April Gallery Guide

April Gallery Guide

April showers bring May flowers—as well as exciting gallery shows! Our must-see selections include many two-person and group exhibitions featuring today’s top talents as well as a few fantastic historical presentations.

Richard Mosse: Tristes Tropiques at Jack Shainman

It is projected that 99% of deforestation in Brazil is the result of illegal activities. Seeking to push conventional photography’s capacity to document the environment, Richard Mosse uses drones to capture the reality of deforestation in extreme detail to take part in “counter mapping,” a form of activist mapmaking that captures the endangerment of natural landscapes due to human activities. These works are scientific as they are all breathtaking and speak to the necessity of saving our planet.

April 8 - May 15

513 West 20th Street & 524 West 24th Street

Pictured: Intensive cattle feedlot, Mato Grosso, 2020 (above); Ver-o-Peso Açaí and Fish Market, Para (below) | courtesy of Jack Shainman

Hope Springs Eternal at Davidson Gallery

Curated by Artmuse founder Natasha Schlesinger, Hope Springs Eternal is a group show that uses the theme of springtime as a jumping-off point for artists to depict ideas of renewal and hope for the future. By experiencing these works, us viewers feel re-awakened and a renewed sense of hope for the future.

Artists include Nicky Broekhuysen, Pedro S. de Movellàn, Angela Heisch, Sam Messenger, Boo Saville and Thomas Witte.

April 8 - 25, by appointment

521 West 26th Street

Pictured: Thomas Witte, TOUR 1, 2020 | courtesy of Davidson Gallery

Martin Wong & Aaron Gilbert: 1981-2021 at PPOW

With their must-see two-person show that just opened, Martin Wong and Aaron Gilbert partake in a poignant dialogue that charts the social and cultural realities from 1981 to 2021. In an intergenerational conversation that explores the artists’ private lives and communal experiences, Wong and Gilbert present a chronicle of a city bookended by two pandemics, AIDS and COVID-19. 

Through May 1

392 Broadway

Pictured: Aaron Gilbert, Nightshift B15, 2020 (above); Martin Wong, Nocturne at Ridge Street and Stanton, 1987 (below)| courtesy of PPOW

Caroline Walker at GRIMM

Caroline Walker paints intimate depictions of ordinary life through her incredible portraits of space and time. Rendering familiar scenes, such as a trip to the bakery, pharmacy or cafe, Walker explores the boundaries between direct experience and observing. Depicting quiet moments within the bustling London metropolis, Walker portrays everyday life with grandeur and immense heart. 

Through May 1

54 White Street

Pictured: Rebecca, 2020 | courtesy of GRIMM

Carrie Moyer: Analog Time at DC Moore

Created while confined to her Brooklyn studio, Carrie Moyer’s new body of work depicts abstractions inspired by the intensity of daily life and the emotional need to create internal fantasies and imagined spaces during the time of Coronavirus. These beautiful new works embrace what Moyer calls a “downshift palette,” with deeper tones of green, blue and grey anchoring saturated hues while abstracted shapes are interwoven with felt brushwork. 

Through May 1

535 West 22nd Street

Pictured: Hells Bells and Buckets, 2020 | courtesy of DC Moore

Niki de Saint Phalle: Joy Revolution at Salon 94

Inaugurating their new Upper East Side space, Salon 94 presents Joy Revolution, an exhibition of seminal work by the great sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle. Featuring important historical works as well as rare pieces borrowed from private collections, Joy Revolution assembles an overview of de Saint Phalle’s ecstatic work to explore and celebrate the artist’s philosophy of radical joy. Radical joy is ever-so necessary today, and this exhibition brings a taste of the artist’s mission to create utopia to the gallery’s new neighborhood.

Through April 24, by appointment

3 East 89th Street

Pictured: The Skaters, 1974 | courtesy of Salon 94

William Eggleston and John McCracken: True Stories at David Zwirner

Although photographer William Eggleston and sculptor John McCracken are not an obvious pairing, the show at David Zwirner’s Upper East Side gallery works splendidly. Presenting a dialogue over the artist’s uses of color and light as well as their depiction of a distinct American aesthetic, this show features two artists born in the 1930s and their abilities to depict the American South and West through distinct forms.

Through April 17, by appointment

34 East 69th Street

Pictured: William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1973-1978| courtesy of David Zwirner

Nature Morte at The Hole

With their mega-group show Nature Morte, The Hole transforms its space into a forest environment with its presentation of still life paintings by sixty fabulous artists. Although these artists draw from a variety of sources and styles, each still life references the natural world in its tableau.

Artists include Adam Parker Smith, Allison Schulnik, David Benjamin Sherry, Donald Baechler, Gao Hang, Nicolas Party, Pedro Pedro, among many others.

April 8 - May 9

312 Bowery

Pictured: work by Matthew Hansel | courtesy of The Hole

Izumi Kato at Perrotin

Following a five-year hiatus from New York exhibitions, the mixed-media artist Izumi Kato presents an expansive, triumphant return to NYC gallery shows with an exhibition of new works of sculpture, installation and painting. Installed throughout two stories, the exhibition engages the viewer with their tactile shape and forms: Kato works with familiar objects, including wood, soft vinyl, and textiles, disembodied parts, to create playful bodily forms.

Through April 17

130 Orchard Street

Pictured: installation view courtesy of Perrotin

Magic Touch at Dinner Gallery

Magic Touch is a delightful group exhibition featuring the work of Natalia Arbelaez, Jen Dwyer, Donté K. Hayes, Roxanne Jackson, Sophia Narrett, Katarina Riesing, Faith Ringgold, Aminah Robinson and Anthony Sonnenberg. Centered around the theme of human connection, an important element of human social life and mental well-being that has been lacking this last year, the exhibition explores the idea of touch as a remedy for loneliness.

Through May 1

242 West 22nd Street

Pictured: Katarina Riesing⁠, Cardi, 2018⁠ | courtesy of Dinner Gallery

Claes & Coosje, A Duet at Pace

Claes Oldenburg and the late Coosje van Bruggen were perhaps the best known artist couple of the 1960s. A spirited exhibition, Claes and Coosje, A Duet celebrates the pair’s romantic and artistic partnership that resulted in incredible collaborative works by two icons in their own right. Presenting a group of sculptures, models and drawings, the exhibition brings to life the love and whimsicality of this dynamic creative pair.

Through May 9, by appointment

540 West 25th Street

Pictured: installation view|courtesy of Pace

Collective Amnesia at Montague Contemporary

In their two-person show, Bouvy Enkobo (Democratic Republic of Congo/France) and Epheas Maposa (Zimbabwe) present new work that asks viewers to pause and take stock of shared and personal histories that may have been manipulated. The arresting works on view ultimately question the experience of existence itself as viewers are asked to think about their own lives and the origins of the truths that permeate them.

April 15 - May 22, by appointment

526 West 26th Street #621 

Pictured: work by Epheas Maposa| courtesy of Montague Contemporary