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Where's the frame
May 4, 2022 12:59 PM
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This week is the first time New York Art Week is taking place. It might sound surprising that’s it the first edition, as for over a decade, every Spring when the blue chip art fairs come to town, galleries roll out their finest exhibitions. But this time, as a result of a joint effort by more than 20 New York-based art organizations, it has a name, it’s New York Art Week. Although the Frieze art fair is taking place later in the month, the Independent, Nada New York, Tefaf New York and the Future Art Fair are opening within the same week and as the Independent art fair founder Elizabeth Dee has said to the Art News Paper “Suddenly four art fairs and three auction houses are opening within the same week—which never happened before.” And on top of that, many galleries are opening some fine shows. By no means an exhaustive list but here are some exhibitions you should check out if you’re in New York this week.
JEFFREY DEITCH GALLERY
Wonder Women, Curated by Kathy Huang
Inspired by a poem by Genny Lim, ‘Wonder Women’, which follows the reflections of a narrator who observes the everyday lives of Asian women—across generations, countries, and socioeconomic backgrounds—wondering if their experiences reflect her own, this exhibition curated by Kathy Huang, presents thirty Asian American and diasporic women and non-binary artists responding to themes of wonder, self, and identity through figuration.
18 Wooster Street
Opening reception on May 7th from 6-8pm
FLAG ART FOUNDATION
Peter Uka: Remembrance
The moving colourful figurative work by Nigeria born, Germany based artist Peter Uka at the Flag Art Foundation shouldn't be missed. Depicted in a very unique way, his larger-than-life paintings reference the modernist/post-independence era in Nigeria and draw from everyday life events he encountered as a child in the 70s and 80s.
545 West 25th Street, 9th Floor
March 12 - June 4, 2022
DAVID ZWIRNER
Oscar Murillo: Ourself behind ourself concealed
On show in Chelsea, Murillo’s new paintings are again showing his ongoing engagement with the process of art-making and how that is a way of synthesizing sociopolitical contexts. The title of this exhibition is drawn from Emily Dickinson’s 1862 poem that opens, “One need not be a Chamber—to be Haunted—.” which is about the image of a specter within the self, which resembels Murillo’s practice, as it’s about dark forces present in both the personal and the political.
533 West 19th Street
April 28—June 4, 2022
PABLO’S BIRTHDAY
ALAN UGLOW The Light Between Then and Now
Opening at their beautiful new space in Tribeca, it will show works by Alan Uglow. As written by Roberta Smith’s memorandum in The New York Times, “Mr. Uglow was what is often called a painter’s painter, respected within the art world’s precincts but not well known beyond them.'“
105 HUDSON ST, #410 (4TH FLOOR).
May 5 — June 10, 2022
WHITNEY BIENNIAL
Although not participating with New York Art Week, it’s definitely worthwhile to visit this year’s Whitney Biennial, “Quiet as It’s Kept,” where works from 63 artists and collectives take the temperature of the American scene at this moment. It’s surprising that this year’s Biennial did not provoke any protest, it’s been lauded for having “just enough high points to get you through it”, according to Jerry Saltz. Still, it’s worth visiting because it gives an overview of some tendencies in contemporary art.
99 Gansevoort St
April 6–September 5, 2022
OFF PARADISE
Peter Nadin, The Distance From A Lemon To Murder
Showing works from Peter Nadin who has been —painting “from life” this exhibition is not to be missed. The paintings are poetic, moving, and just very indefinable and unique.
March 3 - May 8, 2022
120 Walker St
BORTOLAMI GALLERY
Fernanda Laguna, Welcome to my show in New York!!!!!!
This show with works from Fernanda Laguna highlights the artist’s recent paintings whose practice includes decades-long activities as a curator, publisher, and organizer which have positioned her as a continued point of reference and inspiration in Buenos Aires. In 1999, the artist cofounded the legendary alternative space Belleza y Felicidad, which would later move to the outskirts of the city and host educational, artistic, activist, and poetry programs, expanding the community’s access to creativity and pleasure.
39 Walker Street
18 March – 7 May, 2022
OPENING LATER IN THE MONTH:
FREDERICKS & FREISER GALLERY
Mary Reid Kelley And Patrick Kelley: Unrefined Verbiage
May 12 – June 11, 2022
ALAN UGLOW, Solid, 2008, Acrylic on cotton, 48.25 x 60 in (122.6 x 152.4 cm) Courtesy Pablo's Birthday
Installation view, Oscar Murillo, Ourself behind ourself concealed. Courtesy David Zwirner New York, 2022
Installation view, Oscar Murillo, Ourself behind ourself concealed. Courtesy David Zwirner New York, 2022
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New York Art Week is having its inaugural run this week, 5-12 May. For more information, visit the organisation's website here.