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

Monday, February 24

Participants during Suzanne Lacy’s De tu Puño y Letra (November 25, 2015) a project for a Blade of Grass’s “Fieldwork” series, season two. Courtesy of Christoph Hirtz.

1. “Talking About Unspeakable Acts: Women, Art, and Sexual Violence” at the dieFirma

In this talk moderated by writer and critic Nancy Princenthal, artists Suzanne Lacy, Lynn Hershman Leeson, and Aviva Rahmani will discuss the ways in which they have used art and activism to confront sexual violence.

Location: dieFirma, 32A Cooper Square
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Tuesday, February 25–Wednesday, May 20

Xaviera Simmons, Capture (still) (2019). Image courtesy of the artist and David Castillo Gallery

2. “Xaviera Simmons: Posture” at New York University Institute of Fine Arts

Continuing a commitment to presenting the work of mid-career women artists at the Institute’s James B. Duke House, the spring show features Xaviera Simmons, a Brooklyn-based artist whose practice is “rooted in the interconnectedness of formal processes, rigorous archival research, and the concept of social and material reparations for ramifications of colonialism with whiteness as its center,” according to a statement. Set within the context of the Duke House, an institutional building that was once the private home of the president of the American Tobacco Company, the sculptural works in “Posture” navigate the relationship between art objects and the space in which they are exhibited. Patron (and vocal champion of women artists) Valeria Napoleone is a major supporter of the show.

Location: The James B. Duke House, 1 East 78th Street, New York
Price: Free, RSVP for opening reception
Time: Opening reception, 6:30–8:30 p.m.; daily, 1 p.m.–4 p.m.

—Eileen Kinsella

Wednesday, February 26

D’Angelo Lovell Williams, The Lovers (2017). Photo courtesy of the artist and Higher Pictures, ©D’Angelo Lovell Williams.

3. “Young Gifted and Black” at Lehman College Art Gallery

Over the last twenty years, Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi have put together an impressive collection of African-American art, with works by both emerging and well-known artists, including Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, Arcmanoro Niles, Sable Elyse Smith, and Mickalene Thomas. The first dedicated exhibition of the Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection, curated by writer Antwaun Sargent and artist Matt Wycoff, the collection’s curator, touched down earlier this month at Lehman College. It’ll travel over the course of the year to venues in Pennsylvania, Illinois, South Carolina, Texas, and California.

Location: Lehman College Art Gallery, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Fine Arts Building, Bronx
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 5 p.m.–8 p.m.; on view through Saturday, May 2, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, February 26–Saturday, April 18

Roe Ethridge, The Pink Bow, 2001–02, C-print, 30 × 24 inches, edition of 5 + 2 AP © Roe Ethridge. Photo Courtesy: Gagosian.

4. “Roe Ethridge: Old Fruit” at Gagosian

In 1999, the young artist Roe Ethridge was attending one of the infamous Fischerspooner performances at the Starbucks on Astor Place when he met a 20-year-old named Andrew Wilkes-Krier, a musician who had just begun going by the name Andrew W.K. They saw each other again at a Fischerspooner show on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center, and Andrew W.K. asked Ethridge if he would like to shoot the cover of his debut album, which was titled I Get Wet. A shoot was staged at the artist’s North 3rd Street loft in Williamsburg. After a few lackluster takes, Andrew W.K. went to the bathroom, and when he returned, blood was flowing from his nose over his lips and down his chin. Ethridge’s shot of the party rocker staring at the camera, serene and calm as the carnage rushes down his face, was instantly iconic; if you happened to be a 13-year-old when the CD of I Get Wet was shipped to suburban malls, that album cover might’ve had a truly profound effect on your entire life. It certainly did for me. The original photograph, along with other masterful still lifes and portraits taken over the course of his career, will be part of “Old Fruit,” Ethridge’s first solo show at Gagosian in New York.

Location: Gagosian, 976 Madison Avenue
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Nate Freeman

Thursday, February 27

Antwaun Sargent. Image courtesy of @sirsargent via Instagram.

