Reframe is a monthly column in which contributor Sam Falb discusses timely openings to view in New York. Each edition offers commentary on the latest exhibitions, performances, and installations. Dynamic and ever-evolving, the content reflects the fluidity of the market it travels through.
This month’s selection is special for its word-of-mouth emphasis and sheer range. Cars, origami, proprietary clay, and of course, more classical shapes and techniques are all present. Conversations with contemporaries and other writers affirmed what feels true – New York is a special place for art right now, even with market uncertainty and the ripple effects that come with it. The amount of openings this month, as well as the artists and curators who buoyed them, are testament to that. They are unflinching, daringly fun, and creative, attributes we would all due well to imbue ourselves with. Perhaps at any one of these shows, an entrypoint into the buzz of that energy can be found in full force, or at least, a productive afternoon taking in some of the final shows of the year before the community decamps for that rigmarole in Miami (you know) and the holiday season.
HALF Gallery: To Find Me Follow The Pigeons (November 20-December 21)
At HALF Gallery, you’ll soon find an escape from the rat race into a dream world of deep forest, billowing chimney smoke on a dusky sky, and an unlikely chess game (wolf and gentleman). Catskills-based Ian Felice previously showed in the space in February of this year, and has returned with a selection of paintings that are equally rich in physical texture and emotional narrative. Noticed by the gallerists via a mention from Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson, the notable supporters of his work also include Josh Brolin, Rebecca Hall, and Morgan Spector. Gabriela Hearst is also on that roster, and if you attend one of the artist’s shows through his band The Felice Brothers, you’re likely to see him in a suit of her design. There is a certain American folk style present in the work, something about the ruddy reds and storybook animals. But just when you’ve settled into this frame of mind, Felice surprises with an ominous figure perched on a chimney in Where is last year’s snow, and demands a recontextualization that keeps the range invigorating in form.
Sprüth Magers: Hyun-Sook Song (November 15–December 20)
The first thing that comes to mind upon viewing Hyun-Sook Song’s work is immersion. Her “singular style and technique that blends the ancient medium of egg tempera with deliberate lines and forms,” as exhibition notes read, is like diving into the waves of elegant, sweeping brush strokes that cascade down the canvas. A particular highlight emerges in Triptych: left: 5, Brushstrokes III, middle: 8 Brushstrokes, right: 7 Brushstrokes, a manipulation of her style that reveals an almost serpentine shape atop a bowl and a hazy reflection. Viewers can feel the meditative focus, and almost a sense of honor toward the canvas in the production of these images. Her first solo show in the United States, she comes off an attention-getting run at Frieze Masters 2023, which adds a layer of excitement to this presentation. Each piece beckons viewers into a quiet, contemplative world where brushstroke and form coexist in an elegant equilibrium.
Fort Gansevoort: Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson: Character Studies (November 14, 2024-January 25, 2025)
At Fort Gansevoort, ask a staffer on-site to twist the dial behind the sculpture of the artist’s family (located on the ground floor of the three-level space). As soft, lilting music plays from the work, absorb the expansive range of Robinson’s decades-long practice – towering sculptures which reference neighborhood characters of her youth, vivid narrative watercolors, an array of penworks displayed on paper envelopes, and more unexpected pleasures. Closely collaborating with the Columbus Museum of Art (CMA), where the Ohio-native artist bequeathed not only her work but her home and studio, the exhibition also highlights the Aminah Robinson Legacy Project, a museum initiative to keep the work in ongoing cultural conversation. “She was, for many, many years a visionary artist and storyteller who left us not only with a remarkable body of work, but a powerful commitment to the preservation of community, culture, and history,” CMA Executive Director Brooke A. Minto said in opening remarks. Much of Robinson’s work and materials derive from a combination of factors: scrappiness grounded in a sparse upbringing, inspirations from her carpenter father who taught her to make a clay called hogmawg, and oral traditions of her childhood that communicated her family history and background – including enslavement, intergenerational trauma, and the craftsmanship of her great aunt.Throughout the exhibition period, select sales of the work will benefit the ongoing initiatives of the Legacy Project.
