Merrily Kerr - new york art tours

Celeste Boursier-Mougenot, Clinamen at Park Avenue Armory

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 29, 2026July 16, 2026No Comments

French musician, composer and artist Celeste Boursier-Mougenot is known for generating sounds by unconventional means, using ‘instruments’ ranging from vacuum cleaners to birds. Now at the Park Avenue Armory, his installation ‘Clinamen’ employs ceramic bowls, slowly propelled by currents around large circular basins of water, to create a hypnotically relaxing soundtrack as they gently collide. Positioned at the center of the Armory’s massive drill hall on a raised wooden platform, the piece invites visitors to site poolside looking for patterns in the bowls’ movement and listening to the sound of their chimes as they make contact. Titled after the unpredictable swerving of atoms, Clinamen celebrates the possibilities of setting up a situation and seeing what happens. (On view at the Park Avenue Armory on the Upper East Side through Aug 9^th.)

A blue pool of water with white bowls floating in it, with people sitting and standing on the far side of the pool. — Celeste Boursier-Mougenot, Clinamen, installation view at the Park Avenue Armory, June ’26.

Helen Marden, ‘Interlude of Joy’ at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 27, 2026July 22, 2026No Comments

Breeze, Serenade, Frog Hop and here, Patter I, are among the titles of Helen Marden’s watercolor paintings at Gagosian Gallery, pastel-toned compositions that convey movement through swift lines and bright pastel color. Larger canvases employ resin to affix pigment and organic material – leaves, shells – to the surface of swirling abstractions in a show appropriately titled ‘Interlude of Joy.’ (On view at Gagosian Gallery through Aug 21^st).

An abstract pattern of curving lines in pink, blue, yellow, orange and more colors. — Helen Marden, Patter I, watercolor on paper, 22 ½ x 30 inches, 2026.

Mark Manders, ‘Monument’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 24, 2026July 22, 2026No Comments

Lips parted and slightly upturned as if in mid-expression, Mark Manders’ huge, sculpted head at Tanya Bonkadar Gallery seems to be forming a thought, while at the same time its entire being appears to still be under construction. Far from coming across as a figure freed from a stone, a la Michelangelo, Manders’ youthful apparition has taken shape but stays closely associated with the process of manipulating the clumps of clay still clustered at the neck and back of the head. However, what looks like clay, a malleable material, is actually bronze, a reality that stops cold the idea that the figure might be further developed. Titled ‘Monument,’ the sculpture remembers the artist’s mother, who lost a child and – indicated by the material at her throat – held back her grief. (On view through July 31^st).

A large sculpture of a face, emerging from what look like lumped piles of light colored clay. — Mark Manders, Monument, painted bronze, 84 5/8 x 53 1/8 x 55 ¼ inches, 2024-25.

Firelei Baez, ‘Feet Squelching on Wet Grass, Nourished by Uncertainty,’ Hauser & Wirth Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 22, 2026July 13, 2026No Comments

A text written by a theoretical physicist at the entrance to Firelei Baez’s exhibition at Hauser and Wirth Gallery invites gallery visitors to consider life on the minute scale of a cell, then flip to acknowledge our sun as one tiny star amid billions. Similarly, Baez sets up a mind-bending contrast between human attempts at understanding nature, represented by historic charts and diagrams, and spiritual forces that defy those efforts, represented by the bodies of powerful, goddess-like characters which she superimposes on the schematics. Over an architectural drawing for an incinerator located in New Orleans, a full-figured woman with nebula-like purple, blue and red skin and a head covered by or made up of foliage appears to awaken and rise, as if in response to the damage inflicted by the building. In the main gallery, stretching across the long back wall, Baez paints scenes of splashing water and abundant plant life over a mid-19^thcentury diagram that charts the climate in locations around the world. In complete contrast to the measurable predictability suggested by the diagram, nature breaks forth in beautiful, energetic defiance of the systems of knowledge that would seek to know and exploit it. (On view in Chelsea through July 31^st).

View of a very long painting on the wall in orange, green, blue colors and more with a person standing before it. — Firelei Baez, View of Nature (Existing not in the cycles themselves but only in the interactions of the cycles), oil and acrylic on archival printed canvas, 103 x 75 5/8 x 1 ½ inches each panel (8 panels total), 2026.

Close up of the painting, featuring the name 'Singapore' surrounded by leaves and flowers. — Firelei Baez, View of Nature (Existing not in the cycles themselves but only in the interactions of the cycles), oil and acrylic on archival printed canvas, 103 x 75 5/8 x 1 ½ inches each panel (8 panels total), 2026.

Maria Davila and Eduardo Portillo in ‘See You Tomorrow Under Other Skies,’ at Andrew Kreps Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 20, 2026July 16, 2026No Comments

Venezuelan textile artists Maria Davila and Eduardo Portillo’s woven ‘Explosion’ in Andrew Kreps Gallery’s land-themed summer group show ‘See You Tomorrow Under Other Skies’ speaks to the creative potential of new and traditional craft traditions. Attracted decades ago to silk, Davila and Portillo sourced silkworm eggs from the Canary Islands and began farming mulberry trees in the Venezuelan Andes to harvest their own crop. Over years, the couple traveled through Venezuela researching native plants and fibers, including those of the moriche palm, whose fibers now form the skeleton of their ‘mosaic’ series, which is made more complex by a multilayer weave structure that results in stacked layers of woven cloth. Natural dyes, particularly indigo, and metallic threads give ‘Explosion’ a dynamic, shimmering presence that conveys the power of the explosion pictured. (On view in Tribeca through Aug 7^th).

An abstract pattern with a strong grid and a large circular lighter area of white, then yellow, then orange color to the upper right. — Maria Davila and Eduardo Portillo, Explosion, silk, moriche palm fiber, alpaca, metallic yarns and natural dyes, 74 ¼ x 50 inches, 2026.

Abstract grid pattern with blocks of navy blue, white, orange, yellow, etc. — Maria Davila and Eduardo Portillo, (detail of) Explosion, silk, moriche palm fiber, alpaca, metallic yarns and natural dyes, 74 ¼ x 50 inches, 2026.

Kelly Akashi, ‘Heirloom’ at Lisson Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 17, 2026July 16, 2026No Comments

Uprooted and inverted, this weed-like mallow plant at the entrance to Lisson Gallery at first feels like an underwhelming introduction to Kelly Akashi’s latest New York solo show. The impact shifts dramatically when visitors recognize that its incredibly slender forms have been crafted in glass and replicate the plants growing on soil where Akashi’s home and studio were before being destroyed by the Jan 2025 wildfire in Altadena, California. A solitary splash of color in an otherwise monochromatic show, the sculpture recreates a plant that can be found in disturbed soil. In other works, Akashi gathered ash from her former library to create doily patterns and crafted a fragment of her grandmother’s lace tablecloth from steel. With admirable resilience, Akashi employs memories and fragments of what she lost to create new objects with new futures. (On view in Chelsea through July 24^th).

An upside down plant made of glass with green leaves rests on a rusted steel pedestal in a white walled gallery. — Kelly Akashi, Root Inversion (Mallow), flame-worked borosilicate glass, weathering steel, 14 x 14 x 14 inches, 2026.

Jennifer Rochlin in ‘In Solidarity: A Benefit…’ at David Zwirner Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 15, 2026July 15, 2026No Comments

LA artist Jennifer Rochlin’s background as a painter suggests itself in the multiple painterly images on this large vessel in David Zwirner Gallery’s fundraising exhibition, ‘In Solidarity: A Benefit for the American Immigration Council and Journey’s End Refugee Services.’ Picturing a brush-juggling artist seated before an easel and on the reverse side, two beavers popping out of a mountain lake, Rochlin shares her appreciation of the pleasures of artmaking and nature in an endearingly wonky ceramic form. (On view in Chelsea through July 31^st).

A ceramic vessel with a picture of a mountain lake with two beavers on it. — Jennifer Rochlin, May, ceramic, 23 ½ x 16 x 16 inches, 2026.

A ceramic vessel with a picture of an artist sitting at an easel on it. — Jennifer Rochlin, May, ceramic, 23 ½ x 16 x 16 inches, 2026.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, ‘Many a Moonlit Caveat’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 13, 2026July 9, 2026No Comments

Sipping wine, looking at art or sampling pastries, the invented characters in Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings at Jack Shainman Gallery’s Chelsea and Tribeca spaces enjoy the good life while offering gallery viewers the pleasure of looking on. Yiadom-Boakye has explained that the language of painting itself is one of her key motivations and strong contrasts of light and color – a green cloth near a red curtain, an individual in a purple shirt before a bowl of oranges – are formal decisions to savor. In the gallery’s final room, three paintings of individuals enjoying desserts continue to present pleasure as a subject for consideration. In addition to this piece’s vibrant purple, green and yellow colors, a pie and jug of custard offer a satisfying experience of richness tempered only by the prominent knife in the foreground. (On view in Chelsea and Tribeca through July 31^st).

A person a green shirt eats a slice of berry tart in front of a table holding the tart, a knife and a jug of custard. — Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Aux Myrtilles, oil on canvas 74 ¼ x 39 ½ x 1 ½ inches, 2026.

Meg Webster, ‘Thicket’ at Paula Cooper Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 10, 2026July 9, 2026No Comments

Trees have been both material and subject matter in several Chelsea exhibitions recently, but none have included sound and smell in the inviting way that Meg Webster’s ‘Thicket’ does at Paula Cooper Gallery. Visitors hear birdsong recorded at an old-growth forest in New Jersey and smell the scent of greenery before even entering the main space to discover ‘Thicket,’ a large, spiraling form made of branches and foliage cuttings. Positioned at the center of the gallery, basking under the gallery’s skylights, the structure recalls Richard Serra’s inviting steel spirals but situates the feeling of enclosure in a natural environment. Like Robert Smithson’s famous piles of earth deposited in a gallery, there’s a disconnect between the material brought from outside and the white-walled exhibition space that gives the installation an aura of strangeness and wonder. (On view in Chelsea through July 24^th).

A spiral of tree and bush branches in the center of a white gallery. — Meg Webster, Thicket, branch and foliage cuttings on branch lattice structure, 108 x 240 x 264 inches, 2026.

Patrick Groth, ‘The Most Important of the Least Important Things’ at Harper’s Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 8, 2026July 8, 2026No Comments

Through Harper’s Gallery’s large street-facing windows, Patrick Groth’s paintings of soccer players in vividly colored uniforms set against the green background of the pitch grab attention like a store window full of televisions. Inspired by footage of European club matches, Groth’s paintings are almost quaintly small, analogue versions of the ubiquitous screens currently placed around New York City to stream the FIFA World Cup games. Pictured from above as if shot by drone or stadium cameras, clusters of players in different configurations react to a referee’s presentation of a yellow or red card. Groth’s loose style hides the emotion on the faces of the players, turning their bodies into abstract indications of color and movement while at the same time, picturing them as actors in decidedly theatrical moments. (On view in Chelsea through July 24^th).

A cluster of soccer players gather around or walk toward a referee holding up a yellow card. — Patrick Groth, Yellow Card (Philips Sport Vereiniging vs Fussball-Club Bayern Munchen e. V.), oil on canvas, 18 x 32 inches, 2026.

Julian Schnabel, ‘Italy Through Its Trees’ at Pace Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 6, 2026June 30, 2026No Comments

Famous for painting on various surfaces from velvet to tarps since the 1970s, Julian Schnabel revives his most famous painting surface in a show of new ‘crockery paintings’ at Pace Gallery that pay homage to Rome’s native umbrella pine. While staying in southern Italy to shoot his recently released film, ‘In the Hand of Dante,’ Schnabel noted the distinctively shaped tree in the Villa Borghese and in later encounters. In the current show, Schnabel also paints trees on copies of antique maps, another signature surface that suggests tantalizingly unknown places and histories. (On view in Chelsea through Aug 14^th).

A painting of tree on a rough surface of shattered crockery. — Julian Schnabel, Portrait of Italy through its Trees V, oil plates and bondo on aluminum, 108 x 84 inches, 2025.

Abstract pattern of greenery of a tree. — Julian Schnabel, (detail) Portrait of Italy through its Trees V, oil plates and bondo on aluminum, 108 x 84 inches, 2025.

Edward Hicks, ‘The Declaration of Independence’ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 3, 2026June 30, 2026No Comments

In New York Art Tours’ final selection from the Met Museum’s American galleries this week, this painting by Edward Hicks, Pennsylvania Quaker preacher, trained sign painter and one of the U.S.’s best known folk artists, celebrates independence while encouraging unity. The message, ‘In unity there is strength’ appears in an arc against the back wall in a departure from John Trumbull’s famous, earlier painting after which Hicks modeled his composition. Painted in 1844, the year of a presidential election that divided the country over issues of expansionism and the annexation of Texas, this painting recalls the act of solidarity that began the nation’s history. (On view in gallery 731 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Edward Hicks, The Declaration of Independence, oil on canvas, 1844. Lent by the Solomon Family Collection, 2013.

Mary Cassatt, ‘Young Mother Sewing’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show July 1, 2026June 30, 2026No Comments

New York Art Tours continues to celebrate the U.S.’s 250^th anniversary this week in the Met Museum’s American galleries with this painting by 19^th century American Impressionist Mary Cassatt, who befriended Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot and other iconic artists while advising American collectors on the Paris art scene. ‘Young Mother Sewing’ features two paid models who lived near Cassatt’s country home enacting a scene of casual familiarity between mother and child. Though she never married or had children, Cassatt was close to her nieces and nephews and created images of tenderness and love that resonate today. (On view in gallery 768 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

A woman sits before a window sewing by hand as a girl in a white dress leans on the woman's knee and looks at us. — Mary Cassatt, Young Mother Sewing, oil on canvas, 36 3/8 x 29 inches, 1900.

Theresa Bernstein’s ‘Music Lovers’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 30, 2026June 30, 2026No Comments

As the U.S. celebrates its 250^th anniversary this week, New York Art Tours is taking a trip to the Met Museum’s outstanding American art collection to check out some classics and lesser-known highlights. One of the first pieces that visitors to the second-floor encounter is this large, recently acquired painting from 1915 by Polish-born New Yorker Theresa Bernstein. Titled ‘Music Lovers,’ Bernstein pictures visitors to the Met Opera, then located near 39^th Street, lining up to purchase tickets. Ranging from the Italian man in his characteristic craftsman’s hat at the ticket window to a well-to-do couple in top hat and fascinator, the assorted audience members (including Bernstein’s mom in the white collar) come from different backgrounds but gather in their shared appreciation for music. (On view in gallery 772 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

A woman is spotlit in white collar and gloves in front of a line of people waiting in line before a ticket window. — Theresa Bernstein, Music Lovers, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 inches, 1915.

Kim Gordon, ‘12341 Branford St Sun Valley’ at 303 Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 26, 2026June 26, 2026No Comments

A wall of sound emerges from music icon Kim Gordon’s guitar as she steps up to a towering pile of cars at an auto wrecker in an industrial estate just north of LA in her film (co-directed with Manuela Dalle) ‘12341 Branford St Sun Valley’ at 303 Gallery. Wearing a silver lame top that both adds a touch of glamor and connects her to the monochrome cars surrounding her, Gordon holds her instrument to various pieces of junked steel as if offering the wreckage a voice. A quote from Gordon on the wall suggests she’s an alien, exploring the fallout from American dreams of the road as place of glamourous freedom. (On view in Chelsea through July 8^th).

Between two rows of cars, a woman holds an electric guitar up to a piece of a car. — Kim Gordon, still from ‘12341 Branford St Sun Valley’ at 303 Gallery, June ’26.

Vija Celmins, ‘Prints 1983 to 1985’ at Matthew Marks Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 24, 2026June 23, 2026No Comments

Matthew Marks Gallery’s show of Vija Celmins’ mid-80s prints includes her iconic images of the ocean’s surface, star-filled night skies and a rocky patch of ground in the desert, all huge spaces which the artist engages on a human scale. Night scenes and land/seascapes look like generic sites until closer inspection reveals the specificity of each in the mind-boggling detail Celmins affords each wave or rock. Here, she continues to juxtapose the vast and the minute by picturing a huge tree in an etching less than four inches tall, ignoring details of leaves and bark and instead putting the emphasis the mass and silhouette of a giant that necessarily contains worlds of detail. (On view in Chelsea through June 27^th).

An image of a large tree in a flat landscape. — Vija Celmins, Untitled (Tree) from The View, etching and drypoint, 3 ½ x 3 7/8 inches (image), 1986.

A detail photo of an etching of a tree. — Vija Celmins, (detail of) Untitled (Tree) from The View, etching and drypoint, 3 ½ x 3 7/8 inches (image), 1986.

Fred Tomaselli, ‘Blooms Disrupted’ at James Cohan Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 22, 2026June 17, 2026No Comments

Once known for embedding mind-altering drugs and plants in psychedelic collages encased in resin, Fred Tomaselli has shifted his interest to other recreation in new work at James Cohan Gallery in Tribeca. Now an avid urban gardener, the Brooklyn-based artist looks to the natural world for a non-chemical high, describing the garden as a place for ‘preservation and communal care.’ Here, the lush petals of a ‘Mister Lincoln’ rose are made of collaged red images, from a Coke can to a tomato, set against a blue sky. Though the work’s dominant colors of red and blue signal partisan politics, they appear less at odds in a natural setting. (On view in Tribeca through June 27^th).

Roses made of collaged photographs against a swirly patterned blue sky. — Fred Tomaselli, Lincoln, acrylic, leaves, photo collage and resin on wood panel, 48 x 48 inches, 2026.

A Rose and rose leaves made up of collaged red items. — Fred Tomaselli, (detail) Lincoln, acrylic, leaves, photo collage and resin on wood panel, 48 x 48 inches, 2026.

Helen Frankenthaler, ‘The Moment and the Distance’ at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 20, 2026June 17, 2026No Comments

Poet Barbara Guest praised her friend Helen Frankenthaler’s work for embodying opposing qualities of “freedom with restraint, extravagance with discipline, suggestion and definition” saying that in Frankenthaler’s work, “the moment becomes the distance.” The phrase is the title of a museum-quality exhibition of Frankenthaler’s work at Gagosian Gallery’s 21^st Street location which tracks her stylistic development from the 1960s through the 1990s. These two large canvases from the late ‘60s at the show’s entrance engulf viewers in fields of color that are both washy and firm and recall Frankenthaler’s stated intention to paint “climates,” hinting at moods conjured by changing natural conditions. (On view through July 2^nd).

A large gallery with two abstract paintings on the walls. — Helen Frankenthaler, installation view featuring: Moontide, 1968, acrylic on canvas (left) and Gamut, 1968, acrylic on canvas (right).

Sophie von Hellermann, ‘After a Dream’ at Greene Naftali Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 17, 2026June 17, 2026No Comments

Two scarecrow-like figures walk rapidly, arm-in-arm through a field of sunflowers in Sophie von Hellermann’s huge, 7 foot high painting at Greene Naftali Gallery, their idyll undermined only by a frowning sunflower. The title, ‘Paul and Vincent,’ immediately locates the scene to the south of France in fall 1888, when Paul Gauguin’s visit to Vincent Van Gogh ended in the latter’s famously cutting his ear. Von Hellermann’s signature washy painting style – achieved with pigments, acrylic emulsion and water and no prep drawings – conjures the hope and promise of the harmonious relationship that Van Gogh fancifully envisioned when he invited Gauguin to stay. (On view in Chelsea through June 20^th).

Two loosely painted figures walk through an abstracted field of yellow sunflowers. — Sophie von Hellermann, Paul and Vincent, raw pigment and acrylic emulsion on canvas, 96 x 120 ¼ inches, 2026.

Pacita Abad, ‘Door to Life’ at Tina Kim Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 15, 2026June 12, 2026No Comments

Though born and raised on a remote island at the far north of the Philippine archipelago, Pacita Abad visited over sixty countries in her lifetime, absorbing craft traditions from SE Asia, Africa and the Caribbean and developing a global art practice. In 1998, Abad visited Yemen and was struck by the painted doorways and stained-glass windows of the nation’s capital and villages. Back in her studio in Jakarta, Abad created the painted and stitched works now on view at Tina Kim Gallery that not only pay homage to the geometry and color of Yemeni design but here, are painted on woven straw mats like those made by Yemeni women. (On view through June 20^th).

Three colorful abstract paintings hang from the gallery ceiling. — Pacita Abad, ‘Door to Life’ installation view at Tina Kim Gallery, June 2026.

Vik Muniz, ‘Brushstrokes’ at Sikkema Malloy Jenkins

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 12, 2026June 12, 2026No Comments

Over the decades, Brazilian artist Vik Muniz has made an art form of using unusual materials to replicate famous images, drizzling chocolate to produce a picture of Jackson Pollock or arranging garbage from a Rio de Janeiro landfill in the form of famous works from western art history. The latest in his seemingly inexhaustible supply of ideas involves painting an individual brushstroke, photographing it, cutting it out and adding it to a collage that replicates a famous Post-Impressionist artwork. Given that Van Gogh, Gauguin and their contemporaries are often cited by artists today, the homage feels appropriate, though as usual, a major draw to Muniz’s new work at Sikkema Malloy Jenkins is the mind-boggling effort it took to produce. (On view through June 20^th).

An abstracted image of a large tree trunk to the left and a field of grass. — Vik Muniz, Tree Trunks in the Grass, after Vincent Van Gogh, Brushstrokes, archival inkjet print, 50 x 62 ¼ inches, 2026.

An abstract design of grass. — Vik Muniz, (detail) Tree Trunks in the Grass, after Vincent Van Gogh, Brushstrokes, archival inkjet print, 50 x 62 ¼ inches, 2026.

Maria Calandra, ‘Hancock Alameda’ at Fredericks and Freiser Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 10, 2026June 10, 2026No Comments

Maria Calandra’s sizeable painting ‘Fried Egg Poppy of Alameda County,’ a star of her solo show at Fredericks Freiser Gallery, does justice to the Matilija poppy, which boasts some of the biggest flower blooms of any California native. Painting from her memories of real places in northern California, Maine and even Brooklyn’s Botanical Gardens, Calandra applies paint to canvas in a controlled pattern of pooling and spreading that merges flowers, foliage, landscape and sky. Here, as in other paintings, the sky’s dramatic colors suggest an approaching or departing storm, creating a heightened awareness of the energy and beauty of the natural world. (On view in Chelsea through June 13^th).

White poppy flowers with prominent yellow centers fill the bottom 2/3 of a painting of a landscape. — Maria Calandra, Fried Egg Poppy of Alameda County, acrylic on linen, 60 x 45 inches, 2026.

Chester Higgins, ‘Shared Memories’ at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 8, 2026June 3, 2026No Comments

Is this hand smothered by the US flag? Supporting it? Chester Higgins’ striking 2018 photograph, ‘State of Affairs’ continues the photographer’s six-decade photographic essay on the realities, triumphs and hardships of life for Black Americans with an image that is compositionally straightforward yet invites multiple interpretations. The piece is a standout in the 80-year-old Brooklyn-based photographer’s current exhibition at Chelsea’s Bruce Silverstein Gallery, which includes work from his two dozen plus trips to the African continent alongside images from Harlem to Alabama, all of which richly demonstrate his love and respect for people of African descent. (On view in Chelsea through June 20^th).

A closeup image of the American flag with an open hand in silhouette behind it. — Chester Higgins, State of Affairs, digital pigment print, 2018.

Jordan Kasey, ‘I Can Hear the Grass Grow’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 5, 2026June 3, 2026No Comments

In lieu of the traditional artist or gallery statement, a five-line poem describing a closeness to nature that allows one to ‘hear the grass grow’ introduces Brooklyn painter Jordan Kasey’s oil paintings at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. The new work features the artist’s typically monumental people lounging in the grass on a sunny day or forming a crush of bodies in a family group hug. Just as one pink flower provides privacy and perhaps shade to the figure in the foreground of ‘Meadow’ pictured here, Kasey portrays the natural world – even in this surreally stylized manifestation – as providing peace and rejuvenation. (On view through June 20^th).

Jordan Kasey, Meadow, oil on canvas, 72 x 96 inches, 2026.

Sanford Biggers, ‘The Gift of Tongues’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 3, 2026No Comments

Greek mythology associates the Narcissus flower with a youth who was cursed to fall in love with himself, but it also describes the bloom as one that enticed Persephone to stray from her companions and be abducted by Hades. Sanford Biggers’ sculpture ‘Narcissus,’ a centerpiece of his current exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, aligns with the later tale for its intriguing patterning and positioning at the end of a hung-fabric corridor that encourages visitors to draw close. Known for his syncretic approach to artmaking, Biggers here combines a Greco-Roman torso with a head inspired by an African mask against a backdrop drawing on quilt patterns, a rich, intercultural combination that speaks to the complexity of American identity. (On view in Chelsea through June 13^th.)

An African mask on a Greek upper torso, painted with an abstract pattern that aligns with that of a quilt on a background panel. — Sanford Biggers, Narcissus, marble, antique quilt, assorted fabric, mixed media, marble: 18 ½ x 18 x 13 ½; plink 50 3/8 x 21 7/8 x 17 ¾ inches, 2026.