5. Baxter St. Camera Club of New York Stand With Us Benefête at Angel Orensanz

Baxter St’s third annual “Stand With Us” gala honors artists Zoe Buckman and Ivan Forde as well as omnipresent curator and writer Antwaun Sargent, the author of The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion. The evening’s festivities will include live performances by Black Thought of the Roots and a surprise member of the Wu Tang Klan, as well as custom cocktails and late night Scarr’s Pizza, plus portrait sessions.

Location: Angel Orensanz, 172 Norfolk Street
Price: $350
Time: 7 p.m.–11 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Installation view of “Melissa McGill: RED REGATTA riflessi” at TOTAH. Photo courtesy of TOTAH.

6. “Melissa McGill in Conversation With Brian Langloss” at TOTAH

“Melissa McGill: RED REGATTA riflessi,” features photographs taken during Melissa McGill’s environmentally minded project Red Regatta, which debuted during the Venice Biennale. Inspired by Venetian maritime history, the artist staged regattas of traditional vela al terzo sailboats outfitted with red sails. The events, in contrast to the massive, environmentally destructive cruise ships that overrun Venice on a daily basis, were registered as Clean Regattas. The resulting images are almost abstract shots of the red sails reflected on the Venetian Lagoon. As the show, on view through March 1, draws to a close, McGill will speak with Brian Langloss of Oceana, a group dedicated to preserving and restoring the world’s oceans, about threats to the oceans’ ecosystem and the dangers of rising water levels.

Location: TOTAH, 183 Stanton Street
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, February 27–Saturday, March 14

Enki Bilal, Vertebrati Couple II (2014). Courtesy of Art9.

7. “Line and Frame: A Survey of European Comic Art” at Danese Corey

Danese Corey is hosting this exhibition of European comic art for Art9, comic collector Philippe Labaune’s initiative to share his passion with American audiences. Featured artists will include Hergé, of The Adventures of Tintin fame; Enki Bilal, author of the “Nikopol” trilogy; and Jean “Moebius” Giraud, a sci-fi illustrator credited with influencing the likes of George Lucas and Ridley Scott.

Location: Danese Corey, 511 West 22nd Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Tanner West

Thursday, February 27–Saturday, April 4

Betty Parsons, Pasture (1963). Photo courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates.

8. “Betty Parsons: Heated Sky” at Alexander Gray Associates

The overdue rediscovery of the artistic practice of the late art dealer Betty Parson, known for her championing of the Abstract Expressionists, continues with her second show at Alexander Gray. The exhibition’s abstract works were painted from the 1960s to the mid ’70s, in the Long Island studio built for Parsons by artist and architect Tony Smith.

Location: Alexander Gray Associates, 510 West 26th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Thursday, February 27

Ernesto Renda, Marcel Schein #15 (2019). Photo courtesy of the National Arts Club.

9. “Ernesto Renda: Frottage Works” at the National Arts Club

You have until Thursday to catch Ernesto Renda’s first New York City solo show at The National Arts Club. Renda creates pastel rubbings using a relief of his and his grandfather’s fingerprints, comparing the results  to pixels on a screen. The offbeat, family-focused works are further inspired by his great-grandfather, Marcel Schein, who studied cosmic ray physics in the 1940s. Renda completed the Brown-RISD dual-degree program in 2018 and will be part of a two person show, alongside Janie Korn, at the Empty Circle Space in April.

Location: The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

—Cristina Cruz

Friday, February 28–Sunday, March 8

Rachel Monosov with CTG Collective, The Berry Eaters (2019), still. Photo courtesy of Catinca Tabacaru Gallery.

10. “CTG COLLECTIVE: The Berry Eaters” at Catinca Tabacaru Gallery

Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, formerly of the Lower East Side, returns to New York City with a temporary Harlem location, which is being inaugurated this week with a trio of exhibitions. “The Berry Eaters” showcases the fruits—pun intended—of the gallery’s own CTG Collective, which sets up international artists in residencies around the world, including Zimbabwe, Canada, Mali, Serbia, Nigeria, Finland, and the US. Left to adapt to their unfamiliar environs, the six artists featured here each created work inspired by their status as foreigners. The show’s title come from Rachel Monosov’s piece of the same name, which references right-wing Finnish fears that immigrants will devour the country’s largely untapped bounty of wild berries.

