Sam Durant’s Untitled (Drone) Opens in Early June!
Sam Durant’s Untitled (drone) is the second High Line Plinth commission. This large-scale 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. In addition, walk The High Line and enjoy The Musical Brain; 57 Forms of Liberty; and Retainer.
Sonic Cloisters begins on ~ June 3
Sonic Cloisters, a series of site-specific electronic music performances, launches this spring and features renowned and emerging electronic music artists recorded in the unique spaces of The Met Cloisters. Created specifically for digital platforms,
New York Philharmonic: Death of Classical at Green-Wood Cemetery ~ June 3-5
Hymn to the City is a ground-breaking collaboration between Death of Classical, The Green-Wood Cemetery, and The New York Philharmonic—a sprawling, immersive event that pays tribute to New York’s singular spirit of resilience and renewal after a year of collective trauma, loss, and mourning.
Re: Growth. A Celebration of Art, Riverside Park, and the New York Spirit ~ June 5
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. Join in the festivities on June 8th!
Art On The Corner to Fill Vacant Upper West Side Storefront ~ June 5
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.
Shop The Village Kicks-Off on June 5
The Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the local retail community, today announced “Shop the Village,” an experiential and Instagrammable initiative designed to bring people back to the West Village during June 2021 and beyond, after many months of not being able to fully enjoy and participate in New York City’s vibrant downtown community.
Allouche Gallery Present ‘Operation Varsity Blues’ ~ June 5
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.
NYC Parks GreenThumb Fourth Annual #OpenGardenDayNYC ~ June 5
NYC Parks GreenThumb will be hosting the fourth annual Open Garden Day NYC on Saturday, June 5, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (rain or shine). Community gardens in all five boroughs will open their gates to the public at the same time on Saturday, June 5th for a special day of free programming, including garden tours, a bike tour of community gardens in Harlem, workshops on plants and composting, music, arts and crafts, and much more! See below for a list of participating gardens and the free activities and events being offered.
Virtual Museum Mile Festival 2021 ~ June 8
Eight New York City museums are coming together, once again, to present the 43rd annual Museum Mile Festival (Virtual/In-Person) on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, from 9 am to 9 pm. The day-long celebration of art and culture will feature live and pre-recorded programs, virtual exhibition tours, live musical performances, and activities for all ages. The content will be streamed across their respective websites and social media platforms, and will include some in-person outdoor programming. Culture enthusiasts from around the world will be able to continue joining New Yorkers for this one-of-a-kind celebration. Audiences can follow the hashtag #MMF2021 on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for cultural happenings throughout the day.
Ford Foundation Gallery ~ Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 5 ~ June 9
The Ford Foundation Gallery’s online exhibition, curated by Jessica A. Cooley and Ann M. Fox, is a multi-module exhibition series that rolled out over the course of 2020 – 2021. Drawn from some of the leading artists and scholars addressing the lived experience of disability today, Indisposable addresses the urgent questions of our moment where pandemic and demands for racial justice intersect.
In The MAD Loupe: Beau McCall ~ June 9
As part of The Museum of Arts and Design’s 45 Stories in Jewelry: 1947 to Now, we found the exciting, related virtual event, In the MAD Loupe: Beau McCall, who creates the most extraordinary pieces ~ all with buttons. The event will take place on Wednesday, June 9th from 2-3pm, when Beau McCall and Barbara Paris Gifford will talk about jewelry, fashion, and contemporary art, all made with buttons. Register Here.
The Tribeca Film Festival ~ June 9-20
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary, Tribeca ushers in the return of live entertainment as the first major North American Film Festival to be held in person.
The Skyscraper Museum’s Summer 2021 Walking Tours beginning on ~ June 9
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.