Katharina Fritsch, ‘Car and Caravan’ at Matthew Marks Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show June 1, 2026May 29, 2026No Comments

Katharina Fritsch’s sculptures elicit a mix of wonder and puzzlement, their careful manufacture and invitingly slick surfaces enticing us to ponder a strange shift in scale or unexpected color choice. Here, a sculpture of a car and caravan in Fritsch’s solo show at Matthew Marks Gallery generates mild confusion at the incongruity of a Mercedes hauling a small camper (highlighted by the contrast between the car’s sleek black surface and the caravan’s white finish). The artwork is based on a model of a toy that she presented at art school in 1979, a Pop art gesture that flirted with but flouted the prevalent minimalist aesthetic of the time. (On view in Chelsea through June 27^th.)

A sculpture of a black car in front of a sculpture of a white caravan in a big, open-plan gallery. — Katharina Fritsch, Auto und Wohnwagen / Car and Caravan 1979/2026, vinyl ester resin, stainless steel, aluminum, lacquer, overall: 84 5/8 x 357 x 74 7/8 inches, 1979 / 2026.

Markus Brunetti, ‘Facades IV’ at Yossi Milo Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 29, 2026May 27, 2026No Comments

Digitally knit together from hundreds if not thousands of photographs of famous and lesser-known European church facades, Markus Brunetti’s images at Yossi Milo Gallery elicit wonder at the beauty and detailed decoration of the continent’s architectural treasures. Every inch of each photograph offers crisp detail captured by Brunetti as he stands before each structure with a camera and variety of lenses, gathering more information than any single photo or even the naked eye. Here, a striking, multi-colored marble exterior on the mid-15^th century Oratory of San Bernardino in Perugia, Italy is smaller than the extensive, larger church building to the right, but isolated in the photograph and free from its surroundings, the oratory takes on a grandeur of its own. (On view in Chelsea through June 20^th).

The front of a Renaissance church, decorated in pink and green marble. — Markus Brunetti, Perugia, Oratorio di San Bernardino, archival pigment print, 70 13/16” x 59”, 2014 – 2023.

Danielle Mckinney, ‘Forest for the Trees’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 27, 2026May 27, 2026No Comments

Glowing orbs in the form of lamps and chandeliers light Danielle Mckinney’s small, intimate oil paintings at Marianne Boesky Gallery, softly illuminating the private refuges of her imagined female protagonists. Blue eyeshadow or vividly painted red nails pop out against nude (or nearly) bodies of women who distinguish their living spaces through selectively placed accents of lush, bold color. The green and turquoise tones on this reclining figure’s face mask recall the green strip on the face of Matisse’s famous portrait of his wife, suggesting a fearless woman in charge of her own story, one as confident and rich as the towering abstract artwork behind her. (On view in Chelsea through June 13^th).

A woman reclines on a sofa in bathrobe and turban before a large abstract painting. — Danielle Mckinney, Recess, oil on linen, 18 ¼ x 14 inches, 2026.

A woman with her hair in a turban wearing a bathrobe lounges in front of a vase of flowers. — Danielle Mckinney, Recess, oil on linen, 18 ¼ x 14 inches, 2026.

Mark di Suvero, ‘Avanti!’ at Paula Cooper Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 26, 2026May 20, 2026No Comments

Preponderously heavy yet looking as if it just danced into Paula Cooper Gallery and paused for applause, Mark di Suvero’s 1986 ‘Nelly’ exemplifies the exuberance and solidity of the nonagenarian’s sculptures. Across the gallery, ‘Avanti!’ from 1998 dares visitors to climb a small platform and use their own weight to shift a hulking great piece of steel suspended from a thick chain. Both frightening and exhilarating, the experience of interacting with the metal behemoth takes visitors beyond the delight at dynamic forms to an appreciation of weight and actual movement. (On view through July 17^th).

An abstract sculpture roughly in the form of an X made of i-beams and other steel parts. — Mark di Suvero, Nelly, steel, 12 ft 6 inches x 18 ft 6 inches x 16 ft 10 ½ inches, 1986.

Emily Kraus, ‘In Relation’ at Luhring Augustine Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 22, 2026May 20, 2026No Comments

Emily Kraus’s oil paintings tower over visitors to Luhring Augustine’s Tribeca space, their repeated patterns alternately boldly colored and faded, like a stutter that periodically bursts into explosive expression. The London-based American artist calls this group of abstract paintings her ‘Stochastic Series,’ after their unpredictable patterns and emphasizes the paintings’ relation to her own body. Assigned a small studio with bad lighting while pursuing her MFA a few years ago, Kraus innovated by wrapping the walls in 360 degrees of canvas and later painting from within a cube structure which she rotates as she works. Titled ‘Anemoi’ after the winds from Greek mythology, this painting suggests an opening through which twisting gusts might pass. (On view in Tribeca through June 13^th).

A large abstract painting hung in the corner of an art gallery. — Emily Kraus, Anemoi, oil on canvas, 125 ¼ x 225 ¼ inches, 2026.

A closeup view of an abstract painting. — Emily Kraus, Anemoi, oil on canvas, 125 ¼ x 225 ¼ inches, 2026.

Gerhard Richter, ‘Landschaften’ at David Zwirner Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 20, 2026May 20, 2026No Comments

Though iconic German artist Gerhard Richter painted from photographs from the 1960s onward, his dry-brush painting technique abstracted images from family albums, books or magazines into intentional ambiguity. Focusing on landscapes, David Zwirner Gallery’s current show of Richter’s work from the ‘60s to the ‘00s displays both abstract and representational work side by side and, in some works, in the same painting. Here, Lichtung (Clearing) seems to proffer an idyllic glade in the near distance. In the immediate foreground, however, Richter imposes a permeable barrier between viewers and the scenic break in the forest by applying green-toned abstract passages of paint on the painting’s surface. Our inclination to mentally venture into the meadow beyond is arrested as the focus shifts to the surface of the canvas, changing the painting from a nature scene into an experience of light, color and tone. (On view in Chelsea through July 10^th).

A painting of a clearing in a forest, partly covered over and hidden by paint. — Gerhard Richter, Lichtung (Clearing), oil on canvas, 28 ½ x 40 1/8 inch, 1987.

Debbie Lawson, ‘In a Cowslip’s Bell I Lie’ at Sargent’s Daughters

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 18, 2026May 12, 2026No Comments

Inspired by animal forms woven into carpets, carved into furniture and present throughout the history of architecture and the decorative arts, UK artist Debbie Lawson hides animals in plain sight in new sculpture at Sargent’s Daughters Gallery. Starting with a wire and tape armature, Lawson builds the animals and covers them in patterned carpet in a surprising blend of nature and culture. The show’s handsome installation begins with canids camouflaged against a carpet backdrop and freestanding animals including a big cat and a bear, then progresses to this magnificent eagle at the back of the gallery, wings spread and claws poised as if materializing from the carpet’s foliage. (On view in Tribeca through May 30^th.)

A Persian-style carpet hung on the wall with the form (sculpture) of an eagle appearing to fly out of it. — Debbie Lawson, Red Eagle, carpet, steel and mixed media, 116 1/8 x 21 5/8 inches, 2026.

Sam Falls, ‘Amongst the Living’ at 303 Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 15, 2026May 12, 2026No Comments

Real flowers blend with vividly colored glazes on Sam Falls’ recent ceramic sculptures at 303 Gallery to offer an intense experience of nature, real and represented. Working with flowers and plants from his own garden, Falls rolls them into ceramic slabs which he fires to burn off the organic matter. Referring to the remaining silhouette of the plants as ‘fossilization,’ the artist aims to preserve elements of a changing landscape as a record for the future. (On view through May 30^th).

A round collage of ceramic panels that fit together in an abstract pattern and hold two small shelves with ceramic vases holding flowers. — Sam Falls, Double Fantasy, glazed ceramic with glass and brass frame, 43 inches, 2026.

Emma Webster, ‘Rues and Leaves Themselves Alone’ at Petzel Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 13, 2026May 12, 2026No Comments

Darkly mysterious or floodlit, Emma Webster’s new landscape paintings at Petzel Gallery are an uncanny blend of realistic elements and digitally abstracted forms. This painting’s title, ‘Wasatch,’ suggests a location in the western Rocky Mountains, but while the birch trees in the foreground are identifiable, they’re surrounded by flat, undetailed saplings and strange, shadowy terrain in the back left that belongs to a digital world. Multiple light sources which cast a variety of shadows and the appearance of a rearing bull place the painting in the realm of fantasy, creating an intriguing blend of possible permutations between real and imagined worlds. (On view in Chelsea through June 6^th.)

A snowy landscape with two birch trees in the foreground. — Emma Webster, Wasatch, oil on linen, 84 x 60 inches, 2026.

“Chair Show” at 125 Newberry

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 11, 2026May 8, 2026No Comments

125 Newberry’s jam-packed ‘Chair Show’ offers an abundance of resting spots, but just for the eyes; over three dozen artworks in a variety of media imagine familiar furniture in a wild variety of ways. Donald Judd’s boxy aluminum and wood benches and chairs on the floor and hung at angles from the ceiling turn otherwise static forms into a lively display while Kiki Smith’s papier-mache seat hovers mysteriously above the floor, affixed to a central column. Hugh Hayden’s clever Swiss-army-knife wooden school desk with attached garden implements compliments the eclectic quality of Louise Nevelson’s assemblage of once-useful found objects nearby. An excellent contrast to David Byrne’s apparently light-weight macaroni-covered chair is Alicja Kwade’s ‘Mono Matter,’ a garden chair (actually made of cast bronze) that appears to magically support the enormous weight of a boulder. (On view in Tribeca through May 23^rd).

A boulder sitting on what looks like a white, plastic garden chair. — Alicja Kwade, Mono Matter, painted bronze and stone, 46 7/8 x 24 x 24 7/16 inches, unique, 2023.

Orkideh Torabi, ‘Kings and Conquerers’ at Asya Geisberg Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 9, 2026May 8, 2026No Comments

Orkideh Torabi’s solo show at Asya Geisberg Gallery is titled ‘Kings and Conquerors,’ but might more accurately swap ‘kings’ for ‘queens’ as the female protagonists of her vividly colored paintings take charge in the world and in their relationships with men. At the gallery entrance, a confident woman in shades and cowboy boots drives straight towards us on her motorbike, a diminutive, worried-looking man on board behind her. In other works, groups of men cheat at cards or gab loudly over beer. When women appear in the paintings, however, they control the situation, as in this humorous recasting of the typically male magician and his female assistant. (On view in Tribeca through May 16^th).

A woman magician in a topcoat holding a cigarette and saw stands over a male assistant lying on a bench looking up. — Orkideh Torabi, Noise Cancellation: On, dye on canvas, 30h x 22w, 2026.

Giuseppe Penone, ‘The Reflection of Bronze’ at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 6, 2026May 6, 2026No Comments

Trees in the forest near the northern Italian village of Giuseppe Penone’s birth have inspired the famed 79-year-old Arte Povera artist’s artwork from an early age, and they continue to prompt his poetic mediations in the form of bronze sculpture currently on view at Gagosian Gallery. After passing through a large gallery dramatically lined with cork oak tree bark and small sculptural masks of acacia leaves, visitors encounter four sculptures titled ‘Clepsydra,’ a reference to ancient water clocks that marked time with a slow, steady release (or ‘theft’) of water. For each, Penone removed (or ‘stole’) wood from a large tree to reveal a younger plant, stripping away the years and layers of growth to return to an earlier state. (On view in Chelsea through July 2^nd).

A sculpture of a large tree trunk with a slice removed on top of which is a spindly, leafless tree. — Giuseppe Penone, Clepsydra [I], bronze, 130 11/16 x 51 3/16 x 49 5/8 inches, 2012.

Julie Mehretu, ‘Our Days Like a Shadow…’ at Marian Goodman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 4, 2026April 28, 2026No Comments

Known for manipulating, blurring and painting from found media photographs related to social unrest or current events Julie Mehretu continues to picture contemporary times in new, semi-transparent paintings at Marian Goodman Gallery. Bold, metal frames designed by fellow gallery artist Nairy Baghramian allow new, multi-layered paintings on translucent textile to stand in the middle of the gallery so that the shadows of circulating gallery visitors become visible through them. Citing King David in the Old Testament asserting that his people’s “days on earth are like a shadow,” and referring also to a Buddhist concept of being unfixed in physical state, Mehretu’s new work aims to address a profound state of flux that she sees as characteristic of the current age. (On view in Tribeca through June 6^th).

