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

Sunday, October 20–Wednesday, November 20

Anton Ginzburg and Dasha Shishkin. Courtesy of Fridman Gallery.

1. “Anton Ginzburg and Dasha Shishkin: Partial Eclipse” at Fridman Gallery

An uncompromising group show of two expat Russian artists of the Perestroika generation, this treat at Fridman Gallery is as notable for the diamond-sharp artworks in it as for the scenographic setting in which they are displayed. First, the art: Neo-Constructivist paintings and drawings by Anton Ginzburg, employing hard-edged geometries to open up imaginary dimensions and landscapes, plus a mesmerizing video of Uzbek men hand-counting one million Uzbekistani Soms (about $400) in the basement; and free-hanging paintings on linen and Mylar by Dasha Shishkin, featuring semi-abstracted naked figures who smoke cigarettes and drip strange substances into one another’s orifices. As for the setting, Ginzburg has deployed his strict geometries to painting color blocks on the gallery’s walls (including one large, bold, brown square), creating dazzling lines of sight as one traverses the gallery and fusing the disparate works into a single expression.

Location: Fridman Gallery 169 Bowery (between Delancey and Broome)
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Andrew Goldstein

Monday, October 21

Judy Chicago, (Study for) Stranded (2013). Courtesy of Salon94.

2. “Judy Chicago: New Views” at the Cooper Union 

It’s a busy fall for Judy Chicago, with solo shows in three cities across the US: “The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts through January 20; and “Los Angeles” at Jeffrey Deitch Los Angeles and “Picturing Extinction: Studies for the End” at New York’s Salon 94 Freemans Alley, both through November 2. Last week also marked the launch of the Judy Chicago Research Portal, providing online access to the artist’s archives, which are housed at the Schlesinger Library for the History of Women in America at Harvard, the Penn State University Libraries, and NMWA. The tireless 80-year-old will discuss her life and career with writer and author Sarah Thornton at the Cooper Union, followed by a signing for Chicago’s new book, Judy Chicago: New Views. Limited edition art products by Chicago, including plates based on her seminal feminist artwork The Dinner Party, will be available for sale from Prospect New York.

Location: The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Tuesday, October 22

3. “Fine Arts Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Korakrit Arunanondchai” at Pratt Institute 

Whitney Biennial standout artist Korakrit Arunanondchai is featured in Pratt’s visiting artist series, where he will speak about his diverse practice spanning film, photography, performance, and technology. The artist lives and works between Bangkok and New York, and is best known for his lush, fantastical narrative filmscapes.

Location: Pratt Institute, Higgins Hall Auditorium, Brooklyn Campus at 200 Willoughby Avenue
Price: Free
Time: 7 p.m.–9 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Tuesday, October 22–Saturday, February 29, 2020

Gustav Klimt, Baby (Cradle) (1917–18). Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Otto and Franciska Kallir with the help of the Carol and Edwin Gaines Fullinwider Fund.

4. “The Expressionist Legacy” at Galerie St. Etienne

Galerie St. Etienne, which helped introduce the US to Austrian and German Expressionism, turned 80 this year, and has celebrated with a trio of exhibitions. The final show revisits the challenges faced by founder Otto Kallir given anti-German sentiment during and following World War II, and his dedication to artists such as Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Paula Modersohn-Becker, and Egon Schiele, all of whom had their first US solo shows with the gallery. Drawing from private collections and the holdings of international museums, the current exhibition features some of the important works sold by Kallir during those years.

Location: Galerie St. Etienne, 24 West 57th Street, #802
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Friday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, October 23–Friday, October 25

Chimurenga, Pan African Space Station at the Chimurenga Library, London, 2015. Photo by Dan Weill, courtesy of Chimurenga and the Showroom.

5. “Vera List Center Forum 2019: If Art Is Politics” at the New School Vera List Center for Art and Politics

For its annual forum on art as political practice, the Vera List Center has invited African artist collective Chimurenga, winner of the institution’s Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice, to stage its piece Pan African Space Station (PASS). The work is inspired by the second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), a gathering of leading black artists, activists, and intellectuals including Alice Walker, Betye Saar, and Barkley Hendricks that was held in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977. The weekend’s programming will feature a concert from jazz legend Craig Harris that reprises a historic performance from the original event.

Location: The New School, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, 66 5th Avenue; Tishman Auditorium, University Center, 63 5th Avenue
Price: Free with registration
Time: Times vary

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, October 23–Wednesday, November 20

Caris Reid, Night Lovers. Courtesy of Sidel & McElwreCaris Reid, Night Lovers. Courtesy of Sidel & McElwreath. ath.

