Editors’ Picks: 23 Events for Your Art Calendar This Week, From Calder-Inspired Halloween Costumes to the ‘Great Pumpkin Path’
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Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. In light of the global health crisis, we are currently highlighting events and digitally, as well as in-person exhibitions open in the New York area. See our picks from around the world below. (Times are all EST unless otherwise noted.)
Tuesday, October 27
Kenny Schachter and Tracey Emin. Photo courtesy of Xavier Hufkens.
1. “Tracey Emin and Kenny Schachter — Online Artist Talk” at Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
On the occasion of her upcoming show “Detail of Love,” Tracey Emin will chat live with Artnet News’s own Kenny Schachter.
Price: Free with registration, space limited
Time: 1 p.m.
—Nan Stewert
Mark Zuckerberg, 2012. Courtesy of Wikicommons.
2. “Mark Zuckerberg + Jeremy Hutchison at Artists & Allies, Berlin
Artists & Allies has somehow wrangled a chat between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and London artist Jeremy Hutchison. Catch them on Instagram live.
Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m. GMT
—Tanner West
David Byrne, Podiatrist Punctuation, 2020 © David Byrne, courtesy of Pace Gallery.
3. “David Byrne Fireside Chat with Maira Kalman” Pace Gallery, New York
I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to The Name of This Band is Talking Heads. This isn’t entirely surprising. It’s typical for me to spend a chunk of each day listening to, or even just thinking about, the music made by David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Franz, and Jerry Harrison in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
The entirety of my Twitter biography is a link to a video clip, from “Stop Making Sense,” of Byrne bellowing, “Thank You! Does anybody have any questions?” The entirety of my Instagram biography is More Songs About Buildings and Food, which is the name of the second Talking Heads album, and an accurate description of my Instagram feed. In real life, I often walk down a specific stretch of Chrystie Street, on the Lower East Side, just to stare at the building where the band recorded Fear of Music.
So I was pleasantly surprised when I got an email about “dingbats,” an online show of new drawings by David Byrne, hosted by Pace Gallery, which has been showing the musician’s visual art since 2003. I clicked through, and this new batch of sketches really charmed me. On the screen I saw these somewhat silly drawings, made while Byrne was in isolation in his Chelsea apartment. They deal with loneliness, boredom, local government, economics, media, and New York City, all while never losing the beat. Kind of like a good Talking Heads record.
This Tuesday, Byrne will join the artist and illustrator Maira Kalman at Pace’s 25th Street headquarters to discuss the drawings, and I’m sure a whole lot more, too. You can tune in to the talk via the gallery’s Instagram.
Price: Free
Time: 8 p.m.—9 p.m.
—Nate Freeman
Richard Misrach. Photo courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery.
4. “Film Screening and Conversation with Richard Misrach” from Art21
“Borderlands,” a recent episode of Art21’s Art in the Twenty-First Century series, focused on artists whose work focuses on the US-Mexico border. Following the latest airing of the episode, one of the featured artists, Richard Misrach, will take part in a Zoom conversation with Sarah Meister, curator in the department of photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 5:30 p.m.
—Tanner West
A Louis Comfort Tiffany-designed headstone, located just a few hundred feet from the artist’s own grave at Green-Wood Cemetery. Photo courtesy of Green-Wood Cemetery.
5. “Halloween Tête-à-Tête” at the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, Queens
Louis Comfort Tiffany’s world-famous stained glass wasn’t just used in lampshades—the artist also created windows for cemetery mausolea. Even less well-known were the over 750 funerary monuments he created across the US, a number of which are at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, where Tiffany was laid to rest under a Tiffany Studios headstone in 1933. Neustadt curators Lindsy Parrott and Morgan Pruden are giving a Zoom presentation on this little-known aspect of Tiffany’s artistic production, with a special Halloween-themed focus on three memorial commissions with particularly haunting backstories.
Price: $10
Time: 5:30 p.m.–6:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Tuesday, October 27–Friday, October 30
Nasher Prize Dialogues. Photo courtesy of the Nasher Sculpture Center.
