Each week, we search for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. In light of the global health crisis, we are currently highlighting events in person and digitally, as well as in-person exhibitions open in the New York area. See our picks from around the world below. (Times are all EST unless otherwise noted.)
Tuesday, February 23–Thursday, February 25
Amy Sedaris in character as Marcel Dzama. Photo courtesy of Marcel Dzama.
1. “SCAD deFINE ART” at the Savannah College of Art and Design
This year’s SCAD deFINE ART exhibition and talks program, which honors artist Sanford Biggers, goes virtual, kicking off with a conversation between comedian Amy Sedaris and artist Marcel Dzama on Tuesday at 11 a.m. (Sedaris will appear in character as the artist.) Other highlights include a talk with the Haas Brothers and their dealer, Marianne Boesky, on Thursday at 2 p.m., and Biggers’s keynote lecture on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Price: Free with registration
Time: Various times
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, February 24
Ashley Southall, Thomas Abt, and Erica Ford. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.
2. “Envisioning Alternatives to Policing: Violence Prevention” at the Museum of the City of New York
Ashley Southall of the New York Times is leading a trio of virtual events about how activists are working to keep their communities safe without engaging the police. The first panel features Thomas Abt, author of Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence—and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets, and Erica Ford, CEO and co-founder of LIFE Camp, a Queens-based gun violence prevention organization.
Price: $20 suggested donation
Time: 7 p.m.–8 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, February 24–Saturday, February 27
Adriana Varejão. Photo by Vicente de Mello, courtesy the artist and Gagosian.
3. “Artist Spotlight: Adriana Varejão” at Gagosian, New York
Gagosian continues its weekly Spotlight series, highlighting one work from one artist, with Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão, ahead of her May show at the gallery’s 522 West 21st Street location. On Wednesday, the gallery is releasing a new time-lapse video of the artist creating one of her tile paintings, inspired by the Portuguese art of azulejo, traditional glazed terracotta tiles brought to Brazil in colonial times. The new work will be unveiled on Friday, available for sale for only 48 hours.
Price: Free
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, February 24–Sunday, February 28
Printed Matter’s Virtual Art Book Fair. Image courtesy of Printed Matter, Inc.
4. “Printed Matter’s Virtual Art Book Fair” at Printed Matter, Inc., New York
As it celebrates the 15th anniversary of its first New York Art Book Fair, Printed Matter enters the world of virtual fairs with a robust slate of more than 400 exhibitors from more than 40 countries, plus digital programming including lectures, conversations, performances, and the 2021 Contemporary Artists’ Book Conference. Each dealer in the fair will have his or her own custom website featuring books for sale, as well as extra content including videos from artists and panel discussions.
Price: Free with registration
Time: Opening Wednesday 4 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, February 25
Cover, Hari Ziyad, Black Boy Out of Time. Courtesy of the author.
5. “Virtual Book Launch: Black Boy Out of Time with Hari Ziyad and Kiese Laymon” at the Brooklyn Museum
If you’ve seen promo imagery for the Brooklyn Museum’s stirring exhibition “John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance,” then you’ve already seen a masked yet still vulnerable Hari Ziyad in the photograph Two Spirits (2019). That title nods toward a theme of both Edmonds’s show and Ziyad’s new memoir, which details the author’s coming of age as Black and queer in the American midwest. To celebrate the release of Black Boy Out of Time, Ziyad will talk through intersectional challenges including race, gender, and institutionalized violence with the award-winning author Kiese Laymon, whose own recent book, Heavy: An American Memoir, was named one of the 50 best memoirs of the past 50 years by the New York Times.
Price: $10 (Free for members)
Time: 6 p.m.–7 p.m.
—Tim Schneider
Theaster Gates, Gone Are the Days of Shelter and Martyr (2014), video still. Photo ©Theaster Gates, courtesy of White Cube and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
6. “Theaster Gates in Conversation with Massimiliano Gioni” at the New Museum, New York
In the first program for the New Museum’s new show “Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America,” the museum’s artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, will talk on Zoom with artist Theaster Gates about his work revitalizing Black communities.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 4 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Photo courtesy of the Thurgood Academy Lower School, New York.
7. “Educator Activism: Social Justice, Antiracist Education, and Cultural Responsiveness” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Dawn Brooks-DeCosta, principle of New York City’s Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School, leads this webinar on teaching within the framework of social justice and anti-racism.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 5 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Paul Cadmus, Playground. (1947). Courtesy of the Georgia Museum of Art.
