Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting, and thought-provoking, shows, screenings, and events. See them below.
Tuesday, August 1–Thursday, August 31
MSHR, Convolution Weave~Lattice Domain still. Courtesy of MSHR.
1. “MSHR: Convolution Weave~Lattice Domain” in Times Square
The latest offering from Midnight Moment, Times Square Arts‘ ongoing monthly digital art exhibition that takes over electronic billboards for three minutes at the end of each day is Convolution Weave~Lattice Domain, from art collective MSHR and Upfor Gallery of Portland, Oregon. Envisioned as a “highly aestheticized, psychedelic version of the type of sensory overload” tourists encounter at the so-called crossroads of the world, Convolution depicts virtual sculptures that are sometimes realistic, sometimes obviously virtual, changing color as they spin through space.
Location: Times Square, Duffy Square, 7th Avenue and West 47th Street
Price: Free
Time: 11:57 p.m.–12 a.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, August 1–Sunday, November 5
Claudia Alvarez, (2012), from the series “Pendencia.” Courtesy of Claudia Alvarez.
2. “Claudia Alvarez: Huertas (Orchards)” at El Museo del Barrio
Mexican-American artist Claudia Alvarez will be working live on-site at El Museo’s Las Galerías on her proposed project “Huertas (Orchards),” which draws on the Mexican tradition of devotional retablo paintings of Catholic saints, typically made by untrained artists on tin panels. “In contrast to the [retablo’s] religious emphasis,” writes Alravez on the museum website, “my project will address social and ethical issues ranging from human rights and environmental concerns to the plight of the poor and injustices toward women and children.”
Location: El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue
Price: $9
Time: Wednesday–Saturday 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sunday 12 p.m.–5 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, August 3
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Tie The Temptress To The Trojan (2016). Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, and Corvi-Mora, London, ©Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.
3. “Under-Song for a Cypher: An Evening of Readings Selected by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye” at the New Museum
The New Museum is hosting a night of readings to celebrate artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s current exhibition “Under-Song For A Cipher.” New York-based performers will read work written by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Roald Dahl, James Baldwin, and more; each work has been chosen by the artist for its literary and artistic merit.
Location: New Museum, 235 Bowery, Sky Room
Price: $15
Time: 6 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Thursday, August 3
Hunter Reynolds, Why We March (2011). Courtesy the artist and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York.
4. A conversation with Agnieszka Kurant, Dave McKenzie, William Powhida, and Hunter Reynolds, moderated by Antwaun Sargent at FLAG Art Foundation
In conjunction with the current exhibition “The Times,” which is on through August 11, writer Antwaun Sargent will moderate a panel discussion with artists who insert themselves in The New York Times to reframe and reimagine the news whether it’s past, present, or future. The group exhibition features over 80 artists, artist duos, and collectives who use the “paper of record” in their practice.
Location: FLAG Art Foundation, 545 West 25th Street, New York.
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6:00–8:00 p.m. Talk begins at 6:30 p.m.
—Eileen Kinsella
Thursday, August 3–Thursday, August 18
Christian Ruiz Berman, Kami Para Jairo (2017).
5. RISD MFA Painting 2017 Graduate Show at Morgan Lehman Gallery
A new class of ambitious young artists, freshly graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), have yet again snagged a group show at a Manhattan gallery. (Last year’s show attracted the attention of Peter Plagens, who weirdly savaged it—in the Wall Street Journal, no less.) Looking for the next generation of up-and-coming artists? You could do a lot worse than to scout them out here.
Location: Morgan Lehman Gallery, 534 West 24th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8:00 pm; Monday–Friday, 11 a.m–6 p.m.
—Brian Boucher
Thursday, August 3–Thursday, September 7
Slifka Beach House Garden, Sagaponack, New York. Photograph © Sara Cedar Miller, 2015.
6. “The New American Garden: The Landscape Architecture of Oehme, van Sweden” at the Nassau County Museum of Art
This photography show chronicling the careers of landscape architects Wolfgang Oehme (1930–2011) and James van Sweden (1935–2013) inaugurates the Nassau County Museum of Art’s new Manes Family Art & Education Center. The two men developed the popular “New American Garden” style, “characterized by large swaths of grasses and fields of perennials,” according to the Cultural Landscape Foundation, which organized the exhibition.
Location: Nassau County Museum of Art, 1 Museum Drive, Roslyn Harbor, Long Island
Price: $12
Time: Tuesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–4:45 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, August 3–August 17
Mercedes Helnwein, Tiffany (2017). Image courtesy of the artist and Castor Gallery.
7. “Strangers” at Castor Gallery
A group show curated by Emma Frank of Castor Gallery, featuring artists Jesse Draxler, Anthony Goicolea, Mercedes Helnwein, Juan Michel Palacios, and Krista Louise Smith, exploring the notion of strangers. Strangers are explored in the context of the ego; the self, and the other in this new show.