6. “Nasher Grad Symposium” at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
The Nasher hosts a symposium responding to the work of 2020 Nasher Prize Laureate Michael Rakowitz, with livestreamed lunchtime graduate symposium student presentations moderated by Nada Shabout, director of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Initiative at the University of North Texas on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The week will conclude on Friday with a graduate symposium roundtable and a keynote talk from Carolyn Christov-Bargargiev, director of Castello di Rivoli, Italy.
Location: Nasher Sculpture Center, 2001 Flora Street, Dallas
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Thursday, 12 p.m.–1 p.m.; Friday, 1 p.m.–3 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, October 28
Orthostat relief: winged human-headed lion
(c. 10th−9th century BC), Hittite. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
7. “Rayyane Tabet/Alien Property: In Light of What We Know Now” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
For this Zoom talk, three experts—Kim Benzel, curator in ancient near Eastern art, and Clare Davies, assistant curator of Modern and contemporary art; and artist Rayyane Tabet—will discuss the development of the Met’s current show “Rayyane Tabet/Alien Property” and how their perspective on the exhibition has changed since this year’s lockdown. Tabet’s great-grandfather worked on the Tell Halaf dig in Syria where the 9th century stone reliefs on view were found. The ancient works have since been lost, destroyed, or scattered to museums across the world.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 6 p.m.–7 p.m.
—Tanner West
Wednesday, October 28—Saturday, December 12
The Fall Salon at Selavy by Di Donna in Southampton. Image courtesy DiDonna Galleries.
8. “The Fall Salon: Icons through the Ages,” at Sélavy by Di Donna
Upper East Side gallerist Emmanuel DiDonna joined the ranks of art dealers flocking to the Eastern end of Long Island with new art platforms. The second presentation of this shoppable, online salon of art and design—presented by Sélavy by Di Donna and connected with an alluring storefront space in Southampton—features a wide-ranging display of antiquities, design, and art. Highlights range from a Roman torso of Bacchus (circa 1st–2nd Century AD) to a 1979 Andy Warhol portrait of Judy Garland.
Location: Sélavy by Di Donna, 30 Jobs Lane, Southampton
Time: Wednesday—Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. or by appointment
—Eileen Kinsella
Thursday, October 29
Suhaly Bautista Carolina, Jasmine Wahi, and Sheetal Prajapati. Photo courtesy of POW Arts.
9. “Survival and Success: Women of Color in the Arts” at POW Arts
This virtual panel brings together three powerful voices: Suhaly Bautista Carolina, senior managing educator of audience development at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; Jasmine Wahi, the Bronx Museum’s social justice curator; and Sheetal Prajapati, founder of Brooklyn’s Lohar Projects art advisory. Together, they will share their experiences as women of color in the art world.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 12 p.m.–1:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Martha Wilson, Thump (2016). Courtesy of the artist and PPOW Gallery.
10. “Political Drag: A Retrospective – Martha Wilson in Conversation with Sara Reisman” at the 8th Floor, New York
The 8th Floor continues its “Performance-in-Place” series of video screenings and conversations with Martha Wilson, who over her 40-year career has impersonated polarizing political figures such as Nancy Reagan, Tipper Gore, Barbara Bush, and Donald Trump.
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
11. “10 Year Anniversary Discussion” at Cristin Tierney, New York
New York dealer Cristin Tierney is celebrating ten years in business with a Zoom discussion bringing together longtime gallery artists Joe Fig, Melanie Baker, peter campus, and MK Guth. The gallery is also currently offering a fundraising print by Dread Scott, called Vote Biden, inspired by Andy Warhol’s 1972 Vote McGovern print, sold in a limited edition of 100 for $250 to benefit nonprofit Black Voters Matter.
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
André Gregory, Things That Go Bump in the Night (2018). Courtesy of the artist and Monica King Contemporary.
12. “Jason Craighead & André Gregory In Conversation” at Monica King Contemporary, New York
Abstract artist Jason Craighead and veteran actor, writer, and director André Gregory will have a virtual talk to celebrate both individuals’ solo shows on view at the Tribeca-based gallery. After a storied career in film (he’s the “Andre” in My Dinner With Andre), Gregory has turned to art-making with alacrity. Craighead, a self-taught painter, is making his gallery debut.
