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

Tuesday, February 18

The Garden Court at the Frick Collection. Photo Paul Gorbould, via Flickr.

1. “Importance of Provenance in Legal Matters and Ownership Disputes” at the Frick Collection

Lawyer Leila A. Amineddoleh will give a talk about the importance of provenance in the art market, and how a paper trail for a work of art can prove ownership and help resolve legal disputes.

Location: The Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street
Price: Free with registration
Time: 5 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Tanner West

Thursday, February 20–Sunday, April 19

Keisha Scarville, Placelessness of Echoes (and Kinship of Shadows) (2017). Courtesy of BRIC.

2. “Death Becomes Her” presented by BRIC and the Green-Wood Cemetery

How do death and dying affect the living? How do we materialize our mourning rituals?  This show of seven female-identifying artists is an introspective and personal exploration of the inevitability of death. Coinciding with the exhibition, a series of three intimate gatherings will be led by artist McKendree Key at the Catacombs of Green-Wood, bringing strangers and fellow artists to discuss the end of this life and the possibilities of the hereafter. 

Location: BRIC Main Gallery, 647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, February 19, 7 p.m.–9 p.m., Tuesday–Friday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

— Katie White

Thursday, February 20–Saturday, April 4

Lee Seung Jio’s, Nucleus FG 999 (1969). Courtesy of Tina Kim Gallery.

3. “Lee Seung Jio: Nucleus” at Tina Kim Gallery

Though Lee Seung Jio was once deemed “a future giant of Korean painting,” many Western audiences still aren’t familiar with his work. His first-ever solo show at Tina Kim in New York is a great chance to get acquainted. The artist, who died in 1990, was best known for his geometric abstractions, often returning to a series of cylindrical pipe shapes that create an optical illusion the longer you stare at them.

Location: Tina Kim Gallery, 525 West 21st Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Friday, February 21–Sunday, February 23

Lisa Ficarelli-Halpern, King, after van Eyck. Courtesy of Art Fair 14C.

4. “Art Fair 14C” at the Hyatt Regency

Over the course of the year, New York City plays hosts to dozens of art fairs. Now, there’s one for Jersey City, which some proud residents like to refer to as the sixth borough. Art Fair 14C’s 54 exhibitors feature a mix of artists, galleries, and art organizations, most hailing from the surrounding area. That includes Jersey City’s Art House Productions, New York’s Painting Center, Fort Lee’s Paris Koh Fine Arts, and Bridgehampton’s Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, as well as more far-flung participants, including Detroit’s River’s Edge Gallery and Sciatto Studio in São Paolo. There’s also a juried art show featuring New Jersey artists such as Lisa Ficarelli-Halpern, Pat Lay, Sofia Zubi, and Grace Mikell Ramsey.

Location: Hyatt Regency Hotel, 2 Exchange Place, Jersey City
Price: One day pass for Saturday or Sunday $20, weekend pass for Saturday and Sunday $35, VIP all-access pass $100
Time: Friday, VIP access 5 p.m.–6 p.m., public hours 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday, VIP access 11 a.m.–12 p.m., public hours 12 p.m.–8 p.m.; Sunday, VIP access 11 a.m.–12 p.m., public hours 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, February 21–Sunday, April 12

Jaimie Warren. Photo courtesy of Pioneer Works.

5. “THE MIRACLE: Jaimie Warren” at Pioneer Works

For her first institutional solo show, Jaimie Warren has turned Pioneer Works into a DIY-style stage set for a musical production, THE MIRACLE, which will debut April 4 and 11. The accompanying exhibition is being billed as “resembling a high school musical backdrop, a vintage Disney ride, or the campy gore of a community-built haunted house.” Featuring animatronics, costumes, and special effects, the project is an amalgamation of ideas gleaned from participants in recent workshops that Warren staged with local actors, puppeteers, and stage designers.

Location: Pioneer Works, 159 Pioneer Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 7 p.m.–9 p.m.; Wednesday–Sunday, 12 p.m.–7 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, February 21–Saturday, May 9

Amy Elkins, Expectant Mother (Pink), Expectant Mother (Blue), Mother and Newborn, Mother and Son, Mother and Young Children (2019). Photo courtesy of the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University.

6. “Per(Sister): Incarcerated Women of Louisiana” at the Ford Foundation Gallery

Before arriving in New York this show originated at the Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University. It’s based around an intriguing concept: Organizers interviewed 30 Louisiana women who have spent time behind bars or are currently incarcerated, and enlisted contemporary artists to make work based on their stories. Expect tales of resilience in the face of loss, despair, and injustice.