Riverside Park Conservancy Celebrating 35th with Musical Lineup ~ June 10
Riverside Park Conservancy today announced a world-class musical lineup to help celebrate the organization’s 35th Anniversary. The Conservancy is celebrating with a park-wide art exhibition, called Re:Growth, which will last all summer, and with a party on June 10 at Pier I (70th Street) and Ellington’s (105th Street). As part of the celebration, the Conservancy has announced a musical program — curated by Alphonso Horne — that will be free to all park visitors and will include some of New York’s best talents. (new rain date is June 10th).
Pride Trilogy Begins at Flushing Town Hall ~ June 10
In celebration of Pride Month, Flushing Town Hall presents its PRIDE TRILOGY, a three-part, musical series featuring an extraordinary lineup of award-winning performers and vocalists.
Poster House Celebrates Pride Month with Harlem’s Alibi Lounge ~ June 10
In honor of Pride month, Poster House is thrilled to partner with Alibi Lounge in Harlem, one of the last Black-owned gay bars in NYC, for an evening of cocktails & design activities that are sure to delight!
Aldara Ortega: Dive In at Galerie l’Atelier ~ June 10
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 ~ June 10
Fremin Gallery will open its doors to a new exhibition featuring works of Korean-born artist Yeji Moon. Paper Town will open on June 10th. Her three-dimensional compositions are created using newspaper which she skillfully rips, twists, and pastes back together. The fragility of newspaper speaks to her fascination with change and reflects the ease at which people and places are transformed, compounded by the rise of urbanization and new media.
David Zheng: Where Did All the Flowers Go? ~ June 10-13
Photographer David Zheng presents his solo exhibition and the release of his new artist book, Where Did All the Flowers Go?, in a pop-up gallery in Chinatown, NY. The exhibition opens June 10 and continues until June 13, 2021, on 55 Chrystie Street, NY. The show will feature photographs taken in New York’s Chinatown during the initial three-month COVID-19 lockdown period. Additionally, the space will house portraits of the neighborhood’s residents, as a compilation of stories plays through audio in an enclosed room; all of which were captured during a series of community engagements hosted by the artist in the 4 weeks leading up to the show’s opening. The exhibition will be open to the public.
L.E.A.F. Festival of Flowers 2021 ~ June 12-13
Last year, L.E.A.F. celebrated #NYFlowerWeek with a celebration of its own ~ L.E.A.F. 2020 Festival of Flowers, They’re back! This weekend, June 12 ~ 13, New Yorkers can shop L.E.A.F.’s European-style flower market and visit a series of floral displays, all in the historic Meatpacking District at L.E.A.F. Festival of Flowers 2021.
River to River Festival ~ June 10-27
Join the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for the 20th edition of River to River ~ a free summer arts festival.
Huguette Caland: Tête-à-Tête at The Drawing Center ~ June 11
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.
Bee Hun Lee: Flower Dance at Kate Oh Gallery ~ June 16
Bum Hun Lee: Flower Dance will be the inaugural exhibition in Kate Oh Gallery’s new space, located on the corner of 72nd Street and Madison Avenue.
Pride Trilogy Continues at Flushing Town Hall ~ June 17
On Thursday, June 17 at 7:00 PM (ET), the PRIDE TRILOGY continues with Marieann Meringolo’s “Here’s to the Ladies! A Salute to Great Ladies of Song,”celebrating such icons as Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell, Dionne Warwick, and more. She will be joined by her pianist Doyle Newmyer.
Adrian Sas: Source to Spout in Riverside Park ~ June 18
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.
Zaq Landsberg: Tomb Effigy of Margaret Corbin at Fort Tryon Park ~ June 18
NYC Parks has unveiled “Tomb Effigy of Margaret Corbin” by artist Zaq Landsberg, the 2020 recipient of the Clare Weiss Emerging Artist Award. The artwork will be displayed on the upper plaza of David Rockefeller Linden Terrace at Fort Tryon Park through June 12, 2022.