Price: Free
Time: 12 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Thursday, October 29–November 21
Natalie Frank, Don Quixote II (2019-20).
13. “Natalie Frank: Don Quixote” at Half Gallery, New York
Artist Natalie Frank takes the delusional chivalry of Don Quixote as the jumping off point for her show of nearly a dozen new gouache and pastel drawings at Half Gallery. Cervantes’s story is 400 years old, but feels like “an apt, if generous, portrait of our current time where models of authority, power and patriarchy are shifting and crumbling,” the artist explains. This body of work is a departure for Frank, who has long mined darkly feminist inspiration from historic works of literature, including the Brothers Grimm fairy tales and the Story of O, in its direct focus on the male body.
Location: Half Gallery, 235 East 4th Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Rachel Corbett
Thursday, October 29–Saturday, January 9
Leopold Strobl, Untitled (2019-275), 2019 Courtesy of Ricco/Maresca
14. “Leopold Strobl: One” at Ricco/Maresca, New York
Austrian artist Leopold Strobl presents a series of eerie, mysterious landscapes as his second solo show at Ricco/Maresca. All of these works are devoid of people or any other signs of life, with dark shapes adding to the sense of silence and loneliness. For those ready to brave it, the show will have an all-day opening reception.
Location: Ricco/Maresca, 529 West 20th Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.; Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.– 6 p.m.
—Neha Jambhekar
Friday, October 30
A film still from Jeffrey Gibson, Nothing is Eternal (2020). Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co, Kavi Gupta Gallery, and Roberts Projects.
15. “Jeffrey Gibson: Nothing is Eternal” at the Wattis Institute, San Francisco
Jeffrey Gibson’s new 18-minute long film, Nothing is Eternal, was born in the pandemic era and bears all its telltale anxiety. A droning, distorted score accompanies a host of trippy visuals, such as shots of wind-whipped American flags, drifting clouds, and disappearing highways. The film was commissioned by the Wattis Institute in San Francisco and will be screened for free on the art space’s webpage beginning this Friday.
Price: Free
Time: All day
—Taylor Dafoe
Friday, October 30–Saturday, December 12
Sanford Biggers, The Ascendant (2020). Courtesy Marianne Boesky Gallery.
16. “Sanford Biggers: Soft Truths” at Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
Artist Sanford Biggers’s latest works reinterpret the history of Classical sculpture through a contemporary lens. “I am intrigued by recent scholarship that posits that many of the iconic white, monochromatic marble sculptures we are familiar with were originally painted in brilliant, even garish color,” he says in a statement. “For me, the false perception of these unintentional monochromes as authentic intersects with the early 20th-century “black-washing” of African works, through which hundreds of objects were stripped of all material adornment and any ritual and cultural residue.” The show includes new marble works and quilt-based paintings.
Location: Marianne Boesky Gallery, 507 West 24 Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: By appointment
—Nan Stewert
Saturday, October 31
Alexander Calder, Little Clown, the Trumpeteer (1926–31). Photo courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art, ©Calder Foundation, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
17. “Halloween Circus Costumes Inspired by Alexander Calder” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
This week’s free online art class with Whitney educators is Halloween themed, offering instruction on how to make Halloween costumes inspired by Alexander Calder’s whimsical “Calder’s Circus” series of miniature wire performer figurines.
Price: Free
Time: 11 a.m.–11:40 a.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Jordan Nassar, “Cosmic Radar” (2020). Image courtesy of James Cohan Gallery.
18. “Jordan Nassar: I Cut The Sky In Two” at James Cohan, New York
On Saturday afternoon, James Cohan Gallery will host a limited-capacity opening reception with artist Jordan Nassar to celebrate “I Cut The Sky In Two,” on view now through November 21. Nassar’s latest hand-embroidered works in the style of Palestinian tatreez continue to explore object, memory, heritage and homeland. The exhibition also features new sculptures the artist made employing traditional glass-working techniques from Hebron.