A frame positioned in front of windows holds an abstract artwork in tones of pink and orange. — Julie Mehretu / Nairy Baghramian, TRANSpaintings (halfcore/halfwit) / Upright Brackets, ink and acrylic on monofilament polyester mesh in an aluminum sculpture, dimensions variable, painting 72 x 60 inches, 2024.

Erwin Wurm, ‘Double Dream’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show May 1, 2026April 28, 2026No Comments

Chosen with little effort or a lot, our clothing gives an impression of who we are or at least how we see ourselves. But what would happen if could just send our clothes out into the public realm without us? Austrian sculptor Erwin Wurm’s ‘Substitutes’ series puts this idea to the test with painted aluminum garments that stand or float in Lehman Maupin Gallery as if inhabited by a living force. The potential eeriness of the sculptures is offset by their cheerful tones – a hot pink suit, an electric yellow hoody and pants and a towering powder blue dress with tights are more fun than creepy and geared to entertain. (On view in Chelsea through June 6^th).

A sculpture of a pink suit stands in front of an all-yellow outfit behind. Both are unworn but standing. — Erwin Wurm, In the foreground: Waiting Pink Small (Substitutes), aluminum and acrylic paint, 39 3/8 x 5 7/8 x 13 ¾ inches, 2024. In the background: Hoody I (Philosophers), aluminum and paint, 80 ¾ x 24 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches, 2023.

Kay WalkingStick, ‘Mesas / Mountains / Sky’ at Hales Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 29, 2026April 28, 2026No Comments

Kay WalkingStick’s latest solo show at Hales Gallery in Chelsea, ‘Mesas/Mountains/Sky,’ follows her 2022 exhibition there, ‘Mountains/Canyons/Clouds,’ in presenting landforms and sky as subject matter for paintings that showcase the majestic beauty of the natural world. Each fluidly painted scene is accompanied by abstract designs, patterns copied from Native American beadwork, pottery or other objects which belong to the cultures resident in the scene depicted. Here, ‘Sage Brush and Cholla’ pictures plants important to Navajo communities while including a pattern with stepped forms around a cross symbol referring to the four directions of the universe. (On view in Chelsea through May 30^th).

A landscape in the American Southwest. — Kay WalkingStick, Sage Brush and Cholla, oil on panel in two parts, 40 x 80 inches, 2025.

A geometric pattern superimposed on a dry landscape in the American west. — Kay WalkingStick, (detail of) Sage Brush and Cholla, oil on panel in two parts, 40 x 80 inches, 2025.

Benny Andrews, ‘Migrants’ at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 28, 2026April 28, 2026No Comments

Known for his ‘rough’ collage and socially committed artwork, late NYC artist Benny Andrews traveled the U.S. in his final years, following the paths of migrants he pictured in his ‘Migrant Series,’ now on view at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery. Linking to his own diverse ancestry, Andrews pictured the forced migration in the 19^th century of Native Americans from the southeastern US in the ‘Trail of Tears’, the experiences of Black Americans participating in the Great Migration from south to north in the early to mid-20^th century, and farmers and their families who left the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl era. Andrews’ characteristic open spaces of canvas lend themselves to the feeling of strangeness that pervades pictures of train stations, encampments and other points of departure as figures set out into the unknown. Here, Black migrants perform for or serve white patrons at the Cotton Club, a representation of skill and hard work that speaks to the resilience of those forced to make their way into new lives. (On view through Aug 7^th).

Couples sit a tables, with a waiter and singer under a sign reading 'Cotton Club.' — Benny Andrews, Cotton Club Study #4, The Migrant Series: Great Migration, oil on canvas with painted fabric collage in artist’s original painted frame, 24 ¾ x 18 7/8 x 1 ¾ inches, 2004.

A woman in a pink evening dress holds her hand out while singing. — Benny Andrews, (detail of) Cotton Club Study #4, The Migrant Series: Great Migration, oil on canvas with painted fabric collage in artist’s original painted frame, 24 ¾ x 18 7/8 x 1 ¾ inches, 2004.

Sally Saul, ‘Over the River and Through the Woods’ at Shrine Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 28, 2026April 28, 2026No Comments

On a low pedestal at the center of Shrine Gallery’s back exhibition space, a selection of Sally Saul’s quirky ceramic sculptures seems designed to underwhelm but charms none-the-less. Snaggle-toothed dogs frisk around, three white-throated sparrows with delicate bodies and chunky feet gather around a dish of food, and a couple of chipmunks chatter together in sculptures that delightfully picture animals in community with each other. Meanwhile, Saul’s perturbed-looking self-portrait head semi-surrounded by several tiny flying fish humorously suggests that this alter ego has slipped into another mental state while nearby, a whimsical hatted figure holding a dish of something resembling fruit sits in wholesome enjoyment of the natural world. (On view in Tribeca through May 9^th).

A ceramic man in a hat holds a dish of fruit while seated on the floor next to a ceramic tree. — Sally Saul, Man with Hat, clay and glaze, 17 x 12.75 x 12.5 inches, 2022.

Doron Langberg, ‘Landscapes’ at Deitch Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 22, 2026April 22, 2026No Comments

A vividly colored landscape near his family home in Israel, the forest in Ukraine where many family members were murdered during the Holocaust and a dance party on Fire Island are subjects of New York artist Doron Langberg’s huge new canvases at Deitch Gallery, all an attempt to personally process two years of war. Langberg wrote a statement about his new work and gave an interview to the New York Times; beyond that, visitors are left to make their own interpretation of the peaceful and fraught places pictured. The artist explains that Van Gogh and Munch inspired him to look to the landscape as a place to grapple with darkness; by extension, here he pictures the community at the Meat Rack rave which momentarily gave relief to pervasive feelings of heaviness. (On view through this Saturday, April 25^th in Tribeca).

A mass of indistinct people at an outdoor gathering. — Doron Langberg, Meat Rack Rave, oil on linen, triptych, overall 96 x 240 inches, 2024.

Barely visible cluster of people in a darker area in foreground, a light colored string of flags top right. — Doron Langberg, (detail) Meat Rack Rave, oil on linen, triptych, overall 96 x 240 inches, 2024.

Letha Wilson, ‘Stone’s Throw’ at GRIMM Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 20, 2026April 14, 2026No Comments

Photographs not only picture something but also exist in the world as physical objects. Letha Wilson takes each role seriously in her current solo show at GRIMM Gallery, presenting landscape images shot in California, New Mexico and Washington State mounted to steel or embedded in concrete and exhibited as sculpture. In this piece, Wilson’s photo of Yosemite National Park is affixed to the wall but loops behind a cast-iron column normally hidden by gallery architecture. By excavating the column, painting it and installing the photo, Wilson integrates urban and natural terrains while also alluding to iron’s origins as ore in rocky landscapes. (On view in Tribeca through May 2^nd.)

A photograph of Yosemite National Park, wrapped behind a white, fluted column supporting the gallery ceiling with a view behind (to the right) into another room of the gallery. — Letha Wilson, Yosemite Wall Column Push, archival digital prints, cast iron column, hole in wall, ’26.

Jakkai Siributr, ‘There’s No Place’ at Canal Projects

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 17, 2026April 14, 2026No Comments

Family and national history come together in ‘Broadlands,’ the centerpiece of Bangkok textile artist Jakkai Siributr’s show at Canal Projects, a work crafted from the artist’s late mother’s clothing. As part of Thai King Rama VII’s encourage on a visit to England in the mid 1930s, Siributr’s mother was present when the king abdicated and remained in England; her garments symbolize her role as witness to political upheaval, while the chains of beads point to a family tale of a broken necklace at a social occasion. Positioned near quilts made from antique thangkas embroidered to picture his mother and aunts, who continued to be tied to historic events, Siributr’s humble sewn medium connects personal experience with wider cultural histories. (On view through May 23^rd).

Hanging clothing in pink, brown and cream-colored fabric cover a green-toned rug. — Jakkai Siributr, Broadlands, hand sewn hanging with garments, vintage pearl necklaces, beads, and acrylic thread; antique rug with hand sewn beads, 2023.

Elizabeth Peyton, mountains in my heart (the death of Sarpedon) at David Zwirner Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 15, 2026April 14, 2026No Comments

Known for washy, intensely colored close-up portraits of celebrity musicians and creatives, Elizabeth Peyton’s paintings and prints from the last three years at David Zwirner Gallery atomize her subjects, building their forms up from stark white backgrounds via individual brushstrokes. In the show’s best works, a face takes up all or most of the picture’s space as if the subject is leaning in to take a look at us. Rendered indistinctly in soft tones and floating marks, faces like Bob Dylan’s (pictured here) suggest impermanence and a wistfulness conveyed by this painting’s title, ‘I Was Young When I Left Home.’ (On view through May 2^nd).

A painting of the left part of Bob Dylan's face. — Elizabeth Peyton, I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan), oil on board, 12 x 9 inches, 2024.

Robert Gober, ‘Plein Air’ at Matthew Marks Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 13, 2026April 7, 2026No Comments

Tiny prison windows appear in Robert Gober’s recently completed wall-mounted box sculptures at Matthew Marks Gallery, recalling the artist’s iconic barred windows and suggesting a place of confinement. This untitled sculpture adds meticulously hand-crafted window blinds and a rendition of Edouard Manet’s ‘Dead Christ with Angels,’ affixed to the back wall behind a fragile-looking non-functional lightbulb. Pierced on the wrong side and iconographically incorrect in Manet’s ridiculed 1864 version, Gober’s Christ is missing the angels that would place the body in a timeline that leads to resurrection. Adding to the suggestion of stasis or failure, two cigarettes and a toothpick on the box’s floor suggest that someone has been waiting but perhaps, as the barred windows and nonfunctional light suggest, not seeing. (On view in Chelsea through April 18^th).

A box on the wall with blinds at the front and a lightbulb and picture visible inside. — Robert Gober, Untitled, aluminum, wood, clay, plaster, copper, epoxy putty, handmade paper, pewter, brass, glass, acrylic and oil paint, pastel, LED lights, string, 38 x 38 x 23 3/8 inches, 1990-2025.

A lightbulb made of ceramic and cracked is positioned in front of a cropped picture of Manet's Dead Christ with Angels. — Robert Gober, Untitled, aluminum, wood, clay, plaster, copper, epoxy putty, handmade paper, pewter, brass, glass, acrylic and oil paint, pastel, LED lights, string, 38 x 38 x 23 3/8 inches, 1990-2025.

Ileana Garcia Magoda, ‘In the Body of Light’ at Anat Ebgi Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 10, 2026April 7, 2026No Comments

Though she’s inspired by flowers and plant life, Ileana Garcia Magoda’s paintings can look like underwater scenes lit by bioluminescence or unnaturally colored magical worlds punctuated by vivid splashes of color. Here, in a painting at Anat Ebgi Gallery titled ‘There’s no greater repose than this beautiful garden,’ the artist immerses viewers in a field of warm yellow and orange color that generates an immediate emotional impact. The effect links to the sunbaths Magoda takes before heading into the studio, one way of dealing with her chronic spinal pain and a means to impart “the sensations of light absorbed through the skin.” (On view in Tribeca through April 25^th).

A field of large orange and yellow shapes that resemble flowers. — Ileana Garcia Magoda, There’s no greater repose than this beautiful garden, acrylic on canvas, 75 x 126 inches, 2026.

Anish Kapoor, ‘Untitled’ at Lisson Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 8, 2026April 7, 2026No Comments

Walk in front of Anish Kapoor’s 15-foot-tall sheet of stainless steel at Lisson Gallery, and you will be flipped upside down and made huge, an effect both disarming and entertaining. In another sculpture titled ‘Double Vertigo,’ two back-to-back sheets of curving steel reflect each other into infinity while their opposite sides distort gallery visitors’ appearances to the point of disorientation. In his quest to know who we are as humans, Kapoor’s work often attempts to metaphorically look inside the body or aims to create a sublime experience beyond it. His current show falls into the later category, immersing viewers not just in artworks but in environments of his own making. (On view in Chelsea through April 25^th).

Three people stand in front of a tall, curving piece of reflective metal in a white-cube gallery. — Anish Kapoor, Non Object (Plane), stainless steel, 184 x 85 7/8 x 29 7/8 inches, 2010.

Wendy Red Star, ‘One Blue Bead’ at Sargent’s Daughters

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 6, 2026March 31, 2026No Comments

18^th and 19^th century versions of the White French Cross bead in the foreground of this installation view of Wendy Red Star’s solo show at Sargent’s Daughters in Tribeca were harder for Venetian glassmakers to produce, and therefore worth more in the North American fur trade. Trade routes that brought the beads from Europe to the North American interior as well as historic exchange values (3-4 could trade for a prime winter beaver pelt in the 1800s) are part of the information accompanying Red Star’s alluring display of much enlarged glass beads placed on Hudson Bay blankets. A grid of watercolor paintings features the beads and their names (e.g. Padre, Watermelon), enlarging the tiny forms that generated big demand in exchange between Native Americans and Europeans. (On view in Tribeca through April 18^th).

