From the east to the west coast, this week we’re viewing works of abstraction from the 1950s to the present. Mitchell-Innes & Nash presents a solo exhibition by Nicolas de Staël (French, 1914–1955), including works never before seen in New York. In San Francisco, Brian Gross Fine Art has organized a memorial exhibition celebrating the life of Bay area artist Chad Buck (American, 1955–2013). Though their personal styles and influences varied, these artists both used concepts of Figuration, gesture, texture, and color to create beautifully rendered surfaces that played with the infinite possibilities of Abstract form.

At their uptown Madison Avenue location, Mitchell–Innes & Nash presents their second solo exhibition by Nicolas de Staël, the first of which took place as their inaugural show in 1997. A leading figure of the School of Paris, a European offset of American Abstract Expressionism that came to resemble lyrical abstraction after the Second World War, de Staël’s work plays with composition and color, figuration, and gesture to create an engaging canvas. Influenced by Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954) and Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963), the artist used the loose strokes and Cubist forms of these important 20th–century artists to create deeply impastoed layers and forms suggestive of the landscape scenes that took primary focus in de Staël’s brief career.

Nicolas de Staël will be on view from May 2 to May 31, 2013, at 1018 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10075.

Nicolas de Staël, Méditerranée, Le Lavando, 1952, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY

Brian Gross Fine Art pays tribute to the life and career of the late Chad Buck, who passed away in February of this year. Comprised primarily of paintings from the end of the artist’s career, the exhibition calls attention to Buck’s study of texture and material, which played with the expressive qualities of the canvas. Marked by light and nuanced depth, Buck’s paintings permeate a contemplative quality from simple material, allowing the viewer’s eye to travel across the luminous color of his monochromatic works.

Chad Buck: A Memorial Exhibition will be on view from May 2 to June 29, 2013, at 49 Geary Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108.

Chad Buck, Labrynth / Oxide,2012, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

Browse openings by city to see where art can be found in your town!

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Oswaldo Guayasamín ‘Obra gráfica, 1973-80’ at Galeria Eude
May 2, 2013
Consell de Cent. 278, 08007 Barcelona, Spain

Basel, Switzerland
Yong-joo Marbot: Solo Show at JanKossen Contemporary
May 2–31, 2013
101 Haltingerstrasse, BS 4053 Basel, Switzerland

Geneva, Switzerland
Marie-José Burki ‘Au jour le jour’ at Blancpain Art Contemporain
May 2–June 29, 2013
63 Rue des Maraîchers, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland

Munich, Germany
Leas Klaus bei sich zu Haus at Galerie Klaus Lea
May 2–June 2, 2013
Türkenstrasse 96 Rgb, 80799 Munich, Germany

New York, NY
Anthony Pearson at Marianne Boesky Gallery
May 2–June 8, 2013
509 W. 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
Jannis Kounellis at Cheim & Read
May 2–June 22, 2013
547 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10001
QUENTIN GAREL: GUEULE DE BOIS at Bertrand Delacroix Gallery
May 2–June 1, 2013
535 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10001
Makoto Fujimura: Golden Sea at Dillon Gallery
May 2–June 8, 2013
555 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10001
Sherry Karver: Figuratively Speaking and Kathryn Siegler: Talking Pictures at Kim Foster Gallery
May 2–June 8, 2013
529 W. 20th Street, New York, NY 10011
Fausto Melotti: Works on Paper and Plaster at Barbara Mathes Gallery
May 2–July 26, 2013
22 E. 80th Street, New York, NY 10075
Alexi Worth: States at DC Moore Gallery
May 2–June 15, 2013
535 W. 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011
Richard Dupont: Going Around By Passing Through at Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art
May 2–June 29, 2013
534 W. 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011
Yang YI – UPROOTED at Galerie Richard
May 2–June 8, 2013
514 W. 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
Robert Mapplethorpe: Self Portraits at Skarstedt Gallery
May 2–June 15, 2013
20 E. 79th Street, New York, NY 10021

Portland, OR
May Artists of the Month: Paintings Of Oregon Waters at Attic Gallery
May 2–June 1, 2013
206 SW First Avenue, Portland, OR 97204
Colin Page: Spatial Perception at Greenhut Galleries
May 2–June 1, 2013
146 Middle Street, Portland, OR 04101

San Francisco, CA
Kelly Barrie: Parallel Play and Julio César Morales: Forever Now!at Gallery Wendi Norris
May 2–June 29, 2013
161 Jessie Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Tor Archer: Out of Nature at Scott Richards Contemporary Art
May 2–June 1, 2013
251 Post Street, Suite 425, San Francisco, CA 94108

Vienna, Austria
Daniel Pitín ‘Traps’ at Galerie Charim Wien
May 2–June 22, 2013
Dorotheergasse 12/1, 1010 Vienna, Austria

Zurich, Switzerland
Thomas Feuerstein: Machine naturelle at Galerie Nicola von Senger
May 2–July 13, 2013
Limmatstr. 275, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland