November 30, 2023

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at New York City Center, November 29 – December 31, 2023

“Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Center’s Principal Dance Company and America’s cultural ambassador to the world, announces a much-anticipated 65th anniversary season at its New York City Center “home” from November 29 – December 31. The engagement features world premieres by former Ailey company member Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish and the versatile Amy Hall Garner— the first awardee of a new Ailey Artist in Residence program. New productions include Ronald K. Brown’s Dancing Spirit, Alonzo King’s Following the Subtle Current Upstream, Jamar Roberts’s Ode, and Hans van Manen’s Solo. A dozen works by Alvin Ailey will be represented, including highlights programs of Ailey Classics and Ailey & Jazz with live music. Mr. Ailey’s must-see masterpiece Revelations will be performed throughout the season, with soul-stirring live music on the opening night and first weekend.” — Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater  

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Solomon Dumas, Constance Stamatiou and Yazzmeen Laidler in Alvin Ailey’s Revelations. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Ronald K. Brown’s Dancing Spirit. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Jamar Roberts’ Ode. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey’s For Bird – With Love. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Kyle Abraham’s Are You in Your Feelings?. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Constance Stamatiou in Alvin Ailey’s Cry. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Renaldo Maurice and Jacquelin Harris in Paul Taylor’s Duet. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Khalia Campbell and James Gilmer in Jamar Roberts In A Sentimental Mood. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey’s Memoria with Ailey II and students of The Ailey School. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey’s Night Creature. Photo by Christopher Duggan.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Yannick Lebrun and Jacquelin Harris in Alvin Ailey’s Survivors. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Following Ailey’s season launch in New York, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will reach over 20 cities from coast-to-coast during a North American tour including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and, Washington, D.C. 

Title Photo: Photo: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey’s Revelations. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Images courtesy Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

November 27, 2023

Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte! at Jewish Museum, November 17, 2023 – March 31, 2024 

“The Jewish Museum presents the first survey exhibition in the United States of Marta Minujín, a defining force of Latin American art whose trajectory intersected with the major artistic developments of the postwar period while reflecting a singular spirit and vision infused by her sharp intellect, irreverent humor, and performative presence. On view from November 17, 2023 through March 31, 2024, Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte! will reflect the genre-defying arc of the artist’s six-decade career. 

This timely exhibition responds to a renewed interest in feminist, Pop, and Latin American art by investigating one of their leading figures. Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte! will include nearly 100 works drawn from the artist’s archives in Buenos Aires as well as private and institutional collections. Organized to reflect her bold experimentation over six decades, the exhibition will chart Minujín’s influential career in Buenos Aires as well as time spent in Paris, New York, and Washington, DC, through a range of pioneering, mattress-based soft sculptures; fluorescent large-scale paintings; psychedelic drawings and performances; and vintage film footage. The artist’s ephemeral works – happenings, participatory installations, and monumental public art – will be presented through rarely-seen photographs, video, and other documentation.” — Jewish Museum

Installation views of Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte! at Jewish Museum, November 17, 2023 through March 31, 2024. Photos by Corrado Serra.

Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte! is organized by Darsie Alexander, Senior Deputy Director and Susan & Elihu Rose Chief Curator, and Rebecca Shaykin, Associate Curator, at the Jewish Museum, New York. The exhibition design is by Galia Solomonoff and Elena Martinoni of SAS/Solomonoff Architecture Studio. Bilingual texts in English and Spanish will be included in the exhibition.

November 20, 2023

Paraventi: Folding Screens from the 17th to 21st Centuries at Fondazione Prada Milan, through February 22, 2024 

“Paraventi: Folding Screens from the 17th to 21st Centuries is an extensive exhibition curated by Nicholas Cullinan on view at Fondazione Prada’s Milan venue from October 26, 2023 to February 22, 2024. Two complementary shows, organized by Prada with the support of Fondazione Prada at Prada Rong Zhai in Shanghai and Prada Aoyama Tokyo from November 3, 2023, will further investigate the historical heritage and contemporary interpretations of folding screens in Eastern contexts. 

