phong H. BuiCircuit boards, phones and tangled cables spread across a low plinth in Shadi Habib Allah’s installation.The Brooklyn Rail74 million million million tonsWritten by Andreas PetrossiantsA woman at a desk surrounded by densely packed, colorful inflatable pool toys.The Brooklyn RailOn Mika RottenbergWritten by Emily Watlington
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Will Fenstermaker

Writer, critic and editor covering art, culture and ideology.

Will Fenstermaker is currently a contributing editor at Totei, a new arts and culture publication.

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Writing

Artforum• BOMB• The Brooklyn Rail• Dear Dave• Dissent• Family Style• Frieze• TheGuide.art• Los Angeles Review of Books• The Los Angeles Times• The Nation• The Paris Review• T Magazine• Totei

Editorial

ToteiCurrent
Contributing Editor
Sotheby’s2022–2025
Head of Editorial, US & EU • Senior Editor
Frieze2024–2025
Contributing Writer • Interim Reviews Editor
The Metropolitan Museum of Art2017–2022
Editor
TheGuide.art2021
Exhibitions Editor
The Brooklyn Rail2017–2019
Associate Editor

Honors

Andy Warhol Foundation2023
Arts Writers Grant, Short-Form Criticism
International Awards for Art Criticism2023
Shortlist
The Brooklyn RailMarch 2021
Guest Critic
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