MAY WE KNOW OUR OWN STRENGTH was created by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, who brought us public art addressing anti-Asian racism, working in partnership with the NYC Commission on Human Rights and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.
Here, she created a place for New Yorkers to gather and share their hidden sins, secrets, and suffering. This is a space for vulnerability and healing.
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.
Continue reading “Agnes Martin: The Distillation of Color to Open at Pace Gallery in May, 2021”
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.
After a one-year hiatus, Riverside Park Conservancy to announce that they will plan to bring their best interns back to the Park this summer, with a giant Morgan Stanley billboard celebrating the goats lighting up in Times Square Thursday, April 22nd at 11am.
NYC Parks Queens Borough Commissioner Michael Dockett today joined Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, and Queens Community Board 2 District Manager Debra Markell Kleinert to unveil the brand new sports and children’s play areas at General Hart Playground in Woodside.
“With these new upgrades, General Hart Playground is now better equipped to meet Woodside’s recreational needs,” said Commissioner Dockett. “I’m thrilled to unveil these new amenities that will serve the children, families, and residents of the surrounding communities for years to come. We’re grateful to the Borough President’s Office and Council Member Van Bramer for their continued support and dedication to providing New Yorkers with equitable, open greenspaces.”
NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of an individual landmark ~ The New York Public Library, Harlem Branch.
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District in Harlem.
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance, the proposed Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District would recognize this neighborhood’s significant association with notable African Americans in the fields of politics, literature, healthcare, and education during the Harlem Renaissance from the early 1920s to the 1940s. The proposed district consists of intact streetscapes of a striking variety of 19th and early- 20th century row houses, multi-family dwellings, and institutions, designed by prominent New York City architects within two sections on either side of Frederick Douglass Boulevard between West 136th Street and West 140th Street.
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.
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.
Continue reading “Fridman Gallery Announces Inaugural Exhibition, ‘Land Escape’, in Beacon, NY”
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.
Continue reading “Craft Front & Center at Museum of Arts & Design ~ May 22nd”
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.
Continue reading “Lonnie Holley: Tangled Up In de Kooning’s Fence at South Etna Montauk Foundation”
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.
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.
Register Here for Jane’s Walk NYC 2021’s Tours, which runs from May 3 to May 9, 2021 and
Continue reading “The Municipal Art Society’s ‘Jane’s Walk 2021’ ~ an Online Event from May 3-9”
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 will offer an extraordinary place to experience the waterfront.
Now, The Whitney, in collaboration with the Hudson River Park Trust, has developed a permanent public art project by David Hammons (b. 1943). Entitled Day’s End (2021), this monumental installation will be located in Hudson River Park along the southern edge of Gansevoort Peninsula, directly across from the Museum, and is currently a work-in-progress!
On the heals of The High Line Plinth’s inaugural installation, Simone Leigh: Brick House, today The High Line announced its next artist ~ Sam Durant: Untitled (drone), arriving on the Plinth in May.
Continue reading “Sam Durant’s Untitled (drone) Heading to The High Line Plinth in May, 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.
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.
Continue reading “Public Art Fund will unveil Melvin Edwards: Brighter Days in May, 2021”
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.
Continue reading “Lincoln Center Restart Stages on The Green to Open May 10th”
Since the Artist in Residence program’s inception in 2017, artists have yielded an array of unique installations that reflect the cultural, ecological and built landscape. These include Mary Mattingly’s Swale, a floating food forest built atop a barge to advocate for healthy food and gardening, and Katie Holten’s New York City Tree Alphabet, which assigned drawings of local tree species to letters of the alphabet to generate public engagement with nature and conservation. This year, the residency has expanded to support artists across the United States and internationally, with plans to continue expanding in the coming years.
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.
Continue reading “‘Maya Lin: Ghost Forest’ growing in Madison Square Park”
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.
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.
Continue reading “David Smith: Follow My Path to go On View at Hauser & Wirth New York, 69th Street”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Continue reading “Rubem Robierb: Dream Machine II + Peace Makers Coming to Randall’s Island”
The Ford Foundation Gallery invites the public to Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 4: Raisa Kabir ‘House Made of Tin’ (A Socially Distanced Weaving Performance) an Online exhibition and performance, Friday, April 30th.