The Milan exhibition explores the histories and semantics of these objects by tracing trajectories of cross-pollination between East and West, processes of hybridization between different art forms and functions, collaborative relationships between designers and artists, and the emergence of newly created works. The folding screens embody liminality and the idea of being on the threshold of two conditions, literally and metaphorically. They cross barriers between different disciplines, cultures, and worlds.” — Fondazione Prada 

Exhibition views of “Paraventi: Folding Screens from the 17th to 21st Centuries” at Fondazione Prada, Milan. Photos: Delfino Sisto Legnani and Alessandro Saletta – DSL Studio. Courtesy: Fondazione Prada 

From left to right: Macao and Canton, China, 2nd half of the 18th century. Fundação Oriente – Museu do Oriente, Lisbon. Kurofune, the ‘Black Ship’, Japan, 18th century. Private Collection, Estoril, Portugal.
In the foreground: Luc Tuymans, La corrispondenza, 2023. Courtesy Studio Luc Tuymans, Antwerp.
From left to right: Wu Tsang, Rebellious Bird, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin. Joan Jonas, Double Lunar Rabbits, 2010. Courtesy Joan Jonas and Amanda Wilkinson, London.
From left to right: Chen Zhifo, Fiori stagionali e uccelli, China, 1947. Asia, Private collection. Jim Dine, Landscape Screen (Sky, Sun, Grass, Snow, Rainbow), 1969. Collection of Nina Dine.
In the foreground: Lisa Brice, Untitled, 2022. Rennie Collection, Vancouver.
In the foreground: William Morris (designer), William Morris (designer), Jane Morris, and Elizabeth Burden (manufacturer). Screen with Embroidered Panels Depicting Lucretia, Hippolyte, and Helen, 1860-61. 1860–61 (embroidered panels), 1889 (screen). Castle Howard Collection, Yorkshire.
In the foreground: Carrie Mae Weems, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. The Apple of Adam’s Eye, 1993. Collection of The Fabric Workshop and Museum. Bequest of Marion Boulton Stroud. Anthea Hamilton. Shame Paravent, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
Exhibition view of “Paraventi: Folding Screens from the 17th to 21st Centuries”. Fondazione Prada, Milan. Photo: Delfino Sisto Legnani and Alessandro Saletta – DSL Studio. Courtesy: Fondazione Prada.
From left to right: William N. Copley, Konku, 1982. Private collection. Elmgreen & Dragset, Paravent, 2008. Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Paris.
From left to right: Goshka Macuga, in time or space or state, 2023. Courtesy of the artist. Mona Hatoum, Grater Divide, 2002. Courtesy of the artist.
In the foreground: Six scenes from the story of Prince Genji (Genji monogatari), Japan, early 17th century. Viktor and Marianne Langen Collection, Neuss, Germany.
“Paravento di Coromandel”, China, late 17th century. Museo Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon.
In the foreground: Folding Screen with Scenes in and around Kyoto, Japan, 18th/19th century. Portugal, Private collection.
From left to right: Yves Klein, Paravent [Screen] (IKB 62), 1957. Private collection. Charles and Ray Eames, Folding Screen FSW 8, 1948. Private collection. Alvar Aalto, Screen, Model nr. 100, 1940. Private collection. Eileen Gray, Brick Screen, 1925 circa. Collezione di J. & M. Donnelly, Paris.
From left to right: Sol LeWitt, Untitled Screen, 1987. Collection of Lisson Gallery, London. Charles and Ray Eames, Folding Screen FSW 8, 1948. Private collection. Yves Klein, Paravent [Screen] (IKB 62), 1957. Private collection.
In the foreground: Cy Twombly, Paravent, 1989. Private collection. In the background: Kerry James Marshall, “Untitled” Rythm Mastr Splash, 2023. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, London. T.J. Wilcox, Radio City Music Hall, 2010. Included Heir and Astaire, 2010, HD Video, 9’50’’, exhibition copy. Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London.
In the foreground, from left to right: Chris Ofili, Pink Daydream (Ghost), 2023. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner. Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Face Value, 2021. Courtesy of the artist, Karma International, Zurich, and Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw. In the background on the left: Wade Guyton, Untitled [WG5525], 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
John Stezaker, Screen-screen, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
Tony Cokes, Untitled (Sol LeWitt 1967, 1968, 1989), 2023. Courtesy of the artist, Greene Naftali, New York, Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles, FELIX GAUDLITZ, Vienna e Electronic Arts Intermix, New York.
Cao Fei, Screen Autobiography (Milan), 2023. Courtesy of the artist, Vitamin Creative Space and Sprüth Magers.
Wu Tsang, Rebellious Bird, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlino / Berlin.
Keiichi Tanaami, Utopian Situation by “Guernica”, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.

