New Yorkers have a lot to celebrate this month, from Lady Liberty’s Little Sister arriving from France on July 1, our own Independence Day celebration on July 4th, to a Hometown Heroes ticker-tape parade on July 7th. It’s summer ~ our pools are open, the Riverside Park Goats are en route, the annual Body Painting Event is back, and outdoor art installations greet us in all five boroughs, including Kusama at NYBG in the Bronx, Ascending the Mountain and Reclining Liberty in Harlem, Re: Growth in Riverside Park, Alex Da Corte on the Met Roof Garden, Ghost Forest in Madison Square Park, The High Line, Melvin Edwards in City Hall Park, Rehearsal in Brooklyn Bridge Park, and many more still on view. Here are a few art installations, exhibit and events to add to your list in July.
Lady Liberty’s ‘Little Sister’ Arrives on Ellis Island ~ July 1
Lady Liberty’s ‘Little Sister’ will be on view from July 1st to July 5th on Ellis Island! Arriving in New York City for Independence Day, and in Washington, D.C. on Bastille Day, the 9-foot, bronze statue of Lady Liberty was created from the original plaster model of 1878 by Auguste Bartholdi, currently exhibited at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Paris.
Martin Adalian: disintegration at JoAnne Artman Gallery ~ July 1
JoAnne Artman Gallery opens its doors to DISINTEGRATION, a showing of Martin Adalian’s most recent paintings that explore the disintegration of memory, material, and of past and present. Appearing as though recovered relics with aged facades and canvas imperfections, Adalian’s paintings fuse contemporary aesthetics of mixed media and grunge with classical portraiture. Establishing new, modern context for his portraits, Adalian imbues an audacious attitude alongside a deep appreciation toward tradition. Through his distinct combination of old and new, his works promote the retrospection of artistic innovation and human emotion while navigating the complex, cyclical nature of disintegration and rebirth.
Loose Ends + The Colour of Words II at Jane Lombard Gallery ~ July 1
Jane Lombard Gallery opened its doors to two summer exhibitions ~ Loose Ends, a group exhibition celebrating women working in textiles, and Jane Justin’s ‘The Colour of Words II.’
Dave McKean: Black Dog at Philippe Labaune Gallery ~ July 1
Philippe Labaune Gallery will open its doors to Black Dog, an exhibition of drawings by British artist Dave McKean from his 2016 graphic novel Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash. McKean, a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans illustration, photography, film, and music, utilizes this multifaceted approach to form a dream-like psychological portrait of British landscape and wartime artist Paul Nash.
The New Woman Behind the Camera at The Metropolitan Museum of Art ~ July 2
The New Woman of the 1920s was a powerful expression of modernity, a global phenomenon that embodied an ideal of female empowerment based on real women making revolutionary changes in life and art. Opening July 2, 2021 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The New Woman Behind the Camera will feature 185 photographs, photo books, and illustrated magazines by 120 photographers from over 20 countries. This groundbreaking exhibition will highlight the work of the diverse “new” women who made significant advances in modern photography from the 1920s to the 1950s.
July 4th
Sunday, July 4th, 2021, Macy’s 45th annual fireworks display will be set off from five barges along the East River beginning at 9:25pm, lasting 25 minutes. Check Here for details on where to safely view.
Coney Island Friday Night Fireworks are Back including July 4th!
Classical Theatre of Harlem: Seize The King ~ Pre-Screening Begins July 6
Performances run July 6th until July 29th, Tuesday through Sunday at 8:30 pm. Attendance is free; tickets are required. You will be able to RSVP in the coming weeks at https://cthnyc.org/seize-the-king.
Health and safety measures will be in place for the duration of the production, which will be one of the first to reopen New York’s live theatre scene since lockdowns began in early 2020.
It’s a Parade! ~ July 7
A ‘Hometown Heroes,’ a ticker tape parade celebrating the Summer of New York City and thanking the essential workers who uplifted New Yorkers through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The parade, which will take place at 11:00 A.M. on July 7, 2021, will begin by Manhattan’s Battery Park, travel along the Canyon of Heroes, and end with a ceremony in City Hall Park.
Music on the Green in Madison Square Park begins ~ July 7
In collaboration with Carnegie Hall, Music on the Green is a free concert series inspired by Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest that brings artists from the Hall’s Ensemble Connect to reflect on the themes of the exhibition. The concerts will run from July 7 through August 11th.
The Skyscraper Museum Walking Tours ~ July 7
This summer, the Skyscraper Museum inaugurates a series of free walking tours of Battery Park City, exploring its rich history and construction from Hudson River piers, World Trade Center landfill, and Art on the Beach art installations to a master-planned community of lush landscaped parks and more than 8,200 residential units that led NYC in requiring green-building standards. Check their calendar for a date throughout June, July and August.
