9 Art Events To Attend In New York City This Week

TUESDAY, MAY 19

Opening: Alex Katz at Mary Ryan
“Modern and wonderful,” Calvin Klein says of this show, in which artist Alex Katz will debut nine original, extremely large, monochromatic screen prints at 80 x 30 inches, most of which feature women in little black dresses. “Ironically,” adds Klein in a statement, [the exhibition] has nothing to do with fashion.”
Mary Ryan Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, 4th floor, 5-8 p.m.

Workshop: “Guggenheim Second Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon” at the Guggenheim
Bring your laptops and power cords! Light refreshments will be provided at this Wikipedia-edit-a-thon, the second ever held at the Guggenheim, and editors of all experience levels are welcome to participate. Last year, 16 new pages on museum architecture were created, and to kick things off this year, the museum recently donated 100 images of artworks to Wikipedia.
Guggenheim, 1071 Fifth Avenue (89th Street entrance), 3-7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20

Opening: Deborah Kass at Sargent’s Daughters
Back in 1998, Kass asked young museum curators to participate in her project called America’s Most Wanted, based on Andy Warhol’s 1964 World’s Fair commission for the New York State Pavilion. Instead of featuring America’s 13 Most Wanted Men, however, Kass has substituted curators.
Sargent’s Daughters, 179 East Broadway, 6 p.m.

THURSDAY, MAY 21

Opening: Siggi Hofer at Kai Matsumiya
“I LOST MY ENGLISH IN A CAR ACCIDENT.” “DENIS IS A FIRST GAY CLUB IN CROATIA THAT STARTED SUCH PARTIES.” “WE WORK HARD.” “THIS IS NOT FAIR.” These “revelations, slogans, half-thoughts, and cultural subjectivities” are featured in the US solo debut of Vienna-based artist Siggi Hofer. The title of the show is called “My Mother Sold Cigarettes in the Mountains,” and these statements serve to both convey meaning while remaining mysteriously incomplete.
Kai Matsumiya Gallery, 153 1/2 Stanton Street, 7-9 p.m.

Performance: M. Lamar at 601 Artspace
This performance piece by M. Lamar (who happens to be the twin of actress Laverne Cox), will draw upon the apocalyptic themes of Negro spirituals, working with an intent to annihilate white supremacy once and for all.
601 Artspace, 601 West 26th Street, Suite 1755, 6-8 p.m. (performance begins at 7)

Opening: Gail Albert-Halaban at Edwynn Houk
Photographer Gail Albert-Halaban (MFA via Yale, naturally) will present her series Out My Window, a series of voyeuristic shots into neighboring New York City windows which reflect her fascination with public and private spaces and gazes. However, there’s a twist—these intimate, candid-seeming photos were, in fact, meticulously staged.
Edwynn Houk Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue, 4th floor, 6-8 p.m.

Reception: Carolyn Salas at Koenig & Clinton
There’s not much information about Carolyn Salas’ solo exhibition to be found, but from images provided on the gallery’s website, it looks as though visitors can expect to see her works from her “Breakups” series—whitewashed resin fragments grouped together in the shape of paintings. The show officially opens on May 28.
Koenig & Clinton, 459 West 19th Street, 6 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 22

Opening: “Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and its Legacies” at the Rubin Museum of Art
This show focuses on art in the Kashmir region, located at the intersection of present-day Pakistan, India, and China, over the course of a thousand years. During the 5th and 6th centuries, Kashmir was a Buddhist cultural center, influencing the radically different societies in the Western Himalayas and Western Tibet. The exhibition includes mostly sculptures and paintings, and, as a press release states, presents the idea of “Buddhist art in motion.”
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Opening: Picasso at the New York Historical Society
The New York Historical Society recently acquired their first Picasso, his Le Tricorne, a stage curtain (with “great wall power,” a press release adds) depicting a bullfighting scene and painted for the ballet The Three-Cornered Hat, which premiered in 1919 at the Alhambra Theatre in London. Once thought to be the largest Picasso painting in the U.S., the curtain once hung in the Four Seasons Restaurant, and the Seagram Building. In this show, other dance-themed works by artists such as William Adolphe Bouguereau, Will H. Bradley, Philippe de Champaigne, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Maurice Prendergast, and others will be displayed alongside Picasso’s curtain, in order to “provide background to the traditions against which [Picasso] rebelled.”
New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, 10 a.m.-8p.m.