Large sculptural glass beads lie on a red blanket on the floor. Behind, on the wall, is a grid of paintings of individual beads. — Wendy Red Star, installation view of ‘One Blue Bead’ at Sargent’s Daughters, March 2026.

Kamrooz Aram, ‘Infrequencies’ at Alexander Gray Associates

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 3, 2026March 31, 2026No Comments

Rooted in a rigid structure but featuring curving forms suggestive of leaves and floral shapes found in decorative artwork across cultures and ages, Kamrooz Aram’s painted abstractions at Alexander Gray subvert the modernist grid by merging it with decorative elements. Alert to modern art’s disapprobation of ornament, Aram combines both in a show of intensely pleasurable work from the last six years. Here, a painting titled ‘Exuberant Flaneuse’ suggests an urban observer of life whose enthusiasm has overtaken her detachment. (On view in Tribeca through April 11^th.)

An abstract design with straight forms contrasting dominant curving forms in multiple vibrant colors. — Kamrooz Aram, Exuberant Flaneuse, oil, oil crayon, oil stick, and wax pencil on linen, 84 1/8 x 72 1/8 inches, 2020.

Eva Zethraeus and Camilla Iliefski in ‘Shimmering Real’ at HB381 Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show April 1, 2026March 31, 2026No Comments

Inspired by natural forms, Swedish artist Eva Zethraeus’ glazed porcelain sculptures have a pronounced curviness that makes them pleasing to the eye whether their projecting segments hint at ocean life or a virus. The cool colors are offset in a two-person show at Tribeca’s HB381 Gallery by multi-toned, hand-tufted tapestry by fellow Swede and colleague Camilla Iliefski who also takes plant and ocean life as inspiration. (On view through April 18^th in Tribeca).

Several abstract ceramic sculptures rest on a light colored table with a textured tapestry on the wall behind. — Eva Zethraeus, (foreground) Pale Blue Helix, glazed porcelain, 7” h x 13.5” diameter, 2026.

Zhang Huan, ‘Ash Paintings and Performances’ at 125 Newbury

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 30, 2026March 24, 2026No Comments

Just over twenty years ago, Beijing East Village artist Zhang Huan returned to China from an extended stay in New York, settling in Shanghai and establishing a large studio where he produced striking new paintings made of ash, now on view at 125 Newbury. Resulting from incense sticks burnt by visitors to Buddhist temples, the ash moved from a personal, devotional context into a communal work environment as Zhang’s teams of assistants sorted the material by tone to adhere it to the surface of canvas. Basing his images on 20^th century media archives and propaganda photos, the artist presents pictures from history in an impermanent material, suggesting the transitory nature of life at both a personal and national scale. (On view through April 4^th).

A nighttime scene featuring a wet road and an old model car coming towards the viewer. — Zhang Huan, 3am, ash on linen, 8’ 2-7/16” x 13’ 1-1/”, 2010.

A close up photo of this post's other photo featuring the surface made of ash. — Zhang Huan, (detail of) 3am, ash on linen, 8’ 2-7/16” x 13’ 1-1/”, 2010.

Elizabeth Neel, ‘In the Guts of Living’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 27, 2026March 24, 2026No Comments

Ruminating on sources as diverse as biological specimens and information graphics, Elizabeth Neel arrives at a body of work that is at once minimal and rich in color and detail. In new work at Jack Shainman Gallery’s Tribeca space, bold, arching brushstrokes guide the eye across large canvases marked by distinct, Rorschach-like, mirrored forms that contrast zones of color-wash and splattered paint. Here, Neel suggests a giant, waving plant-like form with extensions recalling the spiky legs of praying mantis. Highlights of white paint call attention to the surface of the canvas while at the same time (at the top of the canvas) suggesting reflections from a shiny surface more like a photo than a painting. (On view through April 4^th).

An abstract design with a solid vertical line on the left of the picture and curving lines extending from it on the right. — Elizabeth Neel, Ruminant, acrylic on canvas, 78 x 95 x 1 ½ inches, 2026.

Quentin James McCaffrey, ‘The Gifts’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 25, 2026March 24, 2026No Comments

Quentin James McCaffrey’s surreal depictions of eerily still spaces-within-spaces at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery are restricted to canvases barely a foot high, requiring viewers to get close to each painting as if peering into a portal on the wall. Inspired by Rene Magritte’s ‘Empire of Light’ paintings – which juxtapose blue, daytime skies with night-darkened foregrounds – viewers encounter mirrors that do not reflect and interiors that abruptly give way to scenic vistas. The effect is of enchanting strangeness made richer here by a draped rug that hints at hidden opulence. (On view in Tribeca through April 18^th).

A mirror, covered at the top with a patterned rug, rests against a wall, reflecting a view outside. — Quentin James McCaffrey, Mirror with Drapery, oil on canvas over wood panel, 13 ½ x 11 inches, 2026.

Peter Saul, ‘Peter Saul’s Art History’ at Gladstone Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 24, 2026March 23, 2026No Comments

With her grimacing face and distorted figure, Willem de Kooning’s 1950 ‘Woman I’ is an uneasy presence in modern art history and at present, a recurring one in the Chelsea galleries. She peers out from behind wide, stylized brushstrokes in a 1981 canvas by Roy Lichtenstein at Gagosian Gallery and shows up in several paintings by 91-year-old surreal-pop painter Peter Saul at Gladstone Gallery. Here, Saul’s ‘Woman’ rolls her eyes and smirks as she descends a staircase à la Duchamp’s 1912 ‘Nude Descending a Staircase.’ While Duchamp’s version shocked early 20th century art audiences and de Kooning’s presents an uncomfortably unflattering portrayal of a powerful maternal-goddess-sex worker, Saul’s version knowingly plays several roles while entertaining thoughts of her own. (On view in Chelsea through April 18^th).

An abstracted cartoon-influenced female figure on a staircase. — Peter Saul, De Kooning’s woman descends the staircase, acrylic on canvas, 55 x 60 inches, 2025.

Mariah Robertson, ‘Portraits’ at Chart Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 23, 2026March 17, 2026No Comments

Mariah Robertson’s instantly recognizable, abstract darkroom photographs are a kind of experimental art made with filters, chemicals, selective light application and multiple exposures born from her performance practice. In new work at Chart Gallery, Roberston introduces another shift in her working methods with acrylic on aluminum paintings that exactly reproduce her photograms. Explaining that people often compare her photographic work to paintings, she set out to discover what fertile ground lay in a new medium. The resulting ‘portraits,’ as they’re titled, swap out the photograms’ light-infused, ephemeral magic in favor of a grounded feeling, as if revealing two sides of one character. (On view in Tribeca through April 11^th).

An abstract pattern of curving lines. — Mariah Robertson, 109, Unique C-Print, image: 30 x 26 inches, 2025.

An abstract pattern of lines. — Mariah Robertson, Portrait of 109, acrylic on aluminum, 60 x 48 inches, 2026.

Holly Coulis, ‘Whereabouts’ at Klaus Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 18, 2026March 17, 2026No Comments

Bold lines define bowls and fruit in Holly Coulis’ brilliantly colored still life paintings at Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, though their transparency suggests a retreat from assertiveness. The shallow depth of each painting allows objects to exist in uncertain relationship to each other and to the space of the picture; in ‘Sunrise, Dish Pair,’ two bowls under the dome of a yellow sun overlap to create a third, asymmetrical bowl shape, all of which float in a field of blue. In ‘Water Line and Orange,’ a waving, liquid line extends off the surface of a vase onto a neighboring vessel, announcing a realism-defying freedom. Here, ‘Underwater Pears’ is a highlight of the show with its pleasing abundance of symmetrical curving forms crowned by a blue-toned pool of water that enhances rather than dampens the light-catching contours of the forms it encircles. (On view in Tribeca through March 28^th).

Holly Coulis, Underwater Pears, oil on linen, 40 x 50 inches, 2026.

Yashua Klos, ‘Proposal for a Monument’ at Sikkema Malloy Jenkins

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 16, 2026March 11, 2026No Comments

Without a frame and installed directly on the wall, Yashua Klos’ large collage of woodblock prints at the entrance to Chelsea’s Sikkema Malloy Jenkins Gallery has attention-grabbing immediacy and presence. Recalling Hokusai’s famous 19^th century woodblock print of powerful waves and referring to the current tumult experienced by many Black creatives today in the art and entertainment industries, Klos nevertheless projects calm amid the chaos. Surrounded by waves, rubble and building materials, a figure clings to or rests upon a flat surface near three additional figures: a man with eyes closed, a hovering mask and an individual in a fez-like hat. Despite the threat surrounding them, the four stoic figures recall long histories of resilience. (On view in Chelsea through March 21^st.)

A collage of prints on paper installed on the wall featuring waves, rocks, wood and bricks and 1 prominent male figure in a ball cap holding a dark panel and 3 smaller heads. — Yashua Klos, May My Next Exhale Be A Prayer of Gratitude, woodblock prints and colored pencil on archival paper, 52 ½ x 40 1/8 inches, 2026.

Ursula von Rydingsvard, recent sculpture at Galerie Lelong

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 13, 2026March 11, 2026No Comments

Ursula von Rydingsvard’s monumental cedar sculptures have taken a turn toward more complex forms in her recent work at Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong. Already labor intensive, von Rydingsvard’s process appears to have become even more challenging as she has moved from towering forms with complex surfaces that evoke weathered rock to equally large pieces that feature long, smoother finger-like forms. Inspired by her own hands, the new work foregrounds the act of creation by picturing waving patterns of digits that also recall the shape of coral or underwater plants. (On view in Chelsea through March 28^th.)

An abstract sculpture made of light brown cedar wood with waving folds and finger-like forms on the surface. — Ursula von Rydingsvard, Untitled, cedar, 123 x 109 x 90 inches, 2024-25.

Michael Heizer, ‘Negative Sculpture’ at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 11, 2026March 11, 2026No Comments

Michael Heizer’s ‘Double Negative,’ an enormous cut into the ground of Mormon Mesa, Nevada and his 1.5-mile-long shaped landscape, ‘City’ are among the most astounding artworks of the mid-20^th century and were created far from urban art centers. Though a fraction of the size and located indoors at Gagosian Gallery‘s 21^st Street Chelsea space, Heizer’s current installation of the sculptures ‘Convoluted Line A’ and ‘Convoluted Line B’ from 2024 are nonetheless impressively scaled and prompt a rethink of the space of the gallery. Each is formed of twisting steel earth liners set in a specially constructed concrete floor to create long lines of negative space along which visitors can walk, taking the measure of the piece not just with the eye but with the body. (On view in Cheslea through March 28^th).

A sculpture set into the floor in the shape of a twisting line with a few small figures of people walking around it. — Michael Heizer, installation view of ‘Negative Sculpture’ at Gagosian Gallery, March 2026.

Yuko Mohri, ‘Falling Water Given’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 9, 2026March 6, 2026No Comments

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo-based artist Yuko Mohri was drawn to materials that would change or, as she puts it, be as unstable as people’s lives were at the time. Her current sculpture, installation and painting at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Chelsea continue to explore the creative possibilities of impermanence in surprising ways; in this sculpture, electrodes attached to the fruits on the table measure changing moisture levels that are translated into data that cause the hanging lightbulbs to turn on and off. In other works, the decomposing fruits create sounds that echo though the gallery and remind viewers of forces (decay, sound) that are invisible but active. (On view in Chelsea through April 18^th).

A small wooden table with fruit on the top and lights hanging underneath. — Yuko Mohri, Decomposition, vintage table, speakers, lights, 3-channel audio generated by fruits, and 3 LED lights dimmed by fruits, 26 x 23 ½ x 24 inches, 2026.

Elias Sime, ‘Final Drop’ at James Cohan Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 7, 2026March 6, 2026No Comments

Titled ‘Final Drop,’ Elias Sime’s show at James Cohan Gallery of gorgeous new assemblage art created from row upon row of braided electrical wire and other end-of-life electronics continues his theme of human impact on the environment. Sime’s past work occasionally resembles aerial views of landscapes and in this piece, a central oval shape could be water seen from above, surrounded by contour lines of land. If the blue is water, it is surprisingly geometric – formed from stacked cube shapes – and suggests an imposed order on the landscape by humans, not natural forces. Clusters of earphone components give texture to the areas of ‘land’ while also repeating the recurring droplet shape that appears in multiple works, symbolizing the life-giving importance of water (and nature) and its precarity. (On view through March 21^st).

