May unfolds with a plethora of outdoor art installations and music, new green spaces, fabulous online tours and the return of Frieze New York! Here are a few suggestions for the month of May.
Zaq Landsberg: Reclining Liberty in Morningside Park, Harlem ~ May 1
Sculpture artist Zaq Landsberg created and presented the illustration for this piece during the last administration, prior to COVID-19 and our citywide shutdown. It was inspired by Buddhist imagery, and meant to depict our iconic American landmark, weary, reclining, and asking the question ~ “what stage of America are we in.” COVID-19 closed our city, and Reclining Lady lay waiting, like all of us, for better days. Now on view!
The SeaGlass Carousel in The Battery Reopening ~ May 1
The Battery announced this week that the beautiful SeaGlass Carousel will reopen on Saturday, May 1, 2021.
The Lot Radio Returns to Times Square ~ May 1
For the month of May, Greenpoint’s beloved internet radio station The Lot Radio moves from its namesake empty lot to a new home, bringing its eclectic group of DJs to broadcast live from the iconic Duffy Square with Times Square Transmissions 2021. In the month-long DJ residency, a vintage red K67 kiosk from the 1960s will become a plaza-level DJ booth, streaming live between 10am and 10pm every day. New Yorkers and Times Square visitors can enjoy the tunes and the scene in person or online by tuning into the live video stream at thelotradio.com.
AMANDA PHINGBODHIPAKKIYA: WE ARE MORE in Times Square ~ May 1
Celebrating the resilience and diversity of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, We Are More features vibrant portraiture and brightly colored typographic designs that question and repudiate racism and xenophobia in all forms. The 40 distinct artworks in We Are More will appear on digital billboards and street level displays in over 120 locations across Times Square beginning Saturday, May 1.
In addition, check out ‘May we Know our Own Strength ~ Release your Burden in an installation also by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya in Chelsea.
Kim Carlino: Spectrum Brings Bolts of Color to The Garment District
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. ‘Spectrum’ will be on view through March, 2022.
David Hammons ‘Day’s End’ Emerging in Hudson River Park + Exhibit at The Drawing Center
Proposed to the Whitney by David Hammons, Day’s End takes inspiration from an artwork of the same name by Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–1978). In 1975, Matta-Clark cut five openings into the Pier 52 shed that formerly occupied the site. Hammons’s Day’s Endis an open structure that precisely follows the outlines, dimensions, and location of the original shed—and, like Matta-Clark’s intervention, it offers an extraordinary place to experience the waterfront.
Born in Flames: Feminist Futures at Bronx Museum of the Arts
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.
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith Joins MvVO Art’s Ad Art Show ~ May 1
MvVO ART, creator of AD ART SHOW, announced that AD ART SHOW 2021 will return to the monumental screens inside the Oculus at the Westfield World Trade Center in New York (May 1 to 30, 2021) with Chad Smith—Red Hot Chili Peppers, Grammy Award-winning drummer and fine artist—as the featured guest artist and host of the show’s virtual opening on May 3, 2021 during Frieze week (follow MvVO ART on Instagram for more information). Artworks by Chad Smith will be exhibited on the monumental screens of the Oculus at Westfield World Trade Center the final weekend of the show (May 29 & 30, 2021).
Lonnie Holley: Tangled Up in de Kooning’s Fence at South Etna Montauk ~ May 1
While we don’t normally post exhibitions ‘out east’ at this time of year, the newly formed non-profit South Etna Montauk Foundation announced an exhibition worth stepping away from our norm. 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.
Fridman Gallery Announces Inaugural Exhibition at Second Location in Beacon, NY ~ May 1
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.
Salon Zürcher: 11 Women of Spirit ~ May 3
Adding to our list of what not-to-miss during Frieze Week (New York, 2021), is the satellite exhibition entitled, Salon Zürcher: 11 Women of Spirit, the works of 11 distinguished female artists. Opening Reception Monday, May 3rd from 6-8pm.
Elan Cadiz: Scaffold Project at Kente Royal Gallery ~ May 2
As New Yorkers begin to step out, it’s worth reflecting on the year behind us, and what we latched on to, and kept us sane, while we were ‘at home.’ It was during the pandemic that we first learned of artist Elan Cadiz and the Scaffold Project ~ exploring equality and tolerance in our homes, communities and in the world at large. This month, Kente Royal Gallery opened its doors to Elan Cadiz and her thoughtful project documenting memories, lessons learned, relationships, and the most important part of her project ~ people, during this very difficult time.
American Symphony Orchestra to Perform Live in Bryant Park & Herald Square beginning ~ May 3
The American Symphony Orchestra will offer a free, nine-concert chamber music series to welcome spring at Manhattan’s Bryant Park and 34th St. Herald Square Plaza from May 3–19. The five different programs have been curated by ASO musicians, who will perform music ranging from 20th-century Mexican and all-American jazz composers to Afro-Cuban Batá drumming and classical works for horn quartet and woodwind trio. Featured artists include percussionist and composer Javier Diaz, saxophonist Roxy Coss, and oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz. All concerts last for one hour and begin at 5:30 pm.
Creating Community. Cinque Gallery Artists at Art Students League ~ May 3
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.
Jane’s Walk NYC ~ May 3 ~ 9
Who said you can’t hold a Tour during a Pandemic? The Municipal Art Society (MAS) supercharged Jane’s Walk New York 2021 with so many fabulous online tours, you won’t know where to go first! Best of all, online guests can attend 2, 3 or 4 tours a day, and go from the Bronx to Brooklyn at the click of a keyboard.
Frieze New York 2021 at The Shed ~ May 3-9
Frieze New York 2021 is not only back, but tickets are sold out! Need a way in? Join Frieze 91 to get special access to the fair with a guest, or check out the Frieze Viewing Room. This years venue, held at The Shed in Hudson Yards, will bring together over 60 galleries from all over the world. Let’s take a look at what will be on tap during Frieze New York’s 10th edition, from May 3-9, and beyond, online.
de Kooning | Serra | Remington at Craig F. Starr Gallery ~ May 4
Untitled [Two Women], 1947; Oil on paper
20 x 16 inches; The Collection of Ronnie F. Heyman, Palm Beach, Florida
Craig F. Starr Gallery will open its doors to three exhibits on May 4th ~ Willem de Kooning: Men and Women, 1938-48 and Richard Serra: Transparencies, 2012-13 on the first floor, and Deborah Remington on the fourth floor.
Public Art Fund unveils Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days ~ May 4
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 will finally unveil in City Hall Park on May 4th, 2021.
Alma Allen in the Kasmin Sculpture Garden ~ May 4
Kasmin is delighted to announce an upcoming 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.
Sanford Biggers Takes Over Rock Center ~ May 5
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.
The Oracle is the largest yet in Biggers’ ongoing Chimera series, which consists of hybrid sculptures that merge mythology and history. Each is a mashup of masks and figurative sculptures that from different countries and cultures, including Greco-Romann and African sculptures.
Agnes Martin: The Distillation of Color at Pace Gallery ~ May 5
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.
Frank Bowling: London/New York at Hauser & Wirth ~ May 5
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.
Tetsumi Kudo: Metamorphosis at Hauser & Wirth ~ May 5
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.
‘The Intricate Intimate’ at Allouche Gallery ~ May 6
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.
NY Philharmonic Bandwagon 2 ~ May 7-30
The New York Philharmonic’s Bandwagon rolled into neighborhoods in all five boroughs, and was a big hit! Before ending the season, they asked New Yorkers what they wanted to see next. We don’t know what the consensus was, but we do know that New Yorkers wanted more ~ and more we will get. Welcome New York Philharmonic Bandwagon
Illuminated Landscapes: Art Opening x Stop AAPI Hate at Art of Our Century ~ May 7
Art of Our Century gallery is proud to partner with Ankhlave Arts Alliance and Stop AAPI Hate to present a timely exhibit featuring five artists of East Asian descent.