Location: Castor Gallery, 254 Broome Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Wednesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Thursday, August 3–Sunday, September 17
Jennifer May Reiland, Blowing Smoke (after Bolaño), 2015. Courtesy of the Drawing Center.
8. “Where Do We Stand” at the Drawing Center
Celebrating the Drawing Center’s residency program, Open Sessions is this exhibition featuring the whole group of participants in the 2016–17 program. Open Sessions instructs artists to “consider their relationship to drawing as medium, process, and metaphor.” Over the course of two years, the artists embark on studio visits, open discussions, and small group shows—culminating in this grand finale exhibition.
Location: The Drawing Center, 35 Wooster Street
Price: $5
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday–Sunday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.; Thursday, 12 p.m.–8 p.m.
—Eileen Kinsella
Saturday, August 5
Nicholas Cueva’s Saltz, and Jacob Haupt’s Merman (R). Images courtesy of MOUNTAIN.
9. “Along a River of Sapphire Pools” at MOUNTAIN Gallery
Art and utility come together in “Along a River of Sapphire Pools,” a selection of unique artist-designed beach towels. Curators Michael Fleming and Olivia Swider, based in Brooklyn, have enlisted the work of 10 artists working in a range of disciplines, to create an ode to summer in this show. If you want to get in touch with your inner mer-person, or if you’ve ever dreamt of having critic Jerry Saltz’s face emblazoned on terry cloth, you’re in luck. The towels are available for purchase online now and will be on display Saturday evening at the gallery.
Location: MOUNTAIN, 284 Seigel Street, 1B, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 3 p.m.–8 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Saturdays, August 5, 12, and 19
Materials for the Arts’ “Giant Xylophones” participatory art/music project at Ideas City in 2015. Courtesy of the New Museum/John Kaiser.
10. Summer Streets DOT Arts and Cultural Hub at Rudin Plaza and Food Sessions at the Astor Place Rest Stop
Nearly seven miles of New York City streets are shuttered to automobile traffic for three Saturdays each summer, allowing pedestrians and bikers to roam freely from City Hall up to East 72nd Street, on Lafayette Street, 4th Avenue, Park Avenue, and other streets.
This year’s arts activities include an art-making workshop from the New Museum, inspired by the current Lynette Yiadom-Boakye exhibition, on August 5; a monoprinting class run by the Arts Student League of New York on August 12; and “Giant Xylophones,” a participatory art/music project made from reused materials collected across the city by Materials for the Arts, on August 19.
You can also register in advance to take part in “Food Sessions,” a participatory public art project/communal dinner from Montreal-based collective Daily Tous Les Jours and chef Nico Fonseca taking place all three Saturdays. Participants will dine silent disco-style, wearing wireless headphones that will play a guided meditation, harnessing the power of the both the cultural power of food, and of the senses.
Location: Rudin Plaza, northeast corner of 51st Street and Park Avenue; and Astor Place Rest Stop, Lafayette Street and Astor Place
Price: Free
Time: 7 a.m.–1 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Sunday, August 6–Sunday, November 5
Amie Cunat, The Clock Is Taking a Nap. Courtesy of the Knockdown Center.
11. “Amie Cunat: The Clock Is Taking a Nap” at the Knockdown Center
The latest entry in the Knockdown Center’s FiftyTwo Ft, a series of wall artworks in its East Corridor, is by Amie Cunat. The Clock Is Taking a Nap is inspired by the architecture of New York City, particularly its churches, offering a dreamlike take on the urban skyline, its structures floating and soaring in a dense cacophony of color.
Location: The Knockdown Center, 52-19 Flushing Ave, Maspeth, Queens
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m., artist talk beforehand at 5 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 5 p.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.–8 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Tuesday, August 1
Katie Klingbeil, Downward Facing Doggie (2017), detail. Courtesy of Sleep Center Gallery.
12. “Please Reply: A Conversation on Sculpture and Movement” at the Sleep Center Gallery
Co-curators Janie Korn and Emily Sussman describe this eight-artist group show as a “chaotic rebellion against stillness” featuring work in a variety of media that looks to break free from the often static nature of figurative painting and sculpture.
Location: Sleep Center Gallery, 9 Monroe Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 7 p.m.–10 p.m.; by appointment
—Sarah Cascone
Through August 12
13. “Social Photography V” at Carriage Trade
It’s a given that cell phones, in combination with apps like Instagram and Facebook, have transformed photography in countless ways. Here’s a show that tests the snaps themselves as discrete works of art, pulled out of the endless scroll and properly printed and hung. Featuring a list of contributors (from dealer Miguel Abreu to artist Ying Zhang, with artists like Dan Graham, Alex Katz, Ester Partegas, and Jessica Wynne in between) that’s just as endless as your Facebook feed, the show is a benefit for this worthy non-profit gallery’s efforts. Can’t make it to the show in person? Not to worry—you can check it out (where else?) on the gallery’s Instagram.
Location: 277 Grand Street, second floor
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Saturday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Brian Boucher