Jazzmobile Summerfest 2021 ~ July 7 – CANCELLED due to weather
We were thrilled to hear that Jazzmobile’s Summerfest 2021 announced a calendar of musical events. Here’s what we pieced together.
Capucine Bourcart: Plastic Fantastic! Arrives in Harlem Art Park ~ July 8
Harlem Art Park unveiled its latest temporary public art installation, Plastic Fantastic! With a kaleidoscope of color, artist Capucine Bourcart encourages the viewer to evaluate their own environmental footprint. The large-scale installation measures over 66-feet wide and 8-feet high, demonstrating the abundance of single use plastics and its impact on our public spaces and our environment. Plastic Fantastic interacts with Jorge Luis Rodriguez’s permanent sculpture, Growth, installed in 1985, along with the unique architectural elements that make this park a hidden gem in East Harlem.
Uptown Night Mark in Harlem ~ July 8 ~ CANCELLED due to weather
Everyone loves a Night Market, and due to the overwhelming success of the Bronx Night Market, MASC Hospitality is sharing the love ~ with Harlem. The Uptown Night Market will be held on the Second Thursday of each month from July through November, from 4:00pm to 10:00pm under the Riverside Drive Viaduct near the Cotton Club and Dinosaur BBQ at 12th Avenue, near 125th-138th Streets.
It’s Party Time at Uptown Grand Central #Streetart ~ July 10
The Uptown Grandscale Mural Project is back! Uptown Grand Central unveiled canvas fencing extending all the way to Third Avenue, kicking-off the opening of our City with color and fun. In this second edition ofUptown Grandscale, murals were painted by more than 100 artists in May, June and July, with a closing celebration ~ The Roller Jam ~ on Saturday, July 10th from Noon to 7:00pm at the newly renovated 125th Street Plaza at Park Avenue.
The Roller Jam will be headlined by D.J. Ted Smooth, D.J. Arson, the World Famous Brucie B. Kool D.J. Red Alert, Ninoflex and D.J. Kenny Maneuver. Roller skates will be available for rent, and the African-American Roller Skate Museum will also be on hand to share historical perspective. Participating artists will give a tour of the murals ~ art tour at 3:00pm.
Poster House Museum Turns 2 with Free Entry on ~ July 10
To celebrate its second year of poster-filled exhibitions and programming, Poster House Museum will be open free of charge all day on July 10th – with a free ticket.
Figment 2021 in Manhattan ~ July 10-11
Join FIGMENT NYC 2021 for a small scale interactive art experience at Prime Produce, a unique, artist-friendly event space located in Manhattan. This free event will take place on the weekend of July 10-11 at Prime Produce, 424 West 54th Street, NYC.
City Park’s Foundation Summerstage 2021 ~ July 11
The Capital One City Park’s Foundation Summerstage 2021 kicked off its season in Central Park with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on June 17th, followed by a pre-screening of the documentary Summer of Soul in Marcus Garvey Park on June 19th. Check the calendar for lineup.
Xenobia Bailey: Hallowed Be Their Names at The Winter Garden ~ July 12
The Winter Garden at Brookfield Place is opening its doors to a summer of Xenobia Bailey. With two new commissioned artworks, expect to see her artwork entitled Mothership on view June 28th, and sit under her canopy entitled Functional Frequency Environment on July 12th.
Alternating Current at Fridman Gallery ~ July 14
Fridman Gallery will open its doors to Alternating Currents, an exhibition of new works by 12 emerging and mid-career artists. The exhibition reveals a pursuit of a sense of connection to something larger — to history, to cultural heritage, to traditional notions of artmaking — and sometimes a desire to break from it.
They’re B…a…a…a…ck! The Riverside Park Conservancy Running of the Goats ~ July 14
After a one-year hiatus, Riverside Park Conservancy announced that they will plan to bring their best interns back to the Park this summer. The Conservancy has opted to bring goats to the Park as part of its ongoing work to rehabilitate a woodland habitat in the area between 120thand 122nd Streets just off Riverside Drive. Goats are an eco-friendly and highly popular way to remove invasive plants. The Goats will be arriving on July 14, 2021 for the ceremonial “Running of the Goats” and plan to stay in Riverside Park throughout the summer.
Celebrate Bastille Day in Central Park ~ July 14
In a first for New York City, the Consulate General of France in New York, the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF), and the Committee of French Speaking Societies (CAFUSA) will present a special Bastille Day Celebration in Central Park on Wednesday, July 14th, beginning at 6:00pm featuring live jazz, a dance party and a new French film.
