\n\t\t<\/aside>\nNew York is rife with great art right now, of all genres and styles, but if the shows below share anything, it\u2019s an explosion of color. Maybe artists and institutions are responding to the dull, gray surroundings \u2014 weather-related and otherwise \u2014 or maybe we\u2019re drawn to it at the moment, but our list is filled with multi-hued, multimedia maximalism, ranging from Anne Samat\u2019s grand sculptures incorporating everyday items to the captivating hand-dyed textiles in the group show The Lady and The Unicorn: New Tapestry<\/em> to the seven stunning abstract paintings at Bienvenu Steinberg & C, to Jerome Baja\u2019s tiny glitter-and nail polish paintings. Big names like Simone Leigh and Bill Viola also offer dazzling visuals in their own distinctive idioms. For a more solemn experience, but one hinting at human presence and connection, check out Tsohil Bhatia\u2019s solo exhibition This Fire That Warms You<\/em> at the CUE Art Foundation, just extended through December 14. \u2014Natalie Haddad, Reviews Editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Abstract Expressions: 7 Paintings by 7 Painters<\/strong><\/h2>\nBienvenu Steinberg & C<\/strong>, 35 Walker Street, Tribeca, ManhattanPaintings by Max Gimblett, \u201cThe Weight of the Soul\u201d (2022), and Stephen Pusey, \u201cGuardian\u201d (2024), on display at Bienvenu Steinberg & C gallery (photo Hrag Vartanian\/Hyperallergic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI love to see galleries offer their spaces to artists who can show us what they got, and this exhibition is a nice celebration of seven painters who feel connected to the legacy of the New York School and its taste for large gestural paintings that are more event than object. Each artist brings their own visual vocabulary to the walls, from Andrea Belag\u2019s luscious translucency to Stephen Pusey\u2019s webs of radiant energy, and they all offer us insight into the artistic gardens they actively cultivate in their studios. You can feel the respect in the room among the artists, all of whom confidently showcase their very individualist styles. A nice tour of some artists who continue to challenge what the legacy of New York abstraction is today. \u2014Hrag Vartanian<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n\n
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Your Patience Is Appreciated: An Inaugural Show<\/strong><\/h2>\nMarian Goodman Gallery<\/strong>, 385 Broadway, Tribeca, ManhattanMaurizio Cattelan\u2019s \u201cGhosts\u201d (2021) greets visitors to the Your Patience Is Appreciated group exhibition at Marian Goodman gallery (photo Hrag Vartanian\/Hyperallergic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThis is your last chance to see the inaugural exhibition at Marian Goodman\u2019s new large three-story gallery space. This is the latest proof that Tribeca has cemented its reputation as the city\u2019s premiere art gallery hub \u2014\u00a0sorry, Chelsea, but you were always a terrible place to see art. Upon entering you\u2019re greeted by a large cheesy Maurizio Cattelan \u201cI Love NY\u201d artwork, while works by Pierre Huyghe, Julie Mehretu, Nairy Baghramian, Marcel Broodthaers, Steve McQueen, Louise Lawler, Robert Smitson, Danh Vo, Giuseppe Penone, and so, so many others can be found in one of the 16 \u2014 if you include the stairwell \u2014 spaces. There\u2019s even someone to perform Tino Seghal\u2019s \u201cThis Ornation\u201d (2024) for you in a rather nondescript office space on the third floor. \u2014HV<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Jerome Caja: Ugly Pageant<\/strong><\/h2>\nBortolami Gallery<\/strong>, 39 Walker Street, Tribeca, ManhattanJerome Caja,\u00a0\u201cThe Zodiac\u201d (1994), nail polish on resin on metal plate, 16\u00a01\/2\u00a0x 16\u00a01\/2\u00a0x 1 inches (42 x 42 x 3 cm) (photo Natalie Haddad\/Hyperallergic<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\ud83e\udd29 was the reaction from my nine-year-old niece when I sent her a picture of Jerome Caja\u2019s \u201cVirgin Poop\u201d (1992), an anthropomorphic pile of dung with a beatific gaze. This is not to say that the painting is just for kids