Art in New York City: January–March 2016

View from New Museum’s Sky Room the day after the snow blizzard of January 23

The NEW SEASON OF ART SHOWS that begun with the New Year brought remarkable new projects – and brought new effort to long-term projects – to the New York museums-and-galleries scene.
Here a series of installation views from a selection of Manhattan art venues for the first few months of 2016.

MUSEUMS:

Guggenheim Museum just opened a retrospective on the lifetime work of Peter Fischli and David Weiss. How to Work Better is the most complete overview of the artists’ work to date, and will be open until April 27.
Two public works by Fischli and Weiss will appear on the streets of New York. From February 5 to May 1, Public Art Fund presents the text-based monument to labor How to Work Better (1991) as a wall mural at the corner of Houston and Mott Streets. The artists first installed it as a mural on an office building in Zurich in 1991. At 11:57 pm nightly throughout February, the video Büsi (Kitty) (2001) will appear in Times Square as part of Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment program.

Also at the Guggenheim Museum, the group exhibition Photo-Poetics: An Anthology shows works by Claudia Angelmaier, Erica Baum, Anne Collier, Moyra Davey, Leslie Hewitt, Elad Lassry, Lisa Oppenheim, Erin Shirreff, Kathrin Sonntag, Sara VanDerBeek. Through March 27.

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Ocean of Images: New Photography – MoMA’s longstanding exhibition series of recent work in photography – is expanding to 19 artists and artist collectives from 14 countries. Through March 20.

MoMA PS1 presents the fourth iteration of its landmark exhibition series Greater New York. Recurring every five years since 2000, the exhibition has traditionally showcased the work of emerging artists living and working in the New York metropolitan area. Through March 7.

MoMA also presented the first comprehensive American survey of Walid Raad, featuring his work in photography, video, sculpture, and performance from the last 25 years. The exhibition focused on two of the artist’s long-term projects: The Atlas Group and Scratching on things I could disavow. The exhibition is now closed.

Peter Fischli David Weiss: How to Work Better, installation view. At Guggenheim Museum through April 27

CHELSEA GALLERIES:

At the opening of Berlinde De Bruyckere: No Life Lost, at Hauser & Wirth through April 2

More than one gallery has chosen to show charmingly dark, b/w photography to bring the past back: one is Chris Killip’s series In Flagrante Two, shot in Northeast England between 1973-1985, at Yossi Milo Gallery until February 27; another is Irving Penn’s lifetime Personal Work, on display at Pace Gallery through March 5; and Peter Hujar’s Lost Downtown portraits from the 1970s New York art and queer scene, at Paul Kasmin Gallery through Feb 27.

As always, a suggestive and immersive installation awaits the viewer at Hauser & Wirth, with Berlinde De Bruyckere: No Life Lost, on view through April 2.
Although unfortunately already closed, Yoko Ono’s environments for her show The Riverbed at Galerie Lelong are not less engaging. The “Mend Piece” concept recites: “Mend with wisdom mend with love. It will mend the earth at the same time.”

Yoko Ono: The Riverbed at Galerie Lelong
Visitors inside the “Line Piece: Take me to the farthest place in our planet by extending the line.”

LOWER EAST SIDE GALLERIES:

Exhibition view of Lizzi Bougatsos at James Fuentes

At Regina Rex, group exhibition This Condition presents work addressing everyday objects and our relationship with them, made of appetites, desire and arousal. The show includes Paul Branca, Carl D’Alvia, Kristen Jensen, Tatiana Kronberg, Michael Stamm. Through Feb 14.

Jong Oh is for the third time on show at MARC STRAUS Gallery in New York. His minimalistic sculptures often displace the viewer’s perception of space. The new series incorporates photography as another mean to create tension within the artwork. We had an interview with the artist you can read, and the exhibition is on until Feb 26.

At Feuer/Mesler, Ry Rocklen shot hundreds of images of sculptural antiquities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and 8 of them became templates for his ceramic sculptures. Jane Corrigan’s paintings reference kids’ books illustrations from the second part of the last century, but treating her characters from a new, contemporary perspective. Through Feb 14.

Exhibition view of Jane Corrigan: EvilActivity123 at Feuer/Mesler through Feb 13

Photography by Matilde Soligno/Droste Effect

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