Bastille Day ~ July 14
As of this post, we aren’t sure which annual Bastille Day celebrations are on track for this year. But we do know that Amuse Bouche Bistro will be celebrating Bastille Day at La Marqueta in East Harlem, and we will be there.
The Skyscraper Museum Walking Tours ~ July 15, 21 & 24
This summer, the Skyscraper Museum inaugurates a series of free walking tours of Battery Park City, exploring its rich history and construction from Hudson River piers, World Trade Center landfill, and Art on the Beach art installations to a master-planned community of lush landscaped parks and more than 8,200 residential units that led NYC in requiring green-building standards. Check their calendar for a date throughout June, July and August.
‘Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism’ opens at Museum of Chinese in America ~ July 15
The doors of The Museum of Chinese in America are back open after a fire that nearly devastated their collection. Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism will open on July 15th. It is an exhibit that helps to navigate through a plethora of targeted assaults across the country, and a way to explore solutions, including raising a collective voice against anti-Asian hate and violence.
‘Care for Hudson Square’ Unveiled by Hudson Square BID ~ July 15
Care for Hudson Square is a recovery initiative aimed at reinvigorating the Hudson Square neighborhood. Small and M/WBE design firms were invited to submit proposals for an interactive street installation that would help reactivate the public realm. The Urban Design Forum, Hudson Square Properties, and Hudson Square Business Improvement Districtannounced the winner of their “Care for Hudson Square” design competition in September 2020 ~ WIP Collaborative.
Now, in July of 2021, the Hudson Square winning design project has been unveiled, with the restorative ground streetscape completed.
Silvercast Media ‘Whale’ on The Big Kahuna in Times Square from July 16-26
A mesmerizing 3D digital ‘media execution’ arrived in Times Square via Silvercast Media. This spectacular 30,000 square-foot screen, known as The Big Kahuna, will exhibit ‘Whale’, a realistic ocean environment occupied by a massive blue whale moving freely among the waves.
Susan Stair: Ascending the Mountain unveils in Marcus Garvey Park ~ July 17
Harlem-based non-profit the Marcus Garvey Park Alliance, Public art organizer Connie Lee and Harlem-based artist Susan Stair are pleased to announce the installation of Ascending the Mountain, a public artwork in Marcus Garvey Park. Installed in three distinct sections along the staircase that leads up to the overlook terraces known as the Acropolis and the Harlem Fire Watchtower. The artwork is exhibited as part of NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program and is one of six temporary public art installations organized by the public art committee in Harlem this Summer.
Keep going up the steps to The Acropolis for the wonderful, free tour below!
Urban Park Rangers Give Free Tours to the Top of the Historic Harlem Fire Watchtower ~ July 17 & 25
A prominent feature of Marcus Garvey Park and its neighborhood, the historic Mount Morris Fire Watchtower serves as an important landmark for the Harlem community.
Take the Madison Avenue steps down to the park to see the newest outdoor art installation, ‘Ascending the Park‘.
Free Historic Flatiron Walking Tours Return ~ July 18
Another sign that New York has thrown open its doors to ‘Back to Normal‘ is the news that The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership’s Historic Flatiron Walking Tours will return to an in-person format on Sunday, July 18, 2021, at 11:00 AM for the first time since the COVID pandemic began. Following a year of virtual tours, the Partnership’s professional guides will return to the streets, leading groups on a fascinating stroll through the historic and vibrant Flatiron District. The tours are FREE and will take place every Sunday morning at 11:00 AM, rain or shine, year-round. No advance registration is required.
The Greater New York Citroen & Velosolex Pop-Up Rally ~ July 18
This year, the Greater New York Citroen & Velosolex Club will hold L’été 2021 ~ a pop-up rally in New York City on Sunday, July 18, 2021. This will be its 22nd annual rally. The route will be posted soon.
Cheryl Parry: The Magician’s Daughter (is a Painter), Presented by Garment District Alliance ~ July 18
Located in a street-level window at 215 West 38th Street, the free exhibit is accessible to the public from July 18 through September 9. The Magician’s Daughter (is a Painter) is part of the Garment District Space for Public Art program, which showcases artists in unusual locations and over 16 years has produced more than 200 installations, exhibits and performances.
Restaurant Week! ~ July 19 ~ August 22
It’s back! NYC Restaurant Week. Lunch, Dinner or Signature Dining Series ~ the food you love in the neighborhood you love. Right now, supporting our local restaurants is more important than ever.
Posters, Politics & Satire: A Conversation at Poster House ~ July 22
Few modern satirists are as well-known as Hunter S. Thompson, whose biting points of view are beautifully expressed in the posters on view in Freak Power. But where is political satire in posters today? And how do contemporary designers use humor to challenge public perception? Join poster makers Winston Tseng and Maia Lorian as they discuss how they’ve used posters to point out hypocrisy, corruption, and greed in the political system.