who like gross-out jokes. Rather, it points to the star quality that the artist could imbue in the most unlikely subjects. Born in Cleveland in 1958, one of 11 boys in a Catholic family, Caja left Middle America after high school to study ceramics at the San Francisco Art Institute. Between 1985 and \u201995, the year he died, he created a presence in San Francisco as a drag performer but he continued to make visual art. The works on view here are primarily small paintings on paper. His materials include glitter, nail polish, collaged fabrics, and white-out. Some pieces are in found frames (including a toilet seat); others take the form of reliquaries. Most are portraits whose subjects range from crusty drag queens holding mixed drinks to amalgams of sexual and religious iconography. A lot of artists have tried in vain to capitalize on kitsch and camp aesthetics. In contrast, Caja plumbed the depths of the grotesque in all its glitter and doom to reflect a world where saints wearing fishnets are born in Cleveland and the Virgin Mary\u2019s grace rings truer when she\u2019s at the bottom of a sewer. \u2014NH<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Andrea Geyer: Manifest<\/strong><\/h2>\nHales<\/strong>, 547 West 2oth Street, Chelsea, ManhattanInstallation view of Andrea Geyer: Manifest<\/em> at Hales \u00a0(photo Hakim Bishara\/Hyperallergic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI\u2019m usually averse to text-based art because it often tries to tell me what to think and how. I\u2019ll make an exception for Andrea Geyer, whose beautifully sewn banners deliver a piercing manifesto on what today\u2019s deeply flawed art museums can and should be. She wants a museum to \u201cface history without fear\u201d; \u201cbe a space to breathe\u201d; and \u201cfeel its own floors tremble when others are destroyed.\u201d Amen to all that. \u2014Hakim Bishara<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Anne Samat: The Origin of Savage Beauty<\/strong><\/h2>\nMarc Straus Gallery<\/strong>, 57 Walker Street, Tribeca, ManhattanInstallation view of\u00a0Anne Samat: The Origin of Savage Beauty<\/em>\u00a0at Marc Straus Gallery, New York (photo AX Mina\/Hyperallergic<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBorn from grief and loss, Malaysian artist Anne Samat\u2019s work looks from afar like pua kumbu textiles, with bright colors and totemic shapes that create an altar to the artist\u2019s lost loved ones. But on closer inspection, the installations are composed of toy army figurines, a bra holder, and a container for a mosquito coil. Each of these objects references memories of individuals, stories that are not readily apparent but that flow easily from the artist\u2019s recollection. For example, \u201cNever Walk in Anyone\u2019s Shadow,\u201d the stunning centerpiece of the show, looks like a three-part altar that folds into the floor. The title comes from a memory of her late elder brother, who encouraged her to build an art career in New York with a style that is distinctly her own. \u2014AX Mina<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Bill Viola: The Raft<\/strong><\/h2>\nJames Cohan Gallery<\/strong>, 291 Grand Street, Tribeca, ManhattanViewers to James Cohan gallery watching Bill Viola\u2019s \u201cThe Raft\u201d (2004) (photo Hrag Vartanian\/Hyperallergic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThis is the first time \u201cThe Raft\u201d (2004) has been exhibited in New York City. Commissioned for the 2004 Athens Olympics, the large-scale video work depicts 19 people being bombarded with water in a deluge whose source remains unknown to us. It is surprising how the work seems to portend the immigration crisis that would show up on the shores of Europe over a decade later, as people from across the Global South would brave the Mediterranean to find safety, only to be demonized by Europeans. The work is complemented by two other video pieces by the veteran video artist, including \u201cTraveling on Foot\u201d (2012), one of five works from his Mirage<\/em> series, and the 83-minute portrait called \u201cAnima\u201d (2000). All three showcase Viola\u2019s interest in the human form when placed under various types of stress or even in awkward scenarios. These works suggest a greater truth that is found beyond simply the image. \u2014HV<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Jiha Moon: Fool\u2019s Moon<\/strong><\/h2>\nDerek Eller Gallery<\/strong>, 38 Walker Street, Ground Floor, Tribeca, ManhattanWorks by Jiha Moon, including \u201cWhat Happens When We Die?