Lo and behold, we’re already arrived in the final days of July, and, if you’re like us, there’s still much left to do and to see before Labor Day rolls around. If your summer checklist includes visiting some of the many group shows on view in galleries this summer, now is the time to make the most of summer Fridays and lunch breaks. Don’t forget: Most galleries are on Monday to Friday schedules through Labor Day, and many will be closing for vacation the last two weeks of August. So before the gallerists enjoy some much needed rest, here are five summer group shows to catch.

1. “Painting/Sculpture” at Marianne Boesky Gallery 

Installation view of “PAINTING SCULPTURE” at Marianne Boesky. Photo courtesy of Marianne Boesky.

Asking how two-dimensional works can be understood as sculpture, and sculpture as painting, this exhibition brings together a mix of contemporary works that, depending on your point of view, could easily be understood as either. The show seems to wonder if these classifications are still relevant, or more importantly, exciting, via works by contemporary artists including Lynda Benglis, Donald Moffet, and Sheila Hicks, which seem insouciantly unconcerned with choosing.

“Painting/Sculpture” is on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery, 509 West 24th Street, New York, July 10–August 9, 2019.

2. “Painters of the East End” at Kasmin

Mary Abott, Island’s Edge (1950–60). Courtesy of Kasmin.

Ninth Street Women fans, this is the show for you!  A small but engaging exhibition, “Painters of the East End” brings into dialogue the works of a group of mid-century Modernist painters who left New York City for the expansive studios, untamed nature, and bohemian lifestyles made possible in South Fork of Long Island.  Here, artists who have been obscured by the passage of time, like the great Abstract Expressionists Mary Abbott and Perle Fine, are presented alongside Helen Frankenthaler, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, and Joan Mitchell, giving a refreshing sense of cohesion, depth, and detail to the era.

“Painters of the East End” is on view at Kasmin, 297 10th Avenue, New York, July 11–August 16, 2019.

3. “A Body of Work” at Jane Lombard Gallery 

Installation view of “Body of Work,” (2019). Courtesy of Jane Lombard Gallery.

Be warned: it will be hard to resist the urge to run your hands over the works in this textile-rich exhibition. Curated by Shehab Awad, this six-artist show centers around the relationship between textiles and the body, and the incumbent associations of memory, identity, and adornment. Max Colby’s small, delicate, and intricate sculptures are positioned throughout the gallery; made of fabric, embroidery, and painting, these works synthesize imagery of Christian ceremonial objects with phallic symbols, in a way that is both subversive and  aesthetically pleasurable. Also of note are Margaux Crump’s works composed of silk, salt crystals, and makeup; the series on view is based on photographs the artist took of her own skin as it blushed or bruised. They look almost like watercolors.

“A Body of Work” is on view at Jane Lombard Gallery, 518 West 19th Street, New York, July 10–August 16, 2019.

4. “Clay” at Nancy Hoffman 

Joan Bankemper, Garrison (2019). Courtesy of Nancy Hoffman Gallery.

Clay pottery has been around since the very origins of human handicraft. This whimsical show at Nancy Hoffman takes a look at how six contemporary artists are using the medium to expressive, largely figurative ends. Among these are Joan Bankemper’s mandala-like ceramic mosaics of flowers and insects. Lavishly, almost comically ornamented, these are a manifestation of “horror vacui,” or the fear of empty space. Another favorite are Jesse Smalls “ghost” sculptures, which look something like Pac-Man and were inspired by the many products and objects used to ward off ghosts that the artist discovered while studying ceramics in China.

“Clay” is on view at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, 520 West 27th Street, New York, June 19–October 14, 2019.

5.“Monokhromos” at the Directed Art Modern

Rob Anderson, Construction (2019). Courtesy The Directed Art Modern.

A summer show in Miami has got to mean bright, saturated canvases, right?  Not in this case. Taking its name from the Greek word Μονόχρωμος (Monokhromos), meaning being just black or white, this three artist group show gets back to basics with a selection of artworks entirely of comprised of those elemental hues (and the shades in between). Monokhromos is said to connote the stripping away of distraction—here, these artists each direct their attention to the core of experience, the perceptions and sensations of living in a body. B.L. Jesseph’s works on paper, for instance, explore how the eye perceives tones and gradients as spatial values, in the most basic of colors.

“Monokhromos” is on view at the Directed Art Modern, 350 NE 75th Street, Miami, July 11–30, 2019.