This is a week of big statements by artists and expanded possibilities by curators and gallerists, past and present. If you haven’t already made the trip to Pioneer Works in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood to see American Artist’s exploration of author Octavia E. Butler, we highly recommend it. Multimedia artist Nick Cave’s new work makes some pretty grand statements as well, while a survey of the 1960s Black-owned and focused gallery Acts of Art and a Hilton Als-curated show on the limits of language and silence provide plenty of food for thought. And filmmaker Ericka Beckman’s solo presentation at the Drawing Center may be the most surreal “Pictures Generation” show you’ll ever see. —Natalie Haddad, Reviews Editor
Acts of Art in Greenwich Village
Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery at Hunter College, 132 East 68th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Through March 29
“[Acts of Art] operated for only six years but exemplified the spirit of a subversive and consequential period in Black art history.” —Jasmine Weber
Read the full review here.
Nick Cave: Amalgams and Graphts
Jack Shainman Gallery, 46 Lafayette Street, Civic Center, Manhattan
Through March 29
“Cave visualizes himself not as safe and separate from the powerful, as his earlier work appeared to, but as perpetually open to interpretation from his audience.” —Hrag Vartanian
Read the full review here.
The Writing’s on the Wall: Language and Silence in the Visual Arts
Hill Art Foundation, 239 Tenth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Chelsea, Manhattan
Through March 29
“The exhibition is relatively straightforward — though no less rich and evocative for it — asking and suggesting answers to the question: What is the relationship of language and silence to visual art?” —Lisa Yin Zhang
Read the full review here.
American Artist: Shaper of God
Pioneer Works, 159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
Through April 13
“What would it mean for the survival of the planet if we were to take seriously Black feminist visions of climate justice in which coexistence with nature is prioritized over environmental plunder?” —Alexandra M. Thomas
Read the full review here.
Ericka Beckman: Power of the Spin
Drawing Center, 35 Wooster Street, Soho, Manhattan
Through May 11
“Visually, [Beckman’s] schematic images are closer to Russian Constructivism and even some of Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysical paintings than to anything from 1980s New York.” —NH
Read the full review here.