Where were you in 1969? If you were in Harlem, chances are you were either in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) or heard about the Harlem Cultural Festival ~ a summer of free outdoor concerts held on Sunday.
Continue reading “Questlove’s Doc ‘Summer of Soul’ Release Date Set for July 2, 2021”
NYC Parks, in partnership with the Bronx River Alliance, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), will livestream the release of 250 alewife fish into the Bronx River. The annual event will take place on Tuesday, April 6th at 11:45am on NYC Parks Facebook.
Continue reading “NYC Parks to Livestream ‘Running of the Fish’ on April 6th”
Taller Boricua kicked-off 2021 with the online exhibition, Women on the Edge of Time, featuring a collection of art by members from the prestigious and long-standing New York arts organization, New York Society of Women Artists (NYSWA). The exhibit went live, online, during Women’s History Month in March, with 36 member artists expressing their thoughts on such issues as social justice and the struggle for equality through their work.
Wishing all a Very Happy Easter with two wonderful vintage photographs from the Library of Congress. Both images, one c.1903 and another, c.1904, are taken on Fifth Avenue near St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
NYC Parks will kick-off the Anti-Litter campaign by hosting its first “Love Your Park” pop-up event ~ a new facet of the Anti-Litter campaign in 2021.
NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, will join staff to clean the park and educate the public on the importance of doing their part to keep our parks clean by joining one of the many volunteer activities hosted as part of the campaign.
Continue reading “Anti-Litter Campaign Kicks-Off in Morningside Park, Harlem on April 2, 2021”
Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) today launched Whispering Libraries, a curated, audio experience taking place outdoors at 10 library branches and across Brooklyn. Designed to share art and culture throughout the streets of Brooklyn, Whispering Libraries invites the public to listen to curated playlists of music, poetry, oral histories, podcast excerpts, spoken literature, and more, streamed through hidden speakers starting as early as 7:30 a.m. and playing up to five times a day on weekdays and select Saturdays.
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.
Welcoming Spring with open arms, we begin to visit our favorite restaurants, galleries, institutions, outdoor events and installations. Here are a few suggestions for the month of April ~ as we continue to mask-up and socially distance.
Continue reading “Art Installations, Exhibits & Events in NYC to Add to Your List in April, 2021”
Venus Over Manhattan will open its doors to Verdant Malformations, an exhibition of new works by Katie Stout on April 6th.
Stout’s sculptures, referencing the excessive detail of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s still-life portraits and the dystopian visions of Hieronymus Bosch, evoke states of material decay and regeneration. Her over-ripe, perishing natural forms serve as memento mori, but also as a reminders of life’s resilience. Bold but delicate, Stout’s constructions advance her ongoing exploration of the female form as a site upon which our culture enacts its preoccupations with ornament, allure, and value.
Continue reading “Katie Stout: Verdant Malformations at Venus Over Manhattan”
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).
We’ve seen quite a few artist-supported groups, teaming up with owners of empty ground-floor space, filling windows with art during this very difficult year, as we search for fun ways to connect while socially distancing.
But way before COVID-19, the nonprofit, ChaShaMa, supported artists by partnering with property owners, transforming unused space. In addition, they have provided free art classes for under-resourced communities, subsided 200 artist work spaces, and given 170 artists free space to present plus much much more.
This month, ChaShaMa brightens up our Spring with five lobby exhibitions and six brilliant artists. Take a virtual tour of each, below.
Continue reading “ChaShaMa Brightens our Spring with Five NYC Lobby Exhibitions”
GR gallery is beyond excited to welcome back LY for her first New York City Solo show, after last year duo. Dubbed “The ways LUVS look”, LY will be showcasing her raw talent by revealing 15 new artworks created for this occasion. These canvases, exemplarily executed with the artist signature unlimited gray scale palette, will picture LUV, LY’s omnipresent character, in newfangled scenarios and occupations.
Continue reading “LY: The Ways LUVS look, a Solo Exhibition at GR Gallery”
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.
Working with local property owners and businesses on the Upper West Side, Art on the Ave filled empty windows with works created by local artists ~ giving all proceeds to the artists, who had also been severely hurt by the Pandemic. That first edition was so well-received, Art on the Ave was encouraged to create a second edition. The theme for the next edition, Awakening ~ the location ~ the West Village.
