Lauren Halsey, thou shall not fold, [detail] (2022). Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.
Lauren Halsey, thou shall not fold, [detail] (2022). Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.

Tappeto-NaturaEach week, we search for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events, both digitally and in-person in the New York area. See our picks from around the world below. (Times are all ET unless otherwise noted.)

Tuesday, May 3–Saturday, June 4

Tamo Jugeli, Untitled (2022). Photo: Steven Probert. Courtesy of the artist and Polina Berlin Gallery.

1. Tamo Jugeli: Solitaire” at Polina Berlin Gallery

Veteran gallerist Polina Berlin first encountered Georgian artist Tamo Jugeli’s work at NADA Miami, where Jugeli was exhibiting with Artbeat. Berlin quickly became enamored with the colorful, abstract canvases and decided that Jugeli’s solo show would be the first one-person exhibition at her new Upper East Side gallery. Jugeli’s paintings are mostly abstract with a few curious nods to figuration set against dreamy backgrounds—heart-shaped lips float in the top corner of one work, a slender pale arm reaches across another, and the backs of two heads with bushy hair dominates another. The overall effect is one of lingering questions, which only make you want to see more.

Location: Polina Berlin Gallery, 165 East 64th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, Tuesday May 3, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Thursday, May 5–Saturday, June 4

Kojo Marfo, Keeper #1, 2022 Courtesy of JD Malat Gallery

2. “Kojo Marfo: Gatekeepers of Heritage” at JD Malat Gallery, New York

JD Malat Gallery presents the first solo pop-up exhibition of Ghanaian artist Kojo Marfo in New York. Marfo’s richly vibrant and colorful paintings refer to his childhood memories of Ghana and the traditional Akan sculptures and artifacts native to the country. He also uses vegetation and textiles to enrich the paintings with his personal history. When he was a teenager, Marfo moved to Brooklyn for a short time before leaving again for London. This show acts as his return to the New York art scene. He will also have an NFT drop on May 15.

Location: JD Malat Gallery, 507 West 27th Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Neha Jambhekar

Friday, May 6–Saturday, June 11

Lauren Halsey, my hood gucci (nubian) [detail] (2022). Photo: Allen Chen / SLH Studio. Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery

3. Lauren Halsey at David Kordansky Gallery, New York

The Los Angeles mainstay is expanding to the Big Apple, and launching with a big splash. Its inaugural exhibition is the first-ever New York solo show by Lauren Halsey, who has also been tapped to create the next (now delayed) rooftop commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For the show, Halsey has created a scale model of South Central Los Angeles, complete with hand-painted columns, sculptures made from painted boxes, and an array of what she calls “funkmounds”—carved, cavernous, plaster sculptures that embody the spirit, signage, and architecture of her beloved home neighborhood.

Location: 520 West 20th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, May 6, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Julia Halperin

Saturday, May 7

Piero Gilardi.

4. “Gilardi Tappeto-Natura” at Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, New York

For his first solo show in the U.S., Piero Gilardi, an Arte Povera pioneer and theorist of “microemotive” art, will show his best-known series “Tappeto-Natura” (or “Nature-Carpet”), started in 1965, in which the artist carves synthetic materials like polyurethane and then applies synthetic pigments. A series of performers from the Cold Spring Dance Company will appear in Gilardi’s Vestiti-Natura (or Nature-Dresses) in events running from this Saturday, May 7, through December. The

Location: 2700 Route 9, Cold Spring, New York
Price: Free
Time: General admission: Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m; performances on May 7: 12 p.m.-12:15 p.m.; 12:30 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.; 1 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.

—Rachel Corbett

Saturday, May 7–Saturday, June 25

Tammy Nguyen, Anno Domini 40, 1945, 1969, (2022). Photo by Genevieve Hanson Courtesy of Jeffrey Deitch.

5. “Wonder Women, Curated by Kathy Huang” at Jeffrey Deitch, New York

Inspired by Genny Lim’s 1981 poem “Wonder Women,” the eponymous show at Jeffrey Deitch brings together 30 Asian American and diasporic female and non-binary artists. In the poem, Lim wonders if the everyday experiences of other Asian women are similar to hers. Based on this theme, the artists present figurative works that draw inspiration from a range of subjects such as mythology, female heroes from their daily lives, and even patriarchy and colonialism.

Location: Jeffrey Deitch, 18 Wooster Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Opening Reception, Saturday, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Neha Jambhekar

Through Saturday, May 7

“Sandra Cinto: Melody to the Stars,” installation view. Courtesy of Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

6. “Sandra Cinto: Melody to the Stars” at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

This is the last week to catch Brazilian artist Sandra Cinto’s ninth solo exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. Cinto prominently showcases line work in intricate and repeated motifs, done “as a gesture to deconstruct the physical and conceptual boundaries between painting, sculpture, photography and installation,” according to the gallery. In this show, the artist presents large paintings, small line drawings, as well as an interactive work that play on tensions both literal and metaphoric.

Location: Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, 521 West 21 Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Neha Jambhekar

Through Saturday, June 4

Louis Osmosis, “PLEASE IT IS MAKING THEM THANKS :)” installation view. Courtesy of artist and Kapp Kapp, Photograph Courtesy of Kunning Huang.

7. “Louis Osmosis: PLEASE IT IS MAKING THEM THANKS 🙂” at Kapp Kapp, New York

Kapp Kapp presents interdisciplinary artist Louis Osmosis’s first solo show at the gallery. Osmosis works primarily in sculpture, drawing, performance, and video, and uses found objects as the main medium. Though it is difficult to pinpoint a specific commonality between the works in this show, each sculpture stands out on its own and “unfurls to reveal its own psychodrama,” according to the gallery statement.

Location: Kapp Kapp, 86 Walker Street, 4th Fl, New York
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Neha Jambhekar

Through Saturday, June 11

Installation view, “Clyde Hopkins: Chaunticlere: Paintings from the 1980s” at Upsilon Gallery.

8. Clyde Hopkins “Chaunticlere: Paintings from the 1980s” at Upsilon Gallery, New York

The show, organized in cooperation with the artist’s estate, showcases how Hopkins’s work was inspired by one of his greatest passions: nature. Even though abstraction was evident, the impact of the landscape and the natural world are visible as a starting point. According to the gallery, this group of works reflects the artist’s emotional spontaneity and instinctive creation in response to political and social issues during Thatcherism in the U.K.

Location: Upsilon Gallery, 23 East 67th Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Eileen Kinsella