Celebrating Juneteenth 2021 ~ June 19
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Cel-Libertation Day, celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation of 1865. It is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end to slavery in the United States. While some of our City is still under COVID-19 restrictions, our community celebrates in thoughtful walks, marches, online, and virtually. Here are a few ways to celebrate Juneteenth 2021, now an official New York State Holiday.
Urban Park Rangers Free Tour of Harlem Fire Watchtower ~ June 19
The Urban Park Rangers will be on site to give free tours to the top of the historic Harlem Fire Watchtower on Sunday, June 19th from 1:00-3:00pm
Pre-Screening of ‘Summer of Soul’ in Marcus Garvey Park
Celebrate Juneteenth in Harlem with a free, outdoor screening of Summer of Soul presented by Target in association with Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage, NYC Parks’ Historic Harlem Parks and JazzMobile. The special advance screening will be followed by live performances at The Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Marcus Garvey Park featuring Questlove and surprise guests. Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, highlights the story of the momentous 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, featuring never-before-seen footage from the massive concert series that was – until now – virtually eliminated from the history books.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, a Virtual Celebration ~ June 20
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS helps men, women and children across the country and across the street receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance. They are one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington DC.
Virtual Egg Rolls Egg Creams Empanadas Festival 2021 ~ June 20
Celebrate the cultural diversity of the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Loisaida at the Museum at Eldridge Street’s Egg Rolls, Egg Creams, and Empanadas Festival 2021! After 20 years, this festival will be held for the first time ever, entirely over the virtual format due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Register for this Free Event.
Make Music New York ~ June 21
Make Music New York returns to the streets of New York for its fifteenth year on Monday, June 21st, with a day-long musical celebration of Make Music Day, held in more than 80 U.S. cities, 800 cities worldwide, and in over 120 countries.
Learn About the Creationn of The Floating Pool Lady by Ann Buttenweiser ~ June 21
What does it take to put a project like this together? Listen to the complete story of how The Floating Pool Lady went from a thought to a drawing board and into the water with a free online event ~ Author, historian, waterfront planner and activist, Ann Buttenweiser will be speaking about this incredible project and her book on Monday, June 21st from 6:00-7:00pm ~ organized by The Skyscraper Museum.
Artwork on Racial Justice Projected onto Brooklyn Public Library ~ June 21
The Empire State Building: A Celebration in Photographs at Keith de Lellis Gallery ~ June 23
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.
Pride Trilogy Park III at Flushing Town Hall ~ June 24
On the Fortieth Anniversary of the Beginning of the HIV/AIDS Crisis, David Zwirner Gallery Presents ‘More Life’ ~ June 24
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.
Xenobia Bailey: Mothership at The Winter Garden ~ June 28
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.
Out East:
David Hockney at Pace Gallery, East Hampton on view to June 6, 2021
Pace is pleased to present a solo exhibition of work by David Hockney as its second show of the 2021 season in East Hampton. The 14 prints on display illustrate the artist’s home in Normandy and its surroundings as well as the interior of the artist’s studio.
Gardens of The East End ~ a Tour on June 26
In honor of our 90th Anniversary, HC&G is thrilled to bring back our signature Garden as Art event, featuring the home gardens of a select group of beloved local and world-renowned artists and horticulturalists. Join them on Saturday, June 26 as they take a peek behind the hedges of the exclusive, varied, and eclectic gardens of these remarkable individuals. Self-guided tours run from 12-5pm, and you’ll have the opportunity to stream a live lecture from Guild Hall beforehand to inspire your journey!
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 Foundation announced 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.
There’s There There, Organized by Rashid Johnson at Hauser & Wirth Southhampton
Hauser & Wirth Southampton will present ‘There’s There There,’ a group exhibition organized by Rashid Johnson showcasing a diverse group of contemporary and late 20th century artists exploring the power of simple forms and gestures.
