Frieze Week has arrived. The New York debut of the British fair runs on Randall’s Island May 4–7, opening to VIPs on May 3. But there is plenty more on offer over the next few days: satellite fairs like NADA and Pulse, sure, but also museum openings all across town, from the Studio Museum in Harlem to the Museum of Modern Art to the New Museum. Galleries are lining up new shows too. Yes, there are auctions, too. We’ll be reporting throughout the week—please check with us as you brave the coming days.
TUESDAY, MAY 1
“Science on the Back End” at Hauser & Wirth
The artist Matthew Day Jackson selects five artists–Larry Bamburg, Marc Ganzglass, Rosy Keyser, Erin Shirreff and Nick van Woert–gives each of them their own room in Hauser & Wirth’s Upper East Side location. As Mr. Jackson states in the press release: “I am not a curator. I merely selected the five artists for this exhibition and left to them the decision of which artworks to present. These artists inspire me.” –Michael H. Miller
Hauser & Wirth, 32 East 69th Street, New York, 6-8 p.m.
Opening: “Lucian Freud Drawings,” at Acquavella
On May 1, Acquavella Galleries will present “Lucian Freud Drawings,” the most comprehensive exhibition of the late artist’s drawings ever to be shown in the U.S., including intimate portraits of family and friends as well as landscapes, many of which were selected from Freud’s sketchbooks and have never before been seen. —Rozalia Jovanovic
Aquavella, 18 East 79th Street, New York, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2
Opening: Noam Rappaport at James Fuentes
Mr. Rappaport makes relentless invention look easy. He makes each his (usually) spare paintings—hardly an adequate term here—with just a few components: perhaps a slab of wood, an unusually shaped swath of canvas, some touches of paint. Those elements become bewilderingly complete and handsome works that stretch strangely across walls or jut out magically into space. Fans of no-more-than-necessary artists, from Blinky Palermo to B. Wurtz, will swoon. —Andrew Russeth
James Fuentes, 55 Delancey Street, New York, 6–8 p.m.
Opening: Dana Schutz, “Piano in the Rain,” at Petzel
For her first outing at Petzel, Ms. Schutz makes her characters “build a boat while sailing it, ignite themselves, pass on a contagious yawn, flash the audience with various craft-making tools and play a concerto in the rain,” according to the gallery’s (frankly tantalizing) news release. No doubt more of her inimitable pleasures await. Schutz fans can visit the Metropolitan Opera’s Arnold & Marie Schwartz Gallery through May 12 to catch her “Götterdämmerung” show of watercolor monoprints informed by Wagner’s opera of the same name. —A.R.
Friedrich Petzel Gallery, 537 West 22nd Street, New York, 6–8 p.m.
Opening: Ryan McGinley, “Animals” and “Grids,” at Team Gallery
Ryan McGinley has two new shows opening simultaneously at Team Gallery, “Animals” and “Grids.” For “Animals,” Mr. McGinley took studio portraits of marmosets and parakeets. But as these are Ryan McGinley photos, the animals are posed with nude models. This coincides with “Grids,” another opening of Mr. McGinley’s work at Team Gallery’s Wooster Street space, featuring three large grids composed of portraits of fans taken at concerts.—R.J.
83 Grand Street, and 47 Wooster Street, New York, 6 p.m.
Party: MoMA PS1 Opens Frieze
The party will include “a full concert by Martha Wainwright, including renditions as Edith Piaf, original songs, and a climactic tribute to Kraftwerk.” Given how climactic those performances at the museum already were, this should, in so many words, be a good party. — Dan Duray.
22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City
THURSDAY MAY 3
Opening: Courtney Love, “And She’s Not Even Pretty,” at Fred Torres Collaborations
You know Courtney Love as a musician, actress and wife of Kurt Cobain. You may not know the Hole front-woman studied fine art at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1980’s. Apart from practicing celebrity as an art from, she’s also been drawing throughout her life and will be presenting her work for the first time. Whether or not David LaChapelle and Julian Schnabel are her mentors, which they are, Ms. Love’s foray into visual art is going to be a celebrity shit show. —R.J.
Fred Torres Collaborations, 527 West 29th Street, New York, 6-8 p.m.
SATURDAY MAY 5
Opening: Tauba Auerbach, “Float,” at Paula Cooper Gallery
Tauba Auerbach’s much-anticipated first solo show at Paula Cooper Gallery will include words from the artist’s “Weave” and “Fold” series, as well as new photographs and sculptural objects. –M.H.M.
Paula Cooper Gallery, 521 West 21st Street, New York, 6–8 p.m.
Opening: Kehinde Wiley “An Economy of Grace” at Sean Kelly Gallery
Painter Kehinde Wiley branches out with his first ever portraits of women. For the clothes, he’s collaborated with Riccardo Tisci, Creative Director of Givenchy, and of “Watch the Throne” cover fame. — D.D.
Sean Kelly Gallery, 528 West 29 Street, New York, 6-8 p.m.