Welcoming Spring with open arms, we begin to visit our favorite restaurants, galleries, institutions, outdoor events and installations. Here are a few suggestions for the month of April ~ as we continue to mask-up and socially distance.
Randolph Lamonier: My Kind of Dirty Online at Fort Gansevoort Gallery ~ April 1
Central Park x Maracana,̃ 2021
Mixed media (fabric, embroidery and buttons on carpet) 16 x 24.8 in.
RL004
Beginning Thursday, April 1st, Fort Gansevoort will present My Kind Of Dirty, the gallery’s first exhibition with Brazilian artist Randolpho Lamonier. This online presentation brings together recent textile works in which Lamonier responds to his upbringing in Contagem, an industrial city in southeastern Brazil, drawing upon observations of hardship and inequality to create powerful expressions in vivid colors, word combinations, and raw images.
UN/MUTE/1002 with Teams Mouse, Bug, Profile, Web & Thumbnail + Teams Ram, Stream, Branch, Cloud & Key ~ April 1 & 2
UN/MUTE is an online residency that provides artists an opportunity for a critical exchange and collaboration while simultaneously connecting resources from the global cultural epicenter of New York City. This project is co-organized by Undercurrent and the European Union National Institutes for Culture’s New York Cluster. We are coming in late on this thoughtful, and very interesting project that went live on February 12, 2021. Luckily it will continue through May 9th, which marks Europe Day.
Brooklyn Public Library Launches ‘Whispering Libraries’ ~ April 1
Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) today launched Whispering Libraries, a curated, audio experience taking place outdoors at 10 library branches and across Brooklyn. Designed to share art and culture throughout the streets of Brooklyn, Whispering Libraries invites the public to listen to curated playlists of music, poetry, oral histories, podcast excerpts, spoken literature, and more, streamed through hidden speakers starting as early as 7:30 a.m. and playing up to five times a day on weekdays and select Saturdays.
Morningside Park ‘Love Your Park’ Campaign ~ April 2
NYC Parks will kick-off the Anti-Litter campaign by hosting its first “Love Your Park” pop-up event ~ a new facet of the Anti-Litter campaign in 2021.
It’s Easter! Take a Look-Back at Fifth Avenue Easter Strolls from Years Past ~ April 4
This year, during Easter Week, we take a look back at some of our favorite strolls, and New Yorkers strutting their stuff.
Katie Stout: Verdant Malformations at Venus Over Manhattan ~ April 6
Venus Over Manhattan will open its doors to Verdant Malformations, an exhibition of new works by Katie Stout on April 6th.
Stout’s sculptures, referencing the excessive detail of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s still-life portraits and the dystopian visions of Hieronymus Bosch, evoke states of material decay and regeneration. Her over-ripe, perishing natural forms serve as memento mori, but also as a reminders of life’s resilience. Bold but delicate, Stout’s constructions advance her ongoing exploration of the female form as a site upon which our culture enacts its preoccupations with ornament, allure, and value.
ChaShaMa Brightens our Spring with Five NYC Lobby Exhibitions
We’ve seen quite a few artist-supported groups, teaming up with owners of empty ground-floor space, filling windows with art during this very difficult year, as we search for fun ways to connect while socially distancing.
But way before COVID-19, the nonprofit, ChaShaMa, supported artists by partnering with property owners, transforming unused space. In addition, they have provided free art classes for under-resourced communities, subsided 200 artist work spaces, and given 170 artists free space to present plus much much more.
This month, ChaShaMa brightens up our Spring with five lobby exhibitions and six brilliant artists. Take a virtual tour of each.
Restart Stages at Lincoln Center ~ April 7
Lincoln Center is excited to announce Restart Stages—an outdoor performing arts center with 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces—to help kickstart the performing arts sector and New York City’s revival. Fostering a dynamic environment for artists, community organizations, and audiences, Restart Stages is a welcoming and safe place for live performances, family activities, and civic engagement. Restart Stages is part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative, a collaboration that reimagines and reactivates public space for a new era.
Inaugural Opening of European Comic Art Gallery, Philippe Labaune, with Tribute to Otomo ~ April 8
If you are a lover of comic art, you will be delighted to hear that long-time European comic art collector, Philippe Labaune will open a gallery in Chelsea. in April. The inaugural exhibition, “Good for Health – Bad for Education: A Tribute to Otomo” will showcase illustrations by 30 international artists in homage to Japanese artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s seminal 1982 manga series: “Akira.”
Spring Auction 2021 at Historic Salmagundi Club ~ April 9
Oil, 20″ x 24″, Opening Bid $1000. 1 of 2 Cirinos in this event.
Spring is in the air, and a sign of that is the annual Salmagundi Club Spring Auction. Nicholas Dawes, Salmagundi Chairman of the Board and Senior Vice President of Heritage Auctions, will host the online proceedings on Friday, April 9th at 4:00pm
KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature on View at New York Botanical Garden ~ April 10
The much anticipated exhibition, KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature by renowned Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, which was postponed due to COVID-19, is now back on track, and opening in April. The exhibition will be installed across the Garden’s landscape, in and around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Building. What better place to socially distance than at the New York Botanical Garden.
