January brings new life to the New York art scene. Galleries are filled curated with creatives trying to make sense of corrupt power and the pain these powers cause. Does the future lie in toppling the systems or returning to an anthropologic version of ourselves? Visit the exhibitions below this month to find out.
Executive (Dis)Order: Art, Displacement, & the Ban (Queens Museum, closing January 19)
Executive (Dis)Order: Art, Displacement, & the Ban is a group exhibition organized by Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI) as part of the Queens Museum’s community partnership exhibition program.
The exhibition highlights work by AFI-supported artists affected by Executive Order 13780 (the travel ban), alongside artists whose works reflect struggles and experiences of drift and restraint in the face of socio-political instability.
Executive (Dis)Order questions the definition of ‘artists impacted by the travel ban’ and approaches the issue broadly with works that balance personal and public struggle.
Outsider Art Fair (Metropolitan Pavillion, 125 W. 18 St, January 17-20)
The Outsider Art Fair is the original art fair concentrating specifically on self-taught art and presenting works by acknowledged masters and such living artists.
This year the fair turns to New York to showcase 65 exhibitors, representing 37 cities from 7 countries, with 8 first-time galleries.
Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts (PS1 MoMA, closing February 2019)
Known for his prolific execution, tremendous range of materials, and varied working methods Nauman’s work reveals how mutable experiences of time, space, movement, and language provide an unstable foundation for understanding our place in the world.
Disappearing Acts furthers this exploration; the retrospective charts Nauman’s “artistic withdrawals” through a curation of omission and loss across media and throughout the decades, following Nauman as he circles back to earlier concerns with new urgency.
View the expanse of the exhibition by visiting both MoMA and MoMA PS1.
Tatsuo Miyajima: Innumerable Life/Buddha (Lisson Gallery, 138 10th Ave, closing February 16)
Tatsuo Miyajima opens his first solo exhibition in New York with Lisson Gallery, premiering his new series, Innumerable Life/Buddha.
The exhibition will feature five works by the Japanese artist. A formal introduction of his unique styling, eastern philosophies and signature digital visual vocabulary to the American audience.
This new body of work, a series of glowing red installations, are inspired by a particular Buddhist teaching, reminding us of the power of the individual within a networked whole.
ON CANAL (301-365 Canal St, Manhattan)
ON CANAL is an emerging arts district where brands, artists & startups can test out new ideas, and engage with the public in a high traffic location at the intersection of SoHo and TriBeCa.This month’s programming includes: Adrian Yu Packed Goods, TESTU COLLECTIVE: Second Skin A/V Performances & video Installations, AV&C + VINCENT HOUZÉ: lull, and JOJO ABOT: POWER TO THE GOD WITHIN
Claudia Comte: The Morphing Scallops (Gladstone Gallery, 515 W 24th St, closing February 16)
Claudia Comte returns the gladstone Gallery to the prehistoric reactions to boundaries, painting on the walls. The exploration of evolved singularity begs whether humans have evolved past our predecessors, or if our progress is an illusion of scenery change. Conscious and unconscious perception are forced to be examined, the writing on the wall is written in the language of mathematics and universal consciousness, forcing the viewer to separate the medium from the message, acknowledging a separate vitality. Making Comte’s cave paintings a bit more sci-fi than caveman.
God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin (David Zwirner Gallery, 525 & 533 West 19th St, closing January 16)
David Zwirner presents a group exhibition honoring on the legendary James Baldwin.
Curated by Hilton Als,the show features works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Richard Avedon, Karl Bissinger, Beauford Delaney, Marlene Dumas, Glenn Ligon, Cameron Rowland, Kara Walker, and James Welling, among other artists.
Maria Antelman presents Disassembler, an eight-piece installation across three floors of the Pioneer Works building. Titled after the newly commissioned Disassembler (which can be found on the third floor) the show explores humanity and what it means to exist within a world of networks systems.
Antelman montages pull from a myriad of sources, including scenarios of the American West, ideas of techno-animism, and early reconnaissance images from outer space.
Confront post-automated experience, through art at this arresting and interactive exhibit.