We all know that summer is a slow season in the art world—generally the time for group shows in galleries and museums. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to see. From the gallery’s revealing look at under-recognized Lebanese artist Bibi Zogbé, to long-term museum exhibitions on artists Pacita Abad, Nona Faustine and Toshiko Takaezu, and Sharon Hayes’ outstanding contribution to the Whitney Biennial, there’s a lot of greatness here works of art. The majority of our featured artists are women, which is an encouraging sign – hopefully the trend of centering strong female artists will continue in the future. —Natalie Haddad, Comments Editor
Ibrahim said: From Thebes to Cairo
Egyptian ceramicist Ibrahim Said’s first major solo exhibition in New York is a revelation. The 48-year-old artist’s vessels embody a futuristic twist on millennia-old traditions, defying the laws of gravity and pottery traditions to celebrate his Egyptian-Arab heritage. The exhibition also includes a wall-to-wall installation of bowls decorated with the 99 names of God from the Islamic tradition. These include “Creator,” “Maker,” “Builder,” and “Perceiver”—attributes suitable for any artist with God-given creativity. —Hakim Bishara
Yossimilo(yossimilo.com)
245 Tenth Avenue, Manhattan
As of June 15
Weaving abstraction in ancient and modern art
With the mission of illuminating the ancient origins of modern abstract art, this compact exhibition brings together two extraordinary woven works from different eras. Geometric tapestries, vibrant featherwork and fringed bags from the Andean region, all dating from around the 4th century BC to the 16th century AD, echo wall hangings and sculptures by four modern weavers: Olga de Amaral, Anni Albers, Lenore Tawney and Sheila Hicks. Taken together, the works pay homage to the extraordinary technical innovations and designs of long-ago weavers and 20th-century artists who drew inspiration from them, introducing an abstract visual vocabulary to modern art. —Julie Schneider
Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)
1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
As of June 16
Bibi Zogbe: Works 1938-1965
There is one i don’t know what Bibi Zogbé How to Draw Flowers and Plants. Although difficult to express in words, texture is a unique element. Is thistle the subject of Chardons del Campo (1955)?, The subtle contrast between the sharpness and softness of Zogbe’s cactus in “Cactus” (1953), or the water lilies in “Nenúfares” (1955), stands out. The life of an artist is also a combination of prickliness and softness. She was born in 1890 and grew up in the picturesque Mediterranean village of Alma in the Sahel, Lebanon. Near abundant springs, residents built sophisticated irrigation systems that allowed them to grow more elaborate gardens than in other towns. At 16, she moved to Argentina and was forced to marry Domingo Samaja, a wealthy Lebanese-Argentinian businessman. After her divorce, she returned to painting in the 1930s, earning the nickname “La Pintura de Flores”. Beneath the bright colors, the paintings are imbued with a sad nostalgia for her Lebanese childhood. Although she remained in Argentina, she never stopped yearning for the sights, smells and textures of Sahel Alma’s unique gardens. Predictably, she was excluded from the male-dominated early record of modern European and American painting. While she may now feel like she has been plucked from obscurity, she deserves a place in the center pavilion of the 2024 Venice Biennale, as well as in the front room of the Andrew Kreps Gallery. Her mesmerizing flowers—delicate and sharp, yet utterly soft—represent the energy of finding yourself. —Daniel Larkin
Andrew Kreps Gallery (andrewkreps.com)
394 Broadway, Tribeca, Manhattan
As of June 17
For Faustin: white shoes
The question at the heart of artist Nona Faustine’s solo exhibition is: “What does it look like to be black today in a place where Africans were trafficked a century and a half ago?” She displays images that encourage you to re-examine some of the familiar Place and place. Today, when I walk through 74 Wall Street, it’s hard not to connect it to the history of slavery, and it’s all thanks to Faustin. Her exhibition is filled with fascinating historical lessons that demonstrate the power of the human body, especially “brown, fat bodies” (her words), in public spaces and museums to help us re-examine our cities and communities through the lens of denial. Living space. —Herage Vartanyan
Brooklyn Museum (brooklynmuseum.org)
200 Eastern Parkway, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
As of July 7
Toshiko Takaetsu: inner world