6. “HARVEST: A Convening of Materiality & Form” at ChaShaMa

ChaShaMa, real estate heiress Anita Durst’s charity offering exhibition and studio space to artists, is hosting the inaugural exhibition for new art advisory Sidel & McElwreath. The duo works exclusively with living artists—Mark Tribe, Caris Reid, and Hiba Schahbaz are among those featured in the upcoming show—and part of the proceeds will benefit the Wassaic Project Artist Residency in upstate New York.

Location: ChaShaMa, 172 East 4th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Wednesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–5 p.m.

—Nan Stewert

Wednesday, October 23–Friday, December 20

“Amy Khoshbin: GHOSTS.” Photo courtesy of Project for Empty Space.

7. “Amy Khoshbin: GHOSTS” at Project for Empty Space

Inspired by the death of her father, an Iranian immigrant, Amy Khoshbin has created a site-specific presentation about loss and migration. Highly critical of the state of contemporary society, Khoshbin examines her personal experience from the wider lens of the so-called American dream as contrasted with white supremacy and the patriarchy. It’s the last show at Project for Empty Space’s current home, before the art nonprofit opens a new space in January 2020.

Location: Project for Empty Space, 2 Gateway Center Gallery, Newark
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, October 23–Sunday, September 27, 2020

Frederick J. Brown. Courtesy of the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling.

8. “Frederick J. Brown: Dreams and the Possibility of…” at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling

Over his nearly 50-year career, expressionist painter Frederick J. Brown (1945–2012) painted all manner of dreamlike canvases. The artist’s son, Bentley Brown, has co-curated this exhibition with an eye toward themes of self, mythology, and the American dream, inviting poet Felipe Luciano, who collaborated with Brown, to provide written reflections in response to the artworks.

Location: Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, 898 St. Nicholas Avenue at West 155th Street
Price: $7 general admission
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Thursday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

—Tanner West

Thursday, October 24

Jenny Holzer, VIGIL (2019), presented by Creative Time at Rockefeller Center. Photo by Lauren Camarata, ©2019 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.

9. “Creative Time Gala 2019” at the Skylight on Vesey

Earlier this month, it was a sobering affair when Creative Time projected Jenny Holzer’s VIGIL, featuring testimony from people affected by gun violence, on the buildings of Rockefeller Center. The artist, who has now done three projects with Creative Time, will now be the center of attention for a more celebratory occasion, as the honoree for the public art nonprofit’s 2019 gala. The after party will feature DJ duo Chances With Wolves and Italian food from Parm.

Location: Skylight on Vesey, 300 Vesey Street
Price: Dinner from $1,500; after party from $100
Time: Dinner, 6:30 p.m.–10 p.m.; After party, 10 p.m.–1:30 a.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, October 24–Saturday, October 26

PrintFest by IPCNY. Photo courtesy of the International Print Center New York

10. The International Print Center New York’s PrintFest

Emerging artists get a moment in the sun during Print Week at the IPCNY’s annual event featuring MFA and senior BFA students from New York’s New School Parsons School of Design, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, and other schools. There’s an artist panel discussion on Saturday and inking demonstrations from the Speedball Print Posse.

Location: 550 West 29th Street
Price: Free
Time: Thursday, 5 p.m.–9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 12 p.m.–7 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, October 24–Sunday, October 27

Edgar Degas, Danseuse sur la Scène. Courtesy of ​Joel R. Bergquist Fine Art.

11. The New York Satellite Print Fair at Mercantile Annex 37

A stone’s throw from the International Fine Print Dealers Association’s Fine Art Print Fair at the Javits Center, the New York Satellite Print Fair also offers prints, drawings, and works on paper. The offerings of the 17 participating dealers range from the handiwork of Impressionist masters such as Edgar Degas and Childe Hassam to contemporary artists including Carrie Moyer and Markus Linnenbrink.

Location: Mercantile Annex 37, 517 West 37th Street
Price: Free with registration
Time: Thursday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Erin M. Riley, That Night (2019). Courtesy of Dieu Donné, Brooklyn.

12. Editions/Artists’ Books Fair at the Caldwell Factory

A total of 37 dealers, including Brooklyn’s Dieu Donné and Chicago’s Spudnik Press Cooperative, will grace the 2019 edition of the E/AB Fair, presented by the Lower East Side Printshop in a new location next to the High Line.

