Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting, and thought-provoking, shows, screenings, and events. See them below.

Through Friday, December 30, 2016

Tal Yarden, Counting Sheep. Courtesy of Ka-Man Tse for @TSqArts.

1. Tal Yarden, Counting Sheep in Times Square
This month’s Midnight Moment from Times Square Arts, which sees video art takes over nearly every billboard in the busy thoroughfare between 11:57 p.m. and midnight each evening, features artist Tal Yarden’s Counting Sheep. Billed as a “visual lullaby,” the piece follows a pair of octogenarian sheep ranchers from Wyoming throughout the seasons.

“As we count down to midnight, I want to remind us of a world beyond the urban canyon where losing count is a path to peace,” said the artist, who will be on hand for Wednesday’s screening.

Location: Times Square
Price: Free
Time: Viewing with artist, December 7, 11:30 p.m.–12:00 a.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, December 8–Sunday, December 18

Adrienne Elise Tarver. Courtesy of Victori + Mo.

2. Adrienne Elise Tarver, “Stories of Shadows” at Victori + Mo
Don’t feel too bad about the voyeuristic nature of Adrienne Elise Tarver’s new video work, eight video vignettes of rooms in someone’s home. The artist has constructed an entire fictional persona for the resident, named “Vera Otis,” based on a found photograph of an anonymous black woman in glasses. According to the gallery Otis, whose name is a play on the word veritas, “acts as a surrogate for Tarver who, as a woman of color, finds Otis’s life a comforting place to imbue her hopes and fears upon.”

Location: Victori + Mo, 56 Bogart St
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, December 9, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.; Thursday–Sunday, 1:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, December 8, 2016–Sunday, January 15, 2017

Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels with her work. Courtesy of Catinca Tabacaru Gallery.

3. Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels, “a DEFECT // to DEFECT” at Catinca Tabacaru Gallery
Tennessee-born sculptor Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels gets her first New York solo exhibition, featuring her stunning wooden sculptures, grown-up, elegantly-designed version of the secret fort every kid ever wanted. She’ll fill the gallery with a series of site-specific structures that viewers can climb inside.

Location: Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, 250 Broome Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, December 8, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.; Wednesday–Sunday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, December 8, 2016–Saturday, January 14, 2017

Andrew Kuo (2016). Courtesy Marlborough Chelsea.

4. “Andrew Kuo: No to Self” at Marlborough Chelsea

“My life isn’t all just paraphrasing people funnier than me.” “Television is as healthy as exercise.” “All I want is to be loved and adored by every single living thing.” These are some of the inscriptions on a new group of paintings by the New York artist, sports enthusiast, and Twitter presence Andrew Kuo, opening at Marlborough Chelsea in the cleverly titled show “No to Self,” opening Thursday night. The works combine a striking sense for color and geometry with a dryly (if you will) self-deprecating message.

Location: 545 West 25th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception December 8, 6:00–8:00 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

—Brian Boucher

Marilyn Minter Orange Crush (2009). Photo: courtesy Brooklyn Museum.

5. “Artist’s Eye: Betty Tompkins on Marilyn Minter” at Brooklyn Museum
Artist Betty Tompkins discusses the work of her contemporary Marilyn Minter in a series of talks staged in an intimate, in-gallery environment within the context of Minter’s exhibition “Pretty/Dirty,“ currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum. Touching on several points within Minter’s oeuvre, Tompkins will critically analyze Minter’s work by addressing the recurring themes of feminism, and photo-realism in her art.

Location: Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn
Price: Free with museum admission
Time: 2:00 p.m.

—Henri Neuendorf

Troy Brauntuch, Installation view, Petzel, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Petzel, New York.

6. “Talking Pictures” with Troy Brauntuch and Robert Longo at Petzel Gallery
Troy Brauntuch was a prominent member of the “Pictures” generation of artists, and enjoyed major career success early on before mysteriously disappearing from the New York scene. His dark paintings that focus on specific charged objects and imagery—think OJ Simpson’s black glove, 1930s German propaganda—have always conjured up a chilling atmosphere of crime, violence, and evil.

With the resurgence of interest in the pioneering work of the “Pictures” artists, Brauntuch has had several major shows in recent years, including one on now at the Petzel Gallery in Chelsea (through December 23). His work has a devoted fan base and buyers including Cindy and Howard Rachofsky. This Saturday, he is in conversation with fellow pictures generation artist Robert Longo.

Location: Petzel Gallery, 456 West 18th Street
Price: Free
Time: 5:00 p.m.

—Eileen Kinsella