Favorite artist, artwork, and exhibit of 2023

Issue #12: Dec 21 - 27

Author

Art Pulse NYC
December 21, 2023

Happy Holidays!  

🫶 Highlights 🫶

🚨 Some incredible gallery exhibits are closing this week, including Louise Bonnet: 30 Ghosts and Raqib Shaw: Space Between Dreams 

🎉 No gallery or museum exhibits are opening

💖 Jump ahead to Ongoing Favorites

 📢 Read about our favorite artist, artwork, and exhibit of the year! [jump to Editor’s Updates]

A little FYI: In celebration of the holidays, we won’t be sending a newsletter next week on December 28th. We’ll be back on January 4th! 

🚨 Last Chance

In the Museums

No exhibits are closing this week.

In the Galleries

Louise Bonnet: 30 Ghosts

📍 Gagosian | 541 W 24th St

⏰ Closing Dec 22

🗓️ contemporary painting

❓ paintings of dreamlike representations of gender and bodies, with specific interest in the continuity of life - the lives that precede and follow ours

➕ also closing from Gagosian on Dec 22: Georg Baselitz at 555 W 24th, A Foreigner Called Picasso at the 21st St location, Seeing is Believing: Lee Miller and Friends at the 976 Madison Ave, and Brice Marden at 980 Madison Ave

Bonnet, Louise | Self-Captured

Raqib Shaw: Space Between Dreams

📍 Pace | 540 W 25th

⏰ closing Dec 22

❓ intricate works where Shaw blends fantasy and reality, including memories of his childhood in Kashmir, various cityscapes, and his London garden

➕ also closing from Pace on Dec 22: Yoo Youngkuk at 540 W 25th, Picasso: 14 Sketchbooks at 540 W 25th, and Adrian Ghenie at 510 W 25th

Shaw, Raqib. “Space Between Dreams - The Mystic Soothsayer”. 2023 | Self- Captured

Derek Fordjour: SCORE

📍 Petzel | 520 W 25th

⏰ closing Dec 22

❓ paintings, sculptures, and performance art to explore race, competition, memory, and social dynamics

Fordjour, Derek. “Swimming Lessons.” 2023. | Self-Captured

LOUISE BOURGEOIS: Once there was a mother

📍 Hauser & Wirth | 18th st

⏰ closing on Dec 23rd

❓ displaying Bourgeois’ prints alongside sculptures and drawings, this exhibit focuses on her recurring themes of motherhood & maternity

➕ H&W’s Barbara Chase-Riboud: The Three Josephines will also be closing on Dec 23 at their Wooster St location

Bourgeois, Louise. “The Passage.” 2007 | Self-Captured

🎉 Just In

In the Museums

No new exhibits are opening in the museums. Check out our ongoing favorites below.

In the Galleries

No new exhibits are opening in the galleries. Check out our ongoing favorites below.

💖 Ongoing Favorites

  • [Last Chance!] To feel like you’re in the most intricate dream: Raqib Shaw: Space Between Dreams at Pace’s 540 W 25th st location, closing late December

  • [Last Chance!] For a powerful exhibit (with performance art) on race: Derek Fordjour: SCORE at Petzel’s 520 W 25th st location, closing late December

  • [Last Chance!] For melancholy but dreamy art: Louise Bonnet: 30 Ghosts at Gagosian’s 541 W 24th st location, closing late December

  • For a hauntingly beautiful aesthetic: Anj Smith: Drifting Habitations at Hauser & Wirth’s 22nd st location, closing mid January

  • To see the foundational paintings of a sculpture artist: Ruth Asawa Through Line at the Whitney, closing mid January 2024

  • To explore the relationship of two Impressionist legends: Manet/Degas at the Met, closing in early January 2024

  • For intimate African American portraiture: Henry Taylor: B Side at the Whitney, closing in late January 2024

  • To see the works of iconic feminist: Judy Chicago: Herstory at the New Museum, closing in March 2024

Image Sources: Asawa, Bonnet (self-capture), Chicago (self-capture), Fordjour (self-capture), Manet, Smith (self-capture), Taylor

📢 Editor’s Updates

As the end of the year approaches, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the incredible art we’ve experienced this year. We wanted to share a few highlights of 2023 with you all.

Favorite Artist: Miriam Cahn

We saw the ‘Miriam Cahn: Ma Pensée Sérielle’ (English Translation: ‘My Serial Thought’) at Palais de Tokyo during a trip to Paris. The exhibit featured over 200 works spanning from 1980 to the present day.

Cahn’s work is incredibly heavy, centering on themes of resistance and denouncing humiliation and violence. Her work is strikingly eery, emotional, and can, frankly, be painful to look at. This is intentional as Cahn encourages her audience to confront difficult subjects such as rape, war, abortion, and more. Despite focusing on such dark themes, her works are often filled with vibrant color. It’s an unusual juxtaposition.

Cahn, Miriam | Self-Captured

Due to the intense nature of her work, we will not include many images here. However, you can check out this video that features some of the pieces of the exhibit. Additionally, there was controversy surrounding this exhibit (TW: sexual violence), particularly regarding the display of one specific painting. You can read about it here.

Favorite Artwork: Michael Heizer’s Negative Megalith #5

Michael Heizer’s ‘Negative Megalith #5’ resides at Dia Beacon in Beacon, New York (approx. 1-2 hours upstate from NYC). This massive work, developed from diorite granite and steel, features a stone (specifically, a menhir) encased within a wall cutout. Of course, the presence of the work in the gallery is astounding given its sheer scale. Moreover, the void-like negative space surrounding the stone creates a tension that evokes a feeling of introspection. Read more about Heizer here.

Heizer, Michael “Negative Megalith #5”, 1998. | Self-Captured

Favorite Exhibit: Gego: Measuring Infinity at the Guggenheim

The Guggenheim consistently delivers stunning exhibits — ‘Gego: Measuring Infinity’ was no different.

This retrospective, featuring almost 200 works, covered the four-decade career of German-Venezuelan Gertrud Goldschmidt, known as Gego. She explored the relationship between line, space, and volume across various mediums: sculptures, drawings, prints, textiles, etc.

Gego | Self-Captured

Gego was a master of geometric abstraction and kinetic art. Although her pieces appear simple, natural, and minimalistic, they embody an incredible complexity and cleverness. A noteworthy aspect of her sculptures is the striking shadows they cast, which add more depth and movement to her pieces.

Gego | Self-Captured

It’s hard to pick a favorite — but the delicate works in her series “Dibujos sin papel” (“Drawings without paper”) were especially captivating. These works blur the lines between drawing, sculpture, and architectural form. If you’re interested, read more about the exhibit here!

 

We’d love to hear about your favorites of the year: send us a DM or email! 😋

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely holiday!

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