Suzie Zuzek for Lily Pulitzer, an Online Event by National Arts Club ~ July 23
Indulge in your passion for pink, and penchant for prints as Susan Brown Milbank recounts the fascinating life and work of Suzie Zuzek. This is a Free online event with Registration.
Miguel Luciano: Cemi-Libre at Galeria del Barrio ~ July 23
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Civic Practice Partnership Artist-in-Residence, Miguel Luciano, is having a party and we’re all invited! The block party is a celebration of his new exhibition, on view at Hope Community Inc.’s Galeria del Barrio, and it is also a celebration of the culmination of Luciano’s there-year residency at The Met.
Julio Valdez: I Can’t Breathe in Collyer Brothers Park ~ July 24
Public art organizer Connie Lee and Harlem-based artist Julio Valdez are pleased to announce the installation of I Can’t Breathe this week. Produced from a series of six drawings by Valdez who was inspired by the images of racial injustice that have collectively entered our minds through the media. Each drawing was scanned and printed on aluminum panels.
The Bounce House Arriving in Brooklyn ~ July 24-25
Originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, The Bounce House was postponed due to COVID-19. Now, the world’s biggest bounce house announced a Brooklyn event for two weekends this summer ~ July 24 & 25 and July 31 & August 1st. Purchase tickets and stay tuned on their website for up-to-date news.
NYC Body Painting Day in Union Square Park with Human Connection Arts ~ July 25
Every year since 2014, NYC Body Painting Day has taken place without fail since their famed arrest in 2011 (this is the 10th anniversary). This year’s theme is resilience. 2021 Bodypainting Day!! 40+ artists painting 60+ nude models, of all shapes and sizes, for 4 hours in broad daylight at Union Square Park in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village! After 4 hours of painting, they will march to Washington Square Park, take photos at the Arch, then get on a double deck bus, drive through the city, over the Manhattan Bridge, and dropping participants off at their Space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn for the after-party with live music by R&B Singer, Frankie D and more! It’s going to be a great one!
Urban Park Rangers give Free Tours of Historic Harlem Fire Watchtower ~ July 25
The free tours will take place on Sunday, July 25th from 1:00 ~ 3:00pm
Ballet Folkórico Mexicano de Nueva York at Socrates Sculpture Park ~ July 25
This year, Socrates Sculpture Park continues its partnership with BFMNY, for their third Guelaguetza Festival at Socrates and their eighth overall Guelaguetza Festival in NYC.
Logan Hicks: Tunnel Vision unveils at East River Plaza in East Harlem ~ July 29
The largest stenciled mural in the world was completed this week by (who else would you expect to do it?) artist, Logan Hicks, located within the East River Plaza complex on 117th Street in East Harlem. How cool is that!
Claudia Wieser: Rehearsal in Brooklyn Bridge Park ~ July 29
On July 29, Public Art Fund will unveil Rehearsal, Berlin-based artist Claudia Wieser’s public art debut. Featuring five distinct large-scale geometric sculptures clad with hand-painted glazed tiles, panels featuring photographs of New York City and Roman and Greek antiquities, and mirror polished stainless steel, Rehearsal will create an immersive experience for park goers to explore. The cluster of sculptures will be located at the iconic terminus of Washington Street, where the Manhattan Bridge frames the Empire State Building. Juxtaposed with the surrounding architecture and natural landscape of Brooklyn Bridge Park, Rehearsal highlights the dynamism of the city and its people.
‘Summer Breeze’ at Fremin Gallery NYC ~ July 29
Fremin Gallery’s latest exhibition, “SUMMER BREEZE”, captures the peaceful energy of the summertime with stunning artworks from Bob Tabor, Antoine Rose, and Christophe Pouget. Their images tap into our collective desire to escape the heat and relax along the water as the hot summer days take over.
Fotografiska New York presents Film Screening: For Madmen Only: The Story of Del Close ~ July 30
In partnership with Utopia Films, join fotografiska New York for the premiere of For Madmen Only: The Story of Del Close — a documentary about the life and legacy of Del Close, the modern father of improv and mentor to famous comedians including Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
The program will feature a post-screening Q&A with the film’s director and writer Heather Ross, writer Adam Samuel Goldman, producer Jennifer Pike, and comedy legend Tim Meadows. The Event will take place on Friday, July 30th from 8:00 ~ 10:00pm.
CB 11 Presents an El Barrio Park Tour of 14 Parks ~ July 31
The Manhattan Community Board 11 Environment, Open Space & Parks Committee present an El Barrio Parks Tour, exploring 14 parks in northern East Harlem!
