Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting, and thought-provoking, shows, screenings, and events. See them below.
Tuesday, May 9–Saturday, June 10
Abe Ajay, #1572 (1972). Image courtesy of the gallery.
1. “Abe Ajay: Alphabet” at Driscoll Babcock Gallery
Multimedia artist Abe Ajay explores color and form through the proscribed symbols that comprise the alphabet. His artistic career was born out of early experiences as a graphic designer, and his sculptures and works on paper are testament both to his regimented formal training, and his later experiments in abstraction and collage. A clear appreciation of the works of his contemporaries Louise Nevelson and Alexander Calder are present in this selection of works from the 1960s and 1970s.
Location: 525 West 25th Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Wednesday, May 10
Donald Judd. Courtesy of the Judd Foundation.
2. “Donald Judd: Furniture Is Furniture″ Talk at the Judd Foundation
The Judd Foundation’s booth at Frieze New York was devoted to their new editions of Donald Judd’s under-appreciated furniture designs. This little-known facet of the artist’s career will be further explored in this conversation with Judd Foundation board treasurer Rob Beyer and interior designer Jim Walrod focusing on Judd’s personal collection of furniture and design.
Location: The Judd Foundation, 101 Spring Street
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Stanislaw Fijalkowski, A Young Man Plans a Voyage—February 3, 1973 (1973). Courtesy of Green Point Projects.
Wednesday, May 10–Friday, June 30
3. “Stanislaw Fijalkowski: A Young Man Plans a Voyage″ at Green Point Projects
It seems only fitting that a new art space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s traditionally Polish enclave, is debuting its repurposed warehouse space with an exhibition of ninety-five-year-old Polish artist Stanislaw Fijalkowski, whose work combines lyrical abstraction with constructivism. Curated by Marek Bartelik, its the artist’s first solo show in the US, and features paintings from the 1950s through to 2017.
Location: Green Point Projects, 27 Gem St. (corner Meserole Ave.), Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 7 p.m.–9 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m., or by appointment
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, May 10–Tuesday, September 5
Angela Fraleigh, Something has started to live in you that will live longer than the sun, (2014). Courtesy of Angela Fraleigh.
4. Angela Fraleigh at 527 Madison Avenue
The lobby of an office building in East Midtown is hardly where you expect to encounter contemporary art, but we’re intrigued by this exhibition of of Angela Fraleigh’s lush, modern-day take on Old Master paintings, featuring sensuous, classically-inspired figures overlaid with boldly colored abstractions. There will be six paintings, including a diptych created specially for the show.
Location: 527 Madison Avenue
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Saturday, May 13
Black Pulp! Courtesy of the International Print Center New York.
5. “Black Pulp!″ Lecture at Cooper Union
William Villalongo and Mark Thomas Gibson will discuss “Black Pulp!,” the traveling exhibition they co-curated of prints exploring how Black identity evolved in the US between 1912 and 1990. It’s a third event in a three day lecture series titled “Drawing Lines: The Black American Experience.”
Location: Cooper Union, Foundation Building, the Great Hall, 7 East 7th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues
Price: Free
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Saturday, May 13–Sunday, June 18
String Sculpture with Materials for the Arts. Courtesy of Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition.
6. “Rites of Spring,″ “Wide Open 8,” and “Recycle 2017″ at Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC)
The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition is celebrating its 40th birthday with three new exhibitions. For the group show “Rites of Spring,” artists were asked to respond to the Rainer Maria Rilke poem “Early Spring.” Two national juried exhibitions, “Wide Open” and “Recycle 2017,” the later featuring works made from cast-off, discarded, and re-purposed materials, will each hand out $3,000 in prizes.
Location: Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, 481 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday–Saturday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Sunday, May 14
J. M. W. Turner, Cologne: The Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening, exhibited 1826. Courtesy The Frick Collection, New York; photo: Michael Bodycomb.
7. “Turner’s Modern and Ancient Ports: Passages Through Time” at the Frick
Don’t miss the last chance to see this dazzling, eye-opening show, which brings together nearly three dozen seascapes by J.M.W. Turner from the 1810s through the late 1830s ranging from oil and watercolors, to graphite. Turner, who depicted ports throughout his career, was an avid traveler who was fascinated equally by light and topography. The show features scenes of contemporary cities in England, France, and Germany, as well as imagined scenes set in the ancient world depicting daily life in detail. For the first time the exhibition unites the Frick’s two paintings, scenes of Dieppe and Cologne, with a related yet unfinished work from Tate Britain that depicts the modern harbor of Brest.
Location: 1 East 70th Street, New York
Price: Adults: $22, seniors $17, students: $12
Time: Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.; Sundays 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
—Eileen Kinsella