Continuing: David Hockney | 20 Flowers and Some Bigger Pictures at Pace

20 Flowers and Some Bigger Pictures expands on a series of iPad paintings made by David Hockney while quarantining at his studio in Normandy. Inspired by his daily observations, Hockney devoted himself to the iPad, a medium of unique immediacy that allowed him to be prolific in his depictions of his home, the changing seasons, and surrounding countryside.

Read an essay by David Hockney detailing his process behind the works included in this exhibition.

20 Flowers and Some Bigger Pictures is jointly presented across five galleries and cities: Annely Juda Fine Art in London; Galerie Lelong & Co. in Paris; GRAY in Chicago; L.A. Louver in Los Angeles; and Pace in New York: 540 West 25^th Street, New York, NY Info

Thursday, January 19, 6-8pm: Paper Power at Frosch & Co

The seven artists in Paper Power mine the resources of paper as an archive of women’s embodied experiences and their claim to space through the malleability of this ancient material. Jeanne Verdoux’s drawings explore the female figure as a vessel for interior life experiences. She builds her drawings in tandem with ceramics, emphasizing the physical energy she embeds in her forms through her making process as well as the dimensionality and materiality of the medium itself. Left: Jeanne Verdoux, Femme Tasse, 2022, Graphite on paper, 59 x 53”

Also focusing on the female form is Eva Lake, whose collages that recall  ancient tableau juxtapose the ephemerality and youth of her figures with a vision of womanhood that is both timeless and monumental. Vicki Sher’s textured compositions are built from layers of painting and collage, combining geometric systems with organic structures. Also inspired by the natural world, Magnolia Laurie creates ink drawings that suggest a geologic span of time—visual layers repeatedly build up and break down, simultaneously evidencing immediate and gradual change. Meanwhile, Yvette Cohen’s drawings activate the white walls of the gallery as part of her works through bold, fluid shapes that extend to the body of the viewer as they interact with her Another Day, Another Shape series.

Elise Engler investigates more recent historical subject matter in her drawings documenting the evolution of the American political zeitgeist throughout her life, while Leslie Kerby’s drawings critically examine the American healthcare system, capturing the societal and political problematics of the industry in liminal spaces teeming with fungi and flora, implying both decay and the potential for healing and regrowth.

Frosch & Col, 34 E. Broadway, New York, NY Info

Thursday, January 19, 6-8pm: Cecelia Andre | To Shed New Light at Materials for the Arts

MFTA Artist-in-Residence Cecilia André invites you to be transported into an immersive dreamscape of assemblage works featuring a vast array of objects and materials. Illuminating these compositions with colored shadows, André emphasizes the wonder of transparent light. She literally and figuratively sheds new light on the materials she discovered in the vast offerings at MFTA, including everything from lampshades to glass vases, to figurines, trinkets, straws, floss, wire notebook bindings, and beads. The works in this show, curated by Mina Warchavchik Hugerth, beckon for closer inspection and reveal tiny stories meshed together by delicate interventions.

Materials for the Arts, 33-00 Northern Boulevard, FL3, Long Island City, NY Info

Thursday, January 19, 6-8pm: Looks Good on Paper at Bienvenu Steinberg & J

This exhibition of works on paper by a diverse group of artists who cross generations and boundaries, not solely geographic. All 20 participants have demonstrated, within their individual practices, a serious commitment to paper as a ground for an extensive range of media and experimentation. The show provides vivid contrasts and engaging comparisons. Standing as nearly polar opposites are Mahmoud Hamadani’s cool elegant minimalist ink drawings and Vernando Reuben’s richly layered depictions of idealized black queer cruising utopias. Above: Vernando Reuben, Young Bud, 2022

Four artists whose works explore distinctive forms of abstraction while sharing a common allegiance to highly colored surfaces are Andrea Belag, Lydia Dona, Max Gimblett and Jill Moser. Belag’s gestural brushstrokes are a counterpoint to Moser’s carefully structured compositions. Dona’s muscular vibrancy simultaneously complements and contrasts with the spiritual joyousness expressed in Gimblett’s watercolors. 

Often regarded as icons of feminist sexuality and vulnerability, Tracey Emin and the late Anita Steckel provide different views of women’s bodies. Monumental lithographs by David Salle, produced between 2014 and 2018 fand never previously seen in NYC combine lovingly rendered portraits of women with abstracted and appropriated images to complete the exhibition

Bienvenu Steinberg & J, 35 Walker Street, New York, NY Info

Thursday, January 19, 6-8 pm: Dierdre O’Connell & Jackie Shatz | Fire & Fury, at Susan Eley Fine Arts

Presented together at SEFA’s new LES gallery, the strong and singular beings of these two artists create the aura of intimately scaled talismans. Collectively, they unite totemic figures, radiating their ethereal—almost goddess-like—energies. Here, the mixed-media paintings of O’Connell intermingle with the ceramic sculptures of Shatz. In the downstairs space, O’Connell’s series of ”Eves” lines one wall; their distinctly feminine traits are both echoed and abstracted by Shatz’s clay sculptures, which are suspended on the facing wall—mysterious entities made of the earth. The ornamentation and sheen of O’Connell’s paintings contrast with the rawness and rough-hewn texture of Shatz’ ceramics. Left: Deirdre O'connell, Silver Eve (detail) 2019

Susan Eley Fine Art, 190 Orchard Street, New York, NY Info

Friday January 27, starting at 6pm: Animation First at FIAF

The only U.S. festival dedicated to showcasing the legacy and innovation of francophone animation, designed for both adult and younger audiences, will screen seven feature films (including four U.S. and three NY premieres) and five short film programs with over 65 new shorts (including eight U.S. and 12 NY premieres) from January 27–29. Above: Signature Sempé, featured on opening night 

Films are in French with English subtitles unless otherwise noted. The festival will also present many free events: a Jean-Jacques Sempé exhibition, “Work in Progress” presentations, panel discussions, video games, and AR-VR experiences. The third annual Student Short Film Competition, the RECA Short Film Program, and the first ever Animation Jam, will highlight films by students from top animation schools in the U.S. and France. Get the Full Festival Pass here

FIAF Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59^th Steet, New York, NY Info