Gio Swaby: Both Sides of the Sun, A Love Letter to Black Women at Claire Oliver Gallery ~ April 10
Claire Oliver Gallery is proud to announce the Gallery’s debut solo exhibition of Bahamian artist Gio Swaby. Both Sides of the Sun is comprised of more than 20 new works that range from life-scale line works, created entirely from thread without the aid of pre-drawn sketches, to small-scale intimate mixed-media textile portraits. Swaby’s work seeks to underscore joy and resilience while showcasing the beauty in imperfection and individuality as a counterpoint to the often-politicized Black body.
Lewis Hine: The WPA National Research Project Photographs, 1936-37 at Howard Greenberg Gallery ~ April 15
A tale of collective ingenuity and individual perseverance in the shadow of national crisis is the subject of Lewis Hine: The WPA National Research Project Photographs, 1936-37, on view at Howard Greenberg Gallery from April 15 through July 2. The Great Depression ravaged the United States in the 1930s, producing extreme levels of poverty and unemployment with a deep and penetrating social pessimism to match. Whereas some photographic endeavors of the time sought to document the misery and misfortune of those hardest hit by these conditions, Lewis Hine set out to photograph the opposite: the optimism taking hold in the nation’s most technologically advanced sites of production, and the persistence and skill of the factory workers who made all of it a reality.
Art on the Ave NYC in the West Village ~ April 15
Working with local property owners and businesses on the Upper West Side, Art on the Ave filled empty windows with works created by local artists ~ giving all proceeds to the artists, who had also been severely hurt by the Pandemic. That first edition was so well-received, Art on the Ave was encouraged to create a second edition. The theme for the next edition, Awakening ~ the location ~ the West Village.
3 Public Art Installations by Jim Rennert Arrive in Pershing Square ~ April 15
Cavalier Gallery unveiled three life-size works by artist Jim Rennert, which will be installed in New York City’s Pershing Square Plaza West located on the west side of Park Avenue between East 41st and East 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. Each sculpture stands over 6 feet tall and depicts the daily struggles and achievements of everyday people. The sculpture installations are being facilitated as part of the New York City Department of Transportation’s Temporary Art Program.
Alex Da Corte: As Long as the Sun Lasts ~ a Met Commission for The Roof Garden ~ April 16
The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that Alex Da Corte (American, born 1980) has been commissioned to create a site-specific installation for The Met’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. The Roof Garden Commission: Alex Da Corte, As Long as the Sun Lasts will be on view from April 16 through October 31, 2021.
Charlie Hudson: Points of Distraction at Ki Smith Gallery ~ April 16
Points of Distraction, a two-part exhibition featuring new sculptural paintings by Charlie Hudson, explores our city from a stoplight in Williamsburg at 4am to the glaring sun refracting off a glossy skyscraper in Midtown. Exhibited in two-parts, the second installation will present our cityscapes mosaicked into an immersive, panoramic view of a single street corner.
‘Unraveled: Confronting the Fabric of Fiber Art’ at The Untitled Space ~ April 17
If you love Fiber Art, you must add this group exhibition to your list. The Untitled Space in Tribeca opened its doors to more than 40 contemporary artists who will feature textile and fiber-based artworks.
Dawoud Bey: An American Project at The Whitney ~ April 17
Dawoud Bey (b.1953, Queens, NY) has committed more than four decades to photographing underrepresented subjects and fostering dialogue that addresses African American history and contemporary society and politics. The artist’s first retrospective in twenty-five years, An American Project,, explores the arc of Bey’s career from 1975 to 2017 through nearly eighty works across eight major series. Reflecting the evolution of Bey’s vision, the exhibition examines his enduring engagement with portraiture, place, and history. From early portraits in Harlem and classic street photography to multi-panel studio portraits and nocturnal landscapes, Bey has consistently focused his lens on Black individuals, foregrounding the uniqueness of his subjects while reflecting the profound and ongoing effects of the history of the United States. Co-organized with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, An American Project will be on view at the Whitney from April 17, 2021 through October 3, 2021.
Earth Day Events ~ April 22
Celebrate Earth Day with the American Museum of Natural History on April 22nd at a family-friendly, online festival, honoring our planet. Check out the schedule events.
Rising Tide: Visualizing the Human Costs of the Climate Crisis at Museum of the City of New York, opened April 16th & on view.
EcoArt Project ‘Rebound-NYC‘ Art Pop-Ups. To celebrate Earth Day 2021, six artists create impactful experiences that investigate the state of our environment. The pop-ups engage artists working in visual and performing arts to present work with environmental themes, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and recycling in Bryant Park and Union Square.
Calling all Kids ~ Celebrate Earth Day with BioBus on April 22nd from 4:00 – 4:45pm on Zoom.
