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

Tuesday, February 26

Courtesy of HBO’s Mapplethorpe: Look at the pictures (2016).

1. Film Screening of “Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures” at the Guggenheim 

If the Guggenheim’s extensive survey of Robert Mapplethorpe’s work just isn’t enough for you, check out the museum’s screening of the 2016 HBO film Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures. The film’s title is a quote spoken by then-senator Jesse Helms during the peak of the culture wars that were ignited, in large part, by Mapplethorpe’s photographs. Standing in Congress in 1989, Helms made a plea for Americans to “look at the pictures” that he was taking a stand against. This movie takes those words to heart and looks deeply at the photographs—and the maelstrom of Mapplethorpe’s art and legacy.

Location: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue in the New Media Theater, located in the Sackler Center for Arts Education (Level B)
Price: Free with museum admission
Time: 6 p.m.–8 p.m. (doors open at 5:30)

—Caroline Goldstein

Tuesday, February 26–Sunday, March 24

Purvis Young, Five Horses (1989). Courtesy of James Fuentes.

2. “Purvis Young” at Salon 94 Freemans and James Fuentes

Two of the Lower East Side’s strongest galleries team up to present a joint exhibition of works by Purvis Young in the first New York show of his work in over a decade. It’s the latest in what’s been—and will continue to be—a big year for the late Miami artist. A retrospective of his work is on view now at the Rubell Family Collection in Florida, while a special exhibition dedicated to the artist is planned for the Venice Biennale later this year.

Location: Salon 94 Freemans, 1 Freeman Alley, and James Fuentes, 55 Delancey Street
Price: Free
Time: Salon 94, Wednesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; James Fuentes, Wednesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Taylor Dafoe

Tuesday, February 26–Saturday, April 13

Alice Neel, Ballet Dancer (1950).Courtesy of David Zwirner.

3. “Alice Neel: Freedom” at David Zwirner

This new show at Zwirner’s Chelsea outpost celebrates one of our favorite left-handed artists: the figurative painter Alice Neel, best known for her depictions of nude figures (and for her portraiture more generally). Neel’s work in “Freedom” exemplifies her formal skill as a painter, and also her engagement with social issues.

Location: David Zwirner, 537 West 20th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Tuesday, February 26–Saturday, April 20

Derrick Adams, Interior Life (Figure 8) (2019). Courtesy the artist and Luxembourg Dayan.

4. “Derrick Adams: Interior Life” at Luxembourg & Dayan

This exhibition of new works by Derrick Adams, was curated by Francesco Bonami. The works are inspired by a tenet of Catholic theology that describes “a life which seeks God in everything.” The show is a mediation on the intimate spaces of one’s mind and home and includes portraits on paper from the artist’s ongoing “Deconstruction Worker” series, installed on custom wallpaper depicting imaginary domestic environments.

Location: Luxembourg & Dayan, 64 East 77th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Eileen Kinsella

Wednesday, February 27

“Let’s Talk: Queer Identity and Creativity.” Image by Alexa Cassaro.

5. “Let’s Talk: Queer Identity and Creativity” at the School of Visual Arts

Caroline Berler, Alexa Cassaro, Annie Rose Malamet, Antonio Pulgarin, and Eric Rhein will engage in a panel discussion about how their artworks are influenced by their queer identities and the ongoing quest for queer liberation.

Location: SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 7 p.m.–9 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, February 28–Saturday, April 13

Jennifer Steinkamp, Impeach I (2019). Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

6. “Jennifer Steinkamp: Impeach” at Lehmann Maupin

New media wizard Jennifer Steinkamp is bringing four of her most recent large-scale video installations to Lehmann Maupin’s Chelsea location, where the work will be projected in response to the building’s architecture. Steinkamp’s work Impeach I was originally used as a billboard in Los Angeles, as part of a public art initiative. Its title winks at both the governmental procedure by which a government official is charged with a crime, and describes the smooshed-up fruit on display in the digital video.

Location: Lehmann Maupin, 536 West 22nd Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Wednesday–Saturday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Michael Joseph, Raskull – Cambridge, MA (2018). Courtesy of the artist and Daniel Cooney Fine Art

7. “Michael Joseph: Lost and Found” at Daniel Cooney Fine Art

Michael Joseph’s 27 large-scale, black-and-white photographs in his new show look like they were taken for a high-end fashion magazine, but he’s actually captured teenagers and adults on the fringes of society who travel the country by hopping freight trains or hitchhiking.

Location: Daniel Cooney Fine Art, 508–526 West 26th Street
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Jim Shaw, Macy Conference (2019). Courtesy of Metro Pictures.