Location: The Caldwell Factory, 547 West 26th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues
Price: Free (VIP vernissage $50)
Time: VIP preview, 5 p.m.–9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, October 24–Saturday, December 7

Jason Rhoades,Tijuanatanjierchandelier, 2006 Installation view, CAC Málaga, 2006 © The Estate of Jason Rhoades Courtesy the Estate of Jason Rhoades, David Zwirner, and Hauser & Wirth

13. “Jason Rhoades: Tijuanatanjierchandelier” at David Zwirner

Immerse yourself in a large-scale, neon light-studded installation by late American artist Jason Rhoades at David Zwirner’s 19th Street location this Thursday. By intermixing found objects such as mattresses, rugs, pelts, sombreros, souvenirs, and other tchotchkes with a complex network of wires and neon lights, Rhoades makes a biting commentary on modern consumer culture and cultural identity. The installation titled “Tijuanatanjierchandelier” is being shown for the first time in New York after having previously been exhibited in 2006 at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo in Málaga, Spain, and then at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007.

Location: David Zwirner, 519 West 19th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Neha Jambhekar

Laurent Grasso, OttO (2018). ©Laurent Grasso/ADAGP Paris, 2019. Courteys the artist and Sean Kelly, NY.

14. “Laurent Grasso: OttO” at Sean Kelly New York

The show centers on the film Grasso created for the Sydney Biennale, making its US debut at the gallery alongside paintings, videos, and sculptures related to the project. The work explores aboriginal Australian sites, where Grasso captures electromagnetic radiation resulting in spectral, ethereal imagery. The artist will be on site at the gallery opening, and on Saturday, October 26, will be presenting an artist talk.

Location: Sean Kelly New York, 475 10th Avenue
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; artist talk, Saturday, October 26 at 11:30 a.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Thursday, October 24–Friday, December 20 

Ebony Patterson, Sunsets and Monarchs Come to Feast, Snakes Come To Discover as She Remains Lost in Plain Sight…(2019). Courtesy of Hales Gallery.

15. “Ebony G. Patterson…to dig between the cuts, beneath the leaves, below the soil…” at Hales Gallery

Those who have read Michael Pollan’s 2001 hit book The Botany of Desire may recall the biological argument that flowers became pretty and fruit sweet not by chance, but rather as purposefully developed traits intended to increase propagation—that is, they are pleasing human predilections to meet their own intentions. The artist Ebony G. Patterson might be thought to do the same, using innate beauty of a garden to “physically, psychologically and emotionally” ensnare her viewers to her own unexpected ends. For this, her first show with the gallery, she presents dazzling, tangled paper-cuts of entwined vines, vegetal patterns, and heavy blossoms. Among these, a careful eye will find various lost human relics—children’s toys, silhouettes of limbs—to an unnerving effect. 

Location: Hales Gallery, 547 West 20th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m. 

—Katie White

Thursday, October 24–Saturday, January 18, 2020

Micaiah Carter, Adeline in Barrettes (2018). Courtesy of the artist and Aperture.

16. “The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion” at Aperture

Curator and art critic Antwaun Sargent organized this show looking at the intersection of fine art and fashion in work by black artists. The show includes 15 artists who focus on the black body and its role in consumer culture, and the media at large, while providing intimate perspectives on individuality and community. The show also coincides with the release of Sargent’s book of the same name.

Location: Aperture Foundation Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 7 p.m.–8:30 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Thursday, October 24—Sunday, January 26, 2020

Hans Haacke, Gift Horse (2014). Commissioned by the Mayor of London’s Fourth Plinth Program. © Hans Haacke / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Gautier Deblonde

17. “Hans Haacke: All Connected” at the New Museum

The first US survey of Haacke’s work in over 30 years will explore the way the German artist expanded the parameters of his practice to encompass the social, political, and economic structures in which art is created and displayed. On opening day at 7 p.m., the artist will be in conversation with artistic director Massimiliano Gioni and curator Gary Carrion-Murayari, co-curators of the exhibition. Haacke, Gioni, and Carrion-Murayari will revisit major moments in the artist’s trailblazing career, from his early kinetic and environmental works to his critical interventions into the ethics, politics, and economies of the art world. Get information on tickets here.

Location: New Museum, 235 Bowery, New York
Price:  $18; Seniors and visitors with disabilities (care partner free of charge) $15; Students $12; Members and visitors ages 15–18, free
Time: Tuesday and Wednesday 11 a.m.–6 p.m. ; Thursday 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday–Sunday 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Eileen Kinsella

Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27

Kehinde Wiley, Saint Jerome Hearing the Trumpet of the Last Judgment (2018). Courtesy of Otis.

18. “Otis East Village Exhibition Opening” at Otis

Appealing to would-be art collectors who don’t have the means to buy the works of blue-chip artists by themselves, the co-owning platform Otis launched in July selling shares of Kehinde Wiley’s St. Jerome Hearing the Trumpet of Last Judgement (2018), which it bought for $237,500. Now, the sold-out painting is going on view along with other Otis offerings, such as a pair of Nike Air Mag sneakers and works by KAWS, Takashi Murakami, and Virgil Abloh.