An abstract pattern featuring a round blue form at center. — Elias Sime, FINAL DROP 11, woven electrical wires on wooden panel, 66 x 112 inches, 2026.

An abstract pattern made with colorful braided electrical wire. — Elias Sime, (detail) FINAL DROP 11, woven electrical wires on wooden panel, 66 x 112 inches, 2026.

Ifeyinwa Joy Chiamonwu, ‘Manuscripts of Tradition’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 4, 2026March 3, 2026No Comments

In vivid color or stark black and white, self-taught Nigerian artist Ifeyinwa Joy Chiamonwu’s new paintings and drawings at Jack Shainman Gallery continue to dazzle with their hyper-realism. Dedicated to celebrating Igbo tradition through her work, Chiamonwu includes foods, architecture and symbolic items from her culture in joyful portraits. In this graphite and charcoal drawing titled ‘Mgbeorie (Woman born in Orie Market Day),’ she refers to the Igbo tradition of naming children after the market day on which they were born, while the shell earring nods to objects passed down in families over time. (On view in Tribeca in Jack Shainman Gallery’s 346 Broadway location through March 28^th).

Ifeyinwa Joy Chiamonwu, Mgbeorie (Woman born in Orie Market Day), graphite and charcoal on paper, 36 x 31 ½ inches, 2025.

Agnieszka Kurant, ‘Recursion’ at Marian Goodman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show March 2, 2026February 24, 2026No Comments

“What would a chameleon do when confronted with its own reflection?” This question, posed decades ago by an expert in control systems, inspired Agnieszka Kurant’s ‘Recursivity 3,’ a standout sculpture in her current solo show at Marian Goodman Gallery that features a chameleon whose color changes based on information provided by AI. Using various sets of AI-gathered data, Kurant considers aspects of human and animal life from new angles, for example, via a video featuring new language based on patterns of thousands of existing tongues and a panel with designs that are constantly altered by data gathered from wild animals via GPS, drones and other technologies. Like the chameleon, humanity’s behavior is shaped by information gathered in real time and by future predictions; Kurant turns the flood of data into a portrait both complicated and illuminating. (On view through March 21^st).

A bronze sculpture of a chameleon on a twisting branch, placed in front of a mirror. — Agnieszka Kurant, Recursivity 3, bronze, museum glass, liquid crystal pigments, heat sinks, Peltier elements, artificial intelligence, custom software, computer, AC, custom pedestal, 33 7/8 x 29 ½ x 51 1/8 inches, 2024/26.

Kurt Kauper, ‘Housekeeping’ at Ortuzar Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 27, 2026February 24, 2026No Comments

Though Kurt Kauper’s realist oil paintings are intended to be open-ended, allowing viewers to apply their own interpretations to his sometimes-surreal scenarios, the artist makes sure there’s plenty to fuel speculation. In this painting from Kauper’s series ‘Watching Men,’ part of his solo at Ortuzar Gallery that pictures men preparing themselves to face the world by brushing their teeth or combing their hair, for example, it’s tempting to consider what’s on this thoughtful man’s mind. Just as he faces the direction of the arrow in the bike lane next to him, his scarf matches the road markings and the nearby construction barriers. Though the barricades seem to symbolize impeded progress, the man appears to be at the moment of breakthrough as he emerges from shadow into light. (On view in Tribeca through Feb 28^th).

A man in the foreground appears to walk down the street toward a park with a light colored building behind and construction barriers to his left. — Kurt Kauper, Watching Men #13, oil on dibond, 12 x 12 inches, 2025.

Alexis Rockman, ‘Feedback Loop’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 25, 2026February 24, 2026No Comments

For sheer beauty, no other current Chelsea show can beat Alexis Rockman’s watercolor and acrylic landscape paintings, part of his exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery. Attracted by washes of bright watercolor and acrylic, visitors are drawn into environments around the world that have experienced climate change-related fires or agricultural burns. Oil and cold wax paintings in the main gallery juxtapose towering, burning landscapes with diminutive humans in boats on rivers in the foreground, helpless witnesses to the devastation. A final gallery of ‘field drawings’ from the Great Lakes region were created from a kind of paint made with local materials – sand from the lakes or coal dust from a power plant – which he used to picture local fish, birds and more. Part elegy at what is being lost, part appreciation of the beauty that remains, Rockman’s new work is a powerful reminder of the fragility of nature. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 28^th.)

Bird of paradise flower in foreground, blurry fire in the background of this washy watercolor. — Alexis Rockman, Osa Peninsula, watercolor and acrylic on paper, 18 x 24 inches, 2025.

Zarina, ‘Beyond the Stars’ at Luhring Augustine Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 23, 2026February 17, 2026No Comments

Born in Aligarh, India ten years before partition, Zarina Hashmi’s uprooting at an early age prefigured a nomadic life of artmaking in Thailand, Germany, Paris, Japan, New York and beyond. Luhring Augustine’s survey of several decides of the artist’s print-centered work reflects the artist’s recurring themes of home and displacement through pieces picturing abstracted maps of countries and cities in which she lived, as well as abstract work recalling architecture. In this thickly textured cast-paper wall-sculpture titled ‘Marrakesh,’ Zarina, who went by her first name, suggests the earthen building tradition of Morrocco and a recurring stepped form in Islamic architecture. (On view in Tribeca through March 28^th).

A cast-paper form like a ziggurat or plant, colored brown. — Zarina, Marrakesh, cast paper, 22 x 19 ½ inches, 1988.

Jeff Koons, ‘Porcelain Series’ at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 20, 2026February 17, 2026No Comments

Meticulously crafted in flawlessly smooth mirror-polished stainless steel, Jeff Koons’ large-scale new sculptures from his ‘Porcelain Series’ at Gagosian dazzle and dominate viewers, making the spacious gallery feel full. Towering renderings of Aphrodite, the Three Graces and Diana are rooted in Greek and Roman myth but take their forms from diverse sources ranging from mass-produced collectibles to elite objects by Sevres or Meissen, continuing Koons’ practice of flattening distinctions between pop culture and ‘high art.’ Here, a kissing couple in courtly dress express desire for each other as the sculpture itself becomes an oversized object of desire, undergoing a scale shift that intensifies both romance and market appeal. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 28^th).

A sculpture of two kissing people in 18th century dress in highly polished and painted steel. — Jeff Koons, Kissing Lovers, mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating, 88 x 77 x 55 inches, 2016-25.

Eva Robarts, ‘Bikes, Bolts and Brooms’ at Nicola Vassell Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 18, 2026February 17, 2026No Comments

Titled ‘Bikes, Bolts and Brooms,’ Eva Robarts show of new sculpture at Nicola Vassell Gallery makes familiar objects feel both strange and wonderful by clustering them in colorful accumulations. A rainbow of overlapping V-shaped bike frame segments and monochromatic panels made of roughly woven, crushed flat broom handles convey a certain amount of energy just by their tilting, dense arrangement of forms. In the back room, this combination of a scythe and truck mirror titled ‘Dancers’ strikes a darker, dangerous note. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 21^st).

Eva Robarts, Dancers, scythe, trucking door mount mirror, steel hardware, 35 x 54 x 33 inches, 2021.

Alfred Jensen, ‘Diagrammatic Mysteries’ at 125 Newbury

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 16, 2026February 11, 2026No Comments

Numbers, signage and text in late American Expressionist painter Alfred Jensen’s thickly painted canvases suggest dry, instructional diagrams while at the same time attracting attention with bold color and form. Now on view at 125 Newbury in Tribeca, a selection of Jensen’s work from the late ‘50s to the mid-70s titled ‘Diagrammatic Mysteries’ reaffirms the simultaneous significance and impenetrability of the work, backed up by a quote from iconic Minimalist Donald Judd in a gallery handout – “The theories are important to him and completely irrelevant to the viewer.” Freed from the need to uncover Jensen’s meanings, visitors can discover pleasure in the works’ formal qualities and suggestive text, patterns and sequences. (On view through Feb 28^th).

Abstract image with prominent circular and rectangular forms in a variety of saturated colors, white and black. — Alfred Jensen, Physical Optics, oil on canvas, 7’2” x 12’ 9”, 1975.

Caroline Slotte in ‘One Way or Another,’ HB381 Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 13, 2026February 11, 2026No Comments

Vintage ceramics become contemporary in recent work at HB381 by Finish artist Caroline Slotte and British artist Paul Scott, makers who live in different countries but share an expertise in remaking found ceramic plates, dishes and more. Scott, who was once Slotte’s professor at Norway’s Bergen Academy of Art and Design, transfers current imagery onto vintage pottery in vivid cobalt blue color. Slotte’s approach is subtractive, involving power tools that remove blue glaze from scenes featuring Chinese or European landscapes to achieve a quasi-pointillist effect. Both artists employ the element of surprise as viewers register familiar ceramic objects that been radically altered, prompting reconsideration of inherited forms and their current relevance. (On view in Tribeca through Feb 28^th).

A large serving dish with a nature scene, altered to look indistinct. — Caroline Slotte, Ceramic Wall Plate from the Series ‘Fade,’ reworked ceramic, 18.25 x 14.5”, 2025.

Joseph Jones at Chapter NY Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 11, 2026February 10, 2026No Comments

Primed by countless social media posts to see cats as cute and entertaining, visitors to Joseph Jones’ solo show at Chapter NY Gallery encounter meticulously detailed paintings of the animals that slow down our rapid-view consumption and complicate our enjoyment. Two of three paintings cropped to show human arms holding a gorgeous, white-furred cat prominently feature a wristwatch, perhaps making us aware of how long we pause to examine each work. Though the show includes paintings of tiny but bold flower blossoms and one sympathetic-looking dog’s head, human/cat interactions dominate. One cat wearing a yellow hood looks accusatorily outward as if horrified to be forced into such a getup while another manifests in a rainbow of color like a feline leprechaun. Jones’ paintings probe human attitudes to felines – from plaything to enigma – in ways that invite careful looking. (On view in Tribeca through Feb 21^st).

A person in a gold track suit top is holding a white cap in their arms. — Joseph Jones, Gold cat, oil and acrylic on linen, 2026.

Jacqueline Qiu, ‘Burying Flowers’ at Chart Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 9, 2026February 3, 2026No Comments

Described by Chart Gallery as ‘emotional landscapes,’ Jacqueline Qiu’s detailed and delicate tapestries are inspired by daily life and experiences. Working with a frame that keeps the vertical warp taut, Qiu threads in a weft using a variety of materials from paper yarn to mohair that yield dynamic, undulating forms. Titled ‘Burying Flowers,’ a nod to both a scene in a classic Chinese novel in which a character respects the beauty of flowers by burying them and an archaeological site in Iraq where Neanderthals were thought to have included flowers in a burial, Qiu’s vibrant textiles honor the ephemerality and beauty of the natural world. (On view in Tribeca through Feb 14^th.)

A handmade textile with an arch of greenery over a bowl-shaped area of floral forms. — Jacqueline Qiu, Well, handwoven tapestry on floor loom using cotton, silk mohair, vintage mohair, indigo dyed paper yarn, pipe paper yarn, shosenshi paper yarn, linen, rayon, acrylic, and beads, acrylic dowel, 48 x 44 inches, 2024.

A closeup image of a textile featuring abstract flowers. — Jacqueline Qiu, (detail) Well, handwoven tapestry on floor loom using cotton, silk mohair, vintage mohair, indigo dyed paper yarn, pipe paper yarn, shosenshi paper yarn, linen, rayon, acrylic, and beads, acrylic dowel, 48 x 44 inches, 2024.

Shaunte Gates, ‘The Night Before: Poppies and Parachutes’ at Marc Straus Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 6, 2026February 3, 2026No Comments

Drawing on influences as diverse as his uncle’s trove of recorded Hollywood movies and Greek and Roman mythology, DC-based artist Shaunte Gates wields a sophisticated collage technique that pictures heroic hybrid characters in a maelstrom of imagery. New work at Marc Straus Gallery in Tribeca includes recurring Greek columns and white parachutes, suggesting a collapsing old order and either an escape from danger or an incoming invasion. Here, Gates’ ‘The Messenger, The Archer, The Lover no II’ features a purposefully striding leg and a composite image of the hunting goddess Artemis, complete with quiver and dog. Seen from below, the figures dominate, their actions full of portent and importance. (On view in Tribeca through Feb 28^th).

A dense collage featuring a striding leg in a Timberland-style boot, a goddess and more figures. — Shaunte Gates, The Messenger, The Archer, The Lover no II, acrylic paint, photo, pulled paper, collage, thread on wood panel, 2026.