Organized in response to the alarming increase of violent assaults and racist rhetoric aimed at the Asian American community in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, this exhibition seeks to highlight artists of AAPI descent and showing our solidarity and strength in community. Working in a wide variety of mediums and varying from expressive painterly marks to luminous hyper real portraits, the artists express elements of their cultural heritage as well as their own unique experiences.
The show opens with a gala charitable reception, co-sponsored by Hiatus tequila, on Friday May 7th from 4 pm to 7 pm. No cost, but we ask you to register here on Eventbrite for the opening night.
Mother’s Day at Historic La Marqueta ~ May 9
Join Amuse Bouche Bistro and Sprinkle Splash Bakery for a special Mother’s Day Brunch with live music and free flower for Mum. Lots of room to socially distance, with eating indoors and out.
Maya Lin: Ghost Forest in Madison Square Park ~ May 10
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.
Lincoln Center Restart Stages on The Green ~ May 10
Lincoln Center Restart Stages will transform the Josie Robertson Plaza into approximately 14,000 square feet of open, park-like space. The Green will open on Monday, May 10th.
Art on the Ave Panel Discussion ~ May 13
Join a special panel of Art on the Ave creators and artists, and Village Preservation’s Director of Research,, to hear about the project, the art, and the history of the buildings in which the art is displayed in the West Village on Thursday, May 13th at 6:00pm co-hosted by Village Alliance.
Miles Hyman: Narrative Images at Philippe Labaune Gallery ~ May 13
Philippe Labaune Gallery will open its doors to Narrative Images, an exhibition of paintings and original comic strips by French American artist Miles Hyman. This will be the debut of Miles Hyman’s paintings in New York. Informed by mid-century American realism, European symbolism, and film noir, Hyman’s recent work is a study in light, imaginative juxtapositions, and a record of personal geography. Accompanying his paintings will be a selection of original comic strip drawings from graphic novel adaptations of Hyman’s grandmother Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia, among others. Narrative Images will be on view from May 13 – June 26, 2021 with an opening reception on May 13th from 11 AM to 9 PM.
Hauser & Wirth + Hunter College, MFA/MA Exhibition, ‘We Were Already Gone’ ~ May 14
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.
Art in Odd Places 2021: NORMAL ~ May 14-16
One of our favorite annual festivals is back! Art in Odd Places (AiOP) 2021: NORMAL, is set to celebrate its 16th festival, Friday through Sunday on May 14-16, along 14th Street from Avenue C to the Hudson River. Curated by artist Furusho von Puttkammer, NORMALchallenges what has been and what never was. This year’s festival features 60+ artists’ projects with over 100 artists.
Madison Avenue Spring Gallery Walk ~ May 15
The worlds of art and design will intersect during Madison Avenue Art & Design Weekend May 14-16. The Madison Avenue B.I.D., in partnership with Design Pavilion’s WINDOWS Open to the Sky, will showcase student art from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in a series of available store windows. This NYC End-of-Year Student Design Showcase has been organized by Design Pavilion and ArtsThread, in collaboration with NYCxDesign, to present the work of students in lieu of the cancelled end-of-year student exhibitions due to the pandemic. It will be an extremely noteworthy public display at a time when students, schools and public need uplifting and hope.
Tour the Historic Harlem Fire Watchtower ~ May 15
The Urban Park Rangers will open the Fire Watchtower on Sunday, May 15th and May 30th from 1:00 ~ 3:00pm for visitors who want to climb to the top (or even just to ring the bell). Other dates in May right here.
Take a Ride to Hancock, NY for the Opening of Bug Farm Family: Singing An American Night at UncleBrother ~ May 15
et’s take a ride! We’re headed to the Catskills to visit Gavin Brown’s fabulous UncleBrother canteen and gallery ~ located in what used to be a car dealership ~ in Hancock, New York. Bug Farm Family: Singing an American Night will be opening on Saturday, May 15th, with a side of Curry.
Opera Gallery Celebrates Sculpture Artist, Manolo Valdés in a Solo Exhibition ~ May 20
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.
