CHELSEA

Listed from South to North. Most galleries are open 10am-6pm Tuesday-Saturday.

Nate Lowman @ David Zwirner Gallery, 519 W 19th St, thru 10/24, exhibition link
Big silkscreen’ed keys. One is the key to his apartment - which feels like I just overheard someone’s ATM PIN number but don’t have their debit card (or maybe the opposite).  The whole thing feels happy but tinged with discomfort about security, privacy, access, and vulnerability. 

Gary Hume @ Matthew Marks Gallery, 519 W 24th St, thru 10/24, exhibition link
I love seeing the traces of the “edits” (look at the sides to see hints of the initial colors before he changed his mind). But the secret (and discomfort) of the show is in the hand-painted wall murals that reference the real murals at an immigration center in the UK.. that were painted over & removed because they were deemed “too friendly” by some jackass.

Lynda Benglis @ PACE Gallery, 540 W 25th St, thru 10/24, exhibition link
5 decades of sculpture confuse their own materials… from extruded ceramic curls to their enlarged bronze counterparts. There’s also an unannounced drawing/print Pollock show on 3rd floor!!! (No photos allowed, so you know it’s a rare treat).

Anthony McCall @ Sean Kelly Gallery, 475 10th Ave (at 36th St), thru 10/31, exhibition link
The #1 most magical exhibition on view (it’s 11 blocks away from the other recommendations, so maybe start here?). Step inside cones of “solid light”. Great for instagram, but I HIGHLY recommend staying longer than you think with your phone in your pocket to experience what’s happening to the shapes over time.

TRIBECA

Alix Vernet @ Chapter NY Gallery, 60 Walker St, thru 10/17, exhibition ink
”Aluminum air conditioner condenser coils” (that weird metal surface on the back of a window AC that I try not to cut my hand on when I’m installing mine every summer) are dented with with extreme precision to create letters and words in beautiful script.

Michael Wilkinson @ PPOW Gallery, 392 Broadway, thru 10/24, exhibition link
Photo-real painting of flowers twist your mind as each also holds an image of raw canvas…on raw canvas, merging precision painting with conceptual art.

Edith Dekyndt @ Marian Goodman Gallery, 385 Broadway Fl 2, thru 10/24, exhibition link
Once inside gallery, take elevator to 2nd floor to see pieces of knotted wood with “algorithmically generated 3D extensions” and a shelf of ocean trash displayed like precious specimens. It’s a mind-bending fusion of nature and technology.

Claire Oswalt @ Broadway, 375 Broadway, thru 10/24, exhibition link
Many small sections of painted canvas are cut and stitched together into compositions that feel like an exceptionally beautiful Frankenstein’ed abstraction.

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