 As explained by Nicholas Cullinan, “Painting or sculpture? Art or furniture? Utilitarian or ornamental? Decorative, functional, architectural, or theatrical? This innovative exhibition examines the many questions and paradoxes surrounding the unfolding history of the paravent. This history of the folding screen is one of cultural migration (from East to West), hybridization (between both different art forms and functions) and of what is concealed and revealed. As we shall explore, this history, and especially the way it manifests in the present, is one of liminal objects and of liminality itself; in the process collapsing the rigid distinctions and hierarchies between the different disciplines of art and architecture, decoration, and design.”

November 18, 2023

Look Again: European Paintings 1300–1800 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Newly Installed European Galleries, November 20, 2023

 “Look Again: European Paintings 1300–1800 will highlight new narratives and juxtapositions among more than 700 works of art, following an approximately five-year-long project to replace the galleries’ skylights. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen its full suite of 45 galleries dedicated to European paintings from 1300 to 1800 on November 20, 2023, following the completion of an extensive skylight renovation project that began in 2018. A chronological sequence of engaging displays showcases more than 700 works from the Museum’s world-famous holdings, offering fresh dialogues and thematic groupings. The newly reconfigured galleries—which include recently acquired paintings and significant loans, as well as select sculptures and works of decorative art—illuminate the interconnectedness of cultures, materials, and moments in the collection.” — The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Installation views of Look Again: European Paintings 1300–1800 (Gallery 600- 644) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Photographed November 2023. Courtesy of The Met.

 “The Met has one of the greatest collections of European paintings in the world. The highly anticipated reopening of this vast suite of galleries will invite visitors to reunite with old favorites—and discover incredible recent gifts and lesser-known artworks—all within a newly considered context,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “The completion of the enormous skylights renovation project allows us to display these exceptional works of art within a superb setting, and we look forward to welcoming all to enjoy this splendid presentation of art and ideas for many years to come.”

Stephan Wolohojian, the John Pope-Hennessy Curator in Charge of the Department of European Paintings, added: “The skylights project presented us with an important opportunity to reconceptualize the presentation of The Met’s extraordinary collection through a fresh lens. Our goal is to engage meaningfully with our many audiences and make the experience of viewing our collection as rich, layered, and rewarding as possible.”  

 

November 15, 2023

Wilde Mind at SVA Chelsea Gallery, November 3, 2023 through December 9, 2023

“School of Visual Arts (SVA) honors Richard Wilde, the now-retired inaugural chair of the College’s BFA Design Department with Wilde Mind, an exhibition celebrating his life and legacy. Designed and curated by current and longtime faculty member and chair of the College’s 3D Design program Kevin O’Callaghan (BFA 1980 Media Arts), Wilde Mind spans from Wilde’s early years growing up in Brooklyn to his 50-year tenure at SVA, during which he taught more than 10,000 students and hired more than 900 faculty. Presented by SVA Galleries, it will be on view Friday, November 3, through Saturday, December 9, 2023, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, New York City

Designed to feel like a stroll through the brilliant artistic mind of a beloved teacher and mentor, Wilde Mind tells the story of Wilde’s endless quest for creativity and desire to document and preserve visual excellence.” — School of Visual Arts (SVA)

“For the past 50 years, I have created conditions for the possibility of students to move from a reactive, automatic, predictable way of problem-solving to a state where free thought is available,” Wilde says. “This exhibition speaks of my journey confronting that challenging condition.”

Installation views of Wilde Mind at SVA Chelsea Gallery, November 3, 2023 through December 9, 2023. Photos by Adam Cable/SVA Galleries.

Images courtesy School of Visual Arts (SVA).

November 14, 2023

Africa & Byzantium at The Met Fifth Avenue, on view November 19, 2023 through March 3, 2024

“The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present Africa & Byzantium, a seminal exhibition of nearly 200 works that will explore the tradition of Byzantine art and culture in North and East Africa from the 4th through the 15th century and beyond. On view from November 19, 2023, through March 3, 2024, Africa & Byzantium will shed light on an underrepresented area of art history and showcase a burgeoning new field of interdisciplinary scholarship on medieval Africa. Even though Byzantium was a vast empire that spanned parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia, its extensive connections to Africa have previously been understudied. Bringing together art, religion, literature, history, and archaeology, this innovative exhibition will highlight artworks from the multicultural communities of northern and eastern Africa.” — The Met

“This stunning exhibition brings new focus and scholarship to an understudied field, expanding our knowledge of Byzantine and Early Christian Art within an expansive worldview,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO. “Through spectacular and widely unknown works of art, Africa & Byzantium illuminates the development, continuity, and adaptation of Byzantine art and culture in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, recentering African artistic contributions to the pre-modern period.”

Installation views of Africa & Byzantium, on view November 19, 2023–March 3, 2024 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photos by Anna-Marie Kellen, courtesy of The Met.

Andrea Achi, Mary and Michael Jaharis Associate Curator of Byzantine Art at The Met, said: “Africa & Byzantium builds upon the long legacy of The Met’s award-winning Byzantine exhibitions. Bringing together new research from over forty scholars worldwide, the exhibition addresses how diverse communities connected to Byzantium flourished in African empires and kingdoms for over a thousand years. It will broaden public understanding of the Byzantine world, its reach, and transcultural authority and examine the critical role of early African Christian civilizations in this creative sphere.”

Africa & Byzantium is organized by Andrea Achi, Mary and Michael Jaharis Associate Curator of Byzantine Art, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters at The Met. Helen C. Evans, Curator Emerita, serves as consulting curator. Michelle al-Ferzly, Research Associate, has provided research assistance. Kristen Windmuller-Luna, Curator of African Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, serves as contributing curator for the exhibition.

November 10, 2023

Bellini and Giorgione in the House of Taddeo Contarini at Frick Madison, November 9, 2023 – February 4, 2024 

“This fall and winter, visitors to Frick Madison, the temporary home of The Frick Collection, will have an unprecedented opportunity to view two Renaissance masterpieces reunited for the first time in more than four hundred years. 

Giorgione’s Three Philosophers, on rare loan from Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, will be shown in dialogue with the Frick’s beloved St. Francis in the Desert by Giovanni Bellini. The works were owned by the same Venetian collector, Taddeo Contarini (ca. 1466–1540), and were displayed for many decades in his palazzo before their separation centuries ago.” — Frick Madison

Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430 – 1516). St. Francis in the Desert, 1480. Oil and tempera on poplar panel, 49 in. x 55 7/8 in. (124.46 cm x 141.92 cm). Henry Clay Frick Bequest. Accession number: 1915.1.03
Giorgio da Castelfranco, known as Giorgione (ca. 1477–1510). The Three Philosophers, ca. 1508–9. Oil on canvas. 49 7/16 x 57 9/16 in. (125.5 x 146.2 cm). Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Photo: KHM-Museumsverband

Comments Ian Wardropper, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director of the Frick, “It would be difficult to think of a more fitting conclusion for our temporary residency at Frick Madison than this once-in-a-lifetime installation. These two complex Renaissance paintings have prompted an enormous amount of commentary over the years, and we are delighted to present the pair together as an exciting farewell to this fascinating chapter in our institution’s history.”

This special presentation is organized by Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, who is authoring an accompanying book about the paintings and their original owner and his collection. Salomon states, “To this day, Taddeo Contarini is best known for his ownership of two masterpieces of Venetian Renaissance painting. Despite the attention that has been lavished on the paintings from his collection, Contarini remains an elusive figure, one we can understand only through some glimmers of information about him. The reunion of these two paintings brings an important part of Contarini’s collection back to life.”