8. “Jim Shaw: The Family Romance” at Metro Pictures

Jim Shaw presents five new politically tinged, surrealist new paintings, all touching on themes of the family, which he calls “the beloved core of the American dream.” The artist draws the inspiration for his imagery from vintage advertisements, and takes the show title from a Freudian psychological complex in which children believe that they’ve been taken from their real parents, who are richer and more important than those by whom they are being raised.

Location: Metro Pictures, 519 West 24th Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, February 28–Monday, June 24

Egon Schiele, Self-Portrait in Brown Coat (1910). Image courtesy of Neue Galerie.

9. “The Self-Portrait, from Schiele to Beckmann” at the Neue Galerie

Bringing together roughly 70 self-portraits from more than 30 artists, “The Self-Portrait, from Schiele to Beckmann” elucidates the period from 1900 to 1945 in Austria and Germany through the most personal lens possible. Aside from the two male colossi in the show’s title, the gallery will feature searing works by Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, and other under-recognized artists of both traditional genders, further enriching viewers’ understanding of the era’s complexities in the region.

Location: The Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Avenue (at 86th Street)
Price: $22 general admission; $16 for seniors (65+); $12 students, educators, and visitors with disabilities
Time: Thursday–Monday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Tim Schneider

Friday, March 1–Sunday, August 4

William Guy Wall, Preparatory Study for Plate 19 of “The Hudson River Portfolio”: View of the Palisades, New Jersey (1820). Courtesy of the New-York Historical Society.

10. “Hudson Rising” at the New-York Historical Society

The New-York Historical Society takes the Hudson River as a lens through which to examine ecological change and environmental activism in New York over the last two centuries. This important body of water has been the site of industrial development, commerce, and tourism, as well as a wildlife habitat and a source of inspiration for generations of artists. The exhibition highlights conservation efforts both historical and contemporary while looking toward our uncertain environmental future.

Location: New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (West 77th Street)
Price: $21
Time: Tuesday–Thursday, Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Sunday, March 3

Theaster Gates, Where Black Power Lives, Gary, Indiana (2018). Photo: Madeleine Thomas.

11. “Daughters of the Movement: Where Do We Go From Here?” at the International Center of Photography

In conjunction with the current exhibition “For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here?” on view at the ICP, a panel discussion hosted by producer Tanya Selvaratnam will feature insights and anecdotes from seven women whose parents were at the forefront of the civil rights movements. The title of the event, “Daughters of the Movement,” is literal in this case, featuring Dominique Sharpton (daughter of the Reverend Al Sharpton); Gina Belafonte (daughter of Julie and Harry Belafonte), and Ilyasah Shabazz (daughter of Malcom X and Dr. Betty Shabazz), among others.

Location: 35 Wooster Street
Price: Free, but advance registration required
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Through Saturday, March 2

Installation view of “Yukultji Napangati” at Salon 94 Bowery. Photo courtesy of Salon 94.

12. “Yukultji Napangati” at Salon 94 Bowery

A leading figure of the contemporary Aboriginal painting movement, Yukultji Napangati has never before had a solo show in the US.  In 1984, at the age of 14, Napangati and her family of nine were discovered living as nomads in the remote Gibson Desert and hailed as “The Lost Tribe.”  She took up painting in 1996, among the first Aboriginal women to join the men in the tribe in making art. Abstract and inspired by ancestral myth, her paintings reflect the color palette of the desert in which she was raised.

Location: Salon 94 Bowery, 243 Bowery
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Sunday, March 3

Installation view of “Rob Wynne: FLOAT” and Rob Wynne’s EXTRA LIFE (2018). Photo by Jonathan Dorado, Brooklyn Museum, courtesy of the artist and Gavlak, Los Angeles/Palm Beach.

13. “Rob Wynne: FLOAT” at the Brooklyn Museum

Rob Wynne has integrated his ethereal, mirrored-wall installations into the Brooklyn Museum’s American art galleries next to traditional marble statues and oil paintings. The effect is one of otherworldly beauty.

Location: The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway
Price: General admission $16
Time: Wednesday, Friday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Wednesday, March 6

One of William Conlon’s “21 Floors” paintings. Courtesy of William Conlon.

14. “William Conlon: 21 Floors” at the Ildiko Butler Gallery

Artist William Conlon was commissioned to create 21 paintings for an affordable housing complex in Syracuse. To protect the colorful designs from graffiti and other damage, Conlon had them printed on linoleum flooring tile and installed in the elevator landing of each floor of the building, enlarged to 10 by 13 feet. The original works are currently on view in the gallery at Fordham University, where Conlon is part of the visual arts faculty.

Location: Fordham University, Ildiko Butler Gallery, 113 West 60th Street
Price: Free
Time: Reception Tuesday, February 28, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; open daily, 9 a.m.–9 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone