It’s that time of year when the art world lapses into a lower gear and galleries tone down the intensity by embracing less intense summer schedules.

Another rite of passage we always look forward to? The more laid back gallery group shows, particularly the ones with inspiring titles that reflect some humor, creative flair, or downright wackyness. Here are a few of our top picks for the hot and hopefully lazier months ahead.

Alice Neel, David Sokola (1973). Courtesy of Cheim & Read, New York.

1. “The Female Gaze, Part Two: Women Look At Men” at Cheim & Read
Featuring work by 32 female artists: Berenice Abbott, Ellen Altfest, Ghada Amer, Diane Arbus, Gina Beavers, Lynda Benglis, Huma Bhabha, Louise Bourgeois, Katherine Bradford, Cecily Brown, Kathe Burkhart, Lois Dodd, Marlene Dumas, Tracey Emin, Katy Grannan, Grace Graupe-Pillard, EJ Hauser, Celia Hempton, Jenny Holzer, Chantal Joffe, Sarah Lucas, Catherine Murphy, Alice Neel, Catherine Opie, Collier Schorr, Dana Schutz, Joan Semmel, Cindy Sherman, Sylvia Sleigh, Betty Tompkins, Nicole Wittenberg and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Location: 547 West 25th Street
Dates: June 23-September 2, 2016

Aliza Nisenbaum,
Maria’s Archive (2016). Courtesy of the Artist and James Cohan, New York.

2. “Intimisms” at James Cohan Gallery
The gallery presents the historical exhibition “Intimism,” which takes inspiration from the legacy of the so-called Intimists, a group of late 19th and early 20th-century artists that included Jean-Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard, who created jewel-like portraits of family and friends in richly-colored interiors during moments of domestic quietude. The show was organized with artist Aliza Nisenbaum, and features 26 historic, established, and emerging artists.

Location: 533 West 26th Street
Dates: June 23-July 29, 2016

Trudy Benson
Through Blue (2016). Courtesy of Denny Gallery.

3. “The City & The City” at Denny Gallery
Denny Gallery’s group show is called “The City & The City” —a title borrowed from a 2009 novel by China Miéville in which two cities occupy the same geographic space but are deliberately perceived as separate. The theme resonates in particular on the Lower East Side—where in Chinatown, young gentrifiers, immigrant communities, a gallery district, and an entertainment district manage to occupy the same space.

The show will feature works by Trudy Benson, John Dante Bianchi, Ghost of a Dream, Nicolas Grenier, Justine Hill, Erin O’Keefe, Caris Reid, Jordan Tate, Russell Tyler, and Amanda Valdez.

Location: 150 East Broadway (Summer pop-up space)
Dates: June 29–August 19

Andrea Joyce Heimer, Montana Hot Springs with Danger Surrounding (2016). Courtesy of the artist and Hometown Gallery.

4. “Over the Hills” at Hometown Gallery
The summer group show “Over the Hills” marks the third exhibition at the gallery, which Adam Yokell opened earlier this year. All of the works in the exhibition are related to the idea of summer as a cycle of renewal and departure. It features painting, drawing, and photographic mixed media works by seven artists: Christopher Astley, Joshua Hagler, Andrea Joyce Heimer, Meredith Sands, Michael Uttaro, Elmar Vestner, and August Vollbrecht.

Location: 1002 Metropolitan Ave #21, Bushwick
Dates: June 24–August 7

Installation view “See sun, and think shadow.” Courtesy of Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York.

5. “See sun, and think shadow” at Gladstone Gallery
“See sun, and think shadow” takes its title from a poem by Louis Zukofsky, anew #21. The exhibition uses the binary notion of light/dark, not as an end goal but as an “allegorical springboard” into larger dichotomies such as hope and despair, familiar and foreign, and human and mechanical.  As the title suggests, the works on view offer a surprising juxtaposition between conventional perception and unexpected realities.

It will feature work (including including sound, video, sculpture, and photograms) by artists including: Lucas Blalock; Liz Deschenes; Jessica Dickinson; Trisha Donnelly; Apostolos Georgiou; Hilary Lloyd; Shahryar Nashat; Blake Rayne; Nora Schultz; Amy Sillman, Diane Simpson; and Michael E. Smith. Across media, this group of artists create a space where nothing is quite as it seems.

Location: 515 West 24th Street
Dates: June 23–July 30

Mary Ann Aitken, Untitled (Billboard Back) (1989). Courtesy of Marlborough Chelsea.

6. “LANDSCAPES” at Marlborough Chelsea
Organized by artist Nolan Simon and Jake Palmert, co-owner of Milwaukee’s Green Gallery, the show features artists who recognize the power of the landscape “to enact romantic depth while simultaneously plumbing the spectacle of nature in order to invite it to creep back in the discourse on truth as a distorted image of itself,” according to an essay from Simon.

Artists on view include: Mary Ann Aitken, Jason Bereswill, Mathew Cerletty, Rackstraw Downes, Richard Estes, FLAME, Ull Hohn, Alex Katz, John Kelsey, John Marin, Keih Mayerson, John Miller, Jeanette Mundt, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Nolan Simon, Paul Thek, Betty Tompkins.

Location: 545 West 25th Street
Dates: June 23–July 29

Ryan Schneider, Nocturnal Bloom (2016). Courtesy of the artist and Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York.

7. “A Verdant Summer” at Taymour Grahne Gallery
The stunning show presents work by artists including Kamrooz Aram, Nadia Ayari, Larissa Bates, Whitney Bedford, Holly Coulis, Daniele Genadry, Raffi Kalenderian, Yui Kugimiya, Nicky Nodjoumi, Maia Cruz Palileo, Matthew Porter, Ryan Schneider, Guy Tillim and Hannah Whitaker.

Location: 157 Hudson Street
Dates: June 28–August 17

Pieter Schoolwerth Purple Model of a Couple Arguing About Their Abysmal Financial Sitaution #2 (2016). Courtesy of the Artist and and Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York.

8. “Fine Young Cannibals” at Petzel Gallery
Discourse on contemporary painting has “recently taken a turn toward technological properties, neoliberal politics, and ‘market flipping,'” according to the press release for “Fine Young Cannibals.” It then poses the question: “Are painters indeed trying to impress an audience with their market savvy and skill in manipulating media?”

The show explores questions about process and intent in a widely varied group that includes: Walead Beshty, Wade Guyton; Jacqueline Humphries; Martin Kippenberger; Michael Krebber; Albert Oehlen; Laura Owens; Jorge Pardo; Seth Price; Pieter Schoolwerth; Josh Smith; Rudolf Stingel; Cheyney Thompson; Kelley Walker; Christopher Wool; and Heimo Zobering.

Location: 456 West 18th Street
Dates: June 24–August 5

Installation view of Thrush Holmes at Mike Weiss Gallery for “School’s Out!” Courtesy of the artist and Mike Weiss Gallery.

9. “School’s Out!” at Mike Weiss Gallery
We all remember that distinctly joyful feeling from childhood each June, when the school doors opened and we had the summer to be free. Mike Weiss Gallery invites us to relive it with “School’s Out!” The summer group exhibition features wildly colorful works by Deborah Brown, Thrush Holmes, Jerry Kearns, and Liao Yibai.

Location: 520 West 24th Street
Dates: June 23–August 6