Title image: Installation view of Bellini and Giorgione in the House of Taddeo Contarini. Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.

Images courtesy Frick Madison.

November 8, 2023

Judy Chicago: Herstory at New Museum, October 12, 2023 – March 3, 2024

“The New Museum presents Judy Chicago: Herstory, bringing together six decades of the artist’s work and including an exhibition-within-the-exhibition spotlighting women essential to the history of art and Chicago’s own practice. On view from October 12, 2023, through January 14, 2024, Chicago’s most comprehensive New York museum survey to date spans three floors of the New Museum, tracing the artist’s sixty-year career across painting, sculpture, installation, drawing, textiles, photography, stained glass, needlework, and printmaking. On the Museum’s Fourth Floor, a total installation featuring Chicago’s embroideries, sculptures, drawings, and carpet design contextualizes her practice by bringing together artworks and archival materials from more than eighty women artists, writers, and cultural figures, including Hilma af Klint, Hildegard of Bingen, Claude Cahun, Elizabeth Catlett, Simone de Beauvoir, Artemisia Gentileschi, Emma Goldman, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charlotte Salomon, Remedios Varo, and Virginia Woolf, among others. Titled after fifteenth century author Christine de Pisan’s Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, The City of Ladies continues Chicago’s work as a feminist activist and cultural historian claiming space for women in narratives that previously obscured or denied their contributions—much like her seminal work The Dinner Party (1974–79) in its attempt to create a history of important and often overlooked women.” — New Museum

Installation views of Judy Chicago: Herstory at New Museum, October 12, 2023 through January 14, 2024. Photos by Corrado Serra.

Judy Chicago: Herstory is curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director, Gary Carrion-Murayari, Kraus Family Senior Curator, Margot Norton, former Allen and Lola Goldring Senior Curator at the New Museum and current Chief Curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and Madeline Weisburg, Assistant Curator.

November 7, 2023

Open Call 2023 Group Exhibition at The Shed, November 4, 2023 through January 21, 2024  

“As part of the third edition of The Shed’s cornerstone Open Call program, the Open Call 2023 Group Exhibition features 11 visual artists who live or work in New York City presenting new commissions in disciplines from sculpture to filmmaking to poetry, each proposing care- and community-based responses to the urgent issues of our time. The exhibition will be on view from November 4, 2023, through January 21, 2024, in The Shed’s Level 2 Gallery.

This exhibition will focus on the artists’ personal diaspora experiences and how they intersect with global history, as well as commentaries on our digital landscape. Artists featured include Minne Atairu, Jake Brush, Cathy Linh Che & Christopher Radcliff, Armando Guadalupe Cortés, Lizania Cruz, Bryan Fernandez, Luis A. Gutierrez, Calli Roche, Jeffrey Meris, and Sandy Williams IV.” — The Shed

Minne Atairu, To the Hand, 2023. Bronze-infused PLA filament, clay, wood. Bronze: 24 x 15 x 16 inches; Overall diameter: 36 x 144 inches. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Minne Atairu. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy
The Shed.
Jake Brush, Petpourri, 2023. Video (color, sound), 22 min., 58 seconds, and mixed-media sculptural installation and found objects. Dimensions variable. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Jake Brush. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.
Cathy Linh Che and Christopher Radcliff, Appocalips, 2023. Three-channel video (color, sound), 28 min. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Cathy Linh Che and Christopher Radcliff. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.
Armando Guadalupe Cortés, Palenque, 2023. Cedar, adobe, lime wash, alabaster, obsidian, solder. Diameter: 91 in x 240 inches. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Armando Guadalupe Cortés. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.
Lizania Cruz, Evidence 071: Frederick Douglass and The Commission of Inquiry, 2023. Vinyl wall installation, interactive app, archival documents and photos, sculptural elements. Dimensions variable. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Lizania Cruz. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.
Luis A. Gutierrez, Las Nueve Demandas (The Nine Demands), 2023. Oil, acrylic, and thread on canvas; nine parts. Each panel: 72 x 36 x 2 inches; Overall installation: 90 x 204 x 192 inches. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Luis A. Gutierrez. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.
Bryan Fernandez, Who I Am, Quiénes Somos, 2023. Five mixed-media assemblage paintings. Dimensions variable. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Bryan Fernandez. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.
Jeffrey Meris, Catch a Stick of Fire III (Dark Man X), 2023. Aluminum pipes, ceramic vessels, LED lights, orchids. Overall diameter: 156 inches. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Jeffrey Meris. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.
Calli Roche, Death to Dermis: Ecdysis, 2023. Mixed media installation. Dimensions variable. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Calli Roche. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.
Sandy Williams IV, 40 ACRES: Weeksville, 2023. Video (color, sound), 18 min., with archival documents, inkjet photo prints. Commissioned by The Shed. Artwork © Sandy Williams IV. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.