Volunteering with NYC Parks on Earth Day
NYC DOT’s Car Free Earth Day at Times Square, Garment District, Herald Square, City Zone, Flatiron and Union Square
Celebrate Earth Day in Randall’s Island Park
LY: The Ways LUVS look at GR Gallery ~ April 23
GR gallery is beyond excited to welcome back LY for her first New York City Solo show, after last year duo. Dubbed “The ways LUVS look”, LY will be showcasing her raw talent by revealing 15 new artworks created for this occasion. These canvases, exemplarily executed with the artist signature unlimited gray scale palette, will picture LUV, LY’s omnipresent character, in newfangled scenarios and occupations.
Urban Park Rangers Free Tour to the Top of the Historic Harlem Fire Watchtower ~ April 25
The Urban Park Rangers have reopened the Fire Watchtower Tours with the first one this year to take place on Sunday, April 25th from 1:00 to 2:00pm, and a schedule of three more dates in May! This Event is Free and open to the public.
David Smith: Follow My Path at Hauser & Wirth 69th Street ~ April 27
Untitled (Study for AgricolaI) 1951; Cast iron, paint; 117.5 x 92.7 cm/46 1/4 x 36 1/2 x 11 in; courtesy the Estate of David Smith and Hauser & Wirth. © 2021 The Estate of David Smith/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Photo: Ken Adlard.
New York… In a 1952 lecture at the Detroit Institute of Arts, David Smith (1906 – 1965) described the inspiration behind one of his recent sculptures, saying ‘My wish is that you travel by perception the path which I traveled in creating it. That same wish goes for the rest of my work.’ Taking its title from his remarks, ‘David Smith: Follow My Path’ will go on view at Hauser & Wirth New York beginning 27 April.
Ford Foundation Gallery presents ‘Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 4 ~ an Online Event April 30
The Ford Foundation Gallery invites the public to Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 4: Raisa Kabir ‘House Made of Tin’ (A Socially Distanced Weaving Performance) an Online exhibition and performance, Friday, April 30th.
Zaq Landsberg: Reclining Liberty unveiling at Morningside Park ~ April 30
Sculpture artist Zaq Landsberg created and presented the illustration for this piece during the last administration, prior to COVID-19 and our citywide shutdown. It was inspired by Buddhist imagery, and meant to depict our iconic American landmark, weary, reclining, and asking the question ~ “what stage of America are we in.” COVID-19 closed our city, and Reclining Lady lay waiting, like all of us, for better days.
Fast-forward one year (or-what a difference a year makes). With a new administration and a city that is beginning to bloom along with spring, Zaq Landsberg: Reclining Liberty will emerge from the artists’ studio, with an unveiling the end of April, 2021 in Morningside Park, Harlem
Don’t Miss ‘Westbeth at 50: The 50 Moments of Creativity & Photography Installations’ on view to September 30, 2021
Celebrating 50, Westbeth presents 50 moments from 1970 to 2020 that capture the artistry and diversity of the artists in this legendary building. The exhibition is located in the Bethune Lobby, Project Room and Inner Courtyard to September 20, 2021.
Three with a Pen: Lily Renée, Bill Spira, and Paul Peter Porges at The Austrian Cultural Forum New York
The Austrian Cultural Forum New York opened its doors to the presentation, Three with a Pen: Lily Renée, Bill Spira, and Paul Peter Porges, featuring works by the three Jewish artists driven from their homes in Vienna after the German annexation of Austria, the so-called “Anchluss,” in 1938. The exhibition showcases examples of their signature work in comic books, New Yorker cartoons, Mad magazine spoofs, caricatures, portraiture, fashion design, advertising, and children’s books, among other formats. Biographical material and ephemera amplify the artists’ personal stories of survival and, inn part, help contextualize their professional achievements.
Still on View:
Albers and Morandi: Never Finished will be on view at David Zwirner to April 3, 2021
David Zwirner is pleased to present Albers and Morandi: Never Finished, which will be on view at the gallery’s 537 West 20th Street location. The exhibition explores the formal and visual affinities, and contrasts between two of the twentieth century’s greatest painters: Josef Albers (1888–1976) and Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964).
Love Letters for Harlem at Claire Oliver Gallery on view to April 3, 2021
Claire Oliver Gallery is pleased to present Love Letters for Harlem, an exhibition of photographs by John Pinderhughes, Ruben Natal SanMiguel, Jeffrey Henson Scales and Shawn Walker. Love Letters for Harlem showcases the talents of these four Harlem-based photographers and their work that celebrates the lives and culture of Harlem. A portion of the proceeds from this exhibition will benefit Harlem Community Relief Fund, an initiative of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce (GHCC), who in concert with Harlem Week, ReThink Food NY, NY State Assemblywoman Inez Dickens, CCNY, NAACP are working together to combat food insecurity in Harlem.