13th Annual Stan Michels Memorial Jazz Concert in Fort Tryon Park ~ July 31
The 13th Annual Stan Michels Memorial Jazz Concert will take place on Saturday, July 31st in Fort Tryon Park to honor the late New York City Council Member, Stan Michels.
Miguel Luciano: Cemi-Libre Block Party Celebration ~ July 31
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Civic Practice Partnership Artist-in-Residence, Miguel Luciano, is having a party and we’re all invited! The block party is a celebration of his new exhibition, on view at Hope Community Inc.’s Galeria del Barrio, and it is also a celebration of the culmination of Luciano’s there-year residency at The Met.
The Bounce House Arriving in Brooklyn ~ July 31-August 1
Originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, The Bounce House was postponed due to COVID-19. Now, the world’s biggest bounce house announced a Brooklyn event for two weekends this summer ~ July 24 & 25 and July 31 & August 1st. Purchase tickets and stay tuned on their website for up-to-date news.
Out East:
Hauser & Wirth South Hampton ~ July 1
Beginning this summer, Hauser & Wirth artists will present a number of significant outdoor sculptures in and around the Village of Southampton. Martin Creed’s multicolored neon work ‘EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT’ (2010) will be on view at the Parrish Art Museum beginning 28 May, while the gallery’s space will host several works by Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida and French-American master Louise Bourgeois, whose large hanging sculptures, both ‘Untitled’ (2004) will hang amid the verdant branches of trees in the garden of the Southampton Arts Center.
Later in the summer, Hauser & Wirth will also present outdoor sculptural works by Nicole Eisenman and Henry Taylor. Executed in cast bronze and aluminum, Eisenman’s outdoor works are considered landmarks of her esteemed artistic practice.
Henry Taylor’s monumental work ‘Untitled,’ (2020) – the artist’s first outdoor bronze sculpture – will have its US debut in conjunction with the artist’s solo exhibition at the gallery’s Southampton location, opening beginning July 1, 2021.
Tomashi Jackson: The Land Claim at Parrish Art Museum ~ July 11
Tomashi Jackson was invited as part of the Parrish Art Museum’s 2021 annual invitation to an artist to consider the entire Museum as a site for works that transcend disciplinary boundaries, encouraging new ways to experience art, architecture, landscape, and community.
In addition, catch more exhibitions still on view at Parrish Art Museum, 279 Montauk Highway, Water Mill, NY.
Linda Colletta: This is Different at The White Room in Bridgehampton from July 13 through July 18
Let’s take a ride…..to The White Room Gallery, voted the best gallery in the Hamptons by Dan’s Papers ~ “Best of the Best.” The gallery will open its doors to This Is Different, a solo exhibition highlighting the work of abstract artist Linda Colletta. The show will spotlight large scale abstract work from Colletta, on view from July 13th through July 18th at the gallery located at 2415 Main Street Bridgehampton.
Martha: A Picture Story at Southampton Arts Center ~ July 18
The story of Martha Cooper, a legend in the graffiti world, a documentary co-presented by Southampton Arts Center and Maysles Documentary Center.
Lonnie Holley: Tangled Up In de Kooning’s Fence at South Etna Montauk Foundation to August 29, 2021
The newly formed non-profit South Etna Montauk Foundationannounced an exhibition worth a drive out east. Lonnie Holley: Tangled Up in de Kooning’s Fence was created during the artists’ recent residency at the Elaine de Kooning House in East Hampton, and will open on May 1st, for all who are still out east ~ and those who might like to take a ride.
More wonderful exhibitions ‘Out East’ in Galerie Magazine online.
Heading North:
Time Lapse at Fridman Gallery Beacon ~ July 3
Time Lapse looks at memory as a parallel dimension, in which it is possible for objects, events, and stories to travel through temporal and physical spaces, to a setting where they are perceived in a different light. The artists in Time Lapse recontextualize and reimagine relationships among materials, beings, and environments, elucidating the liminal threshold between the existence of a thing and its perception.
Shining in the Low Tide at UncleBrother in Hancock ~ July 4
The group exhibition ‘Shining in the Low Tide‘ will be on view from July 4th through September 5, 2021 at UncleBrother, 250 East Front Street in Hancock, NY. Also follow UncleBrother in Instagram, and check out their awesome menu.
Transformations: Rhinebeck’s Changing Downtown at Museum of Rhinebeck History ~ July 10
Museum of Rhinebeck History is located at 7015 Route 9 in Rhinebeck.
The DNA Totem on The Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie/Highland ~ July 26
Let’s take a ride! This time, Upstate to Poughkeepsie/Highland, where the artist. Suprina Kenney will be exhibiting The DNA Totem on The Walkway Over the Hudson ~ a walking bridge that spans the 1.28 miles across the Hudson River, connecting Poughkeepsie to Highland, beginning July 26th.