Toshiko Takaetsu’s way of deciphering and cajoling the world of ceramics is illustrated in ” inner world At the Noguchi Museum. Visitors can wander among her famous towering structures, unencumbered by pedestals or ropes, gaining the feel of an intimate studio visit. For this exhibition the museum acquired works that rarely travel, e.g. Star series (1999-2000) from the Racine Museum of Art and carefully reassembles her earliest exhibition presentations at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, the Hawaii Center for Contemporary Art, and other institutions. Her emotion, discipline and sense of play are evident in everything, from momos (a variation of a closed form with a slit at the top made years after her mother’s death), to the spherical moon hanging in a hammock, The drying method became a means of presentation. Her bold and captivating glazes confirm that Takaezu was not only a master of clay but an all-around great American painter. —Keeley Boyd
Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum (noguchi.org)
9–01 33rd Road, Long Island City, Queens
As of July 28
Sharon Hayes: “Ricerche: Four” at the 2024 Whitney Biennial
This year’s Whitney Biennial may be mostly boring, as evidenced by the general boredom on people’s faces when you mention it, but I want to draw your attention to Sharon Hayes’s excellent work, which is a A two-channel video in which LGBTQ+ elders talk about their lives and how things have or haven’t changed over time. Hayes does a good job of integrating a broad range of American identities to show the changing social mores over the years. This project pays homage to the work of Pier Paolo Pasolini love meeting (1963), which spoke to post-WWII Italians about sexuality, I would hazard a guess that it might have been the first time visitors – especially young people – encountered older LGBTQ+ characters.
There was one point in the film that broke my heart, though—a trans woman mentioned the now-debunked statistic that most trans women of color are not expected to live past the age of 35. No. 19, explains that this belief is first based on a questionable anecdotal statistic. This is a good reminder that if we are to ensure the passing on of the knowledge of our predecessors, we need more opportunities like this to discuss and listen to each other so that we can build on their work and learn from each other’s Learn from your mistakes. A powerful piece of art. —high pressure
Whitney Museum of American Art (whitney.org)
99 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan
As of August 11
Pacita Abad
Pacita Abad’s mixed media artworks are big, bold, bright, colorful and full of passion for the world. During her three-decade career, from the 1970s to her untimely death in 2004, the Filipino-American artist traveled to 62 countries and lived in 11 others. art-making techniques, collected fabrics, and absorbed visual arts. Her signature “trapunto paintings”—maximalist works in oils and acrylics backed by fabric and sewn together like quilts—are decorated with brush marks and an array of materials (stands, metal trim, glitter of sequins, beads, buckles, shells, mirrored glass)). More than five works depicting faces, figures, and scenes from everyday life and veering toward vivid abstraction are currently on display at MoMA PS1 as part of the first major survey of Abad’s work. —JS
MoMA PS1 (momaps1.org)
22–25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens
As of September 2
Tara Donovan: strategy
I hesitate to admit this, but the first CD I ever bought was a Bon Jovi album keep the faith mid-1990s. I would like to believe that my musical taste has improved significantly since then. As I stood in front of Tara Donovan’s sculpture made entirely from old CDs, memories of my teenage lapses in judgment resurfaced. Known as “strategies”, these technological relics were upgraded into columns that sit atop concrete plinths, refracting light from the gallery windows to create the optical illusion of movement.
You can read several metaphors into these fascinating sculptures: nostalgia for a bygone era, the environmental harm of plastic, and even the data we carry inside our bodies, as some artworks spin like a DNA double helix. To me, they seem to be the architectural counterpart to the gleaming glass towers of Hudson Yards in the background of these works. Will these skyscrapers continue to stand after the climate catastrophe? either way, we must keep the faith. —HB
Pace Gallery (pacegallery.com)
540 West 25th Street
As of August 16
Painting deconstruction
What to draw today? The art market and MFA industrial complex would have you believe this is a valid question. What they really want to ask is: What is being sold now? Let painting be what you want, the 45 artists in this exhibition seem to be saying. Allow it to break out of the confines of the canvas and flirt freely with other disciplines such as sculpture and textiles, even at the risk of becoming unrecognizable. I walked away from this exhibition with innovative, multi-dimensional works by artists at various stages of their careers, including luminaries Howardena Pindell and Sanford Biggers Get excited about painting, whatever that is. —HB
Ortega Gasset Projects (oygprojects.org)
363 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn
As of August 18
