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

Monday, May 13–Wednesday, November 13

Ralston Crawford. Courtesy of the Vilcek Foundation.

1. “Ralston Crawford: Torn Signs” at the Vilcek Foundation Gallery

The Vilcek Foundation, which gives out grants to immigrant artists and curators, is unveiling its first exhibition space with a show of Canadian American artist Ralston Crawford. Known for his Precisionist paintings of urban landscapes, he’s represented in this show by later works including the “Torn Signs” series inspired by shredded New York City advertisements.

Location: Vilcek Foundation, 21 East 70th Street
Price: Free
Time: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, May 15

Photo courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art.

2. “Game of Thrones at the Rubin Museum” at the Rubin Museum of Art

As the HBO hit series draws to a close, it’s also your last chance to take a Game of Thrones-themed tour of the Rubin Museum’s current exhibition “Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism” (through July 15). Just like in the real world, the characters in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic are driven by religion and politics, using art to further their goals and shape the future of the fictional world of Westeros.

Location: The Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street
Price: Free with museum admission ($19 for adults)
Time: 7 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, May 16

Anne Katrine Sendstad, “Beckoned to Blue” installation view. Photo by Botond Reszegh.

3. “Anne Katrine Senstad in Conversation With Sarah Walko” at SL Gallery

This Thursday, UNESCO celebrates the International Day of Light, a global initiative recognizing light’s importance to science, art, education, and sustainable development, and the contributions it makes toward improving education, equality, and peace. In honor of the occasion, Norwegian artist Anne Katrine Senstad will give a talk at her current gallery exhibition “Beckoned to Blue” (through June) with Sarah Walko, director of education and community engagement at the Visual Art Center of New Jersey, about the color blue, which was recently dubbed the most calming of all colors by the World’s Favorite Color Project.

Location: SL Gallery, 335 West 38th Street
Price: Free with RSVP (space limited)
Time: 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; talk at 6:45 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Ninth Street Women – Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art by Mary Gabriel. Image courtesy of Little Brown.

4. “Gallery Lecture: Ninth Street Women” at the Art Students League of New York

Fans of women Abstract Expressionists won’t want to miss this talk from Mary Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art. (The book is set to be adapted into a show from Amazon by Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino.)

Location: The Art Students League of New York, 215 West 57th Street, Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6 p.m.–7:30 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, May 16 and Friday, May 17

Carmen: To Havana and Back. Photo courtesy of Variety Life Productions.

5. Carmen: To Havana and Back at PUBLIC ARTS

Blurring the boundaries between theater and performance art, Variety Life Productions presents a retelling of the tragic opera Carmen, set in 1950s Havana. Guests are invited to dress to fit the theme for the immersive, 360 degree performance, which includes thematic cocktails and a Cuban dinner, all set inside Carmen’s dressing room at the Tropicana Club.

Location: PUBLIC ARTS, 215 Chrystie Street
Price: From $79
Time: 8 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. entry, depending on ticket package

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, May 16–Saturday, May 25

Jackson O’Brasky, The Old Road. Courtesy of the New York Academy of Art.

6. “2019 MFA Thesis Exhibition” at the New York Academy of Art

Get a jump on seeing the art world’s newest emerging talents showing off their work at the New York Academy of Art’s MFA thesis show for its two-year program students. This year’s class features 55 artists from 14 countries, including Jeremy Day, an artist who was included in Jeremy Deller’s “Iggy Pop Life Drawing Class” back in 2016.

Location: New York Academy of Art, 111 Franklin Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 5 p.m.–7 p.m.; open daily 9 a.m.–8 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Thursday, May 16–Saturday, June 22

Courtesy Kravets Wehby Gallery.

7. “Theresa Chromati: Running in Place and Sometimes Walking: At Times I Feel Loved and Paralyzed” at Kravets Wehby Gallery 

Theresa Chromati presents a new body of work at Kravets Wehby Gallery for a highly anticipated, solo show debut. Once animated in HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness (2018), Chromati’s masked women, butterflies, and “scrotum flowers” produce a brand of beautiful horror only an encounter with sleep paralysis can bring.

Location: Kravets Wehby Gallery, 521 West 21 Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Cristina Cruz

Thursday, May 16–Saturday, July 6

Cristina Camacho, Opening Night, 2019

8. “/ˈvʌlvə/” at Praxis 

Praxis presents a solo exhibition by Colombian artist Cristina Camacho for the first time in the gallery’s new location. Camacho’s eye-popping works consist of three-dimensional canvas cut-outs, brightly colored and shaped into patterns. Though beautiful, the “art is not ornamental, it is a gesture of resistance.” She makes a statement by cutting out strips and pieces of canvas and making a new space where there was none before.

Location: Praxis, 501 West 20th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Neha Jambhekar

Thursday, May 16–Sunday, October 27

E.V. Day, Shattered Glass. Courtesy of the Children’s Museum of Art.