ESSX: NORMA! by Vivien Ramsay (November 13-November 30)
At downtown retailer ESSX, their latest installation combines the work of mother-son creatives designer Vivien Ramsay and artist Lucien Smith in NORMA!. A baby-blue gown with sewn-in, delicate white flowers (an homage to a similar dress worn by the eponymous family matriarch), a series of thoughtful photo albums, projected family photos, and a selection of the Vivien Ramsay brand’s products are available for sale for the first time in a brick-and-mortar setting. The fashion-meets-art relationship is displayed both in the foreground of the store through the works, and behind the scenes vis à vis the artist’s connection to founder Laura Baker, and the duo’s crossover between artistic expression and the world of merchandised product. The show pays homage to the real-life Norma Perez, Smith’s great-great grandmother whose life was shaped by dramatic and emotional events, as show notes read. “I’ve only recently had time to think about weaving my family history into this brand,” Smith shared on launch night, as the projector was set and he and his mother made final preparations. “This activation really represents that there’s a time in my life now where I can weave together my skills – NORMA! is like ground zero for what the brand might become.” At the crux of manifold creative streams and references, the installation fits seamlessly into the world-building of ESSX’s program of affairs, an homage to family, an exploration into new design, and an encouragement to viewers to lead with love, imagination, and an appreciation for one’s roots.
Brant Foundation: Kenny Scharf (November 13, 2024-February 28, 2025)
There is a car in the foyer of the Brant Foundation’s expansive East Village space – a grand, multi-floor institution that now carries a wide array of Kenny Scharf’s colorful oeuvre: neons, pop culture characters, object reimaginings, and all. Like Lorenzo Amos in Reframe’s last edition, Scharf has spent a significant time of his life in the East Village not far from his current show, and was able to see his old apartment from the upper reaches of the building, in a poetic juncture of fate and opportunity. Pop culture figures stare down from varied canvases, subverted of course, in various outfits and colorways beyond their original canon. The Jetsons are transposed into technicolor dreamworlds like a purple-oceaned beach (Judy On The Beach) and underwater cave (In Ecstacy). A small detail that this writer appreciates can be found in the intentional bleeding of some of the works of the canvas and onto the frame, extending the view of the content and, periodically, resulting in a custom frame design altogether (see: Dawn In Paradise). A whimsical side room features portraits of friends and art world contemporaries circa the 2000s, stacks of them, up and down the walls staring down at viewers with gazes sometimes playful, sometimes sharp, and always quintessentially pop-surrealist and Sharfian.
Europa: Broad Picnic (November 12-December 31)
The gallery presents the cheekily-titled Broad Picnic (that is, picnic of broads) in this feat of a group show. It combines the work of twenty artists hailing from varied global locales, creating across mediums, tastes, and palettes in a display of geometry, optical illusions and mimicry, as well as easter eggs present in varied pieces (these include hidden slices of Wonder Bread). A large show, it’s impressive for its synergy and the composite themes mentioned above. There are highlights to note as well. A work of Chris Martin’s in a rare, refined palette versus his rather color-forward canon (the Wonder Bread piece, of course) and a storm of spinning laundromat doors in Alex Hutton’s Regular Triple Load are mesmerizing to behold. Armando Nin’s work Not dancing to every song, is painstakingly rendered in soot, and Marie Gyger’s Open Space, Milieu, features an army of origami suits. Exhibition notes help to deepen the shapely cues present in the show: Broad Picnic “examines the picnic blanket as a shared plane, a framework for connection. A matrix of checkerboard, polka dots, miniature counterparts collect in infinite directions.” Coming out of the artist-run Safe Gallery in Brooklyn to its current downtown space, it’s clear that Europa’s program carries a special voice that is particularly artist-forward, a picnic of eccentricities and unexpected flavors at 125 Division Street.
Almine Rech: Undertow (November 8-December 14)
Almine Rech’s latest show greets me over social media before I’m able to see it in person – red lasers, mysterious silhouettes, and delighted responses. It’s not their show Visages on the Upper East Side, and not One true tree for… downtown (but talk about a busy season), it’s Matthew Schreiber’s masterful light installation in the gallery’s Tribeca space. Created specifically for the dimensions of the space, the work speaks to utopian vision-building and an expertise honed as one of the last members of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Royal College of Art in London’s holography classes before lab closures (a worthwhile investigation?). Independent curator and writer Lisa Boudet tells me that for her, the viewing experience was, “very trippy… the way he plans these lighting installations is all through drawings, no computers” and that Schreiber worked as James Turrell’s chief lighting expert – which helps illustrate the scale and imagination of the work. SURFACE Magazine’s Jenna Adrian-Diaz shares: “it made me feel disoriented, and [with] quite a lot of trepidation about walking through it to see the rest of the show.” With an industry dialogue and impressive artist resume, the show, which runs for about another month, is certainly a worthy addition to a Tribeca gallery itinerary.