NYC’s Pier 55 Little Island to Open ~ May 21
In the exhibition, Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio at Cooper Hewitt in June, 2015, along with a vast array of Heatherwick’s unique design concepts and projects, New Yorkers got a sneak-peek of Heatherwick’s Hudson River project Pier55, now known as Little Island. At the time, the project seemed not only far-off in our future, but fraught with problems from financial to environmental. Now completed, Little Island is scheduled to open on May 21, 2021. Hours will be from 6am to 1am, at present with a timed entry to allow for safe distancing.
Craft Front & Center at Museum of Arts & Design ~ May 22
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.
Milford Graves, Heart harmonics: sound, energy, and natural healing phenomena at Fridman Gallery ~ May 25
Fridman Gallery will open its doors to a solo exhibition of the late free jazz percussionist and visual artist Milford Graves. Heart Harmonics: sound, energy, and natural healing phenomena brings together three bodies of work comprising the most recent (and last) artistic output of his research.
David Hockney at Pace Gallery, East Hampton ~ May 27
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. This exhibition is on view to June 6, 2021.
Tour the Historic Harlem Fire Watchtower ~ May 30
The Urban Park Rangers will open the Fire Watchtower on Sunday, May 30th from 1:00 ~ 3:00pm for visitors who want to climb to the top (or even just to ring the bell). Other dates in May right here.
Robem Robierb: Dream machine II + Peace Makers on Randall’s Island ~ end of May
Randall’s Island Park Alliance, NYC Parks, and Taglialatella Galleries will unveil two installations on Randall’s Island in May, 2021 by artist Rubem Robierb entitled Dream Machine II and Peace Makers.
Still on View:
Good for Health ~ Bad for Education: A Tribute to Otomo at Philippe Labaune Gallery on view to May 8, 2021
If you are a lover of comic art, you will be delighted to hear that long-time European comic art collector, Philippe Labaune will open a gallery in Chelsea. in April. The inaugural exhibition, “Good for Health – Bad for Education: A Tribute to Otomo” will showcase illustrations by 30 international artists in homage to Japanese artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s seminal 1982 manga series: “Akira.”
Charlie Hudson: Points of Distraction) on view to May 9, 2021
Points of Distraction, a two-part exhibition featuring new sculptural paintings by Charlie Hudson, explores our city from a stoplight in Williamsburg at 4am to the glaring sun refracting off a glossy skyscraper in Midtown. Exhibited in two-parts, the second installation will present our cityscapes mosaicked into an immersive, panoramic view of a single street corner.
Ekene Ijeoma: Breathing Pavilion on The Plaza on View to May 11, 2021
At this time of great hardship and loss, Breathing Pavilion by Ekene Ijeoma offers a public space for communal meditation, self-reflection, and interconnectedness.
Breathing Pavilion comprises a 30-foot circle of 20 illuminated inflatable columns. These columns slowly modulate in brightness to illustrate a deep breathing technique designed to bring calm. Sit or stand around the pavilion, syncopating your breath with the lights and attuning yourself to a shared rhythm.
Man Ray & Picabia will be on view at Vito Schnabel Gallery to May 15, 2021
Beginning March 25, 2021, Vito Schnabel Gallery will present Man Ray & Picabia, a historical exhibition that brings into dialogue seminal works by two early modern masters and legendary artists of the avant-garde. An intimate presentation, the exhibition focuses on only nine paintings that span the late 1920s to the mid-1950s – a careful selection designed to invite contemplation on the nature of artistic revolution. The canvases on view manifest Man Ray and Francis Picabia’s prodigious engagement with the medium of painting across multi-faceted careers marked by irreverence toward convention and an ability to cycle through the phases of modernism to arrive at exceptionally original results. This rare grouping includes paintings that have not been on display to the public for decades.
Randolph Lamonier: My Kind of Dirty on view at Fort Gansevoort Gallery to May 15, 2021
Rua Vista Alegre (Vista Alegre Street), 2021 Mixed media (fabric, embroidery and buttons on carpet) 17.5 x 24 in.