Location: Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, 224 West 137th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; 12 p.m.–7 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, February 28–Sunday, March 1

Chuck Hettinger, Coyote Manscape (2018). Courtesy of the Leslie-Lohman Museum.

11. “Chuck Hettinger: Drawing the MoMENt” at the Leslie-Lohman Museum Project Space

New York artist Chuck Hettinger has been HIV positive since the beginning of the AIDS crisis, but his paintings of the male body are joyful celebrations of sexuality. This show of large-scale works on paper is curated by Christopher Stout, and there will be an artist talk on Sunday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. with light refreshments.

Location: Leslie-Lohman Museum Project Space, 127-B Prince Street, basement
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, February 29

Stefanos Tsivopoulos, History Zero (2013), video still. Photo courtesy of the artist and Prometeogallery di Ida Pisani.

12. “Before There Was Money There Was Debt: Anthropoligist David Graeber and Artist Stefanos Tsivopoulos in Conversation” at the 8th Floor

Stefanos Tsivopoulos’ installation Alternative Currencies: An Archive and A Manifesto at the 8th Floor’s current show “Relational Economies: Labor Over Capital” (on view through March 7) features writer and anthropologist David Graeber’s books Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams and The First 5,000 Years. During the final days of the exhibition, which considers global economic crises and alternatives to capitalism, the author and artist will discuss the histories of currencies and systems of credit.

Location: The 8th Floor, 17 West 17th Street
Price: Free
Time: 4 p.m.–7 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, February 29–Saturday, March 28

Tanya Merrill, Woman with Parrot, 2018. Courtesy of Half Gallery.

13. “Tanya Merrill” at Half Gallery

Christening Half Gallery’s new East Village space is American artist Tanya Merrill. It’s the first solo show for Merrill, a rising star who got her MFA at Columbia in 2018 and who has participated at group outings at Almine Reche in New York and Gavin Brown Enterprise’s upstate outfit, Unclebrother.

Location: Half Gallery, 235 East 4th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–5 p.m.

—Cristina Cruz

Saturday, February 29–Sunday, April 12

Catalina Ouyang, bitch bench (2017). Photo courtesy of the artist and the Knockdown Center.

14. “Catalina Ouyang: it has always been the perfect instrument” at the Knockdown Center

In addition to her large-scale interactive sculpture, Cataline Ouyang presents a two-channel video documenting an ongoing project, [Conclusion and Findings]. The artist mass emailed to hundreds of friends and strangers, and asked them to respond to a Title IX report from her university which cleared the former partner Ouyang had accused of rape of wrongdoing. The video presents participants’ “translations” of the original text and its institutionalized language.

Location: Knockdown Center, 52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 5 p.m.–8 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 2 p.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.–7 p.m.

—Nan Stewert

Saturday, February 29–Sunday, July 12

Eileen Gray, E 1027 living room (1926–29). Photo courtesy of the Centre Pompidou, Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Paris, Fonds Eileen Gray.

15. “Eileen Gray” at the Bard Graduate Gallery

Bard pays homage to Irish interior designer and modern art dealer Eileen Gray (1878–1976), known for her rug and furniture designs.

Location: The Bard Graduate Gallery, 18 West 86th Street
Price: Suggested general admission $7
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday, Friday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wednesday, Thursday, 11 a.m.–8 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Sunday, March 1

Ronny Quevedo, un contador de latitudes (a keeper of latitudes), 2019. Photography by Charles Benton. Courtesy of Foxy Production, New York.