Beth Lipman: Collective Elegy at Museum of Art & Design on view to April 4, 2021
Photo by Jenna Bascom
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) presents Beth Lipman: Collective Elegy, from September 25, 2020 to April 4, 2021, a major midcareer survey that is the first to assess the remarkable achievements of the renowned contemporary artist. From sumptuous displays of excess, including provocative installations comprising hundreds of individual glass elements, to poetic and contemplative works in glass, metal, clay, video, and photography, the works on view are ethereal meditations on time and mortality and simultaneously sobering indictments of our contemporary consumer culture and its impact on the planet.
Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration at MoMA PS1 on view through April 4, 2021
MoMA PS1 will open its doors to the timely exhibition, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, highlighting more than thirty-five artists reflecting on the growing COVID-19 crises in U.S. prisons. The exhibition features work by people in prisons and work by non incarcerated artists, with a creative eye towards state repression, erasure, and imprisonment, and is on display across PS1’s first floor galleries.
Salman Toor: How Will I Know at The Whitney Museum on view through April 4, 2021
Salman Toor’s first solo museum exhibition—originally scheduled to open in March 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic—will be presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art from November 13, 2020 to April 4, 2021. Primarily making intimate oil-on-panel works, Toor expands the tradition of figurative painting by melding sketch-like immediacy with disarming detail to create affecting views of young, queer Brown men living in New York City and South Asia. Salman Toor: How Will I Know is part of the Whitney’s emerging artists program, which most recently included solo shows by Kevin Beasley and Eckhaus Latta, and will be on view in the first-floor John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Gallery, which is accessible to the public free-of-charge.
A Fine Disregard for Decorum at Art of Our Century on view to April 4, 2021
Art of Our Century gallery is thrilled to announce a group show featuring James Esber, Jane Fine, Tony Geiger, Justin Neely, Kris Rac and Andrew Smenos. The show, A Fine Disregard for Decorum, is curated by John Gagné of Gagné Contemporary.
Roni Horn. Recent Work on view at Hauser & Wirth to April 10, 2021
Roni Horn has spent the past four decades questioning accepted notions of identity and meaning, thwarting closure and opening up new possibilities of perception through her expansive body of work across mediums. Beginning 18 February, ‘Roni Horn. Recent Work’ will present the artist’s latest achievements in the realm of drawing, a medium she has described as ‘a kind of breathing activity on a daily level.’
Pascal Goet and Cat Sirot: Pareidolia on view at Galerie l’Atelier to April 10, 2021
25″ x 25″
In this exhibition featuring photographs from Pascal Goet and Sculptures by Cat Sirot, Galerie l’Atelier showcases two artists who stimulate imagination through their research of shapes and patterns inspired from the world of nature. Here, the gallery presents their very personal universe that would remain invisible to our eye otherwise.
Alex Guofeng Cao: Pixelation on view at Fremin Gallery to April 10, 2021
In a captivating new collection, Alex Guofeng Cao dazzles audiences with his unique twist on instantly recognizable images. Inspired by history and pop culture, Cao manipulates one iconic image to create another in his extraordinary large-scale works. From a distance, the pieces appear to be a singular image but as the viewer approaches closer, you find each work is a masterfully crafted compilation of minute detailed images layered next to one another, creating a mesmerizing and hypnotic optical illusion.
Howardena Pindell: Rope/Fire/Water at The Shed on view through April 11, 2021
For her solo exhibition at The Shed, Howardena Pindell will present Rope/Fire/Water, her first video in 25 years and a project unrealized by the artist since the 1970s that The Shed commissioned. In this powerful work, Pindell recounts personal anecdotes and anthropological and historical data related to lynchings and racist attacks in the United States. She accompanies this voice-over with archival photos of lynchings and the historic Birmingham, Alabama, Children’s Crusade, a series of nonviolent protests carried out by young people in May 1963.
Reflect will be on view in Domino Park to April 15, 2021
The five-acre Domino Park, located along the East River in Williamsburg, unveiled a multi-sensory light installation entitled, Reflect by Brooklyn artist Jen Lewin. Spanning 2,400 square feet, the sculpture consists of three concentric rings, each made up of interactive platforms that respond to visitors’ steps, triggering splashes of light that create an ever-changing composition. The installation will encourage New Yorkers to pause for a moment of reflection and discovery, and inspire connection as the city enters a new era of hope and revival.
Debora Hirsch: Firmamento at Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary on view to April 16, 2021
Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary opened its doors to Debora Hirsch: Firmamento. The exhibition will feature a selection of works by Debora Hirsch from three of her most significant series to date.
Stickymonger: Still Smiling will be on view at Allouche Gallery to April 17
Feelings of loneliness, fear and the unknown have engrossed the globe since the outbreak of COVID-19 back in March 2020. The pandemic can take its toll, pushing people further from others and leaving many feeling like they are living in a surreal world. Stickymonger conveys these difficult emotions across her latest body of work, but also incorporates the unpredictable, magical moments of everyday life to instill hope and positivity amid the difficult circumstances posed by the pandemic. These otherworldly pieces will fill New York City’s Allouche Gallery as part of a solo exhibition entitled “Still Smiling.”……Keith Estiler
Robert Nava: Angels on view at Vito Schnabel Gallery to April 17, 2021
85 x 73 inches (215.9 cm x 185.4 cm)
Robert Nava: Angels will inaugurate Vito Schnabel’s second New York City exhibition space, located at 455 West 19th Street in the Chelsea Arts District. This will be the first New York solo exhibition for the Brooklyn-based artist, and will be a debut for a new series of paintings devoted to the archetype of the seraphim, the winged figure that has animated art history since the early Christian era of the 4th century. With these works, the angel takes its place in Nava’s contemporary visual mythos, joining riotously colored monsters, knights, and chimerical beings that populate his deceptively carefree canvases and works on paper.