Location: The Ford Foundation Gallery, 320 East 43rd Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception Monday, March 2, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Saturday, February 22

Melanie Baker, Mouthpiece (2018). Photo courtesy of Cristin Tierney.

7. “Melanie Baker: The Optimates” at Cristin Tierney

For her first solo show in nearly a decade, Melanie Baker presents drawings of male politicians. Each composition is cropped to omit their faces, yet the men’s elevated position and status is apparent in other details—their tailored suits, or the ornate podiums at which they stand. The pictures hint at the dark side of power and masculinity and its propensity toward corruption —the exhibition is named after the optimates of ancient Rome, who favored rule by oligarchy.

Location: Cristin Tierney, 219 Bowery, 2nd Floor
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Judith Schaechter, Murdered Animal. Courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery.

8. “Judith Schaechter: Almost Better Angels” at Claire Oliver Gallery

The new home of Claire Oliver Gallery opened its doors in a four-story Harlem brownstone last month with a show from Judith Schaechter—who also inaugurated the dealer’s previous location in Chelsea nearly twenty years ago. For this outing, she’s showing seven new, large-scale stained glass works in illuminated light boxes.

Location: Claire Oliver Gallery, 2288 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 2 p.m.–4 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Installation view of “Azikiwe Mohammed: 396 Wortman Ave” at Anna Zorina Gallery. Photo courtesy of Anna Zorina Gallery.

9. “Azikiwe Mohammed: 396 Wortman Ave” at Anna Zorina Gallery

Azikiwe Mohammed’s colorful paintings are inspired by visits in the late 1990s and early 2000s to his family in the predominantly black neighborhood of New Lots, Brooklyn. To present the work, curator Ché Morales has dramatically transformed Anna Zorina Gallery into a living room with wall-to-wall carpeting, plus a fenced-in “backyard,” an apartment facade, and even a local storefront.

Location: Anna Zorina Gallery, 532 West 24th Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Sunday, February 23

Mark Ryan Chariker, Tidal Forces (2020). Courtesy of 1969 Gallery.

10. “Limbo: Mark Ryan Chariker” at 1969 Gallery
Among the many young contemporary artists currently borrowing from the depths of art history, Mark Ryan Chariker sets himself apart. His secular scenes, littered with beer cans and fast food wrappers, channel the apocalyptic language of the divine. His Comforts of Being Clean (2020) is like a Baroque nativity scene for a new decade — a small baby is being changed amid a dark, vaguely Da Vinci-esque architectural backdrop, while various adult figures crowd around. The mournful, blue-green hues and atmospheric drama of Tidal Forces, meanwhile, cues up the scary magic of El Greco. There are nods and allusions to Goya, Tiepelo, and Fragonard elsewhere in the show. What links the works together, and makes them timely, is a sense of turmoil lurking just under the surface, as the figures seem to await some coming rapture or disaster. 

Location: 1969 Gallery, 103 Allen Street
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday to Sunday, 11.00  a.m.–6: 00 p.m. 

— Katie White

Through Sunday, March 8

Installation view of “Arena” at East Projects. Left to Right: Henry Swanson, Kristofer Kimmel. Fiberglass and resin sculpture by Jillian Mayer. Image courtesy of the artists, and East Projects, New York

11. “Arena” at East Projects Gallery

This group exhibition curated by Bjorn Stern brings together five emerging artists from the US and Switzerland who explore the idea of competition, sports, choreography, spectacle, and ceremony.

Location: East Projects Gallery, 165 East 64th Street
Price: Free
Time: Open by appointment

—Eileen Kinsella

Through Saturday, March 28

Installation view of “Don Van Vliet: Parapliers the Willow Dipped, Paintings 1967-1997,” 2020. Courtesy of Michael Werner Gallery, New York and London.

12. “Don Van Vliet: Parapliers the Willow Dipped, Paintings 1967–1997” at Michael Werner Gallery

American singer, songwriter, and visual artist Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, passed away in 2010. Now, he gets a New York exhibition for the first time in over a decade at Michael Werner Gallery. “Van Vliet painted throughout his many years performing, and in the mid-1980s turned away from music to devote his intense creative energy solely to painting,” press materials note. The selection of works was made by fellow artist Spencer Sweeney.

Location: Michael Werner Gallery, 4 East 77th Street
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Cristina Cruz