Global contemporary art events and news observed from New York City. Suggestion? Email us.

London – Lee Scratch Perry: “Ark Work” at Cabinet Through May 6th, 2023

April 18th, 2023

Lee Scratch Perry, Bird War (2019), via Cabinet
Lee Scratch Perry, Bird War (2019), via Cabinet

Over the course of his life, musician Lee “Scratch” Perry was a seminal and exploratory producer, a seminal voice in the development and export of Jamaican dub reggae to the UK, US and beyond. Forging an experimental and esoteric arc in his work that mined pop culture, surrealism, and spiritual tenets of rastafarianism, Perry was also an avid painter and fine artist, creating dense, swirling series of allusions on paper, canvas, and other repurposed materials. Throughout, the artist’s work mirrored the playful and cartoonish nature of the characters and worlds he built on record. The artist’s work is the subject of a show at Cabinet in London this month, celebrating the late artist with a sprawling selection of works.

Lee Scratch Perry, Ark Work (Installation View), via Cabinet
Lee Scratch Perry, Ark Work (Installation View), via Cabinet

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New York – Hannah Levy: “Crutch” at Casey Kaplan Through April 29th, 2023

April 17th, 2023

Hannah Levy, Untitled (2023), via Casey Kaplan
Hannah Levy, Untitled (2023), via Casey Kaplan

On view this month at Casey Kaplan’s Manhattan exhibition space presents a body of new wall and freestanding works by artist Hannah Levy, continuing the artist’s challenging and exploratory work in concepts around the human form, and concepts of its transcendence. Here, incorporating glass into the artist’s practice, Levy takes on new material processes through both traditional and experimental methods to arrive at new interpolations of her already tightly-honed practice. Read More »

London – Richard Prince: “Everyday” at Sadie Coles HQ Through May 5th, 2023

April 14th, 2023

Richard Prince, Untitled (2019-2020), via Sadie Coles HQ
Richard Prince, Untitled (2019-2020), via Sadie Coles HQ

On this month in London, artist Richard Prince marks his seventh solo show at Sadie Coles HQ, bringing forth a new iteration and expansion of his iconic Joke Paintings. The artist, who has long mined the linguistic flows, political temperatures and structural modes of American pop culture, here finds new ground to explore in these modes for the show, titled Everyday.
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New York – Robert Bechtle at Gladstone Through April 29th, 2023

April 13th, 2023

Robert Bechtle, 60 TBird (1964), via Gladstone
Robert Bechtle, 60 T-Bird (1964), via Gladstone

This month, Gladstone presents the first posthumous exhibition of works by Robert Bechtle, spanning nearly six decades of his practice. Highlighting important subjects he returned to throughout his lifetime, this expansive selection of paintings, watercolors, and drawings demonstrates the technical and conceptual ingenuity of his process that evolved over time and transformed approaches to realistic figurative painting in the United States. On the occasion of this exhibition. The show also marks the gallery’s first in the representation of the artist’s estate.  Read More »

Los Angeles – Urs Fischer: “Ice Cream Truck Democracy” at Gagosian Beverly Hills Through April 22, 2023

April 12th, 2023

Urs Fischer, Schmalifornia (2023), via Gagosian
Urs Fischer, Schmalifornia (2022), via Gagosian

This month at its Beverly Hills location, Gagosian presents Ice Cream Truck Democracy, an exhibition of paintings by Urs Fischer. In this new series of works, which occupies a range of sizes and formats, Fischer combines silkscreened, hand-painted, and hand-stenciled imagery, applying a collage-like aesthetic to his personal observations of Los Angeles.

Urs Fischer, Citizen's Arrest. (2023), via Gagosian
Urs Fischer, Citizen’s Arrest. (2023), via Gagosian

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Los Angeles – Zeng Fanzhi at Hauser & Wirth Downtown Through April 30th, 2023

April 11th, 2023

Zeng Fanzhi, Untitled (2022), via Hauser & Wirth
Zeng Fanzhi, Untitled (2022), via Hauser & Wirth

This month in Los Angeles, Hauser and Wirth makes history with the first solo exhibition in the city for Zeng Fanzhi, the renowned Chinese painter whose expansive and intricate body of work has made him a singular both in both his home country and internationally.   A pioneer of contemporary Chinese art, Zeng is celebrated globally for his constantly evolving style and subject matter, and the works on view herald his latest artistic breakthroughs that contemplate the intersection of Western art and style with traditional Chinese subject matter and philosophy.

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New York – Franz West: “Echolalia” at David Zwirner Through April 15th, 2023

April 10th, 2023

Franz West, Echolalia (Installation View), via Art Observed
Franz West, Echolalia (Installation View), via Art Observed

On view this month at David Zwirner’s 533 West 19th Street space in New York, the gallery presents a commanding installation by artist Franz West. Created only a few years before the artist’s death, Echolalia consists of seven colorful, larger-than-life sculptures that seem to stand slightly off-balance, interspersed with three cushioned divans. Not exhibited publicly in more than ten years, the work represents the apotheosis of West’s commitment to sculpture as social space, integrating the viewer within an immersive, total environment. Conceptually, the installation manifests the intersection of many of West’s ongoing interests—most notably, the playfulness of sculpture, the participation of the viewer, and the importance of language.

Franz West, Echolalia (Installation View), via Art Observed
Franz West, Echolalia (Installation View), via Art Observed

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Los Angeles – Martin Puryear at Matthew Marks Through April 8, 2023

April 7th, 2023

 

Martin Puryear, Looking Askance (2023), via Matthew Marks
Martin Puryear, Looking Askance (2023), via Matthew Marks

Marking the latest exhibition at both Los Angeles exhibition spaces, Matthew Marks has launched an expansive of works by Martin Puryear that also makes for the artist’s first solo show in the city in over 30 years. Compiling a range of works that revisit Puryear’s material adventurousness and tight examination of structural and historical progressions, including seven sculptures made over the past five years in a variety of media including wood, bronze, and stone.

Martin Puryear, Happy Jack (2020), via Matthew Marks
Martin Puryear, Happy Jack (2020), via Matthew Marks

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New York – Hermann Nitsch: “Selected Paintings, Actions, Relics, and Musical Scores, 1962–2020” at Pace Gallery Through April 29th, 2023

April 6th, 2023

Hermann Nitsch, Selected Paintings, Actions, Relics, and Musical Scores, 1962–2020 (Installation View), via Art Observed
Hermann Nitsch, Selected Paintings, Actions, Relics, and Musical Scores, 1962–2020 (Installation View), via Art Observed

Marking a major exploration and presentation of the artist’s work, Pace Gallery is currently showcasing a selection of paintings, scores and relics from artist Hermann Nitsch, an impressive collaboration with the artist’s Foundation that also celebrates the first English translation of his autobiography.  Read More »

New York – Minerva Cuevas, In Gods We Trust at kurimanzutto through April 15th, 2023

April 5th, 2023

≈Minerva Cuevas, In Gods We Trust (Installation View), via kurimanzutto
Minerva Cuevas, In Gods We Trust (Installation View), via kurimanzutto

For more than three decades, artist Minerva Cuevas’s practice has been rooted in research-based projects concerned with economic and environmental issues and their socio-political impact. Focused often around Mexico and its particular political, social and cultural frameworks, the artist mines history and images to create new awarenesses and notions of contemporary life. On this month at kurimanzutto in New York, Cuevas continues that practice.  Read More »