“With an emphasis on BIPOC artists and disability arts integration, Open Call is the cornerstone upon which The Shed is growing and evolving as a civic cultural organization,” said Tamara McCaw, The Shed’s Chief Civic Program Officer. “The 11 artists featured in the Open Call 2023 Group Exhibition represent some of the most innovative and inspiring artists emerging in the visual arts today. This fall, we are thrilled to welcome neighbors, tourists, and all New Yorkers to experience their works, which explore urgent themes of reclamation, repatriation, resistance, healing, and access.”

The third edition of Open Call is organized by Tamara McCaw, Chief Civic Program Officer, and Darren Biggart, Director of Civic Programs, with Eduardo Andres Alfonso, Associate Curator at Large, and Deja Belardo, Curatorial Assistant. The exhibition is produced by MK Meador, Associate Exhibitions Coordinator and Registrar, and Freddy Villalobos, Associate Exhibitions Coordinator & Head Preparator.

Title image: Installation view: Open Call 2023 Group Exhibition, The Shed, New York, November 4, 2023 – January 21, 2024. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy The Shed.

November 6, 2023

Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School at New-York Historical Society, October 20, 2023 – April 14, 2024

“This fall, the New-York Historical Society presentsKay WalkingStick / Hudson River School, an exhibition showcasing landscape paintings by the renowned, contemporary Cherokee artist Kay WalkingStick in conversation with classic works from New-York Historical’s collection of 19th-century Hudson River School paintings. On view October 20, 2023 – April 14, 2024, this artistic dialogue spotlights the ways in which WalkingStick’s work connects to and diverges from the Hudson River School tradition, and explores the agency of art in shaping humankind’s relationship to the land.By examining and highlighting contemporary Indigenous art in the changing discourse of American art history, the exhibition celebrates a shared reverence for nature and galvanizes critical discussions on land dispossession and its reclamation by Indigenous peoples and nations. This presentation reflects the vision of New-York Historical’s new Board Chair, Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang, to illuminate Indigenous histories in the shaping of America and is the result of a close collaboration between the artist and Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto (Native Hawaiian), senior curator of American art at New-York Historical.” — New-York Historical Society

“I hope viewers will leave the Museum with a renewed sense of how beautiful and precious our planet is,” said Kay WalkingStick. “Also, that they depart with the realization that those of us living in the western hemisphere are all living on Indian Territory. These are certainly straightforward, even obvious, thoughts, but I believe they are concepts easily forgotten. It’s easiest to simply get on with our lives. We are all responsible for the health of our planet. We are all responsible to see that our legislators honor the many treaties made with the American Indians throughout our history and that Native rights are honored.” 

“Painting is a visual language. This is what my paintings are saying to you.”

Installation views of Kay WalkingStick / Hudson River School at New-York Historical Society, October 20, 2023 – April 14, 2024. Photos by Corrado Serra.

“As New York’s first museum founded in 1804, the New-York Historical Society is proud to be the first American historical institution to doubly honor an esteemed contemporary Indigenous artist with a focused exhibition of her artistic achievements and a landmark celebration acknowledging her stature as a stateswoman—through her artistry and teaching—of Indigenous heritage,” said Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang, board chair of New-York Historical. “In Kay’s paintings, landscapes are imbued with agency, through which contemporary Indigenous peoples and cultures exert their robust presence in history and modern society. Kay WalkingStick—long admired for her humanity, erudition, and grace—has been a trailblazing visual historian for 60 years, and we are privileged to honor her with the History Maker award in advent of Native American Heritage Month.”