8. “Lecture: Philip Eliasoph: “‘Hide-and-Seek’ on the Magic Realists’ Playground: Unmasking ‘Extraordinary’ Metaphors’” at the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens
American art historian, critic, curator, and Fairfield University art history professor Philip Eliasoph will unlock the layers of meaning in Paul Cadmus’s 1947 masterpiece Playground in this virtual lecture at the Georgia Museum, where the painting is on view in “Extra Ordinary: Magic, Mystery, and Imagination in American Art” (through June 13).
Price: Free with registration
Time: 4 p.m.
—Nan Stewert
Ed Ruscha, Mocha Standard (1969). Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer. © Ed Ruscha. Photo courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.
9. “Jeremiah Davis and Alexandra Schwartz with Jeff Briley” at the Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City
Everyone thinks of Ed Ruscha as a California artist, but the celebrated Pop art giant actually grew up in Oklahoma City. On the occasion of his first solo show in his home state, “Ed Ruscha: OKLA” (through July 5), the Oklahoma Contemporary is live talk on YouTube and Facebook featuring the exhibition’s co-curator, Alexandra Schwartz, and the museum’s artistic director, Jeremiah Matthew Davis, moderated by Jeff Briley, deputy director of the Oklahoma History Center.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 7 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Friday, February 26
Marcus Samuelsson. Photo by Mike Schwar.
10. “Cooking With Adrienne Cheatham, Marcus Samuelsson, and David Breslin” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
David Breslin, the Whitney Museum’s director of curatorial initiatives, will talk with chefs Marcus Samuelsson and Adrienne Cheatham about ties between Black chefs and Black artists while the two prepare a meal.
Price: Free for members (starting at $90 for the year)
Time: 5 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Friday, February 26—Saturday, March 27
David Goldblatt, George and Sarah Manyane, 3153 Emdeni Extension, August 1972 (1972) ©David Goldblatt. Image courtesy Pace and Goodman Gallery.
11. “David Goldblatt: Strange Instrument” at Pace Gallery, New York
This show of more than 60 vintage prints by South African master David Goldblatt, who documented life at the height of apartheid between the late ’60s and early ’80s, was curated by artist and activist Zanele Muholi in collaboration with their gallery, Yancey Richardson. Goldblatt, who died in 2018, was a mentor and friend to the artist. The group of images reflects Muholi’s own meditation on the brutality that Goldblatt captured in scenes of everyday life under conditions of extreme injustice. Muholi, an acclaimed photographer, has been creating self-portraits in locations throughout the world as a means of addressing issues of race, gender, personal history, and African political history and currently has a solo exhibition at the Tate.
Location: Pace Gallery, 540 West 25th Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., by appointment
—Eileen Kinsella
Friday, February 26–Saturday, April 10
Lucas Blalock, Reverse Titanic / Hell is in the Air, 2019 © Lucas Blalock. Courtesy of Galerie Eva Presenhuber.
12. “Lucas Blalock: Florida, 1989” at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, New York
As the title of the show states, photographer Lucas Blalock has a unique memory of Florida in 1989. It was there and then that a freak accident at Disney World led a 10-year-old Blalock to lose his thumb. In turn, his missing finger was surgically replaced with his big toe—an experimental procedure at the time, but one that ultimately allowed him to retain full use of his hand. Much of Blalock’s work grapples implicitly with the psychological trauma of the event, but this exhibition marks the first time he has attempted to explore it directly through photoshopped collages and “remixed” portraits.
Location: Galerie Eva Presenhuber, 39 Great Jones Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Opening, 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Katie Rothstein
Friday, February 26—Saturday, May 1
Amanda Ba, My Beast, All Mine (2021). Courtesy Tong Art Advisory.
13. “QUEER OUT T/HERE” at Tong Art Advisory, New York
This past summer, pop-up blue-chip galleries descended on Long Island vacation towns to cater to the now-permanent residents who declined to return to the city. But there were also some scrappier endeavors happening out East. In September, Tong Art Advisory set up a show in an unusual space: a series of garages on the rough-hewn road that winds out toward Springs. It became a hit show, featuring work by in-demand artists such as Alex Becerra, Caitlin Keogh, Chelsea Culprit, Nevine Mahmoud, and Van Hanos.