RL005
Beginning Thursday, April 1st, Fort Gansevoort will present My Kind Of Dirty, the gallery’s first exhibition with Brazilian artist Randolpho Lamonier. This online presentation brings together recent textile works in which Lamonier responds to his upbringing in Contagem, an industrial city in southeastern Brazil, drawing upon observations of hardship and inequality to create powerful expressions in vivid colors, word combinations, and raw images.
Ebecho Muslimova: Scenes in the Sublevel on view at The Drawing Center to May 23, 2021
For Ebecho Muslimova’s first solo museum exhibition, the artist presents Scenes in the Sublevel, a site-specific installation that includes ten large-scale mixed-media drawings. Muslimova (b. 1984, Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia) is known for her pen-and-ink drawings and large-scale paintings that feature her bold and uninhibited cartoon alter ego, Fatebe. Her latest body of work takes up The Drawing Center’s downstairs gallery as the stage for Fatebe’s intrepid misadventures.
David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968-1979 on view at The Drawing Center to May 23, 2021
The first museum exhibition dedicated to David Hammons’s pivotal early works on paper, David Hammons: Body Prints, 1968–1979 brings together the monoprints and collages in which the artist used the body as both a drawing tool and printing plate to explore performative, unconventional forms of image making. More than a half century after they were made, these early works on paper remain a testament to Hammons’s desire to reinterpret notions of the real; his celebration of the sacredness of objects touched or made by the Black body; his biting critique of racial oppression; and his deep commitment to social justice.
David Attie: Visual Communication will be on view at Keith de Lellis Gallery to May 27, 2021
Something kind of special from Keith de Lellis Gallery, with a statement by the photographer’s son, ‘How my father David Attie invented Photoshop in the 1950s. And had his career launched by Truman Capote‘ ~ by Eli Attie. Yes, it got our attention.
Unraveled: Confronting the Fabric of Fiber Art at The Untitled Space on view to May 28, 2021
If you love Fiber Art, you must add this group exhibition to your list. The Untitled Space in Tribeca opened its doors to more than 40 contemporary artists who will feature textile and fiber-based artworks.
Unraveled: Confronting the Fabric of Fiber Art explores in depth the themes and techniques of the medium through the works of female-identifying artists working with natural and synthetic fiber, fabric, and yarn.
David Badders: Unlocked at Kaufman Arcade, Garment District through May 29, 2021
The Garment District Alliance (GDA) announced the latest in its ongoing series of public art exhibits, showcasing 10 oil on canvas paintings titled UNLOCKED, created by artist David Badders. The paintings are a representation of New York City’s vitality during the pandemic, bringing color and action into a space of uncertainty and chaos.
The Friends Experience Pop-Up On View through May 31, 2021
The wildly popular Friends Experience is back and is scheduled to have its grand opening in NYC and re-opening in Chicago on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Created by Superfly X, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Warner Bros. Television Group, fans can explore Friends like never before with set re-creations, original props and costumes, photo ops and more.
At Home at Living With Art Salon on view through May, 2021
Living with Art Salon opened its doors to three diverse women in the arts, Elan Cadiz, Giannina Gutierrez and Leah Poller. The exhibition, At Home, explores how we live at home, as a family ~ as neighbors, as friends, as lovers ~ looking back on your dad’s favorite chair growing up, waking up in your own bed, working from home in this moment in time, and the emotions connected to the people and places that home ‘is’. Come along on our preview of this thoughtful and timely exhibition.
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.
Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America at New Museum on view to June 6, 2021
The New Museum will present an intergenerational exhibition of works from thirty-seven artists, conceived by curator Okwui Enwezor beginning January 27, 2021.