‘Notations’ at Craig F. Starr Gallery on view through April 17, 2021
20 1/8 x 19 3/4 inches
Craig F. Starr Gallery opened its doors to Notations, a group exhibition including works by John Baldessari, Mel Bochner, Jonathan Borofsky, Heinz Mack, Eleanore Mikus, Robert Morris, Barnett Newman, Georges Noël, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Edda Renouf, Joel Shapiro, Lenore Tawney, and Cy Twombly. This exhibition, which will be on view by appointment until April 17th, juxtaposes a range of approaches to the idea of “notes” or “notations,” all tracing that fine line where mark-making, the written or printed word, and drawing coexist.
Izumi Kato at Galerie Perrotin to April 17, 2021
Viewing the collection of Kato’s works is akin to a gust of bracing air. Delivering a jolt, his artworks are matter of fact forms despite (or in spite) of their preternatural proclivity. Many of his sculptures, which are formed from various materials including wood, soft vinyl, and textiles, incorporate disembodied parts — a second head with a missing mouth stacked atop another, for example, or a smaller twin humanoid held in the hand. While his creatures are creations in their own right, there are vaguely familiar associations to be made, such as wide-eyed figures and semi-recognizable bodily shapes. Yet they are both embryonic and alien, seemingly indifferent to their human-likeness as if in apparent defiance of their own sense of corporeality…..Tiffany Lambert
William Eggleston and John McCracken: True Stories on view at David Zwirner Gallery to April 17, 2021
David Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition of works by William Eggleston and John McCracken—the first time these two iconic American artists have been featured together. On view at the gallery’s East 69th Street location in New York, True Stories places Eggleston and McCracken into dialogue around their expressive use of color and light, and their distinct versions of American vernacular culture.
Oscar Tuazon: PEOPLE on view at Luhring Augustine Tribeca to April 17, 2021
Luhring Augustine is pleased to announce PEOPLE, a presentation of all new sculptural works by West Coast-based Oscar Tuazon, marking the gallery’s second exhibition of the artist. The conflagration of minimalist abstraction and natural elements in these works embody constantly changing morphologies, addressing notions of the natural systems of growth and decay.
Luciano Garbati: Medusa with the Head of Perseus at Collect Pond Park on view to April 18, 2021
Medusa With The Head of Perseus is a seven-foot bronze sculpture that inverts the narrative of Medusa, portraying her in a moment of somberly empowered self-defense. In Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Medusa was a maiden in the temple of Athena, who was stalked and raped by Poseidon. Athena, in a rage, banishes and curses Medusa with a monstrous head of snakes and a gaze which turns men to stone. Medusa is herself blamed and punished for the crime of which she was the victim; she is cast away as a monster and then with the cruel assistance of Athena and Poseidon, eventually is hunted-down and beheaded by the epic hero Perseus, who displays her head as a trophy on his shield. Garbati’s sculpture speaks directly to the 16th Century Florentine bronze masterpiece Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini (1545-1554). Through this work, Garbati asks “how can a triumph be possible if you are defeating a victim? Collect Pond Park is located at 130 Leonard Street, NYC.
Electric Dandelions at The Seaport will be on view through April 30, 2021
The Seaport District will light up the sky with the installation, Electric Dandelions by Abram Santa Cruz and Liquid PXL. The ten elegant 28-foot structures resemble innocent flowers during the day, and feature 41 light tubes that crop out from a spherical center, allowing LED animations to work their magic at night.
Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away on view at Museum of Jewish Heritage to May, 2021
The Museum of Jewish Heritage reopened its doors to the largest and most extensive exhibition on Auschwitz ever presented in the United States, featuring more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs ~ Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. The exhibition has been extended to May, 2021.
LIC is a Galaxy on view through May 1, 2021
Celebrating the idea that Long Island City is a galaxy, twenty fiberglass spheres were manufactured by LIC-based fabricator, Sculpture House NYC. Five Queens-based artists were selected through an open call from Culture Lab LIC and commissioned to design and paint four planets each, with twenty total spheres representing our galaxy. Click on each artist below to read more about their work and the planets they created and find the location of all the artworks below! Follow along on social media with the hashtag #LICisaGalaxy
Ekene Ijeoma: Breathing Pavilion on The Plaza on View to May 11, 2021
At this time of great hardship and loss, Breathing Pavilion by Ekene Ijeoma offers a public space for communal meditation, self-reflection, and interconnectedness.
