COURTESY METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17
Opening: “Bazm and Razm: Feast and Fight in Persian Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Food and war, always popular topics in art, are the subject of “Bazm and Razm,” a show of art from pre-Islamic, 15th-century Iran to the present day about those themes. Bazm (feast) and razm (fight) often appeared together in Islamic art, and the exhibition looks at the two as they changed through time.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m., free with museum admission
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Talk: “(Re)producing Celebrity: Toulouse-Lautrec and Warhol” at the Museum of Modern Art
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Andy Warhol are an unlikely pairing. Despite their differences, both focused on female stars (Jane Avril for Toulouse-Lautrec, Marilyn Monroe for Warhol), and this talk at MoMA looks at how the two artists used posters and tabloids to link art and consumerism.
Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, 1:30 p.m., free with museum admission
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19
Opening: Lynn Hershman Leeson at Bridget Donahue
After leaving her job at Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Bridget Donahue is now opening her Lower East Side gallery with a show of Lynn Hershman Leeson’s work. The show runs concurrently with a retrospective of Leeson’s work over at the ZKM in Germany.
Bridget Donahue, 99 Bowery, 2nd Floor, 6–8 p.m.
Opening: Keith Lemley at Mixed Greens
Titled “Arboreal,” this show will feature a large, site-specific installation by Keith Lemley, known for combining organic material with neon light. “Arboreal” will continue in Lemley’s signature style with Chestnut Oak sculptures, based on a fallen tree outside his studio in Appalachia.
Mixed Greens, 531 West 24th Street, 6–8 p.m.
Opening: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook at Tyler Rollins Fine Art
If you still haven’t had your fill of the Southeast Asian video artist and sculptor’s work after her SculptureCenter show, check out her new work in “Niranam.” This show will feature more videos, installations, photography, and sculptures, this time featuring Rasdjarmrearnsook’s dogs in an “attempt to get at something that is beyond the self,” as the press release says.
Tyler Rollins Fine Art, 529 West 20th Street, 6–8 p.m.
Opening: Ursula Scherrer at Pioneer Works
Swiss artist Ursula Scherrer will bring a one-night only holographic installation called afloat to the hip Red Hook gallery Pioneer Works. The four-hour event promises to be a mix of time, space, light, and sound. Or something like that.
Pioneer Works, 159 Pioneer Street, Brooklyn, 6–10 p.m., suggested $8–15 donation
COURTESY ON STELLAR RAYS
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Opening: Kehinde Wiley at the Brooklyn Museum
This hotly anticipated survey, titled “A New Republic,” looks at Kehinde Wiley’s prolific fourteen-year career. Wiley, who recently won the US Department of State Medal of Arts, is known for his portraits examining race, gender, and politics. The exhibition is Wiley’s first major museum survey.
Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., free with museum admission
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Opening: Tamar Halpern at On Stellar Rays
Tamar Halpern’s first solo show at the Lower East Side Gallery will feature more of the artist’s signature paintings on linen, which combine photography, collage, and inkjet printing. Mysteriously titled “My Voice at the Pace of Drifting Clouds,” the exhibit offers new work that is more painterly and personal.
On Stellar Rays, 1 Rivington Street, 6–8 p.m.
Panel: “Lynn Hershman Leeson Presents an Afternoon on the Future of Humanity” at MoMA PS1
The second Lynn Hershman Leeson-related event is a “Sunday Sessions” panel put together by the artist that asks the big question, “What will it mean to be human?” Leeson has assembled a diverse group of artists and scientists to ponder what will happen to humanity in an age of biological engineering and cloning.
MoMA PS1, 22–25 Jackson Street, Queens, 2–5:30 p.m., $15/$13