NYC gallery shows to see- Brooklyn-based art writer Vittoria Benzine needs time to move slower. She remains constantly reminding herself that every day, at its best, ought to be the longest yet in her life — even when it’s pouring down rain, like it was when she embarked upon her weekly gallery run starting on Henry Street, Manhattan last Friday. By the time Benzine concluded on the Upper East Side later that day, the sun was out and shining. Of course, she didn’t miss the rain — because she’d made a point to savor it. Here’s the weekly highlights from her many stops. Each comes with a review to tell if it’s for you. Want more? Read slower. Barring that, a few shows from last week’s roundup still remain on view.
“Not Romantic” by Alex Anderson @ Sargent’s Daughters
I swear this came up while bumping “Rumors” on a roadtrip once — is there a word for the perfect album, one with no fillers, no songs worth skipping? Because that’s exactly how I felt about my introduction to Los Angeles-based Alex Anderson’s various sculptures at “Not Romantic,” the first show I’ve seen at Sargent’s Daughters since they took over this full space on East Broadway. Sure, the show benefits from flashy elements of its arrangement including scarlet alcoves and damier plinths, but Anderson’s sharp, sexpot symbolism pairing bees and knives with bleeding flowers and the odd astrological symbol encapsulates our attraction to the (maybe necessary?) violence behind beauty — without making pretty of it. Through June 30.
“rafa esparza: Camino” @ Artists Space
Speaking of the City of Angels, did you know the 110 Freeway was America’s first highway of that sort? By now we take our paths for granted, but Los Angeles-based painter, installationist, and performance artist rafa esparza’s immersive exhibition at historic, experimental Artists Space reasserts the conscious contemplation of roads. How often does a show start by traipsing one of the artist’s arrangements? Continuing along, you’ll meet icons of the communities whose livelihoods are often railroaded by the arrival of highways— simply because they don’t have the right kind of power. The tone remains bright, though, on highway landscape paintings too. Or maybe that’s also the famous L.A. light. Through August 19
“Avedon 100” @ Gagosian
This one’s too big to miss! I got a teaser at the Metropolitan Museum of Art two weekends ago, where they’ve got a comparatively pocket-sized Avedon tribute on view on the eve of the late, legendary photographer’s 100th birthday, mostly centered around his murals. In true Gagosian style, though, the mega gallery is outright outdoing the Met on the Avedon front. A constructed series of rooms at the gallery’s center creates even more (necessary) wall space to display Avedon’s impossible pop cultural range, from supermodels to movie stars and politicians, imagery capturing our human story through fashion’s evolution on everyone across the way. Something about photography, especially of this caliber, creates a sense of cultural continuity — and kinship. Through July 7
“PURPLE TREE” by Mason Saltarelli @ TURN Gallery
New Orleans-born abstract painter Mason Saltarellii’s third exhibition with this intimate, relatively recent arrival to the Upper East Side encapsulates again the essence of his practice — while presenting the artist’s most intimate series yet to date. Saltarelli even wrote the press release himself. Most of this body of work was created in a condensed period just after he returned home from Australia. New techniques like gesso backgrounds underpin these arrangements with deceptive silence, activating negative space in new ways so it almost feels like the walls aren’t even there. “PURPLE TREE” is full of play — foregrounds and backgrounds playing, each painting dancing together, altogether against the backdrop of TURN’s stained glass windows. Through June 24
“Spirit Crossing” by Senga Nengudi @ Sprüth Magers
This haunting exhibition examines, for the first time in a gallery setting, this experimental Studio Z participant’s critical “Spirit Flags” series. Much of Nengudi’s work is of course ephemeral, so that opportunity itself is worth the trip uptown — if that’s a trip to you. For the occasion, Nengudi has recreated a few of her spectral nylon banners, originally designed in 1973 — the same year the artist once upon a time strung them up with grommets and nylon cords to float in the breeze of numerous New York City nooks, the kind which don’t really exist anymore. By now, the real estate is too precious. Photos from those first experiments appear throughout the show, alongside a tender triptych of her late husband floating in the bath, printed with pixels to produce a sense of movement. The sound of a ticking clock synced to its analog counterpart of a mantle keeps the time. Through July 28
You can see more news & exhibitions from New York HERE