Continue reading “Art on the Ave NYC is Back ~ Next Stop: West Village in April, 2021”
Real Estate Week reported that MADD Equities is moving forward with a new Harlem development, after closing on a $15 million loan for the acquisition of the final site ~ with the entire lot encompassing 124 – 132 East 125th Street, which includes the old Apple Bank building. Demolition expected in 2022, with anticipated completion in 2024.
According to Urbanize, the new 100,000 square-foot structure will include office, retail and a community center. Here’s a first look. The complex will be designed by Aufgang Architects, who redeveloped the historic Victoria Theatre, on the other end of 125th Street in Harlem.
UN/MUTE is an online residency that provides artists an opportunity for a critical exchange and collaboration while simultaneously connecting resources from the global cultural epicenter of New York City. This project is co-organized by Undercurrent and the European Union National Institutes for Culture’s New York Cluster. We are coming in late on this thoughtful, and very interesting project that went live on February 12, 2021. Luckily it will continue through May 9th, which marks Europe Day.
Continue reading “Undercurrent Presents ‘UN/MUTE/10002’ a Very Interesting Virtual Art Residency”
The nonprofit EcoArt Project announced the launch of Rebound-NYC, a new initiative repurposing empty storefronts as cultural pop-ups throughout New York City. Following the devastating effects of COVID-19 on New York’s businesses and streetscapes, EcoArt Project is teaming up with the nonprofit Chashama and local store owners to revitalize the streets of the city with exciting exhibitions that stimulate conversation on our environment and climate change through work by internationally-recognized visual artists and designers.
To celebrate Earth Day 2021, six artists create impactful experiences that investigate the state of our environment. The pop-ups engage artists working in visual and performing arts to present work with environmental themes, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and recycling in Bryant Park and Union Square.
Continue reading “EcoArt Project Launches ‘Rebound-NYC’ Art Pop-Ups, Celebrating Earth Day 2021”
We are still keeping somewhat socially distant, and what better way than to stroll through one of our City’s outdoor markets. The Greenwich Village Sidewalk Market ~ by The Artisan Market Company, will begin on April 10th, operating every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 6:00pm.
Continue reading “Greenwich Village Sidewalk Market Begins April 10th”
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the 27th proposal of his 2020 State of the State agenda effectuating the long deferred transfer of Pier 76 from its use as a tow pound for the NYPD to the control of the Hudson River Park Trust to integrate into the park complex. The nearly 250,000 square foot tow pound is located along the waterfront in Manhattan, across from the new Javits Center, Hudson Yards, and the High Line.
Continue reading “Pier 76 to Become Part of Hudson River Park”
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) has selected Amanda Matthews/Prometheus Art to construct the Nellie Bly Monument on the northern end of Roosevelt Island at Lighthouse Park. The sculptural installation will be known as “The Girl Puzzle” and invites the viewer to experience many facets of Nellie Bly’s talent, conviction and compassion. The ground-breaking journalist and women’s rights advocate exposed the horrors of the Blackwell Island Insane Asylum in 1887 on Roosevelt Island.
Continue reading “Artist, Amanda Matthews to honor Journalist Nellie Bly on Roosevelt Island”
Across the path from the SeaGlass Carousel is The Battery Playscape, an innovative world of play and creativity designed and now being built by The Battery Conservancy (TBC). The new 1.4-acre Playscape triples the size of the current playground to respond to the growing number of Lower Manhattan families, the expanding elementary schools, and the increase visitation of children from all five boroughs. Eight of the Playhouses in the Playscape are now complete, as the Battery Playscape looks forward to opening this summer. Stay tuned.
Continue reading “Playscape to Open this Summer in The Battery”
Volvo Cars, a name synonymous with safety, gave the world the first three-point safety belt in 1959. After its introduction, Volvo faced a world of criticism. People questioned the need to wear them, and some felt laws forcing them to wear one was an infringement on human rights.
The new exhibition, A Million More features portraits and audio recordings that tell the stories of survivors saved by the safety belt, captured by esteemed photographer and Fotografiska alum, Martin Schoeller. The portraits capture the strong emotions in survivors’ faces as they recall their traumatic experiences and the hope and positivity that came from surviving them.
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.
“To offer hope and joy through the use of festive shapes and colors is my gift for a city that has lost too much during the pandemic.” –Blanka Amezkua