Now, Tong Art Advisory, which was founded by Yitong Wang in 2019, will stage another show back in Manhattan. “QUEER OUT T/HERE,” a group exhibition curated in collaboration with artist Oscar yi Hou, will “examine the condition of ‘otherness’ across overlapping lines of queerness and/or East Asian identity,” according to a press release. Nine artists feature in the show, including Amanda Ba, Lily Wong, and Louis Fratino.
QUEER OUT T/HERE will be staged in a hush-hush spot in Soho, on one of the tony nabe’s most cherished blocks, in one of those spaces that you know exist somewhere inside the grid of cast-iron buildings but can’t see from the street. Reach out about an appointment if you want to know more.
Location: Tong Art Advisory HQ, Soho, email info@tongartadvisory.com for more info
Price: Free
Time: By appointment
—Nate Freeman
Through Thursday, March 18
Linjie Deng,Moon Catcher (2020). Image courtesy of the artist and Carlton Fine Arts.
14. “Linjie Deng: Lost Museum” at Carlton Fine Arts, New York
Linjie Deng is a 29-year-old artist who has been based in New York since graduating from art school in Beijing six years ago. He began studying Chinese ink art at the age of six, a practice which is reflected in his appreciation for multimedia, participatory, and performance art. Works like Moon Catcher (2020) reflect his love of classic Chinese poetry and symbolism. Deng says the moon follows you wherever you are in the world and serves as a reminder of where you first encountered it in your hometown—which, for him, is a village in the northwestern Shanxi Province.
Location: Carlton Fine Arts, 543 Madison Avenue, New York
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; and by appointment
—Eileen Kinsella
Through Friday, March 12
LeRone Wilson, Nieth (2020). Photo courtesy of Bill Hodges Gallery, New York.
15. “LeRone Wilson: From Beyond” at Bill Hodges Gallery, New York
LeRone Wilson’s unique brand of encaustic art bridges the gap between painting and sculpture with “sculptural paintings” made from textured layers of beeswax, carnauba wax, and propolis—a resin-like material produced by bees—mixed with powdered pigment and molded with a palette knife. The artist considers his work with beeswax an extension of his studies of Kemetism, a revival of ancient Egyptian religion that looks to reclaim historical Black identity, because of the importance of honey and bees to the Egyptians.
Location: Bill Hodges Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, 10E, New York
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Sunday, March 21
A crocheted sculpture by Antonia Perez in “ADULT SLEDDING,” Good Naked’s pop-up show in Prospect Park. Photo by Alexa Hoyer, courtesy of Good Naked.
16. “ADULT SLEDDING” Good Naked, Brooklyn
Good Naked gallery continued their ingenious pandemic-safe programming this weekend with an outdoor exhibition in Prospect Park. Just north of Lookout Hill, the group show debuted Saturday atop a blanket of snow, with a playful variety of works installed against trees and icy white lawns. Highlights included a pastel snow sculpture by David Kirshoff, and a crochet installation by Antonia Perez. Curated by artist and gallery owner Jaqueline Cedar, the installation offered a refreshing take on a snow day, encouraging play and ephemeral additions to the space. As the snow melts, the works have been moved inside the Good Naked space, where they can be viewed by appointment.
Location: Good Naked, Brooklyn, email info@goodnakedgallery.com for more info
Price: Free
Time: By appointment
—Santiago Garcia Cano
Through Saturday, March 27
Gretchen Scherer, Doria Pamphilj (2021). Courtesy of Monya Rowe Gallery.
17. “Dual Hearts and Empty Halls: Anne Buckwalter and Gretchen Scherer” at Monya Rowe Gallery, New York
In this two-person exhibition, artists Anne Buckwalter and Gretchen Scherer present new paintings that hint vividly at the oddness of our current times. Scherer paints lushly intricate interiors of museum halls glutted with paintings, but absent of people. Buckwalter, meanwhile, creates domestic scenes that combine elements of the artist’s own life with imagined subject matter. Both artists’ works come alive through their sensitivity to detail. Scherer lovingly reimagines museum and private collections using information culled from internet searches and books to create fictitious salon-style installations of her favorite artworks in these collections. Anne Buckwalter, meanwhile, adds proactively intimate details—figures entwined on a floor beside a teddy bear, scraps of paper with private doodles, a chipped Zabar’s mug—to her scenes of daily life. These are paintings that reward close looking and allow the mind to conjure up endless possible narratives.
Location: Monya Rowe Gallery, 224 West 30th Street #1005, New York
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Katie White