Thursday, October 7-Sunday, October 11: New York Comic Con at Javitz

For its milestone 20th anniversary, New York Comic Con trades some of its sleek corporate sheen for a brilliantly gaudy nod to old-school Gotham, endowing the Javits Center in a celebratory Coney Island theme. While its highly commercial media reach inevitably draw the crowds, the true pulse of the festival remains anchored in the sprawling rows of Artist Alley and the Comic District.

Here, away from the Hollywood spectacle, the focus shifts to the visceral power of the hand-drawn line, where independent zines, radical risograph prints, and masterfully inked pages from standard-bearers like DC and Dark Horse hold their own. It’s a delightfully chaotic testament to graphic storytelling as a vital art form, proving once again that beneath the elaborate cosplay and cinematic hype, NYCC’s heart beats for the illustrators who build these worlds from scratch.

Javitz Convention Center, 655 West 34^th Street, New York NY Info

Thursday, October 8, 6-8pm: Eric Aho | The Meadow at DC Moore

Returning to the meadow at sunrise, twilight and throughout the seasons, Eric Aho catches glimpses of transient atmospheres between light and darkness, snow and thaw. His latest Firefly paintings reflect an awareness of precarity and the power of painting to engage with light as a phenomenon and a metaphor. Aho also continues his Dutch Meadow series of vibrant floral abstractions, reimagining the seventeenth-century Dutch still life subject as a living and thriving tableau on the eve of their cutting. Above: Meadow at Sunrise, 2026 [detail]

Aho will participate in several virtual and in-person talks over the course of the exhibition, including a walkthrough and book signing of his newly published monograph by Rizzoli, on Saturday, November 14. Click for upcoming events.

DC Moore Gallery, 535 West 22^nd Street, New York, NY Info

Friday, October 9-Saturday, October 10: EFA Open Studios

This weekend 85 artists invite curators, collectors, and art enthusiasts to wander across eight floors and engage directly with internationally recognized members of this historic studio building. Visitors can explore works-in-progress using specialized techniques, and experience curatorial pathways that anchor contemporary dialogues on memory, repetition, and resistance. Alongside the artists in their workspaces, the event features exhibitions in the EFA Gallery, a panel discussion on historical perspective, and special behind-the-scenes tours of the historic cooperative Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.

Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, 323 West 39th Street, New York, NY Info

Saturday, October 10, Noon-5pm:  Harlem Art Crawl Open Studios Reception at Governors Island

This weekend the historic brick houses of Governors Island are transformed into an open-air nexus of contemporary practice, with ArtCrawl Harlem’s 2026 Artist in Residence Group Show. Curated by director Ulysses Scott, this exhibition brings together a roster of creative visionaries from Harlem and across the diaspora. Exploring the overarching framework of Boundaries & Connections, the presentations creates an intimate sensory environment where textile craft, fiber art, and bold spatial installations sit side-by-side with visual storytelling. For anyone tracking the pulse of New York’s independent art scene, taking the short ferry ride opens another window onto how place, memory, and heritage continue to be actively reimagined.

Art Crawl Harlem House, 403 Colonel’s Row, Governors Island, NY Info Ferry

Monday, October 12: Jakob Kudsk Steensen | Wetland at MoMa

In Jakob Kudsk Steense’s Wetland, visitors are lured into  a digital -simulation swamp that honors the ancient marshlands predating modern Berlin. Steensen breathes life into this long-vanished topography using hyper-detailed macro photogrammetry and game engine visuals, constructing a hypnotic world where decay and rebirth dance in real-time loops. Above: Installation of Wetland in Berlin

In this sensory realm the visual landscape shifts organically, synchronized to a sprawling, rhythmic acoustic environment filled with localized swamp recordings and folklore-infused vocalizations by the experimental musician Arca. By interweaving rigorous botanical research with ancient Slavic mythology, Steensen does not merely present a high-tech spectacle but constructs a portal for ecological memory, urging viewers to engage with complex histories of the landscapes we have so often paved over.

Click to reserve:  New York State residents can visit MoMA FREE on Fridays from 5:30–8:30 PM with an advance reservation. 

Through March 7, 2027 at MoMA, 11 West 53^rd Street, New York, NY Info

Wednesday, October 14: I'm So Happy You're Here | Japanese Women Photographers at ICP

I’m So Happy You Are Here offers a much-needed counterpoint to historical precedents and the established canon—an electrifying expansion of our understanding of Japanese photographic history, but also of photo history itself. The recent excavation and recovery of women’s work in the arts serves as a testament to the liberating nature of self-representation and self-expression, and to the importance of photography as a medium to express and share one’s own story: to be heard and to be seen. Above: Narahashi Kawaguchikko, Half Awake, Half Asleep

Presented in partnership with Aperture and curated by Pauline Vermare, Lesley A. Martin, and Takeuchi Mariko,  this restorative survey presents a wide range of photographic approaches brought to bear on the experiences and perspectives of women on their lives and on Japanese society. With a focus on material from the 1950s to now,  this presentation showcases work by an intergenerational group of artists—many of whom have been recognized for their vital contributions, while others have developed unique and important practices without substantial public recognition. 

International Center of Photography, 84 Ludlow Street, New York, NY Info