COURTESY NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
MONDAY, JUNE 29
Opening: “Space and Matter” at Sperone Westwater
“Space and Matter” combines new work with old art to explore ideas of “depth, relief, and object-hood,” as its press release states. The exhibition will include work by Richard Tuttle, Tom Sachs, Richard Long, Otto Piene, and Heinz Mack. Expect the boundaries between painting and sculpture to be challenged, and the art-object to be questioned.
Sperone Westwater, 257 Bowery, 5–7 p.m.
TUESDAY, JUNE 30
Opening: John Singer Sargent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met has brought together 90 of John Singer Sargent’s paintings for this show of the American artist’s famed portraits of his friends. Though perhaps best-known for his full-length portraits, such as Madame X, many lesser-known paintings will also be on display. Among the portraits in this exhibition are paintings of Claude Monet, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Auguste Rodin.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, 10 a.m.—5:30 p.m. Free with museum admission
Opening: “Image Objects” at City Hall Park
The Public Art Fund’s newest show is “Image Objects,” a group show of artists whose work deals with social media. Drawing inspiration from the way sculptures take on new contexts when they are publicly displayed, the seven new commissions made for this exhibition will look at how technology has transformed the way we see objects. New work by Alice Channer, Lothar Hempel, Jon Rafman, Amanda Ross-Ho, Timur Si-Qin, Hank Willis Thomas, and Artie Vierkant will be shown.
City Hall Park, 7 a.m.–12 a.m.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1
Screening: “A Portrait of Creativity: Edvard Munch on Film” at Scandinavia House
As its exhibition of prints by the winners of the Queen Sonja Prize Award winds down, Scandinavia House will celebrate Edvard Munch, an acclaimed printmaker, with two films. The first, originally broadcast on Norwegian television in 2013, is a short called The Sun, which focuses on Munch and Edvard Grieg’s struggle to create perfect works of art. The second is an hour-long documentary about The Scream that features interviews with Marina Abramović, Tracey Emin, and Liv Ullmann.
Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue at 38th Street, 7—9 p.m., Tickets $7-10
COURTESY YANCEY RICHARDSON GALLERY
Opening: “A Room of One’s Own” at Yancey Richardson
Featuring photos by Elina Brotherus, Anne Collier, Jay DeFeo, Saul Fletcher, David Gilbert, Bryan Graf, Leslie Hewitt, Pello Irazu, Laura Letinsky, Yamini Nayar, Paul Mpagi Sepuya and Mickalene Thomas, this group show focuses on the idea of the studio itself as integral to a work of art. A follow-up to the gallery’s summer 2014 show “The Thing Itself,” which similarly centered on the photographic medium as its own subject, “A Room of One’s Own” highlights photos in which the artist’s studio is itself the subject. As a press release says, the show will “[concentrate] specifically on artists for whom the studio wall, floor or contents play a significant expressive role either as subject of, material for or character in the mise en scène of the image.”
Yancey Richardson Gallery, 525 West 22nd Street, 6—8 p.m.
Opening: “Objects, Food, Rooms” at Tanya Bonakdar
This month-long group exhibition, featuring work by Darren Bader, Nairy Baghramian, Frank Benson, Rachel Harrison, Luis Jacob, Esther Kläs, Ursula Mayer, Roula Partheniou, Laure Prouvost, Magali Reus, Arlene Shechet , and Haim Steinbach, “explores how sense is made and unmade in the language of things,” according to a press release. Inspired by Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons, a collection of idiosyncratic and nonsensical texts cataloguing objects, food, and rooms, the show focuses on an object’s “moment of consciousness.” The same release goes on to add that the show “aims to convey the sense of a thing, rather than describe its mimetic accuracy. It questions the inherent character of things when they have been reassigned an unlikely set of words, and suggests a surprisingly relevant approach to the relationship between the readymade and its found object counterpart.”
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, 521 West 21st Street, 10 a.m.—6 p.m.
THURSDAY, JULY 2
Opening: Atsushi Kaga at Jack Hanley Gallery
An aging Yoda, a prancing bunny, and a sad panda are just a few of the subjects of Atsushi Kaga’s seemingly innocent work, which will be shown at Jack Hanley Gallery in the Brooklyn-based artist’s first New York solo show. Both sardonic and genuine, these paintings, sculptures, and videos are done in the style of Manga and find their characters going through various existential crises.
Jack Hanley Gallery, 327 Broome Street, 6–8 p.m.
COURTESY BRONX MUSEUM OF THE ARTS
Opening: “¡Presente! The Young Lords in New York” at Bronx Museum of the Arts
This multi-venue survey of radical social activist group The Young Lords Organization, founded by Puerto Rican youth during the 1960s, will show art and archival materials cataloguing the group’s activities, community initiatives, and their affirmation of Puerto Rican cultural identity. Throughout the summer and early fall, Bronx Museum of the Arts, El Museo del Barrio, and Loisaida Inc. will also host programs that reflect the Young Lords’ activities in their respective neighborhoods. On a greater scale, the survey hopes to remind visitors of the major artistic, social, and political legacy the Young Lords left behind.
Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, Bronx, NY, 11:00 a.m.—6 p.m.
SATURDAY, JULY 4
Performance: Nicky Siano, Virgo Four, Cut Copy DJs, Galcher Lustwerk b2b DJ Richard, Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love at MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1’s summer Warm Up outdoor music series, celebrating experimental live music and DJs from all over the world, is now in its 18th year. Performers are selected by director and chief curator-at-large Klaus Biesenbach, and organized by curatorial assistant and producer Margaret Knowles. Saturday’s lineup includes performers from New York (Nicky Siano and Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love), Melbourne (Cut Copy), Chicago (Virgin Four), and Berlin (Galcher Lustwerk b2b DJ Richard).
MoMA PS1 courtyard, 22-25 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, NY, 3–9 p.m. (Doors open at noon). Tickets $18 in advance, $20 day-of, free for those under 6 (Warm Up admission is mandatory for entry into MoMA PS1 on Warm Up Saturdays). Long Island City Residents with proof of residency in ZIP codes 11101–11109 receive one free ticket on a first-come, first-served basis, pending availability.