A figure of the goddess Artemis collaged from different pictures. — Shaunte Gates, (detail) The Messenger, The Archer, The Lover no II, acrylic paint, photo, pulled paper, collage, thread on wood panel, 2026.

Katelyn Ledford, ‘Verso’ at Fredericks and Freiser Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 4, 2026February 3, 2026No Comments

Apparitions materialize on the backs of paintings while art smocks reveal the imprint of saintly heads in Katelyn Ledford’s skeptically mystical works at Fredericks and Freiser Gallery. Possessed of great skill in fooling the eye, Ledford paints what look to be the verso of framed artworks, suggesting that meaning might be found in what would normally be hidden from view. Messages like, ‘Keep looking’ or ‘free’ so convincingly appear to be rendered in masking tape that identifying the actual material – acrylic and oil – comes across as a revelation. Recurring clown faces, which the artist regularly dons on her social media, suggest a performative aspect to the painterly skill that entertains and delights her audience. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 7^th).

Katelyn Ledford, Free, acrylic and oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 2025.

Esteban Cabeza de Baca, ‘Pollinators’ at Garth Greenan Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show February 2, 2026January 27, 2026No Comments

Though based on the east coast, Esteban Cabeza de Baca roots his artworks in his parents’ Mexican heritage and his childhood upbringing near the California / Mexico border. In this painting in his latest solo show at Garth Greenan Gallery, the artist employs New Mexico soil along with dyes made of cochineal from insects and indigo along with acrylic and spray paint, merging contemporary and ancient materials. A Maize god featured on Mayan artifacts inspired the green, human-plant hybrid figure pictured here on a segment of a wall which has broken away and is hovering in space at the center of this painting. Accepting human figures onto its open plant-palm, the deity offers a chance to exist in communion with nature, a recurring theme of Cabeza de Baca’s work. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 21^st).

Esteban Cabeza de Baca, Portals to the Lunar Maize God, New Mexico soil, acrylic, and spray paint on cochineal and indigo dyed canvas, 72 x 72 inches, 2025.

Cheryl Molnar, ‘The Overview’ at C24 Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 30, 2026January 27, 2026No Comments

The Malibu coast comes alive with dynamic curving shapes yet feels slightly foreboding in Cheryl Molnar’s collages of cut paper, photos and drawings on birch panel at C24 Gallery. The sky’s swirling lines evoke an Edvard Munch-like ‘scream of nature’ while a disused pier with roller coasters suggests a tourist spot fallen on hard times. The red and white patterns of beach umbrellas break-up the straight lines of the boardwalk while appearing to move like pin-wheels in the wind. Cheer and unease compete in a masterfully crafted confrontation between human entertainments and nature’s sublime. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 21^st).

Malibu beach scene with red and white umbrellas, a swirling sky and cliffs in the background. — Cheryl Molnar, Malibu, gouache and mixed media collage on wood panel, 48 x 72 inches, 2019.

Detail of previous image, focusing on walkway along beach with umbrellas either side and cliffs in distance. — Cheryl Molnar, (detail) Malibu, gouache and mixed media collage on wood panel, 48 x 72 inches, 2019.

Nicolas Party, ‘Dead Fish’ at Karma Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 28, 2026January 27, 2026No Comments

Nicolas Party’s last major NY solo show alluded to the devastating effects of climate change with a huge mural of a raging forest fire; imagery of dead fish in his current exhibition at Karma again suggests a relationship of precarity with the natural world. Inspired by Renoir’s still life paintings of fish and Goya’s tonally darker paintings of the same subject matter (both created during wartime), Party presents a small oil on copper painting and a 14-foot-high mural featuring a pile of fish, a symbol of mortality more stark for its isolation at the center of the artwork. The shift in scale from the show’s diminutive oil on copper paintings to the vast wall piece unsubtly directs viewers back to a feeling of thought-provoking unease that pervades Party’s practice. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 14^th).

Several dead fish lie in a pile at the center of a blank area. — Nicolas Party, Dead Fish, soft pastel on wall, 173 x 206 inches, 2026.

Mary Bauermeister, ‘Stoned’ at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 26, 2026January 21, 2026No Comments

Late German artist Mary Bauermeister addressed natural, mathematical and spiritual order in artworks composed of stones that she collected from beaches around the Mediterranean and Atlantic. Now on view at Micheal Rosenfeld Gallery, a selection of the artist’s work from the late 1950s to 2018 includes her first stone work from 1962 and pieces from the same decade including this large assemblage, ‘Stone Arrow/Error,’ which seems to indicate a colossal downturn or alternatively, a suggestion to look down to the earth. Composed of small to tiny water-smoothed pebbles arranged by size to suggest a recession into infinity at the center, the pattern of stones is broken by a white area of canvas at the bottom. Here, a drawing of a hand drawing the hand that places the stones suggests an awareness of self-awareness that leads the viewer to ponder our frames of reference when it comes to creativity and the natural world. (On view through Jan 31^st at Michael Rosenfel Gallery in Chelsea).

A canvas shaped like a giant downturned arrow, covered with rows of very small stacks of rounded pebbles. — Mary Bauermeister, Stone Arrow/Error, stones, casein tempera and ink on plywood wrapped in painted canvas and particle board coated with sand, in two parts, 66 ¾ x 49 ½ x 4 ¾ inches, 1964-66.

Detail of an artwork composed of rows of stones and a drawing of a hand drawing a picture of a hand. — Mary Bauermeister, Stone Arrow/Error, stones, casein tempera and ink on plywood wrapped in painted canvas and particle board coated with sand, in two parts, 66 ¾ x 49 ½ x 4 ¾ inches, 1964-66.

Dan Flavin, ‘Grids’ at David Zwirner Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 23, 2026January 21, 2026No Comments

Perfectly timed to contrast New York’s drab winter landscape, David Zwirner Gallery’s show of iconic light artist Dan Flavin’s fluorescent ‘Grids’ series offers a hugely enjoyable immersion in color. Installed in the gallery as they were in Leo Castelli’s space in 1987, the show starts with three grids on loan from the Guggenheim, Princeton University Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art placed end to end across a corner. Casting and blending their colors, this work from 1977 and the show’s other pieces transform the space of the gallery, engaging with architecture by bathing it in light. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 21^st.)

Two people stand in front of a sculpture made of a grid of colorful fluorescent tubes. — Dan Flavin, untitled (for you, Leo, in long respect and affection) 2, blue, yellow, pink and green fluorescent light, 8 ft square across a corner, edition 3 of 3, 1977.

Nicole Cherubini, ‘Hotel Roma’ at Friedman Benda Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 21, 2026January 21, 2026No Comments

Three towering arrangements of curving stacked forms in Nicole Cherubini’s first solo show at Chelsea’s Friedman Benda Gallery represent Greek mythology’s Three Graces in a decidedly updated style. Cherubini’s versions partially preserve the white expanses of flesh on ancient marble trios while adding expressionist drips and splashes of color and terracotta material as if to partially cloth the normally nude characters. In past work, Cherubini has treated sculpture and support as equally important; here for Grace number three, a long bench-like form extends away from the figure like the train of a dress or elements of a landscape. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 21^st).

A stack of sculptural ceramic forms with a bench-like shape extending back into the gallery. — Nicole Cherubini, 3, earthenware, terracotta, sculptural clay, glaze, epoxy resin, Magic Sculpt, acrylic paint, steel rod, hardware, 87 ¼ x 146 x 26 ½ inches, 2025.

Lynn Geesaman at Yancey Richardson Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 19, 2026January 13, 2026No Comments

An almost eerie stillness pervades Lynn Geesaman’s 1999 photograph at Parc de Jeurre, an estate with gardens southwest of Paris, in a show of the late photographer’s strikingly beautiful photos from the 90s and early ‘00s at Yancey Richardson Gallery. Here, no breeze sways the orderly rows of trees broken by the trunk of an older tree in the foreground. The contrast between the strict planning of the planting and a sense of unpredictability represented by the soft, almost abstracting focus is typical of the show’s selection of Geesaman’s work and lends the photographs a surprising, dreamlike quality. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 28^th).

A landscape planted with rows of trees and one lone tree in the foreground. — Lynn Geesaman, Parc de Jeurre, France, lifetime chromogenic print, image: 28 x 27 7/8 inches, 1999.

Faith Ringgold at Jack Shainman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 16, 2026January 13, 2026No Comments

Faced in the early ‘90s with racist neighbors who tried to stop her from building a studio on her Jones Road property in Englewood, NJ, Faith Ringgold responded with ‘Coming to Jones Road,’ a series of fabric artworks that celebrated the history of Black people moving to New Jersey. A mini survey of work by Ringgold at Jack Shainman Gallery’s Tribeca space includes, among several pieces from the series, ‘Aunt Emmy and Baby Freedom’ a work featuring a baby who has arrived in the North via the Underground Railroad. Based on Ringgold’s great grandmother, an anchor of the family, the character Aunt Emmy beams down on Baby Freedom, a child embodying the notion expressed in the work’s text that ‘Every last one was born to be free.’ (On view through Jan 24^th in Tribeca.)

A woman with grey hair smiles down at a baby in her arms against a colorful garden background. — Faith Ringgold, Coming to Jones Road Part II #3 Aunt Emmy and Baby Freedom, signed and dated lower right, Faith Ringgold May 2010, acrylic on quilted fabric, 47 x 35 inches, 2010.

A woman with gray hair smiles down at a baby in her arms against a colorful background. — Faith Ringgold, (detail) Coming to Jones Road Part II #3 Aunt Emmy and Baby Freedom, signed and dated lower right, Faith Ringgold May 2010, acrylic on quilted fabric, 47 x 35 inches, 2010.

Marcia Marcus, ‘Mirror Image’ at Olney Gleason Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 14, 2026January 13, 2026No Comments

Described as ‘startlingly fresh’ in her New York Times obituary last March, Marcia Marcus’ work from the 60s to the 90s – now at Olney Gleason Gallery – is immediately attractive for its flat, realist style and intense, confident engagement with the viewer. In a piece from the ‘60s, Marcus stands at a distance from her young daughters and husband as if belonging only loosely to their world; later, in 1980, we see her blond head posed behind a large sculpture of a Greek deity, as if for protection. In the painting pictured here, created as part of a print commission for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Marcus looks like a19^th century literary heroine with her romantic pose before a flowery field, and is again nestled intimately with an ancient sculpture. Wearing a dress emblazoned with an ancient head, and standing before a Greek ruin, Marcus blends past and present to question contemporary attraction to and involvement in history. (On view through Feb 14^th).

A woman wearing an ancient white dress stands before a bronze sculpture of a man with flowers and ruins in the background. — Marcia Marcus, Painting for Olympic Poster aka Olympic Painting (Self-portrait), oil on canvas, 1974.

Kandy G Lopez, ‘Textile Truths: Faces of Resilience’ at ACA Galleries

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 12, 2026January 6, 2026No Comments

Kandy G Lopez’s innovative fiber portraits combine confident, supremely stylish subjects with an intricate technique that inspires amazement, making them an immediate draw at Chelsea’s ACA Galleries. Taking her subjects from Instagram or personal encounters and working from photographs, Lopez crafts colorful, textured images from yarn, spray paint and hook mesh, creating almost abstract surfaces dense with material up close which resolve into crisp detail from a distance. Here, a man in a camo pattered outfit towers over visitors, his foot extending beyond the frame, a detail that Lopez has likened to paint dripping from a canvas. (On view in Chelsea through Jan 17^th).

Portrait of a man in a camo outfit, arms folded. — Kandy G Lopez, Isaiah Michael, yarn and spray paint on hook mesh, 103 ¾ x 60 ¼ inches, 2025.

Man's torso, created from string on mesh. — Kandy G Lopez, (detail) Isaiah Michael, yarn and spray paint on hook mesh, 103 ¾ x 60 ¼ inches, 2025.

Louise Bourgeois, ‘Gathering Wool’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 9, 2026January 6, 2026No Comments

Though Hauser and Wirth Gallery’s current exhibition of work by Louise Bourgeois focuses on the late artist’s abstract sculpture, many pieces incorporate found objects or include an element of representation that gives each work an extra charge. Viewers first encounter a darkened gallery dominated by a metal submarine-like shape in two parts – one moving slowly in an out of the other on rails – meant to evoke mother/child dependency. Less unnerving but still pointing to the female body, one of the artist’s Poids sculptures features a humerously minimal assemblage of curving forms – a tire and two liquid-filled glass bowls positioned on an arched steel rod – that suggest a stooped, subservient form. Here, an untitled pink marble sculpture offers another spherical shape, this one with a chubby arm emerging from one side as if breaking out into independent life. (On view in Chelsea through April 18^th).

