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

Monday, October 29

Roy DeCarava, Joe and Julia singing (1953). ©The Estate of Roy DeCarava 2018, all rights reserved. Photo courtesy of David Zwirner.

1. “A Radical Vision: Roy DeCarava’s The Sweet Flypaper of Life” at Cooper Union

David Zwirner Books, D.A.P., and Thames & Hudson are releasing First Print Press’s new edition of Roy DeCarava’s The Sweet Flypaper of Life, a groundbreaking volume made in collaboration with poet Langston Hughes in 1955 which depicted ordinary Harlem residents through the eyes of a local grandmother. Marking the occasion—and the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth in 2019—the Studio Museum in Harlem director Thelma Golden will lead a panel of artists, critics, and scholars in discussing DeCarava’s career.

Location: Cooper Union, the Great Hall, Foundation Building, 7 East 7th Street (between Third and Fourth Avenues)
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Monday, October 29–Friday, November 2

Yann Gross, Tatiana and Belene, from the series “Venus & Furs” (2011). Photo courtesy of Aperture.

2. “Crossings” at Aperture

This is your chance to pick up photographs from leading artists such as Mary Ellen Mark, Mick Rock, and Joel Meyerowitz for a mere $100 apiece from Magnum Photos’ November 2018 Square Print Sale. It’s the second annual collaboration between Aperture and Magnum and all the images are united by the common theme of “crossings”—including borders, roads, and oceans—which range from themes of personal identity to migration.

Location: Aperture Foundation, 547 West 27th Street, 4th floor
Price: Free
Time: Public reception, Thursday, November 1, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, October 31–Saturday, December 1

John Bock, Dead + Juicy (still) (2017). Commissioned by the Contemporary Austin for the exhibition “John Bock: Dead + Juicy” (2017). © John Bock. Film still courtesy the artist; Anton Kern Gallery, New York; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.

3. “John Bock: Dead + Juicy” at Anton Kern Gallery

For his eighth show at Anton Kern, John Bock will restage his recent exhibition at Contemporary Austin, “John Bock: Dead + Juicy.” He will screen the film of the same name and take over two floors of the gallery with a sculptural installation featuring projections, props, and a soundscape. The movie, inspired by cinema’s history of horror films, is a musical murder mystery set in Texas, making Wednesday’s night opening a great plan for Halloween. Plus, the reception will include a live performance.

Location: Anton Kern Gallery, 16 East 55th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, November 1

Tony Oursler, Tear of the Cloud (2018). Courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York/Hong Kong/Seoul, and Lisson Gallery, New York/London. Courtesy of the Public Art Fund.

4. “Tony Oursler: Talks at the New School” at the Tishman Auditorium

Video artist Tony Oursler is giving a rare talk at the New School to accompany his latest work, a multimedia installation titled Tears of the Cloud (on view through October 31). Oursler will discuss how he chose the images that are projected in eerie neon lights at Riverside Park South—aptly timed to Halloween. The video-and-sound work conjures the many histories that Oursler uncovered in his research on the area.

Location: The New School, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue
Price: $10
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

A photo by Wendy Ewald from her new book America Border Culture Dreamer. Photo courtesy of Little, Brown.

5. ‘American Border Culture Dreamer’ Book Signing at Steven Kasher Gallery

Photographer Wendy Ewald’s new book America Border Culture Dreamer: The Young Immigrant Experience From A to Z, published by Little, Brown, asks 18 immigrant teenagers to create an alphabet based on their experiences living in the US. Ewald interviewed her subjects and together they came up with the poses and designs for each photograph. Both the artist and her student collaborators will be on hand to sign copies of the book.

Location: Steven Kasher Gallery, 515 West 26th Street
Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Aiko Kukuda, Bird Watching. Courtesy of Art for Tibet.

6. Art for Tibet Fundraiser at Tibet House

Including work by longtime Students for a Free Tibet supporter (and honorary co-chair) Shepard Fairey along with scores of other international worthies (Tenzing Rigdol, Gyatso Chuteng, Ben Baker), the annual Art for Tibet fundraiser is well worth supporting. The event and auction, organized by Curatorial Committee Jonathan Hulland, Alex Bershaw, Pema Yoko, and Tenzin Dorjee, is always good fun for a good cause. All lots are online already, for early bidders and the curious.

Location: Tibet House, 22 West 15th Street
Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Ben Davis

Thursday, November 1–Friday, November 30

Chitra Ganesh, The Scorpion Gesture (film still) (2018). Courtesy of Times Square Arts.

7. “Chitra Ganesh: The Scorpion Gesture” at Times Square

The latest in the Midnight Moment series from Times Square Arts, The Scorpion Gesture is an animated video inspired by science fiction, Surrealism, early comics, and the permanent collection of Himalayan art at New York’s Rubin Museum of Art, where the exhibition “Chitra Ganesh: The Scorpion Gesture” is on view through January 7, 2019. Ganesh’s colorful film, screening for three minutes every night this month, ponders age-old questions about who we are, where we came from, and what makes us human.

Location: Electronic billboards in Times Square at West 42nd Street
Price: Free
Time: Nightly, 11:57 p.m.–12 a.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, November 1–Saturday, December 15

Richard Prince, Untitled (2017). Courtesy of Gagosian.

8. “Richard Prince: High Times” at Gagosian

The art world’s favorite appropriation artist has begun mining his own oeuvre for new directions in his practice, making oil stick and charcoal collages atop inkjet canvas prints of his old “Hippie Drawings,” which have never been shown before.

Location: Gagosian, 522 West 21st Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, November 1–Saturday, December 22

Installation view of “Tomie Ohtake: At Her Fingertips” (2018) at Galeria Nara Roesler | New York. Photo by Pierce Harrison, courtesy of the estate of Tomie Ohtake and Galeria Nara Roesler.