16. “Metallica” at Foxy Production

Don’t get the wrong idea: this is not a show about James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, or anyone else behind the making of Master of Puppets. Instead, this compelling group exhibition takes its name from the 16th-century text De Re Metallica (On the Nature of Metals) and features three artists who have mastered metals in very different ways. LaKela Brown creates fossil-like plaster impressions of jewelry from hip-hop’s first generation; ektor garcia makes beguiling mixed-media sculptures in which metals weave into, or disguise themselves as, other materials entirely; and Ronny Quevedo uses gold and silver leaf to highlight the value of pragmatic yet culturally significant patterns and forms from the histories of indigenous peoples. In total, the results are visually and intellectually rich.

Location: Foxy Production, 2 East Broadway, #200
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Tim Schneider

Nicolaus Rugendas the Younger, watch (circa 1670). Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.

17. “Making Marvels: Science and Splendor at the Courts of Europe” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

All manner of intricate, ornate treasures are on view in this fascinating exhibition at the Met: drinking cups formed from bejeweled nautilus shells; delicate ivory carvings made by European royals; plus elaborate timekeeping devices and other scientific instruments. (Don’t miss the complex automatons, including an unbelievable machine that could be programmed to write messages.) It’s a literal treasure trove of both artistic and scientific riches well worth a visit.

Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue
Price: General admission, adults $25; seniors $17; students $12; children under 12 free
Time: Sunday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Friday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Friday, March 6

Work by Rory Scott in “Lightbox: Digital Art Series Nature” at ZAZ Corner Billboard, ZAZ10TS. Photo courtesy of ZAZ10TS.

18. “Lightbox: Digital Art Series Nature” at ZAZ10TS

Among the wall-to-wall ads that plaster facades in Times Square, one LED billboard is now completely given over to art. The ZAZ Corner, a new project from ZAZ10TS, offers a respite from the bustling intersection’s sensory overload, with an inaugural selection of digital artworks inspired by nature. Featured artists include Reo, Catalysee, and Jon Burgerman. The corner gallery will continue with a new theme and new work next month.

Location: ZAZ10TS, 10 Times Square, West 41st Street and 7th Avenue
Price: Free
Time: On view daily at all times

—Nan Stewert

Through Saturday, March 7

Beverly Semmes, Slip (2019). Courtesy of Susan Inglett Gallery.

19. “Beverly Semmes: Red” at Susan Inglett Gallery 

Susan Inglett is featuring Beverly Semmes at the ADAA Art Show this week—where she’ll be giving out signed copies of her zine, Pinky—in conjunction with a solo show of the artist’s work at its Chelsea gallery. In Semmes’s “Feminist Responsibility Project” series, begun in the early 2000s and on view last year at the 57th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, she enlarges photographs from 1990s porn magazines. Painting atop the women’s nude bodies, Semmes acts as a creative censor, disrupting the gaze.

Location: Susan Inglett Gallery, 522 West 24th Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

A monoprint by Nigel Cooke. Courtesy of Pace Prints.

20. “Nigel Cooke” at Pace Prints

For his first show with Pace Prints, Nigel Cooke has begun experimenting with monoprints, painting on metal plates and running them through the printing press to reverse the image. The artist considers the resulting works “remixes” of his paintings, which straddle abstraction and figuration.

Location: Pace Prints, 521 West 26th Street, Third Floor
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Tanner West

Through Sunday, March 22

Sarah Slappey, Lipstick (2020). Courtesy of Sargent’s Daughters.

21. “Sarah Slappey: Power Play” at Sargent’s Daughters

Hands are notoriously hard to paint, but South Carolina-born painter Sarah Slappey doesn’t shy away from them. In her first solo show with the gallery, fingers and palms unfurl seductively, twisting strands of pearls, playing with lipstick, and showing off surreal flames. (Lush droplets of breast milk also play a lead role in many of these new works.) Slappey paints hands and women’s bodies in shades of pinks and purples and blood-like reds; her undulating, lavishly fleshy forms border on the grotesque. The works unexpectedly bring to mind the Mannerist master Jacopo da Pontormo, whose unusual, acidic color tones and elongated figures shook up Renaissance Florence. 

Location: Sargent’s Daughters, 179 East Broadway
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Sunday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

— Katie White