Location: Otis East Village, 47 East 3rd Street
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 1 p.m.–6 p.m.; VIP member previews 12 p.m.–1 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, October 26–Saturday, November 23

Ryan Bock, Somnombulist (2019). Courtesy of the artist.

19. “Ryan Bock: Somnambulist” at Ki Smith Gallery

The new series of works by Ryan Bock is inspired by a character from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, who becomes a murderer while in a sleep state, and the film serves as an allegory for the traumas of war. The title and themes of the work are made literal in the artist’s chosen medium—many of these works are painted on wooden bed frames, and take on the look of geometric surrealist paintings.

Location: Ki Smith Gallery, 712 West 125th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–10 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Through Saturday, October 26

Ed Clark, Blue & Red (2005). Photo courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

20. “Ed Clark” at Hauser & Wirth

Second generation New York School painter Ed Clark began creating masterfully color abstract works using a massive, broom-sized brush in 1956—a breakthrough he’s dubbed “the big sweep.” He died last week at 93 years old, but lived long enough to see his first show with Hauser & Wirth, featuring paintings made after the year 2000. The gallery aims to bring about greater recognition for Clark’s considerable contributions to the history of Abstract Expressionism.

Location: Hauser & Wirth, 548 West 22nd Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27

Tomo Mori, This Life Given installation view in “West Harlem Art Fund: Crossing the Sands” on Governors Island. Photo by Sarah Cascone. 

21. “West Harlem Art Fund: Crossing the Sands” at Governors Island

It’s the last weekend of the season at Governors Island, which means it is your last chance to catch the West Harlem Art Fund’s thoughtful group show “Crossing the Sands,” featuring contemporary art by artists from Caribbean, Africa, and the Americas. Curator Savona Bailey-McClain has had fun with the install, hanging the upstairs rooms like white cube galleries while going full-on interior designer in the elegant living room, where sculpture sits alongside upscale furniture. The standout is the installation Tomo Mori in the kitchen, a vibrant collage and painting inspired by the the artist’s grandmother.

Location: Governors Island, Nolan Park 10
Price: Free
Time: 12 p.m.–5 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Friday, November 1

Tamara de Lempicka, Paris, 1932. Courtesy of Imagno/Getty Images.

22. “The Many Faces of Tamara de Lempicka” at the Kosciuszko Foundation

This new project space from the Kosciuszko Foundation is aiming to introduce more Polish artists to a US audience, and if there’s one Polish artist to know, it’s probably Tamara de Lempicka (a favorite artist of Madonna). The show, curated by Bartek Remisko, traces her career and includes archival materials and memorabilia on view to the public for the first time in decades.

Location: The Kosciuszko Foundation, 15 East 65th Street
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Through Saturday, November 16

Emily Marie Miller, The Moon (2019), detail. Courtesy of Barney Savage Gallery.

23. “Emily Marie Miller: 8th House” at Barney Savage Gallery

Tribeca’s Barney Savage Gallery presents new paintings by emerging artist Emily Marie Miller. This is Miller’s first solo exhibition, having been included previously in group shows with Kasmin Gallery in New York and Wildpalms in Düsseldorf. Her eerie enchantresses, often nude or donning translucent white clothing, have been published in ArtMaze Mag and even Playboy.

Location: Barney Savage Gallery, 87 Franklin Street, 2nd Floor
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Cristina Cruz

Through Sunday, April 26

The Statue of Liberty. Courtesy of the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island

24. “Sisters in Liberty: A Bridge Between Florence and New York” at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration

This show delves into the ideas and art that unite Italy and the US. Two special Sisters in Liberty are the symbols and protagonists: the Statue of Liberty by Frédéric Bartholdi, which has dominated New York’s harbor since 1886, and the elegant Liberty of Poetry by Pio Fedi, inaugurated in 1883 as a monument to the Italian patriot Giovanni Battista Niccolini in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. Even today, among art historians, the question remains of whether Bartholdi, who visited Florence, was inspired by Fedi’s Liberty. Thanks to a partnership with Kent State University, the Liberty of Poetry was recently subjected to high-resolution 3-D scanning that allowed the creation of a life-size reproduction for the show.

Location: Ellis Island, accessible by Statue Cruises ferries departing from Castle Clinton National Monument, Battery Park, and 1 Audrey Zapp Srive, Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey
Price: Ferry tickets $18.50 for adults
Time: 9 a.m.–5:15 p.m.

—Eileen Kinsella