Location: James Cohan, 291 Grand Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: 1 p.m.–4 p.m.
—Katie Rothstein
Jenna Westra, Untitled. Photo courtesy of Lubov Gallery.
19. “Book Launch: Jenna Westra, Afternoons” at Lubov Gallery, New York
In conjunction with their current Jenna Westra exhibition, on view through November 22, Lubov Gallery is hosting a release party for her new photo book. The work features female models, many of whom are dancers, interacting in feminine, often intimate—but not overtly sexual—poses.
Location: Lubov Gallery, 5 East Broadway, #402, New York
Price: Free
Time: 3 p.m.–5 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Saturday, October 31
Steve Mumford, Attacking the Federal Courthouse, Portland, OR, Jul. 25, 2020 (2020). Courtesy of Postmasters.
20. “Steve Mumford: Drawings From America’s Front Lines” at Postmasters
In his latest solo exhibition at Postmasters, Steve Mumford focuses his distinct artistic technique on some of the most socially and politically charged scenes in the country’s recent history, including this spring’s public health crisis in New York; this summer’s Black Lives Matter protests in New York and Portland, Oregon; and a set of 2016 Trump campaign rallies in Portland, Maine and Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Mumford attended each event depicted in the show, sketching the scenes as they unfolded around him in the moment. The approach demanded the artist shift his imagery and media try to interpret the underlying truth of situations perpetually moving faster than his tools—to me, an apt metaphor for the constant struggle faced by anyone trying to wrap their mind around the news cycle in a political arena increasingly defined by memes, conspiracy theories, and partisan distortions hurtling forward at the speed of social media.
Location: Postmasters, 54 Franklin Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. (hours extended to 8 p.m. Thursday)
—Tim Schneider
Through Sunday, November 1
Scherezade García has build a community altar at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Courtesy of the artist.
20. “El Día de Los Muertos” at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn
If you’re looking for something seasonally atmospheric, artistic, and socially distanced to do in celebration to Halloween and El Día de Los Muertos, head to Green-Wood Cemetery, where artist Scherezade García has constructed a large community altar where visitors can leave offerings such as flowers and photographs.
Location: Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th Street, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
The Great Pumpkin Path. Photo courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden.
21. “The Great Pumpkin Path” at the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx
Nature is the artist at the NYBG, with an incredible display of colorful gourds of every shape and size—including some of the largest pumpkins in the world, weighing in at over 2,000 pounds. There are also some clever Jack-o-lantern scarecrows scattered throughout the grounds, adding additional artistry to the seasonal display.
Location: New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx
Price: General admission $28
Time: Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Sunday, November 1
Ebony Brown and Michele Pred leading the Vote Feminist March in Times Square for the Wide Awakes. Photo by Sarah Cascone.
22. “Vote Feminist Parade” at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive has postponed its “New Time: Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century” exhibition, but that didn’t stop Michele Pred from moving ahead with the performance art piece commissioned for the occasion, staging feminist get-out-the-vote marches in Oakland and New York this fall with the Wide Awakes. This Zoom event will combine footage from both events with live performances and participatory activities, hosted by Pred, Carmen Rios, and Autumn Breon.
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 4 p.m. PDT
—Sarah Cascone
Through Wednesday, November 5
Installation view of “Superunknown | Max Ernst & Yves Tanguy With Urs Fischer” at Nahmad Contemporary, New York. Photo courtesy of Nahmad Contemporary, New York.
23. “Superunknown | Max Ernst & Yves Tanguy With Urs Fischer” at Nahmad Contemporary, New York
Gap-toothed City (2017–20), a boldly colorful wallpaper installation by Urs Fischer, stands as a backdrop for historic paintings by Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy in an unexpected, angsty mash-up that spans the centuries. Works created during Paris’s Surrealist movement of the 1920s, the Great Depression, and World War II reflect the uncertainty of that tumultuous era, set here against photonegative images of graffiti, boarded up lots, and other elements of New York City’s urban landscape.
Location: Nahmad Contemporary, New York
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
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