National Arts Club: Desire (November 5-29)
Marika Thunder’s showcase at the National Arts Club arrived on an unusually warm Wednesday night, complimentary to the crowd of friends and industry peers that arrived to support the artist’s work at the Gramercy Park institution. Her exploration of geometry-meets-machinery in grey, black, and blue forms was on exquisite display. Just as well, the decidedly classical architecture of the space – deep wooden paneling, a grand foyer, and a suited doorman provided an intriguing contrast to the futuristic nature of Thunder’s canon. The work was cosigned in real time by a wide bevy of creative contemporaries and gallery directors, who took in the work as commuters and Park locals returned home on the auspicious first evening after the presidential election (whew). The show is a welcome practice in “bold, totemic forms” as exhibition notes read. It pushes the boundaries of self-exploration in concert with machinery – a small repose from the circus of the now, and certainly a stimulating, neo-industrial showcase to behold.
Nicola Vassell: Prince of the Far Rainbow (November 2-December 14)
There is a feeling almost of an archaeological dig or deep-cave exploration when standing in front of one of Alteronce Gumby’s works at Nicola Vassell. Bear with me: shards of creamy, white crystal and arrays of the material in red, magenta, and purple are splayed across canvases. Chunks of rocky material jut out of canvases (Like Waves Against the Sand) and the size and scope of the works invite an almost portal-like sense of scale. Not to mention, the intense interplay of color and texture demands both curiosity and reverence upon first glance. As for the N shape present on many of the panels? Gumby was inspired by a tetris-like shape that’s referential to defying gravity – a compelling sentiment in context, as he shared with Brooklyn Rail in 2021. Some of the most interesting pieces could be found further into the space, in a room nestled against the gallery’s back patio. Square canvases featured flowing veils rendered in soft blues and reds (Call Me What You Like and Things I Imagined). If the back door had been opened to catch a light breeze, the scene would have been even more perfect than it already presented: Gumby’s handiwork lilting slightly in the fall air.
kurimanzutto: wangshui (November 1-December 20)
I visit kurimanzutto’s extraordinarily crisp, expansive Chelsea space with kindred writer Chloe Pingeon. We agree that the space is a breath of fresh air – wide, airy, with deep, grey Portland cement flooring that’s almost complementary to the aluminum pieces on view. On view are a combination of dramatic, large-scale sheets of metalwork with pieces bound in found frames by the artist. The frames are notable for their spikey and metallic composition, which seem to offer protection for the works as much as they seem to repel prying hands. The show explores “the convergence of desire, technology, and consciousness” as the sparing show notes read. I’m told over email that Shui has requested the omission of explanatory text around the show, preferring to have viewers “feel and experience the exhibition and write from their subjective feelings.” Duly noted. The emotions that arise from viewing such a show are manifold: calm repose, fascinated investigation, light airiness, intrigued pointedness, and so the scale continues to tip and back forth as the pieces are observed. Try it for yourself – the artist may have been on to something peculiarly right after all.
Gagosian: The Street (November 1-December 18)
At the gallery’s sixth-floor space at 980 Madison Avenue, there is a carnival of delights present for viewing, and it’s called The Street, orchestrated by painter Peter Doig with Jasper Sharp and Parinaz Mogadassi. Combining an entertaining melange of works pulled from major institutions and private collections, three of Doig’s own works, and the unforgettable sculptural work …den Fehdehandschuh hinwerfen by Lotte Maiwald, the exhibition speaks to a few things: the intimate understanding of inter-artist relationships, as well as the serendipity that emerges when they engage with each other’s work to build new stories. “This exhibition was born from more than a year of conversations and represents what is for me, an exciting opportunity to present a selection of works by painters who I admire for their inventiveness and ability to surprise,” Doig explained. Catch a Rothko cityscape work – industrially busy with a shock of red and hazy sun capping off the piece (Untitled), alongside Francis Bacon’s Jet of Water, dramatic and technically mesmerizing in its depiction of a rush of water moving in a column of fury. Edward Burra enters the conversation with the complex figure-building of BEELZEBUB, and Beauford Delaney pays homage to the southward (at least from this Upper East Side gallery) neighborhood of Greenwich Village in his contribution. The Street by Balthus, of course, caps off the show, tying together the unexpected symphony of human activity both ho-hum and dramatic in scale.
Words by Sam Falb