\u201d (2024), which features a question to actor Keanu Reeves on the other side that reads, \u201cKeanu What Happens When We Die?,\u201d on display at Derek Eller Gallery (photo Hrag Vartanian\/Hyperallergic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBananas appear frequently in this one-person exhibition in Tribeca, and while Moon suggests it as a metaphor to navigate Asian American, particularly second-generation, identity, the zeitgeistiness of the very peelable fruit is not lost on the viewer. While Maurizio Cattelan may have leaned into the comedy of the banana in his obscenely expensive prank, Moon enjoys the more slippery aspect of the fruit that is often evoked when Asian Americans slide into good ol\u2019 American assimilation politics. There\u2019s one line in her press release that continues to bring me joy whenever I reread it: \u201cI reference the Korean drag queen Kimchi and Keanu Reeves, whose life quotes resonate deeply with me, borrowing their voices to tell my story.\u201d I can imagine no more apt way to encapsulate her aesthetic universe in a sentence. \u2014HV<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Simone Leigh<\/strong><\/h2>\nMatthew Marks Gallery<\/strong>, 522 and 526 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, ManhattanSimone Leigh, \u201cOkwui\u201d (2024) (photo Hakim Bishara\/Hyperallergic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSimone Leigh has a way of charging her sculptures of Black female figures with a palpable aura, even if she makes them headless. Moving between them at Matthew Marks\u2019s cavernous gallery spaces is traversing through millennia-old histories and traditions, but it also feels like these figures have their own stories to tell. Don\u2019t miss \u201cOkwui\u201d (2024), an 11-foot-long bronze sculpture of a reclining woman with an outstretched skirt. Her body is alive with dance and music, grief and joy. She\u2019s still on my mind, weeks after seeing the show. \u2014HB<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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The Lady and the Unicorn: New Tapestry<\/strong><\/h2>\nSalon 94<\/strong>, 3 East 89th Street,Upper East Side, ManhattanMitsuko Asakura, \u201cWaltz\u201d (2024), silk, 78 3\/4 x 118 1\/8 inches (200 x 300 cm)\u00a0(photo Sebasti\u00e1n Meltz-Collazo\/Hyperallergic<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Lady and The Unicorn: New Tapestry<\/em> offers a refreshingly contemplative return to the body as AI and disembodied technologies cast a shadow across art. The show presents eight contemporary textile artists operating in different geographical and cultural regions who tell their stories using natural dye processes, traditional weaving techniques, and a variety of materials.\u00a0<\/p>\nOn the gallery\u2019s first floor, Zapotec textile artist Porfirio Guti\u00e9rrez\u2019s richly patterned works combine modernist design with his reverence for the land in his native Oaxaca. Some of his pieces feature wool canvases dripping with natural indigo dyes produced by his family, as well as pomegranate and pericon dyes, within a tight geometric structure, making a record of the exact period the plants were harvested. Hanging from the walls and taller-than-life ceilings on the next floor, Mitsuko Asakura\u2019s ombr\u00e9 silk tapestries fill an entire room with waves of color. Her works contemplate Western and Japanese visual histories, as the materials interweave their respective approaches. The exhibition also includes playful and provocative works such as Qualeasha Wood\u2019s embroidered collages of webcam selfies and desktop screenshots, as well as Felix Beaudry\u2019s humanoid fabric wearables, that humorously reflect upon one\u2019s sense of self. \u2014Sebasti\u00e1n Meltz-Collazo<\/em><\/p>\n