Art for the Community: The Met’s Circulating Textile Exhibition, 1933-1942 will be on view through June 13, 2021
Between 1933 and 1942, The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized one of its especially noteworthy landmark educational initiatives to bring the Museum’s collection to as many New Yorkers as possible. Called the Neighborhood Circulating Exhibitions, the series consisted of small, thematic displays of select artworks presented in New York Public Library branches, high schools, city universities, and settlement houses. The effort, which was developed in response to an inquiry from a high school teacher, reached more than two million visitors and will be the focus of the exhibition Art for the Community: The Met’s Circulating Textile Exhibitions, 1933–1942, on view October 31, 2020, through June 13, 2021, in honor of The Met’s 150th anniversary.
Awol Erizku: New Visions for Iris at Bus Shelters on view through June 20, 2021
On February 24, Public Art Fund will debut New Visions for Iris, a 350-site photography exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Awol Erizku. On view at 200 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York City and 150 in Chicago, this is the first exhibition in Public Art Fund’s partnership with JCDecaux to be presented in two cities concurrently.
Xu-Zhen, Eternity on view on Park Avenue at 70th Street through June 27, 2021
The Asia Society Museum announces new artist projects and commissions, as well as an outdoor sculptural installation on Park Avenue, for Part 2 of the inaugural Asia Society Triennial. Titled We Do Not Dream Alone, the exhibition opens its next installment on March 26, 2021, and runs through June 27, 2021, with Xu Zhen, Eternity ~ an outdoor art installation on Park Avenue at 70th Street, on view March 16 through June 27, 2021. In response to the current moment—both nationally and globally—the Triennial’s mission is to connect cultures and inspire visitors through the arts.
In addition, Part 2 of the Inaugural Asia Society Triennial will be on view through June 27, 2021.
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.
Art on the Ave in the West Village through July 8, 2021
Image courtesy Art on the Ave
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, ‘David Smith: Follow My Path’ will go on view at Hauser & Wirth New York beginning 27 April.
Gillie and Marc’s ‘King Nyani’ on view through July, 2021
To raise awareness and funds for the critically endangered gorilla species, public artists Gillie and Marc have created a massive sculpture of the animal that will be unveiled later this month in Hudson Yards’ Bella Abzug Park. Titled King Nyani, Swahili for gorilla, it’s the world’s largest bronze gorilla sculpture.
Julius Klinger: Posters for a Modern Age at Poster House Museum to August 15, 2021
Recognized as one of the leading graphic artists of the modern age, Austrian designer Julius Klinger (1876–1942) transformed commercial visual culture through his innovative advertising posters, book and magazine illustrations, mass promotional campaigns, ornamental and typographical design, and brand development. Associated with both the Vienna Secession and Jugendstil at the turn of the twentieth century, Klinger became famous as a poster designer in Germany, eventually returning to Austria to found a studio at the outbreak of the First World War. He would stay in Vienna, with two short visits to the United States, until his deportation to a Minsk extermination camp, where he was killed in 1942.
Alice Neel: People Come First will be on view at The Met to August 1, 2021
Alice Neel: People Come First will be the first museum retrospective in New York of American artist Alice Neel (1900–1984) in twenty years. This ambitious survey will position Neel as one of the century’s most radical painters, a champion of social justice whose longstanding commitment to humanist principles inspired her life as well as her art, as demonstrated in the approximately one hundred paintings, drawings, and watercolors that will appear in The Met’s survey.
Freak Power: Hunter S. Thompson Runs for Sheriff at Poster House Museum to August 15, 2021
Hunter S. Thompson came home from the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago disgusted yet motivated by what he’d seen: protests violently suppressed, riots, corrupt politicians, and abusive cops. Back in Aspen, he found more of the same. The local police and sheriff’s departments were targeting hippies, charging them with absurd crimes, harassing them on the streets, and trying to push them out of town. He knew something had to be done and he realized it had to be done by people like himself. The hippies, intellectuals, and freaks had remained silent long enough. The time had come to organize and seize political power. Exhibit on view to August 15, 2021.