Still on View:
Lewis Hine: The WPA National Research Project Photographs, 1936-37 at Howard Greenberg Gallery on view through July 2, 2021
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.
Creating Community. Cinque Gallery Artists on view to July 4, 2021
The Arts Student League and The Romare Bearden Foundation team up to present the first introductory survey of Cinque Gallery, one of the United States’ most innovative and enduring non-profit artists’ spaces with the exhibition, Creating Community. Cinque Gallery Artists.
Operation Varsity Blues at Allouche Gallery on view to July 4, 2021
60W x 40H ; Arches paper, Acrylic, charcoal, soft pastel, oil pigment stick, c. 2021; $26,000
Allouche Gallery opens its doors to “Operation Varsity Blues,” a group exhibition exploring the structural inequities of the American higher education system through the lens of the recent high-profile college admissions scandal. The exhibition features new, commissioned works by seven artists—Lindsay Adams, Debra Cartwright, Kevin Claiborne, Malaika Temba, Lindsey Brittain Collins, Alteronce Gumby, Lanise Howard, Jeffrey Meris, Raushan Rucker, Khari Turner, Telvin Wallace, and Esteban Whiteside—who are responding to the 2019 college admissions scandal of the same name wherein affluent families conspired to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top-tier American colleges and universities. “Operation Varsity Blues” is organized by author, art historian, and independent curator Charles Moore.
Milford Graves: Heart Harmonics, sound, energy and natural healing phenomena on view at Fridman Gallery to July 7, 2021
A set of four hand-painted wind gongs will resonate throughout the gallery, activated by the sounds of Graves’ unreleased Heart Music recordings. The artist spent nearly 40 years establishing a healing correlation between the vibrations of percussive instruments and the rhythms of the human heart, which he termed “biological music, a synthesis of the physical and mental, a mind-body deal.” These works not only represent his scientifically recognized research, but also the deep, artistic connection he shared with his wife Lois who has painted two of the gongs in the exhibition as a tribute to her late husband and his work.
Art on the Ave in the West Village through July 8, 2021
Art on the Ave was an idea conceived in 2020 by teachers struggling to find a way to discuss the trauma and tragedy of a year living in the middle of a Pandemic. They wanted an opportunity to provide a platform for their students to have a meaningful discussion about what was going on all around them. Asking artists to express this in a creative way, and showing the work in an outdoor environment, socially distancing, seemed like a great way to benefit not only their students and the artists, but also provided a nice artistic adventure the the local community.
Aldara Ortega: Dive at Galerie l’Atelier on view to July 24, 2021
Galerie l’Atelier presents the photography exhibition “DIVE IN” by Aldara Ortega in their Chelsea space in New York City. The show features a collection of female underwater portraits. Through a submerged feminine eye, we are presented with unique stories from four diverse women.
Yeji Moon: Paper Towns at Fremin Gallery on view to July 24, 2021
In the hands of Yeji Moon, ordinary materials are transformed into beautiful and complex collages that powerfully recall childhood nostalgia and the rapidly changing world. Inspired by her upbringing in a small neighborhood in Korea and her experiences with Habitat for Humanity, she seeks to immortalize disappearing places by creating works of art that connect and preserve memories.
David Smith: Follow My Path at Hauser & Wirth on view to July 30, 2021
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,
Testsumi Kudo: Metamorphosis at Hauser & Wirth on view through July 30, 2021
n a wide-ranging practice spanning four decades, postwar Japanese artist Tetsumi Kudo (1935 – 1990) explored the effects of mass consumerism, the rise of technology, and ecological degradation on post- war society through satirical, critical, elaborately detailed and meticulously constructed environments that continue to exert a powerful influence on artists today. Opening 5 May, ‘Tetsumi Kudo. Metamorphosis,’ the artist’s first exhibition at Hauser & Wirth New York, focuses upon the late artist’s idea of metamorphosis which emphasizes the need for personal and collective spiritual evolution beyond the values of Western Humanism, which he believed caused war, racism, and colonialism, and alienated people from the natural environment.
Frank Bowling: London/New York on view at Hauser & Wirth through July 30, 2021
Reflecting the scale and scope of a prodigious six-decade career that has unfolded while criss-crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Sir Frank Bowling’s inaugural exhibition with Hauser & Wirth will be presented in both the gallery’s London and New York locations simultaneously, beginning May 2021. With works on view spanning over 50 years of the British icon’s career from 1967 to the present day, ‘Frank Bowling – London / New York’ celebrates the ways in which one artist’s inventive approach to the materiality of paint has expanded the boundaries of abstraction.
de Kooning | Serra | Remington at Craig F. Starr Gallery on view to July 30, 2021
20 x 16 inches; The Collection of Ronnie F. Heyman, Palm Beach, Florida
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.