Breathing Pavilion comprises a 30-foot circle of 20 illuminated inflatable columns. These columns slowly modulate in brightness to illustrate a deep breathing technique designed to bring calm. Sit or stand around the pavilion, syncopating your breath with the lights and attuning yourself to a shared rhythm.
Man Ray & Picabia will be on view at Vito Schnabel Gallery to May 15, 2021
Beginning March 25, 2021, Vito Schnabel Gallery will present Man Ray & Picabia, a historical exhibition that brings into dialogue seminal works by two early modern masters and legendary artists of the avant-garde. An intimate presentation, the exhibition focuses on only nine paintings that span the late 1920s to the mid-1950s – a careful selection designed to invite contemplation on the nature of artistic revolution. The canvases on view manifest Man Ray and Francis Picabia’s prodigious engagement with the medium of painting across multi-faceted careers marked by irreverence toward convention and an ability to cycle through the phases of modernism to arrive at exceptionally original results. This rare grouping includes paintings that have not been on display to the public for decades.
Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel on view at The Drawing Center to May 23, 2021
For Ebecho Muslimova’s first solo museum exhibition, the artist presents Scenes in the Sublevel, a site-specific installation that includes ten large-scale mixed-media drawings. Muslimova (b. 1984, Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia) is known for her pen-and-ink drawings and large-scale paintings that feature her bold and uninhibited cartoon alter ego, Fatebe. Her latest body of work takes up The Drawing Center’s downstairs gallery as the stage for Fatebe’s intrepid misadventures.
David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968-1979 on view at The Drawing Center to May 23, 2021
The first museum exhibition dedicated to David Hammons’s pivotal early works on paper, David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968–1979 brings together the monoprints and collages in which the artist used the body as both a drawing tool and printing plate to explore performative, unconventional forms of image making. More than a half century after they were made, these early works on paper remain a testament to Hammons’s desire to reinterpret notions of the real; his celebration of the sacredness of objects touched or made by the Black body; his biting critique of racial oppression; and his deep commitment to social justice.
David Attie: Visual Communication will be on view at Keith de Lellis Gallery to May 27, 2021
Something kind of special from Keith de Lellis Gallery, with a statement by the photographer’s son, ‘How my father David Attie invented Photoshop in the 1950s. And had his career launched by Truman Capote‘ ~ by Eli Attie. Yes, it got our attention.
David Badders: Unlocked at Kaufman Arcade, Garment District through May 29, 2021
The Garment District Alliance (GDA) announced the latest in its ongoing series of public art exhibits, showcasing 10 oil on canvas paintings titled UNLOCKED, created by artist David Badders. The paintings are a representation of New York City’s vitality during the pandemic, bringing color and action into a space of uncertainty and chaos.
The Friends Experience Pop-Up On View through May 31, 2021
The wildly popular Friends Experience is back and is scheduled to have its grand opening in NYC and re-opening in Chicago on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Created by Superfly X, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Warner Bros. Television Group, fans can explore Friends like never before with set re-creations, original props and costumes, photo ops and more.
At Home at Living With Art Salon on view through May, 2021
Living with Art Salon opened its doors to three diverse women in the arts, Elan Cadiz, Giannina Gutierrez and Leah Poller. The exhibition, At Home, explores how we live at home, as a family ~ as neighbors, as friends, as lovers ~ looking back on your dad’s favorite chair growing up, waking up in your own bed, working from home in this moment in time, and the emotions connected to the people and places that home ‘is’. Come along on our preview of this thoughtful and timely exhibition.
Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America at New Museum on view to June 6, 2021
The New Museum will present an intergenerational exhibition of works from thirty-seven artists, conceived by curator Okwui Enwezor beginning January 27, 2021.
Art for the Community: The Met’s Circulating Textile Exhibition, 1933-1942 will be on view through June 13, 2021
Between 1933 and 1942, The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized one of its especially noteworthy landmark educational initiatives to bring the Museum’s collection to as many New Yorkers as possible. Called the Neighborhood Circulating Exhibitions, the series consisted of small, thematic displays of select artworks presented in New York Public Library branches, high schools, city universities, and settlement houses. The effort, which was developed in response to an inquiry from a high school teacher, reached more than two million visitors and will be the focus of the exhibition Art for the Community: The Met’s Circulating Textile Exhibitions, 1933–1942, on view October 31, 2020, through June 13, 2021, in honor of The Met’s 150th anniversary.
Awol Erizku: New Visions for Iris at Bus Shelters on view through June 20, 2021
On February 24, Public Art Fund will debut New Visions for Iris, a 350-site photography exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Awol Erizku. On view at 200 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York City and 150 in Chicago, this is the first exhibition in Public Art Fund’s partnership with JCDecaux to be presented in two cities concurrently.
