Your New York Exhibition Guide

Why you should see it: It can be easy to forget that the art we see in galleries has just as much capacity for storytelling  as other art forms like film, theatre, and literature. Perhaps that’s a symptom of the art world taking itself too seriously. Cynthia Talmadge’s show is an excellent reminder of art’s capacity for narrative world-building, as she documents the rise and fall of the fictional Alan Smithee’s career in Hollywood & Broadway through a mix of paintings, sculptures, and set design.

More Info

Why you should see it: While not all of our favorite works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres are on view, the show is like a mini-retrospective that covers all of the core concepts behind his work and career. Candy, billboards, reflecting pools, and text – it’s all here and in monumental scale. Visit, take a piece of candy (yes, you can actually take one from the 700-pound endless supply), and experience his poignant work that comments on the AIDS epidemic, time, and relationships.

More Info

Why you should see it: Katherine Bernhardt’s shows are always a welcome reminder that art doesn’t have to be so serious to be good or thought-provoking. This one is fun, funny, bright, and filled with pop-culture references (Bart Simpson, for example), that everyone can relate to.

More Info

Why you should see it: The works are as bright and inviting as ever, but the title of the show, Burning Cross, alludes to Odita’s meditations on the state of American life today. He writes, “Is the burning-cross a sign of the beginning of the end of time as we know it now, or is it the start of something new, of better change? Perhaps its flames are the actions of new collective agency re-presenting itself sight unseen.”

More Info

Why you should see it: An exhibition of one of the most important American artists, at the best American art museum. Don’t miss seeing New York through Hopper’s eyes.

More Info

Image Caption: Edward Hopper, Sunlight on Brownstones, 1956. Oil on canvas, 30 3/8 × 40 1/4 in. (71.1 × 101.6 cm). Wichita Art Museum, KS, Roland P. Murdock Collection. © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York