What to Watch: Fall 2018 Art Exhibits
From retrospectives of Bruce Nauman and Andy Warhol in New York to dual Sterling Ruby exhibitions in Belgium, here are the art shows not to be missed this season.
MoMA Lights Up With Bruce Nauman
The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 are showing a concurrent retrospective of Bruce Nauman’s work, which spans the various media and mediums that the late artist utilized — sound, video, photo, wax, drawing, sculpture, performance and, queue up the Instagram Stories, neon. Many of the artist’s neon sculptures will light up “Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts,” starting Oct. 21.
This also marks Klaus Biesenbach’s last fall season as director of MoMA PS1 and chief curator at large at MoMA before heading west to lead MoCA LA.
Conspiracy Theories Come to the Met Breuer
What’s more au courant than conspiracy? On Sept. 18, the Met Breuer will lift the curtain on “Everything Is Connected: Art and Conspiracy.” Featuring 70 works produced between 1969 and 2016, the exhibit will explore the various ways artists have interpreted and responded to suspicion, power and corruption.
The Whitney Museum Explores the Alphabet of Warhol
On Nov. 12, the Whitney Museum dives into the range of Andy Warhol’s work with “Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again.” The show traces the pop artist’s work as it evolved, through various mediums, over his career. More than 350 works will be on display — some shown together for the first time.
“Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future” at the Guggenheim
The Guggenheim is giving the late abstract painter Hilma af Klint her first major solo U.S. show, with an emphasis on the work created during the formative years of her career: 1906 to 1920. Foreseeing that her paintings weren’t ready to be understood at their time of creation, Klint stipulated that her work not be shown until a few decades after her death. She was a mystic — seances and all — and given the pop-Crystal moment going on currently, Klint might just be proving her naysayers of yore wrong with her retrospective, which opens Oct 12.
Perrotin Revs Up Fall Shows
Daniel Arsham has parked his “Eroded Delorean” in the Lower East Side gallery. The artist is exhibiting new work, which leans dystopian, at Perrotin starting Sept. 8; the gallery, which recently expanded, will concurrently show Johan Creten’s “Alfred Paintings.” The gallery will host an opening party for both exhibits on the Saturday during New York Fashion Week — their last opening party, for artist JR, drew the likes of Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz and Chris Rock.
Irving Penn on Paper
He may be best known for his photographs, but Pace Gallery’s fall exhibition at its 57th Street location offers a look at Irving Penn’s paintings and drawings. Opening Sept. 13, “Paintings” represents the first comprehensive showing of Penn’s mixed-media works on paper, which reflect a similar curiosity for shape and form as his iconic photographic portraits.
Harmony Korine Brings VHS Nostalgia to Gagosian
Remember VHS tapes? Harmony Korine sure does, and he’s turned a collection of them into art at Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue. The appropriately titled show “Blockbuster” — Korine sourced the tapes from a bankrupt Blockbuster rental store — features the tapes as building blocks for his painted sculptures. Check them out starting Sept. 11.
The New Museum Hosts Exhibitions for Three Female Artists
The New Museum sets its sights on highlighting and elevating the work of three female artists this fall. Both Marianna Simnett and Marguerite Humeau will mount their first U.S. museum shows at the Lower East Side institution starting Sept. 4, while British artist Sarah Lucas will join them on Bowery mid-September to present her explorations of gender, sexuality and identity through 150 of her works included in “Au Naturel.”
A Holey Experience Lands at Dia Chelsea
The late land artist Nancy Holt is the honoree for Dia’s fall gala, and you can brush up on her pivotal work at Dia:Chelsea starting Sept. 15. Utilizing light and shadow, two of her experiential room-sized works, “Holes of Light” and “Mirrors of Light,” will be on display; the latter one for the first time since its original installation in 1974.
Sally Mann Gets Her Moment at Getty
In conjunction with the National Gallery of Art and the Peabody Essex Museum, the Getty Center is staging the first major international exhibit of Sally Mann’s work. Many of the photographs in “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings,” which tackle themes of family and identity in the American South, will be on display for the first time. From Nov. 16.
LACMA Entertains Fantasy
Look for your happily ever after at LACMA this season. The museum opens its fall programming with “Fantasies and Fairy Tales” on Sept. 8, exploring the interplay of popular myths and art at the turn of the 19th century. September also marks the beginning of Merce Cunningham’s centennial year, and starting Oct. 28, LACMA is nodding to the milestone by staging two large-scale works — Andy Warhol’s “Silver Clouds” and Charles Atlas’ “MC9” — inspired by the late choreographer.
And Over in Belgium…
Two sides of Sterling Ruby’s art are being concurrently shown in Belgium. Xavier Hufkens is mounting “DRFTRS” and “WIDW” at its two locations, showcasing the L.A.-based artist’s new painting and collage work. And there will likely be no broken hearts — let’s hope — at Pierre Marie Giraud, where Ruby’s ceramic iterations of heart and club shapes will be on display for “Hearts + Clubs.”
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