Xu-Zhen, Eternity on view on Park Avenue at 70th Street through June 27, 2021
The Asia Society Museum announces new artist projects and commissions, as well as an outdoor sculptural installation on Park Avenue, for Part 2 of the inaugural Asia Society Triennial. Titled We Do Not Dream Alone, the exhibition opens its next installment on March 26, 2021, and runs through June 27, 2021, with Xu Zhen, Eternity ~ an outdoor art installation on Park Avenue at 70th Street, on view March 16 through June 27, 2021. In response to the current moment—both nationally and globally—the Triennial’s mission is to connect cultures and inspire visitors through the arts.
In addition, Part 2 of the Inaugural Asia Society Triennial will be on view through June 27, 2021.
Gillie and Marc’s ‘King Nyani’ on view through July, 2021
To raise awareness and funds for the critically endangered gorilla species, public artists Gillie and Marc have created a massive sculpture of the animal that will be unveiled later this month in Hudson Yards’ Bella Abzug Park. Titled King Nyani, Swahili for gorilla, it’s the world’s largest bronze gorilla sculpture.
Julius Klinger: Posters for a Modern Age at Poster House Museum to August 15, 2021
Recognized as one of the leading graphic artists of the modern age, Austrian designer Julius Klinger (1876–1942) transformed commercial visual culture through his innovative advertising posters, book and magazine illustrations, mass promotional campaigns, ornamental and typographical design, and brand development. Associated with both the Vienna Secession and Jugendstil at the turn of the twentieth century, Klinger became famous as a poster designer in Germany, eventually returning to Austria to found a studio at the outbreak of the First World War. He would stay in Vienna, with two short visits to the United States, until his deportation to a Minsk extermination camp, where he was killed in 1942.
Alice Neel: People Come First will be on view at The Met to August 1, 2021
Alice Neel: People Come First will be the first museum retrospective in New York of American artist Alice Neel (1900–1984) in twenty years. This ambitious survey will position Neel as one of the century’s most radical painters, a champion of social justice whose longstanding commitment to humanist principles inspired her life as well as her art, as demonstrated in the approximately one hundred paintings, drawings, and watercolors that will appear in The Met’s survey.
Freak Power: Hunter S. Thompson Runs for Sheriff at Poster House Museum to August 15, 2021
Hunter S. Thompson came home from the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago disgusted yet motivated by what he’d seen: protests violently suppressed, riots, corrupt politicians, and abusive cops. Back in Aspen, he found more of the same. The local police and sheriff’s departments were targeting hippies, charging them with absurd crimes, harassing them on the streets, and trying to push them out of town. He knew something had to be done and he realized it had to be done by people like himself. The hippies, intellectuals, and freaks had remained silent long enough. The time had come to organize and seize political power. Exhibit on view to August 15, 2021.
Julie Mehretu: A Mid Career Survey will be on view at The Whitey through August 8, 2021
101 1/2 in. × 17ft. 4 1/2 in. × 2 in. (257.8 × 529.6 × 5.1 cm)
Co-organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, Julie Mehretu is a midcareer survey that will unite more than seventy paintings and works on paper dating from 1996 to the present, reflecting the breadth of Mehretu’s multilayered practice. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1970 and based in New York City, Mehretu has created new forms and found unexpected resonances by drawing on the histories of art and human civilization. Her play with scale and technique, as evident in intimate drawings, large canvases, and complex forms of printmaking, will be explored in depth. Filling the Whitney’s entire fifth floor gallery, the exhibition will take advantage of the expansive and open space to create dramatic vistas of Mehretu’s often panoramic paintings. The first-ever comprehensive survey of Mehretu’s career, Julie Mehretu is organized by Christine Y. Kim, curator of contemporary art at LACMA, with Rujeko Hockley, assistant curator at the Whitney. The installation at the Whitney is overseen by Hockley and on view from March 25 through August 8, 2021.
Kenseth Armstead: Boulevard of African Monarchs on View Through August, 2021
NYC DOT Art Community Commission and The Marcus Garvey Park Alliance partnered to install a timely and pertinent new art installation in Harlem. Kenseth Armstead: Boulevard of African Monarchs arrived on 116th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard on August 13, 2020.
5 Sculptures by Artist, Jim Rennert
Cavalier Gallery, Rockhill Management and NYC Parks have unveiled five sculptures by internationally acclaimed, New York-based artist, Jim Rennert in the Theatre District and Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza. Each of the more than twelve-foot tall sculptures represent a variety of obstacles faced by the working modern man.
The works at 1700 Broadway can be viewed through 2022, and at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza through August, 2021.
KAWS: WHAT PARTY at Brooklyn Museum on view to September 5
KAWS: WHAT PARTY is a sweeping survey featuring more than one hundred broad-ranging works, such as rarely seen graffiti drawings and notebooks, paintings and sculptures, smaller collectibles, furniture, and monumental installations of his popular COMPANION figures. It also features new pieces made uniquely for the exhibition along with his early-career altered advertisements. On view to September 5, 2021.
