Welcome to Things to Do, our weekly roundup of happenings in the ever-buzzing New York art scene. Here, we present an expertly curated list of the best goings on that don’t require an invite—but might require that you reserve a spot in advance.
Monday June 26
Opening: Ugly Painting
Nahmad Contemporary, 980 Madison Avenue, Third Floor, 5-7 p.m.
This group show features work by Rita Ackermann, Alex Carver, Guglielmo Castelli, Sedrick Chisom, Theresa Chromati, George Condo, Shuriya Davis, Carroll Dunham, Nicole Eisenman, Jana Euler, Jeremy Glogan, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Karla Kaplun, Izumi Kato, Jared Madere, Mathieu Malouf, Connor Marie, Jannis Marwitz, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Daniel Richter, Peter Saul, Josh Smith and Ambera Wellmann that has been determined by curators Eleanor Cayre and Dean Kissick to be “misshapen or unsightly.” But as you can tell from that stacked list of contributors, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re bad.
Tuesday June 27
Opening: Sally Saul
Venus Over Manhattan, 39 Great Jones Street, 6-8 p.m.
The ceramicist Sally Saul, and her painter husband Peter, have both seen a late-career resurgence in popularity in the last decade, and it’s easy to see what’s been drawing people to the couple these days. Sally’s sculptures play with similar ideas of color and outsider art but are wholly their own. The influence seems only to extend to mutual admiration. “He did his version of Picasso’s Guernica (1937),” Sally said recently, when asked about her favorite work of Peter’s. “He said he was going to improve it and he did.”
Wednesday June 28
Opening: Sophie Von Hellermann’s Genius
Greene Naftali, 508 West 26th Street, 8th floor, 6-8 p.m.
Greene Naftali’s seventh show with Sophie Von Hellermann, Genius, unpacks that “utterly subjective term that still lands with the thud of authority.” Thinned paint on unprimed canvases, the artist’s signatures, depict maestros and surfers. Don’t forget to stop by the ground floor for the gallery’s excellent-sounding summer group show, which features Kenneth Anger (R.I.P.), Frank Bowling, Justin Caguiat, Melvin Edwards, Jana Euler, Simone Fattal, Rachel Harrison, Beate Kuhn, Jean-Luc Moulene, Howardena Pindell, Walter Price and Rachel Eulena Williams.
Opening: Jonas Wood at Karma
Karma, 22 E 2nd Street, 6-8 p.m.
Drawings (2003-2023) is an ambitious survey of the superstar painter Jonas Wood that features one hundred artworks exhibited chronologically. Drawings are a key part of his practice and the earliest on display here date to his time working as an assistant to Laura Ownes. His paintings often feel like collages, and this begins with his drawings, which often start with cut-up photography. Karma has also published a sure-to-be excellent hardcover book to accompany the exhibition, featuring a new essay by Douglas Fogle, and a conversation between Wood and Owens.
Thursday June 29
Talk: Mire Lee discusses Black Sun
The New Museum, 235 Bowery, 6-7 p.m.
Rising star Mire Lee joins curator Gary Carrion-Murayari to discuss Black Sun, Lee’s show at the New Museum, which opens this week. Lee’s first museum exhibition in the United States, Black Sun will debut a new site-specific installation featuring an architectural environment, kinetic sculpture and fabric works reminiscent of the work of H.R Giger, whose work has been shown alongside hers. The show opens on the same day.
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