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.
More Life at David Zwirner on view through August 6, 2021
More Life is a series of curated solo exhibitions held at the gallery’s locations in New York and London this summer and fall. The series is presented on the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and focuses on some of the artists who are often neglected in broader art-historical and cultural narratives.
Julie Mehretu: A Mid Career Survey will be on view at The Whitey through August 8, 2021
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 Empire State Building: A Celebration in Photographs at Keith de Lellis Gallery on view to August 13, 2021
In May, 2021, The Empire State Building celebrated its 90th anniversary. This month, Keith de Lellis Gallery celebrates the 90th anniversary of New York City’s magnificent Art Deco skyscraper in its summer exhibition. After demolishing the famous original Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Fifth Avenue in 1929, the Bethlehem Engineering Corporation took on the world’s most ambitious building project to date: the construction of the Empire State Building, the first 100+ story building. The Chrysler Building, with 77 stories, briefly held the title of the world’s tallest building before being unseated by the Empire State a mere 11 months later. Dwarfing all surrounding buildings, the Empire State stands at 1,454 feet tall. Construction began on March 17th, 1930 and was completed in record time, opening on May 1, 1931. As a tourist attraction, the site found immediate success, collecting a ten-cent fee for a bird’s eye view of New York City from telescopes atop the observatory.
Alma Allen in Kasmin Sculpture Garden through August 13, 2021
Kasmin announced an exhibition of work by sculptor Alma Allen (b. 1970) spanning two of the gallery’s locations in Chelsea, New York. On view from May 4, 2021, the presentation in the Kasmin Sculpture Garden constitutes the artist’s first ever exhibition dedicated to large-scale outdoor sculpture. The exhibition continues at 514 West 28th Street with over twenty small-scale bronzes—works that function as both articulations of the polymorphous nature of Allen’s sculptural alphabet and as proposals for future large-scale works. By contextualizing these works amongst one another, the presentation demonstrates the variety of embodied forms that find expression through the artist’s hand.
Dave McKean: Black Dog at Philippe Labaune Gallery on view to August 14, 2021
Philippe Labaune Gallery will open its doors to Black Dog, an exhibition of drawings by British artist Dave McKean from his 2016 graphic novel Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash. McKean, a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans illustration, photography, film, and music, utilizes this multifaceted approach to form a dream-like psychological portrait of British landscape and wartime artist Paul Nash.
The Protest and The Recuperation at Wallach Art Gallery on view to August 14, 2021
The Protest and The Recuperation is a survey of artistic perspectives on, and responses to, the global phenomenon of mass protest and of recuperative strategies of resistance. The exhibition’s ten artists present nuanced perspectives on the value of protests as aggregate expressions of thousands, even millions, of individual participants through their myriad works focused on protest participation, observation, interpretation, representation, and appropriation.
The Gallery is open to the general public on Fridays and Saturdays, with reserved reservation.
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.
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.
Alternating Currents at Fridman Gallery on view to August 20, 2021
Fridman Gallery will open its doors to Alternating Currents, an exhibition of new works by 12 emerging and mid-career artists. The exhibition reveals a pursuit of a sense of connection to something larger — to history, to cultural heritage, to traditional notions of artmaking — and sometimes a desire to break from it.
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
Copyright Capehart Photography 2020
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.
RE: GROWTH in Riverside Park on view Through the Summer 2021
Riverside Park Conservancy will be celebrating its 35th Anniversary, and slow emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic, by hosting a summer-long art exhibition throughout the Park entitled, RE: GROWTH, a Celebration of Art, Riverside Park, and the New York Spirit.
Three with a Pen: Lily Renée, Bil Spira, and Paul Peter Porges at Austrian Cultural Forum through September 3, 2021
Reprinted in: Trina Robbins: Babes In Arms: Women in the Comics During the Second WorldWar. San Diego, 2017 Lily Renée C ollection (reproduction
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.
Melting Point at Heller Gallery on view to September 3, 2021
Heller Gallery in collaboration with Ferrin Contemporary, will open its doors to Melting Point, a group exhibition of glass and ceramic artists whose use of the melting point is central to their practice. Featuring nearly 100 works by 22 artists. The artists, both established and emerging, explore the inherent physical qualities of materials that are formed and reformed by melting, as well as express their concern for the environmental melting point our planet seems to be approaching.
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.
