In the 20th century, New York cemented itself as the home of Abstract Expressionism and subversive Pop Art. These days, the city is a canvas for a new school of artists pushing the boundaries of media and holding social justice as their primary message.
World-renowned institutions such as MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, and the Guggenheim continue to draw tourists and art aficionados in equal measure, and leading commercial galleries such as Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, Perrotin and David Zwirner all occupy vast square footage, some with multiple locations.
With Manhattan’s art fairs – The Armory Show Frieze and Independent among them, New York is proving that it remains a powerhouse of creativity, originality, commerce, and connection.
Explore our ultimate guide to the top New York art exhibitions to see in 2023.
Best New York art exhibitions: a guide for 2023
‘Senga Nengudi’
DIa Beacon (until spring 2025)
Sprüth Magers (16 May – 28 July 2023)
It's a big year for American artist Senga Nengudi, who has just opened two major shows in New York, and will be awarded the Nasher Prize for Sculpture 2023 in April. As recently featured in Wallpaper*, the artist's Dia Beacon show explores five decades of her multifaceted practice, which straddles the boundaries between performance and sculpture, turning mundane materials such as vinyl, water, nylon, sand, dry-cleaning bags, lint, paper, and tape, into something extraordinary.
Tina Tyrell: 'Song for the Young'
Soloway Gallery
Until 7 May 2023
Although known for her enigmatic editorials crossing portraiture and fashion, Tina Tyrell lets us in on her personal practice in 'Song for the Young'. Two paths are drawn together under the themes of youth and ephemerality; near-identical portraits of two sisters and conceptual domestic still lives resonate with the fraught story of her first love, as a 14-year-old being courted by a 20-something-year-old Hollywood actor. Tyrell explains the show is ‘Of ephemerality, the cycle of generation, memory, and loss, not just of the material but also the immaterial … the small details that stick, and that which would be lost without the memorialising power of writing and photography.’ The exhibition consists of 14 works from the last decade, which have never been shown formally before.
Writer: Sophie Gladstone
‘Projects: Ming Smith’
MoMA
Until 29 May 2023
In 1978, American photographer Ming Smith became the first Black American photographer to have a work acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Now, she is the subject of a significant solo exhibition at the same museum. Titled ‘Projects: Ming Smith’, the exhibition provides a comprehensive reintroduction to Smith's extensive oeuvre. Born in Detroit, raised in Columbus, and now based in Harlem, New York, where she has lived and worked since the 1970s, Smith has used her photographs and imagery to engage in the political, and blaze a trail for the generations of artists since.
Writer: Pei-Ru Keh
John-Paul Philippe: ‘Ombre’
Cristina Grajales gallery
Until 28 April
Following an inaugural show in the gallery's Tribeca location, ‘Ombres’ (until 28 April 2023), is a show of John-Paul Philippe's newest artworks. As a continuation of his previous experimentations, Philippe’s latest wall-hung pieces circumvent rigidity, gesturing onto the canvas with well-directed looseness. These characteristics are enforced by the introduction of a new material: burlap.