Julie Mehretu: A Mid Career Survey will be on view at The Whitey through August 8, 2021
101 1/2 in. × 17ft. 4 1/2 in. × 2 in. (257.8 × 529.6 × 5.1 cm)
Co-organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, Julie Mehretu is a midcareer survey that will unite more than seventy paintings and works on paper dating from 1996 to the present, reflecting the breadth of Mehretu’s multilayered practice. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1970 and based in New York City, Mehretu has created new forms and found unexpected resonances by drawing on the histories of art and human civilization. Her play with scale and technique, as evident in intimate drawings, large canvases, and complex forms of printmaking, will be explored in depth. Filling the Whitney’s entire fifth floor gallery, the exhibition will take advantage of the expansive and open space to create dramatic vistas of Mehretu’s often panoramic paintings. The first-ever comprehensive survey of Mehretu’s career, Julie Mehretu is organized by Christine Y. Kim, curator of contemporary art at LACMA, with Rujeko Hockley, assistant curator at the Whitney. The installation at the Whitney is overseen by Hockley and on view from March 25 through August 8, 2021.
Kenseth Armstead: Boulevard of African Monarchs on View Through August, 2021
NYC DOT Art Community Commission and The Marcus Garvey Park Alliance partnered to install a timely and pertinent new art installation in Harlem. Kenseth Armstead: Boulevard of African Monarchs arrived on 116th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard on August 13, 2020.
5 Sculptures by Artist, Jim Rennert
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.
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 World
War. San Diego, 2017, Lily Renée, 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.
Jack Howard-Potter: Torso II, Swinging II, Messenger of the Gods (medium) on view to September 12, 2021
Long Island City based sculptor, Jack Howard-Potter, makes large, often kinetic, figurative steel sculptures that can be seen in city governments, sculpture parks and public art shows around the country. The outdoor public arena is the perfect setting for the academic roots to be easily recognizable and accessible, bridging the gap between the fine art institution and the public. It all comes together in an effort to brighten the landscape and shift someone’s gaze to break the daily routine with something beautiful. Court Square Park is located at Court Square and Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, NY.
Doors for Doris by Sam Moyer through Public Art Fund on view through September 12, 2021
Artist, Sam Moyer created a new site specific installation for the Public Art Fund at the entrance to Central Park on the Doris C. Freedman Plaza. The enormous three-part sculpture creates a gateway that poetically bridges the architecture of the city and the natural landscape of the park.
El Museo del Barrio, Estamos Bien-La Triennial 20/21 on view through September 26, 2021
On March 13, 2021, El Museo del Barrio will open its doors to Estamos Bien ~ La Triennial 20/21, the museum’s first national large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art. The exhibition will feature more than 40 artists from across the United States and Puerto Rico.
Samantha Holmes: Mundilio/Little World at West Farms Square Plaza in the Bronx, on view through September 2021
Samantha Holmes collaborated with Bronx-based lacemakers to inform the traditional Puerto Rican lace patterns ‘woven’ into the steel. The installation is a monument to women’s work and the cultural dynamism of the Bronx. Here, the artist hopes to bring the softness of cotton into the resilience of steel, as the sculpture stretches across the plaza, “filling it with the colors and textures of the surrounding neighborhood ~ weaving this vibrant community the very fabric of the piece.”
Dawoud Bey: An American Project at The Whitney on View Through October 3, 2021
Reflecting the evolution of Bey’s vision, the exhibition examines his enduring engagement with portraiture, place, and history. From early portraits in Harlem and classic street photography to multi-panel studio portraits and nocturnal landscapes, Bey has consistently focused his lens on Black individuals, foregrounding the uniqueness of his subjects while reflecting the profound and ongoing effects of the history of the United States. Co-organized with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, An American Project will be on view at the Whitney from April 17, 2021 through October 3, 2021.
Kusama: Cosmic Nature on view at NYBG through October 31, 2021
The much anticipated exhibition, KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature by renowned Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, which was postponed due to COVID-19, is now back on track, and opening in April. The exhibition will be installed across the Garden’s landscape, in and around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Building. What better place to socially distance than at the New York Botanical Garden.
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.
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. “Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment” will be on view March 12, 2021, to January 3, 2022.
See you in June, 2021!