Art on the Corner on View through September 6, 2021
An exhibition of 24 paintings, photographs, and other artworks that reflect and celebrate the Upper West Side will open on June 5th, filing the windows of 2780 Broadway. The temporary gallery, prominently located at the corner of 107th Street, was formerly home to Bank Street Bookstore.
Born in Flames: Feminist Futures at Bronx Museum of the Arts to September 12, 2021
Born in Flames: Feminist Futures is a constellation of imagined world-scapes projected by fourteen contemporary artists. Set within the space of an exhibition, the artwork presented is a projection of the artists’ larger visions about futurity. Each section of the show is a microcosmic speculation on what could have been, what is, or what is to come. These worlds are steeped in lessons of our complicated pasts, peppered with the ravages of oppression but also blooming joys. Their work critically examines current struggles for equity by exploring strategies for justice and equality through multifaceted futurisms.
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.
Xenobia Bailey ‘Mothership’ at Brookfield Place on view to September 17, 2021
Mothership pays homage to the African American homemaker, caregiver, and domestic worker through the humble aesthetic of the needle arts. Single-stitched hand-crochet coverings draped over wooden chairs are reminiscent of the creativity and nurturing practices of her mother’s domestic skills.
Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête at The Drawing Center through September 19, 2021
Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête will be the artist’s most comprehensive solo museum exhibition. Bringing together works on paper and canvas from the past five decades—as well as caftans, mannequins, sculptures, and notebooks on and in which she wielded her pen—the exhibition will show how Caland used the candidness and mutability of the medium of drawing to challenge taboos associated with the representation of female sexuality.
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 toEstamos 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.”
Adrian Sas: Source to Spout in Riverside Park to October, 2021
Artist Adrian Sas augments our understanding of reality with an installation entitled ‘Source to Spout‘ in Riverside Park. by wrapping a series of panoramic photographs around drinking fountains throughout the park, Sas reveals the system of protected lands, reservoirs, and aqueducts which feeds these fountains. This new and very refreshing installation will be on view from 64th street to 148th street throughout Riverside Park beginning June 18, 2021.
The Green at Lincoln Center on view Throughout The Fall, 2021
Lincoln Center Restart Stages transformed the Josie Robertson Plaza into approximately 14,000 square feet of open, park-like space. The Green will be on view through Fall, 2021.
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 31, 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.
Alex Da Corte: As Long as the Sun Lasts , a Roof Garden Commission at The Met will be on view through October 31, 2021
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.
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.
Maya Lin: Ghost Forest in Madison Square Park on view through November 14, 2021
At a time when New Yorkers are cherishing outdoor space ~ from pocket-parks to Central Park, the Madison Square Park Conservancy is preparing to unveil a much anticipated (and delayed) commissioned work by sculptor artist/environmental activist, Maya Lin, with her thoughtful and relevant installations entitled Ghost Forest.
Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days on view in City Hall Park to November 28, 2021
Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London © 2021 Melvin Edwards/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Presented by Public Art Fund at City Hall Park, New York City, May 4 to November 28, 2021.
Photo: Nicholas Knight, Courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY.
Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days will include five works created between 1970 and 1996, as well as a new sculpture commissioned in 2020, which was the originally anticipated date for this exhibit. Now, stepping out of our COVID-19 shutdown, this Public Art Fund exhibition was unveiled in City Hall Park on May 4th, 2021.
Jim Rennert: Timing, Inner Dialogue and Listen on view at Pershing Square through December 2021
Cavalier Gallery unveiled three life-size works by artist Jim Rennert, which have been 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.
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.
Craft Front & Center at Museum of Arts & Design On View to February 13, 2022
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) will open its doors to a new major exhibition, Craft Front & Center on May 22nd, bringing together over 70 iconic and lesser-known works from MAD’s eclectic permanent collection to highlight significant periods in craft’s history that have led to the current moment.
Kim Carlino: Spectrum on view in The Garment District through March, 2022
The Garment District Alliance (GDA) is brightening Midtown Manhattan this spring with a vivid, painted mural titled Spectrum, created by artist Kim Carlino. The artwork – which contains 34 unique colors and is painted on 82 concrete blocks along the 7th Avenue pedestrian corridor – signifies the city’s vibrant comeback as New Yorkers and visitors return following the pandemic.
Zaq Landsbert: Reclining Liberty on view in Morningside Park through April, 2022
Sculpture artist Zaq Landsberg created and presented the illustrations 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 installation date set for May 1, 2021 in Morningside Park, Harlem
Sam Durant, Untitled (drone) on the High Line Plinth through August, 2022
Sam Durant’s monumental fiberglass sculpture in the shape of an abstracted drone atop a 25-foot-tall steel pole continues High Line Art’s mission of presenting new, powerful, thought-provoking artworks that generate and amplify some of today’s most important conversations.
See you in August!