9. “E.V. Day: Breaking the Glass Ceiling” at the Children’s Museum of the Arts

This feminist-minded exhibition, inspired by the proverbial glass ceiling that prevents women’s advancement in the workplace, features suspended sculptures of shattered glass—Day’s way of encouraging viewers to break through the invisible barriers that are limiting their potential.

Location: The Children’s Museum of the Arts, 103 Charlton Street
Price: $13
Time: Friday–Monday, 12 p.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Friday, May 17

Paige Powell, Beulah Land at Gucci Wooster. Photo by Pola Esther.

10. “Paige Powell: Beulah Land” at Gucci Wooster

Photographer Paige Powell moved to New York in 1980 and quickly landed a job at Interview magazine, where founder Andy Warhol introduced her to a who’s who of the city’s art scene at the time: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Madonna, Leo Castelli, David Bowie, Debbie Harry, Julian Schnabel, and Bill Cunningham are among the notable figures who feature in her images, which have finally been published in a new four-volume set from Dashwood Books. In honor of the occasion, Gucci is hosting a site-specific installation featuring 2,500 of Powell’s photos, recreating a similar project she did in 1984 for the Beulah Land club on Avenue A.

Location: Gucci Wooster, 63 Wooster Street
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–8 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, May 17–Sunday, June 23

Marley Freeman, Park Closes (2016–19). Courtesy of the artist and Karma.

11. “Marley Freeman: Park Closes at Midnight” at Karma

Maine-based artist Marley Freeman is back with a new show of abstract paintings in her signature style of thickly coated brushstrokes that form compositions recalling early exposure to textiles and antique patterns.

Location: Karma, 188 East 2nd Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Saturday, May 18

“Drawn Together Again” at FLAG Art Foundation, installation view. Photo by Steven Probert, courtesy of FLAG Art Foundation.

12. “Natalie Frank, Stacy Leigh, Aurel Schmidt, and Lauren Seiden in conversation with Glenn Fuhrman” at the FLAG Art Foundation

Timed to the closing of the current group exhibition “Drawn Together Again” (through May 18), the FLAG Art Foundation hosts a talk with four of the featured artists—Natalie Frank, Stacy Leigh, Aurel Schmidt, and Lauren Seiden—moderated by founder Glenn Fuhrman.

Location: The FLAG Art Foundation, 545 West 25th Street, ninth floor
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; talk at 6:15 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, May 18–Saturday, September 21 

Roxanne Jackson, Misty (2019). Photo courtesy of the artist and Wassaic Project.

13. “Ad Astra Per Aspera: Summer Group Show” at Wassaic Project

An art field trip may be in order. “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” the annual summer exhibition at the Wassaic Project artist residency, will bring together the work of nearly 70 contemporary artists in what promises to be a lively and immersive display. A selection of Roxanne Jackson’s fantastical (and often grotesque) sculptures will be on view, while Anna Cone (whose decadent installation at Spring Break was a crowd favorite) will create an iteration of her Baroque-inspired Leda Chapel. Also look for Grace Lee Lawrence’s biomorphic sculptures; an immense construction-paper weaving by Manny Padernos; and an installation of Amber Heaton’s large-scale geometric sculptures and paintings, which, in its entirety, has the feel of mystical ritual site.

Location: Wassaic Project, Maxon Mills, 37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 3 p.m.–7 p.m.; Friday, 3 p.m.–5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m.–5 p.m.

—Katie White 

Through Sunday, June 16

Harry Dodge, still from Late Heavy Bombardment, 2019. © Harry Dodge. Courtesy of Callicoon Fine Arts.

14. “Harry Dodge: User” at Callicoon Fine Arts

In a body of new and recent work encompassing video, sculpture, and drawing, artist Harry Dodge pokes and prods longstanding, politically charged binaries to see where they break down. Fittingly, the results blend humor and ire, often combine disparate materials, and collectively reinforce that the path to growth often depends on the ability to navigate seemingly contradictory positions—a skill we could perhaps all use a little more of in 2019.

Location: Callicoon Fine Arts, 49 Delancey Street
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m.

—Tim Schneider

Through Sunday, September 1 

“Sydney Shen: Onion Master.” Exhibition view at the New Museum, New York. Photo: Charles Benton.

15. “Sydney Shen: Onion Master” at the New Museum

Turning the New Museum’s storefront window space into a kind of macabre arcade, New York-based artist Sydney Shen’s installation features a metal claw machine—operated by no one—plunging fecklessly for fake onions. Watching the machine work is an exercise in absurdity: we root for the crane to nab its targets even though we know the pursuit is pointless.

Location: The New Museum, 235 Bowery
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Wednesday and Friday–Sunday, 11 a.m–6 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

—Taylor Dafoe