November 2, 2023

Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility at Guggenheim Museum, October 20, 2023 – April 7, 2024

“The Guggenheim Museum presents Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility, a major exhibition predicated on a duality: works of art that present the figure, yet obscure it in some way, thus existing at the ‘edge of visibility.’ The exhibition asserts that these experimentations in figuration across media—painting, photography, drawing, prints, sculpture, video, and installation—articulate pressing questions around what it means to be seen, not seen, or erased in society. On view from October 20, 2023, through April 7, 2024, the exhibition features 28 artists and fills all six ramps of the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright–designed rotunda.” — Guggenheim Museum

Installation view, Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, October 20, 2023–April 7, 2024. Photo: Midge Wattles © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Installation view, Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, October 20, 2023–April 7, 2024. Photo: Midge Wattles © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Installation view, Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, October 20, 2023–April 7, 2024. Photo: Midge Wattles © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Installation view, Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, October 20, 2023–April 7, 2024. Photo: Midge Wattles © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

Artists in the exhibition: American Artist, Kevin Beasley, Rebecca Belmore, Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds, Ellen Gallagher, David Hammons, Lyle Ashton Harris, Tomashi Jackson, Titus Kaphar, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Joiri Minaya, Sandra Mujinga, Chris Ofili, Sondra Perry, Farah Al Qasimi, Faith Ringgold, Doris Salcedo, Lorna Simpson, Ming Smith, Sable Elyse Smith, Stephanie Syjuco, Hank Willis Thomas, WangShui, Carrie Mae Weems, and Charles White.

Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility is organized by Ashley James, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art, with Faith Hunter, Curatorial Assistant.

Images courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

October 30, 2023

Shary Boyle: Outside the Palace of Me at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), September 23, 2023 – February 25, 2024

“The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) presents the New York museum debut of Canadian visual artist and performer Shary Boyle. On view from September 23, 2023–February 25, 2024, Shary Boyle: Outside the Palace of Me explores the forces that create our inner and outer selves, both individual and collective. The multisensory solo exhibition of new works by the artist includes exquisitely sculpted ceramics, life-sized automatons, two-way mirrors, a coin-operated sculpture, and an interactive soundtrack. To help realize her creative vision for the exhibition, Boyle enlisted a team of collaborators, including a scenic designer, costume artist, robotics engineer, amusement park innovator, and acrylic nail artist. Each work in the exhibition is a testament to slow, skilled, passionate handcraft.

The exhibition’s title, Outside the Palace of Me, references a lyric from ‘Europe is Lost,’ written by UK poet and singer Kae Tempest in 2016. In this visceral protest song, Tempest catalogs society’s ills, including the commodification of the self through reality TV, social media, and the influencer economy.” — MAD

Installation views of Shary Boyle: Outside the Palace of Me at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York (September 23, 2023–February 25, 2024). Photos by Jenna Bascom; courtesy the Museum of Arts and Design.

“Shary Boyle has been galvanized by the global turmoil over the last decade to create extraordinary works of art, ambitious in their breadth of scope and the depth of discourse concerning the essential challenges facing our society, such as racism, misogyny, and environmental destruction,” said Elissa Auther, MAD’s Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and William and Lasdon Chief Curator.

“Boyle sees the artist as a risk-taker and wants her art to start conversations, ask questions with no right answers, and change thought. To achieve this, she has called on all her powers as a multimedia artist and enlisted a team of collaborators to create a deceptively nostalgic space for play—and provocation. Her work addresses heavy histories but is also hopeful about our ability to creatively reimagine and collectively enact a better future,” Auther added.

Outside the Palace of Me is organized by the Gardiner Museum, Toronto.

Title image: Shary Boyle. The Sculptor, 2019. Terra cotta, porcelain, china paint. Courtesy of the artist and Patel Brown Gallery. Photo credit: John Jones.