Everywhere you turn in New York you’re bound to be met by some type of art; there are more than 1500 galleries spread out across SoHo, Tribeca, Greenwich Village, the Lower and Upper East Sides, Brooklyn, Queens, and Midtown. The best galleries, though, are found in Chelsea, shown in old warehouses and garages between 10th and 11th avenue and between W. 15th and W. 35th Street. There is a plethora of young artists looking to leave their mark on the contemporary and modern art world; you could easily spend the entire day gallery-hopping without seeing everything.
WOMEN: New Portraits Annie Leibovitz
Situated in a former women’s prison, viewers have a chance to observe the new modern woman through photographs of famous and nonfamous women. It is an extension of Leibovitz’s wildly popular series of photographs “WOMEN’” which was published in 1999; the new exhibition reflects on the changes in the roles of women today. The gallery also includes work from the original series as well, but be sure to get there before Dec. 11, because after that it moves to Zurich.
The former Bayview Correctional Facility ; Exhibition dates: Nov. 18 – Dec. 11
The Pace Gallery
Though it was founded in Boston in 1960, the gallery moved to New York City in 1963, and now, it includes four galleries in New York and Pace, Beijing. Pace celebrated it’s 50th anniversary this year, and in celebration of this huge event, they launched the website pacegallery.com, where visitors can search the gallery’s archives dating back five decades. Right now you can check out Prabhavathi Meppayil’s first solo art exhibition in North America; according to the website it features a “new body of work continuing Meppayil’s engagement of global legacies of modernism and Minimalism through artisan techniques.” The exhibition is here until Dec. 23.
510 W 25th St. (between 10th and 11th ave.)
David Zwirner Gallery
David Zwirner is known for challenging the conventional high-art standards and this gallery (which opened in 2002) is no different. The exhibitions at his gallery are often very popular, as shown by the long lines – so make sure to get there early if you want to get in. Back in 2013 Zwirner hosted Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Rooms,” and Doug Wheeler’s white-light saturated “Infinity Environment” was center stage in 2013. The gallery has also displayed more well-known artists such as Jeff Koons and Richard Serra. Up next, look for Josef Albers, William Eggleston, and Carol Bove.
519, 525, & 533 W 19th St. & 537 W 20th St.
Luhring Augustine
Luhring Augustine is one of the city’s most reputable galleries, exhibiting works from Pablo Picasso to David Musgrave. It has a focus on late 19th century to contemporary American and European paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, and video works. On display right now is Ragnar Kjartansson’s “Scenes from Western Culture” and is supposed to “draw upon myriad historical and cultural references.” There are nine videos which present non-narrative scenes including a couple dining at a New York restaurant, children playing in a garden in Germany, a woman swimming in a pool. A series of paintings Kjartansson completed during a two-week period in the West Bank will also be on display.
531 W 24th St. (between 10th and 11th ave.)
Cheim & Read
In this spacious 6,000 square foot gallery by John Cheim and Howard, Read has a list of heavy-hitter artists, like Joan Mitchell, Diane Arbus, and Louise Bourgeois. Right now you can catch the exhibit “Joan Mitchell: Drawing into Painting,” which is a survey of works on canvas and paper from 1958 through 1992 – the year of the artist’s death. The exhibition includes art from each decade of her career, with a range from “flurried strokes to darkly massed forms and complex, multi-panel formats.”
547 W 25th St. (between 10th and 11th ave.)