Heading North:
Land Escape: Nanette Carter, Athena LaTocha, and Aura-Natasha Ogunji on view at Fridman Gallery Beacon to June 27, 2021
Fridman Gallery is pleased to announce the inaugural exhibition of its second location — in Beacon, NY. Land Escape brings together new works by Nanette Carter, Athena LaTocha, and Wura-Natasha Ogunji. Each artist works on a special type of paper and builds up the surface using a variety of media to create—rather than represent—landscape.
Still on View:
The Intricate Intimate at Allouche Gallery on view to June 2, 2021
In collaboration, artists and curators Swoon, Monica Canilao, and BLK PALATE present a group art exhibition focusing on the erotic. Featuring established and emerging artists, The Intricate Intimate offers a safer space for artists to explore the intricacies of erotic intimacy, on their own terms and based on their own definitions.
Gio Swaby: Both Sides of the Sun at Claire Oliver Gallery on view to June 5, 2021
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.
Hauser & Wirth + Hunter College, MFA/MA Exhibition, ‘We Were Already Gone’ on view to June 5, 2021
Hauser & Wirth New York will open its doors to ‘We Were Already Gone’, an exhibition at its West 22nd Street location in the Chelsea Arts District, organized in collaboration with Hunter College. Curated by graduate students in Hunter’s Department of Art & Art History, this exhibition will showcase the work of artists currently enrolled in the school’s MFA Program in Studio Art. ‘We Were Already Gone’ spotlights the diversity and holistic approach that have situated Hunter uniquely among American institutions devoted to higher education in the arts. The show will present an array of works across mediums, with sculpture, painting, and videos that confront the global cultural and political reckoning underway.
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
etween 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.
Manolo Valdés at Opera Gallery will be on view through June 20, 2021
Opera Gallery will celebrate famous painter and sculptor Manolo Valdés with an unprecedented solo exhibition simply titled Manolo Valdés at their New York location (791 Madison Avenue), opening on May 20th and running through June 20th.
Agnes Martin: The Distillation of color at Pace Gallery on view to June 26, 2021
Pace Gallery is pleased to present a monographic exhibition dedicated to the paintings of Agnes Martin, whose work left an indelible mark on the history of modern and contemporary art and has continued to inspire generations of artists. For Martin, painting was defined by an ongoing exploration of its capacity to express a vision of beauty born of intuitive inspiration. Featuring a range of paintings from the 1970s to the early 1990s, from Martin’s multicolored striped works, to compositions of color washed bands defined by hand-drawn lines, to the deep gray Black Paintings that characterized her work in the late 1980s, this exhibition examines Martin’s attentive use of color in each of these phases. Agnes Martin: The Distillation of Color traces this evolution within the context of Martin’s broadening vision during the latter half of her career—one that crystalized her pursuit of perfection and quest to deepen her understanding of painting’s essence, unattached to emotion or subject, yet radiant and meditative in its pure abstraction.
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.
Sanford Biggers at Rockefeller Center through June 29, 2021
Rockefeller Center is kicking-off Spring with a new exhibition by Sanford Biggers. The featured sculpture, Oracle, is a 25-foo-tall cast bronze that serves as the centerpiece of Biggers’ epic art installation at the entrance to the Channel Gardens. In addition, throughout the Rockefeller Center Campus, visitors will find a varied body of work which is part of Biggers’ 2021 Art in Focus series, produced in partnership with Art Production Fund and kicked off by Hiba Schahbaz earlier this year.
Tin & Ed will be on view at Rockefeller Center through June 30, 2021
Rockefeller Center has teamed up with Australian creative duo Tin & Ed, Tin Nguyen and Edward Cutting, to present a new interactive digital art installation that provides a portal to nature, taking audiences on a vivid journey through the natural world.
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.
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.
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
In 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Three with a Pen: Lily Renée, Bil Spira, and Paul Peter Porges at Austrian Cultural Forum through September 3, 2021
Collection (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.
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.
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.
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.”
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 3, 2021.
Kusama: Cosmic Nature on view at NYBG through October 31, 2021
he 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
he 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 July, 2021!