A marble sphere sits on top of a roughly carved marble block. A child's chubby upper arm comes from the sphere. — Louise Bourgeois, Untitled (With Hand), pink marble, 31 x 30 ½ x 21 inches, 1989.

Nicole Eisenman, STY at 52 Walker

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 7, 2026January 6, 2026No Comments

Including just five major paintings and a 3-part sculpture group, Nicole Eisenman’s solo at 52 Walker is selective but powerful, presenting new work that comments on art world practice and a political climate hostile to artists. In one piece, an artist stands painting in a foxhole while a tank rolls by overhead; elsewhere, a painter in a beret has dropped enough paint on the studio floor and walls to create a bunker that isolates as much as it protects. The show’s largest work pictures an art opening crowded with generic abstract sculptures and young people, one of whom pickpockets a worshipful collector while a pig in a military uniform (echoing a sculpture at the 1920 Berlin Dada exhibition) hovers overhead. Here, a cartoonish man on the right bids on a painting of an auction scene while a mustachioed, beret-wearing artist on the left looks grimly on, a painting of a painting of a painting that questions the reality of anything we see in art market practice. (On view through Jan 10^th in Tribeca).

Nicole Eisenman, The Auction, oil on canvas and linen, 105 x 137 inches, 2025.

Alfred Stevens, ‘The Japanese Robe’ in ‘Fanmania’ at the Met Museum

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 5, 2026January 2, 2026No Comments

Exploding volcanoes, mock naval battles, bullfights and more are subject matter for the delicate fans and artworks picturing fans in the Met Museum’s absorbing exhibition ‘Fanmania.’ Here, Belgian artist and friend to Degas, Eva Gonzales, Berthe Morisot, Manet and other major 19^th century Parisian painters Alfred Stevens pictures a well-heeled young beauty in a bourgeois living space – the kind of subject matter that made him successful. Dressed in a Japanese kimono in a style adapted to French tastes and holding a fan, the figure demonstrates Stevens’ attraction to Japanese art and decorative objects, which he collected from the late 1850s. (On view at the Met Museum through May 12^th).

A European woman stands before a mirror in a blue kimono holding a fan. — Alfred Stevens, The Japanese Robe, ca 1872, oil on canvas.

Danielle Mckinney, ‘Haze’ at the Met Museum

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show January 2, 2026December 27, 2025No Comments

Is she melancholy or momentarily thoughtful? It’s hard to think that Danielle Mckinney’s chic lady would be down for long with her vibrant yellow dress and painted nails. Sleeping, waiting, lounging, or smoking, Mckinney’s solitary, introspective characters look like they’re contemplating the next move. In this piece titled ‘Haze’ at the Met Museum, Mckinney’s recently hung canvas seems to point to an upcoming waiting period as museum-goers anticipate the museum’s new Tang Wing, scheduled for completion in 2030. (On view at the Met Museum).

A woman in a yellow dress sits on a sofa smoking in a dark room — Danielle Mckinney, Haze, oil on linen, 2024.

Issy Wood, ‘Tour Management Study’ at the Met Museum

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 30, 2025December 27, 2025No Comments

In what feels like a final hurrah before the commencement of the Met Museum’s 4-year construction of the Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art, newly hung contemporary paintings by Matthew Wong, Qiu Xiaofei, Cady Noland and other sought-after contemporary artists have offered an intriguing foretaste of what’s to come. Here, a large canvas by British artist and musician Issy Wood juxtaposes a watch face, clusters of bells and a car’s leather seat in an enigmatic but evocative suggestion of time, music and movement. (On view at the Met Museum).

A painting of a row of sleigh bells, a clock face and a leather car seat put three different images in close proximity. — Issy Wood, Tour management study, oil on velvet, 2023.

George Henry Durrie’s ‘Red School House (Country Scene)’ at the Met Museum

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 27, 2025December 27, 2025No Comments

Regardless of the actual weather, you can always enjoy a white Christmas in 19^th century Connecticut painter George Henry Durrie’s peaceful paintings of snow-decked country scenes. The Met Museum’s ‘Red School House (Country Scene) features a one-room schoolhouse that has become an epicenter of activity as kids play, men chop wood and a farmer carries produce to market. (On view at the Met Museum).

A winter scene of man on a sleigh going past a red school house. — George Henry Durrie, Red School House (Country Scene), oil on canvas, 1858.

19th century painting of a farmer with goods on a sleigh in the foreground and a red building (schoolhouse) in the back right. — George Henry Durrie, (detail) Red School House (Country Scene), oil on canvas, 1858.

Fernand Leger, ‘Typographer’ at the Met Museum

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 22, 2025December 17, 2025No Comments

Sotheby’s iconic sale last month of Leonard Lauder’s collection is now history, but the collector’s taste in Cubist masterpieces can still be appreciated in the Met Museum’s installation of works he gifted by Picasso, Braque, Gris and Leger. Here, Fernand Leger’s huge, abstracted painting features a worker dressed in red and wearing a round cap typesetting large red and white letters. Part of a display that includes a cluster of works presented as they were displayed in Lauder’s own home, the multi-gallery installation gives invaluable insights into the development of early abstraction. (On view at the Met Museum on the Upper East Side).

An abstract painting with forms that suggest a figure in a round hat standing before two large letters. — Fernand Leger, Composition (The Typographer), oil on canvas, 1918-19.

Sigrid Sandstrom, ‘Penumbra’ at Anat Ebgi Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 19, 2025December 16, 2025No Comments

Hung end to end down the long wall of Anat Ebgi’s Tribeca gallery space in an enveloping plane, Swedish artist Sigrid Sandstrom’s abstract canvases are an immediate draw. Reminiscent of mid-20^th century color field painting, the works are set apart by inclusion of a small sphere that changes our understanding of the space of the painting. Titled ‘Penumbra,’ after a grey area perhaps caused by an eclipse, the show’s paintings toggle between clear washes of color and cloudy forms, each offering a dynamic visual experience. (On view through Dec 20^th in Tribeca).

Sigrid Sandstrom, installation view of ‘Penumbra’ at Anat Ebgi Gallery, Tribeca, Dec ’25.

Friedrich Kunath, ‘Aimless Love’ at Pace Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 17, 2025December 16, 2025No Comments

Two paintings of airplanes silhouetted by the sun are the first and last images in LA painter Friedrich Kunath’s solo show at Pace Gallery, suggesting a brief layover on an ongoing journey. In between, romantic, dramatically lit landscapes include a huge breaking wave on a beach, a misty highway running through forest and a country road through fall foliage. Explaining in a video that his paintings ‘create permission to feel,’ Kunath’s pretty scenes contain short, evocative text quotes from music or other sources that speak to complicated interpersonal relationships. Behind the large breaking wave, the text ‘If it comes, let it. If it goes, let it.’ appears in purplish clouds on the horizon while here, a double exposure of a sunrise or sunset includes the phrase ‘You told that joke twice.’ (On view in Chelsea through Dec 20^th).

A sunrise or sunset over water with two suns. — Friedrich Kunath, You Told That Joke Twice, oil on canvas, 96 x 72 x 1 ½ inches, 2024-2025.

A cloudy sky with text trailing down through the sky reading 'You told that joke twice.' — Friedrich Kunath, (detail) You Told That Joke Twice, oil on canvas, 96 x 72 x 1 ½ inches, 2024-2025.

Judy Pfaff, ‘Light Years’ at Cristin Tierney Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 15, 2025December 10, 2025No Comments

‘Wow’ is always an appropriate response to Judy Pfaff’s exuberant installations and sculpture, their joyful excess of materials and form always eye-catching, sometimes overwhelming. Her first show with Cristin Tierney Gallery features a 40’ long installation of acrylic sheets fixed with neon, polyurethane foam, recycled plastic and umbrellas along one wall of the gallery’s new Tribeca space. Opposite, three sculptures incorporating waving segments of plastic carpet pierced by neon (made with collaborating neon artist Joe Upham) transform impoverished materials into artworks with engaging visual complexity. (On view through Dec 20^th).

An abstract arrangement of a waving plastic carpet and neon lights. — Judy Pfaff, CARPETRIGHT, steel, recycled plastic carpet, neon, T5 fluorescent light, 74 x 68 x 41 inches, 2025.

Analia Saban, ‘Flowchart’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 12, 2025December 10, 2025No Comments

A paint-flecked puffer jacket hanging at the entrance to Analia Saban’s latest solo exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery feels a little out of place, at least until closer inspection reveals it to be made of white-veined black marble. Known for her inventive use of materials and for work that mediates between hand making and computer technologies, Saban’s coat represents another analogue / digital merger. A video posted to her Instagram account features the artist standing next to a giant milling robotic arm with the unfinished piece nearby, an artistic collaboration between human and machine that recalls how clothing (including the original puffer coat) is made. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 18^th).

A black puffer jacket that looks like a coat but is made of marble hangs on the wall. — Analia Saban, Puffer (Patagonia, Nero Marquina), Nero Marquina marble, 31 ½ x 19 1/5 x 12 1/5 inches, 2025.

Meg Lipke, ‘Matrilines’ at Broadway Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 10, 2025December 9, 2025No Comments

For energy and pleasure, few current Tribeca exhibitions can best Meg Lipke’s exhibition of fiber-stuffed shaped paintings at Broadway Gallery. In her works’ vibrant color and inventive form, Lipke expresses kinship to her artistic forebears, pointing out Howardena Pindell’s late ‘60s soft grid composed of rolled up canvas segments, Ree Morton’s inventive combination of painting and objects and Elizabeth Murray’s shaped canvases as influences. Here, the huge 8’ x 16’ ‘Slanting Grid’ could easily dominate the gallery but acts more subtly, its pastel tones and mostly soft forms drawing in visitors while three triangles at bottom and its insistent rightward lean direct attention away. (On view in Tribeca through Dec 13^th).

A stuffed grid of fabric in pink and green/blue color mounted on the wall. — Meg Lipke, Slanting Grid, acrylic and fabric dye on muslin, fiber and thread, 96 x 192 x 7 inches, 2020 – 2025.

Closeup of the stuffed grid painting above. — Meg Lipke, (detail of) Slanting Grid, acrylic and fabric dye on muslin, fiber and thread, 96 x 192 x 7 inches, 2020 – 2025.

Jacob Hashimoto, ‘The bittersweet fall into actuality’ at Miles McEnery Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 8, 2025December 3, 2025No Comments

Jacob Hashimoto’s new wall-mounted paper and bamboo sculptures at Miles McEnery Gallery have tantalizing titles (‘The problem with bubbles’ and ‘It was all possible until it wasn’t’) but are resolutely abstract. Inspired by structures from circuit-boards to cells, Hashimoto has described his work as an open system that allows viewers in, validating a variety of experience. Nevertheless, he seems to be edging closer to representation with this multi-colored, riotously patterned construction titled, ‘The bittersweet fall into actuality.’ Anchored in a form suggesting a tree, the artist’s step towards ‘actuality’ is still enjoyably open to interpretation. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 20^th).

An artwork composed of layers of small paper disks with abstract patterning. The entire pattern suggests a tree at the center with surrounding abstract patterns. — Jacob Hashimoto, The bittersweet fall into actuality, acrylic, paper, bamboo, wood and Dacron, 60 x 48 x 8 ¼ inches, 2025.

Detail of the artwork showing abstract patterns of green, white and brown on circular disks. — Jacob Hashimoto, (detail) The bittersweet fall into actuality, acrylic, paper, bamboo, wood and Dacron, 60 x 48 x 8 ¼ inches, 2025.

Lauren Satlowski, ‘Not All Clues Are Paintings, But All Paintings Are Clues’ at Timothy Taylor Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest Show December 5, 2025December 3, 2025No Comments

LA artist Lauren Satlowski’s realist painting finds the point at which banality turns into something unsettling. New work at Timothy Taylor Gallery in Tribeca features cartoon characters in office mishaps, coffee mugs placed before strange, visceral forms and everywhere, spilled coffee. In this five-foot tall piece, ‘Skiing on Acid,’ Satlowski juxtaposes two skiers – one on a ceramic coffee mug labeled ‘purgatory’ and the other on a teeth-bitten Styrofoam cup dunked in a glass of water. Symbolic of escape yet conveying confinement, the setup seems to sabotage the mental exit strategy of a trapped worker. (On view in Tribeca through Dec 13^th).

A painting of a mug with a picture of a person skiing) placed on an oval serving tray next to a water-filled glass holding a styrofoam cup featuring a picture of a person skiing. — Lauren Satlowski, Skiing on Acid, oil and acrylic on linen, 60 x 72 inches, 2025.

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