9.”Tomie Ohtake: At her fingertips” at Galeria Nara Roesler

Tomie Ohtake, who was born in Japan and moved to Brazil in 1936, was a pioneering force in Brazilian abstraction, initially embracing painting and later expanding into printmaking and public sculpture. The exhibition, which was curated by Paulo Miyada of the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in Sao Paulo, focuses on her artistic process through a selection of paintings, lithographs, rarely-seen collage studies, and archival studio photographs.

Location: Galeria Nara Roesler, 22 East 69th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Eileen Kinsella

Thursday, November 1–Saturday, January 5

Sarah Morris, Midtown – Paine Webber Building (With Neons) (1998). Courtesy of Petzel.

10. “Sarah Morris: Midtown Paintings, 1998–2001” at Petzel 

Inspired by her former home near Times Square and Port Authority in the mid-1990s, Sarah Morris’s short film Midtown, and the painting series of the same name, offers a vision of a glamorous yet dystopian future based on her voyeuristic observations of the streets of New York.

Location: Petzel, 35 East 67th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, November 1–Saturday, February 9, 2019

Sol LeWitt, Untitled (1971). Photo courtesy of Mignoni.

11. “Sol LeWitt: Lines in All Directions” at Mignoni

For Sol LeWitt, it wasn’t necessary to personally he create the works that bore his name. Instead, he devised precise instructions for other people to make his large-scale wall drawings with simple repeated lines. Mignoni presents work from three of LeWitt’s best-known series, Serial Project #1 (1966), Wall Drawing #42 (1970), and Wall Drawing #69 (1971).

Location: Mignoni, 960 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, November 2

Sol LeWitt, Drawing Series (1968), detail. ©2018 the LeWitt Estate.

12. “Laurie Anderson: Quartet for Sol” at Paula Cooper Gallery

Inspired by her teacher and mentor Sol LeWitt’s number series drawings, musician and artist Laurie Anderson composed Quartet for Sol between 1972 and 1977. She revisited the composition in 2016, with composer Rubin Kodheli arranging it as a 29-minute string quartet. Kyle Armbrust (viola), Rubin Kodheli (cello), Lara St. John (violin), and Michi Wiancko (violin) will perform the piece in front of a new presentation of LeWitt’s first-ever wall drawing, Wall Drawing 1: Drawing Series II 14 (A & B). The drawing is part of “50 Years: An Anniversary,” on view at Paula Cooper Gallery—where it first debuted in 1968—through November 3.

Location: Paula Cooper Gallery, 525 West 26th Street
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: Performances at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Jennifer Elster performing at “The Wake the F*ck Up Show” (2018). Photo courtesy of the artist.

13. Jennifer Elster performance at signs and symbols

As part of the show “Jennifer Elster: The Wake the Fuck Up Show,” on view through November 15, the artist will give a performance she describes as “a direct and ample warning aimed to help America face the dire times they are in and wake the f*ck up.” The piece will pair spoken word with her canvases of written phrases asking the audience to question our current political reality.

Location: signs and symbols, 102 Forsythe Street
Price: Free
Time: Performance 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; regular gallery hours, Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, November 3–Saturday, December 22

Ellsworth Kelly, Color Panels for a Large Wall II (1978). Photo courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.

14. “Ellsworth Kelly: Color Panels for a Large Wall” at Matthew Marks Gallery

Matthew Marks is presenting a never-before-seen scaled-down copy that Ellsworth Kelly made of his largest work, Color Panels for a Large Wall. That 30-by-125-foot piece, created for a building in Cincinnati, has been reconfigured in its current home, arranged in three rows of six at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. You can see how it was originally conceived at the gallery, where it is installed in two rows of nine colored canvases.

Location: Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 West 22nd Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Gregor Hildebrandt, Ins Blaue (2018), detail. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.

15. “Gregor Hildebrandt: In meiner Wohnung gibt es viele Zimmer” at Perrotin

Outmoded recording technologies become the raw materials for Gregor Hildebrandt, who uses magnetic tape from cassettes and vinyl records shiny reflective works embedded with hidden music and video.

Location: Perrotin, 130 Orchard Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Saturday, November 10

Still from Nicole Won Hee Maloof’s video work, What color is a banana? (2017). Courtesy of the artist and Crush Curatorial.

16.  “Nicole Won Hee Maloof & Tammy Nguyen: One Blue Eye, Two Servings” at Crush Curatorial

What color is a banana? This is the central question—and title—of a video work by Nicole Won Hee Maloof in a collaborative, two-person show with fellow artist Tammy Nguyen at Crush Curatorial. The video examines the nature of perception and the influence of class, commerce, labor laws, and race relations on our interpretation of something as seemingly innocuous as a piece of fruit. A series of complex paintings by Nguyen similarly subverts well-known cultural symbols, reimagining book nine of The Odyssey through the lens of colonialism.

Location: Crush Curatorial, 526 West 26th Street, Suite # 709
Price: Free
Time: Thursday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Taylor Dafoe

Through Wednesday, November 21

Beatrice Scaccia, We Are Fairly Conventional Devils (2018). Courtesy of Ricco/Maresca.

17. “Beatrice Scaccia: Is There an Outside?” at Ricco/Maresca

Beatrice Scaccia makes graphite drawings, accented with gesso, and, sometimes, enamel and pastel, before coating each work with a glossy mix of varnish and beeswax to luminous effect. Her compositions feature distinct, almost mythological characters, and text drawn from quotes and thoughts the artists has jotted down in her journal over the years.

Location: Ricco/Maresca, 529 West 20th Street, 3rd Floor
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone