The Armory Show and Openings Everywhere: New York This Week
With New York’s art world flush with events this week following its summer sojourn, Ocula has plotted your itinerary to make the most of each day. Save to My OculaAs New Yorkers emerge from a languid and sweltering summer, they are once again greeted with the familiar bustle of early autumnal happenings, from the U.S. Open to Fashion Week. The Armory Show also blows back into the city, with its ‘Focus’ section highlighting artists and galleries of the American South. Bringing a welcoming mood of accessibility and community engagement to the long-running fair, the Armory’s ‘Not-for-Profit’ and ‘Presents’ sections drop a warm spotlight on emerging and publicly engaged institutions.
Alongside the normal pomp and circumstance, the current political moment looms over the horizon like a coming storm. To its credit, the art world seems to be taking a moment to react to the disquietude—pushing boundaries towards the whimsical, the zany, and the insane, and somehow re-examining identity and Americana in the process.
Here’s a day-by-day guide to making the most of your time in New York this week.
Wednesday 3 September
Opening at Maxwell Graham, a new body of work from Zoe Leonard features a series of photographs that draw attention to an uncomfortably bloody past, touching on themes of violence and militarisation.
Paulo Pasta’s passages opens at David Nolan Gallery, the second solo presentation of the Brazilian artist’s work in New York. Pasta traces the ambiguities of light and space through abstracted landscape paintings in muted tones.
Yossi Milo, who also brings a collection of artists to the Armory, debuts Samuel Fosso’s continued investigation of identity. Through photographs and costumes, Fosso explores the affect of African archetypes as a form of self-representation.
Lyles & King hosts simultaneous openings for solo shows by Lily Wong and Ren Light Pan, two Chinese American artists who create work around cultural remembrances and bodily scores. Wong’s vibrant colourscapes stand in seeming contrast to Pan’s nearly monochromatic ink paintings, calling attention to their range of perspectives.
As the night wears on, find heavily tongue-in-cheek debauchery at SPIELZEUG Gallery’s opening party for TOYS! TOYS! TOYS!, with artwork from promising names (Amanda Ba, Christopher Gambino, and Michelle Im, among others), as well as DJs, dancing, and durational performances (and the promise of a blood-red dance floor).
Thursday 4 September
Collectible NYC, which aims to platform high-quality and well-researched design, returns for its second edition at Water Street Projects. Mirroring the Armory’s new Function section, the fair’s popularity suggests that collectible and functional objects are a trend that is here to stay.
Gagosian will host a free-but-ticketed artist talk between Christopher Kulendran Thomas and Joshua Citarella at 5:30pm, followed by the opening reception of Thomas’ Peace Core. The artist’s first solo exhibition in New York takes its title from the commanding presence of the central video installation, which calls into question the aftermath of the ‘War on Terror’.
For a chance to engage with artists and experience an iconic New York City location, painter Dominique Fung’s first commissioned performance will take place along the High Line on 4, 5, and 6 September at 6pm and 7pm. A Leaf’s Pilgrimage traces the life cycle and cultural significance of the tea leaf.
Sprüth Magers opens an exhibition featuring previously unseen drawings, photographs, and images behind Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels (1976). These remembrances of the artist’s iconic site-responsive installation remind us of art’s ability to transcend the limits of the white wall.
Perrotin opens two concurrent shows, Monira Al Qadiri’s Cosmic Machine and Sophie Calle’s Behind the Curtain, wherein the artist asks us to blur the lines between public and private. Al Qadiri also has an installation on view, presented by the Public Art Fund in Central Park, with sculptures inviting us to think more collectively in order to preserve our futures.
Friday 5 September
For a change of pace, start your day in Park Slope. Grab a coffee or a frozen Greek yoghurt from Culture before heading across the street to the Old Stone House. Curated in collaboration with Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, the group show Nothing is Fixed features a range of responses to the ever-shifting political moment from rising artists of colour across America.
Art on Paper, which you can visit from 4 to 7 September, highlights its paper-based protocol with a special multimedia art book fair (in collaboration with the Center for Book Arts) and a multitude of galleries and events. Highlights include Fake Plants, an exhibition by Nina Katchadourian depicting fake plants made out of household waste (presented by Pace Gallery).