Laura Lappi, 7 x 7 (HOPE) on view to September 5, 2021
Finnish-born, Queens-based artist Laura Lappi’s 7 x 7 (Hope) explores issues of space in New York City and the cost of living and housing, and how that impacts many communities. With this sculpture, Lappi draws attention especially to immigrant communities and their living conditions in Queens. While Queens is the New York City’s most culturally diverse borough welcoming immigrants from different backgrounds, its housing affordability is often out of a reach for many people. The sculpture consists of a black wooden house structure that measures seven feet long, five feet wide and seven feet high, referring to the size of the average illegal basement room. Each wall has an embedded letter, creating a word H-O-P-E. Inside the structure a light is making the sculpture visible and glowing during the night. This exhibition is made possible by the Art in the Parks: Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park Grant, which supports the creation of site-specific public artworks by Queens-based artists for two sites within Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life at MoMA PS1 through September 6, 2021
MoMA PS1 presents the first New York museum exhibition of the work of visionary feminist artist Niki de Saint Phalle (American and French, 1930‒2002). On view from March 11 to September 6, 2021, Niki de Saint Phalle: Structures for Life will feature over 200 works created from the mid-1960s until the artist’s death, including sculptures, prints, drawings, jewelry, films, and archival materials. Highlighting Saint Phalle’s interdisciplinary approach and engagement with key social and political issues, the exhibition will focus on works that she created to transform environments, individuals, and society.
Jack Howard-Potter: Torso II, Swinging II, Messenger of the Gods (medium) on view to September 12, 2021
Long Island City based sculptor, Jack Howard-Potter, makes large, often kinetic, figurative steel sculptures that can be seen in city governments, sculpture parks and public art shows around the country. The outdoor public arena is the perfect setting for the academic roots to be easily recognizable and accessible, bridging the gap between the fine art institution and the public. It all comes together in an effort to brighten the landscape and shift someone’s gaze to break the daily routine with something beautiful. Court Square Park is located at Court Square and Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, NY.
Doors for Doris by Sam Moyer through Public Art Fund on view through September 12, 2021
Artist, Sam Moyer created a new site specific installation for the Public Art Fund at the entrance to Central Park on the Doris C. Freedman Plaza. The enormous three-part sculpture creates a gateway that poetically bridges the architecture of the city and the natural landscape of the park
El Museo del Barrio, Estamos Bien-La Triennial 20/21 on view through September 26, 2021
On March 13, 2021, El Museo del Barrio will open its doors to Estamos Bien ~ La Triennial 20/21, the museum’s first national large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art. The exhibition will feature more than 40 artists from across the United States and Puerto Rico.
Samantha Holmes: Mundilio/Little World at West Farms Square Plaza in the Bronx, on view through September 2021
Samantha Holmes collaborated with Bronx-based lacemakers to inform the traditional Puerto Rican lace patterns ‘woven’ into the steel. The installation is a monument to women’s work and the cultural dynamism of the Bronx. Here, the artist hopes to bring the softness of cotton into the resilience of steel, as the sculpture stretches across the plaza, “filling it with the colors and textures of the surrounding neighborhood ~ weaving this vibrant community the very fabric of the piece.”
Dawoud Bey: An American Project at The Whitney on View Through October 3, 2021
Reflecting the evolution of Bey’s vision, the exhibition examines his enduring engagement with portraiture, place, and history. From early portraits in Harlem and classic street photography to multi-panel studio portraits and nocturnal landscapes, Bey has consistently focused his lens on Black individuals, foregrounding the uniqueness of his subjects while reflecting the profound and ongoing effects of the history of the United States. Co-organized with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, An American Project will be on view at the Whitney from April 17, 2021 through October 3, 2021.
Kusama: Cosmic Nature on view at NYBG through October 31, 2021
The much anticipated exhibition, KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature by renowned Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, which was postponed due to COVID-19, is now back on track, and opening in April. The exhibition will be installed across the Garden’s landscape, in and around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Building. What better place to socially distance than at the New York Botanical Garden.
Carol Bove: The séances aren’t helping on view at The Met through Fall, 2021
Four new sculptures created by American artist Carol Bove for The Met Fifth Avenue’s facade niches will be on view beginning March 1, 2021. The Facade Commission: Carol Bove: The Séances Aren’t Helping is the second commission to be featured on the facade of The Met.
Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment at The Rubin Museum of Art will be on view to January 3, 2022
The Rubin Museum of Art invites visitors to unplug and discover the possibility to free their minds with “Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment,” opening March 12, 2021. Organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, this traveling exhibition guides visitors on a journey toward enlightenment, showcasing the power of Tibetan Buddhist art to focus and refine awareness, and highlighting the inextricable relationship between artistic endeavor and spiritual practice in Tibetan Buddhism. The exhibition has been re-imagined and adapted for the Rubin Museum’s galleries and features 35 traditional objects, including 14 from the Rubin Museum’s collection, with two contemporary works by Nepal born, Tibetan American artist Tsherin Sherpa. “Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment” will be on view March 12, 2021, to January 3, 2022.
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Still not ready to step out yet? Here are some fabulous live stream and virtual exhibits and tours. You can visit more than 2,500 museums and galleries online.
See you in May, 2021!