At YveYANG, Wang Ye’s silk embroideries and soft sculptures will be on view from this evening. Wang draws on traditional Chinese techniques to capture the rich history of women’s work and craft. Alongside Ye’s Legume Blossoms in Blue, the gallery presents a two-person show by Anastazie Anderson and Alissa Ritter at the Armory, highlighting the artists’ distinctive practices.
RAINRAIN Gallery opens Maya Perry: The Moon Takes Shape of an Outsider’s Light. The show brings together a collection of Perry’s animations, drawings, and paintings, all exploring memory, embodiedness, and the rich interiority of being lonesome. At the Armory, RAINRAIN will present Kosuke Kawahara and Echo Youyi Yan, two rising artists who create gruesome images and sculptures for viewers to contemplate.
Sperone Westwater’s anniversary show opens tonight, reflecting on 50 years of genre-defining exhibitions merging the European avantgarde with a core group of American artists from the legendary SoHo art scene of the 1970s and 80s. Featuring artists such as Wolfgang Laib and Susan Rothenberg, the show pays homage to the longstanding relationships that the gallery formed with its artists in the heyday of the downtown scene.
Saturday 6 September
Held at Casa Cipriani at the Battery Maritime Building, the Independent 20th Century fair brings together a range of historic artists, from Edvard Munch and Pablo Picasso to the Florida Highwaymen and Ernie Barnes. Some notable must-sees include a two-person presentation by Salon 94 of stoneware sculpture by Dorothy Salhab Kazemi and paintings by Huguette Caland, which together create a dialogue between the artists’ Lebanese heritage and 20th-century European Modernism. A colourful and sprawling installation from Judy Pfaff hints at an upcoming show at Cristin Tierney’s new Tribeca space, while work by Dusti Bongé and Ralph Iwamoto, presented by Hollis Taggart, reveals under-represented voices in the evolution of American Modernism.
The Armory Live presents a talk featuring Silke Lindner, a rising star in the gallery world and winner of the fair’s 2025 Gramercy International Prize. Outside of the Armory, Emma Kohlmann will open Moon Minds, her second solo show at Silke’s gallery, on view starting 5 September and featuring a collection of paintings that engage with the human psyche through our connection to nature.
At Jeffrey Deitch, Sam McKinniss opens Law and Order, an investigation of the American prison-industrial complex, among other tropes. Stirring paintings capture sites of imprisonment, including animals and humans who have been subject to the hand of the law.
Mrs. Gallery opens two concurrent shows. Subverting the genre of still life, Fangs and Fruits, and Falling Trees is the product of Sarah McBride’s time at the Sharpe-Walentas Residency Program. Before Lunch comprises Kevin McNamee-Tweed’s pictorial ceramics, which reflect on personal mythologies and everyday life. Mrs. will also have a presentation at the Armory, showcasing Molly Bounds’ rich portraits, which explore liminal spaces, hesitation, and projection.
Sunday 7 September
Sunday brings an interesting selection of talks at the Armory Live. At 2:30pm, artists Simon Benjamin and Mary Margaret Pettway will be in conversation with Raina Lampkins-Fielder, chief curator of Souls Grown Deep, in a talk titled ‘My Art Is the Evidence of My Freedom’. Later in the day, art-world leaders discuss ‘Overcoming Obstacles: Leadership and Perseverance in Unprecedented Times’, addressing some of the challenges of funding and censorship facing the art world.
At Field Projects, Tabitha Arnold will present The Gospel of the Working Class, a series of large-scale tapestries depicting scenes from the American South.
After several art-filled days, spend a chill afternoon in Chinatown watching artists compete on the court at Ball for Art. The second annual artists’ basketball tournament at the Grand Street basketball courts, the event helps raise funds for non-profits in New York City. Follow up this sweaty bit of fun with a drink and a stroll through the park—a perfect moment to reflect on all the art that you have seen and loved. —[O]
Main image: Maya Perry, Gathering in limbo (Our deepest passion) (2025) (detail). Oil on linen. 27.94 x 35.56 cm. Courtesy the artist and RAINRAIN Gallery, New York.
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