All the Must-See Art Shows and Events of 2023 (So Far)

Describing the 2023 arts calendar as “stacked” feels like an understatement. The sheer number of exhibitions, group shows, retrospectives, and openings is overwhelming in both number and scale. But fear not: we’ve put together a list of the highlights of this year in New York City, Los Angeles, and beyond. Consider this your grab-bag guide to the can’t-miss exhibitions of the season, and check back often—we’ll be updating this list as more events roll in.

Widow’s Walk at Winter Street Gallery

The architecture and interior design firm Charlap Hyman & Herrero is bringing their multidisciplinary vision to Martha’s Vineyard this summer, with an art and design exhibition at Winter Street Gallery in Edgartown. Titled “Widow’s Walk,” after a popular architectural feature in the region, the show brings together works that range from the historical (an evocative Penitent Magdalene by Pieter de Grebber from the 1600s) to the contemporary (a hyperrealistic sculpture of a poppy with an alighting butterfly by Carmen Almon). To create a heady, melancholic atmosphere that unites the varied pieces, the CHH team faux-painted smoke damage across all the surfaces in the gallery, with outlines of “missing” objects next to installed artwork. On view through August 27, consider it the perfect opportunity for contemplation after a day spent in the sun.

Change Agents: Women Collectors Shaping the Art World at Southampton Arts Center

From the gallerist and museum founder Peggy Guggenheim to the philanthropist Agnes Gund, women art collectors have had an outsize impact on the creative sphere. An exhibition at the Southampton Arts Center on Long Island’s east end aims to start a conversation about the often-overlooked contributions of women who have served as artists’ patrons, mentors, and champions throughout their careers. Change Agents, on view through September 30, pulls from the vast and impressive collections of 14 contemporaries, including Jane Holzer, Emily Fisher Landau, and Beth Rudin DeWoody for a peek at how it all comes together.

The Museum at FIT’s ¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today

The Museum at FIT’s senior curator of education and public programs, Tanya Melendez-Escalante, and curator of education and research, Melissa Marra-Alvarez, are the creative minds behind ¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today, The Museum at FIT’s latest exhibition. From long-standing figures of the industry like Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, and Haider Ackermann to bright new generations of talent including Willy Chavarria, Raul Lopez of Luar, and Gabriella Hearst, the exhibition explores a range of topics—art, gender, Indigenous heritage, politics, popular culture, sustainability, to name a few. Open now through November 12, 2023, its culmination of 60 objects vividly illustrates the undeniable impact designers from Latin American countries, as well as designers of Latin American heritage, have had on the fashion industry.

In My Room at Venus Over Manhattan

The latest exhibition at Venus Over Manhattan in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood highlights three artists whose props are long overdue. “In My Room,” opening Thursday, June 8 at 55 Great Jones Street, features works on paper and bristol board by Ana Benaroya, Tom of Finland, and Karl Wirsum—all of which delve into personal identity, queerness, and art histories that don’t center the Western, cis, patriarchal gaze. The show puts on view for the first time 17 new drawings by Benaroya, six pieces created between 1966-67 by Wirsum, and three works from Tom of Finland from the ’70s and ’80s. It’s also the first exhibition dedicated to Benaroya’s drawings, and explores the impact that both Tom and Finland and Karl Wirsum had on the New Jersey-based visual artist’s works. Taking in the trio of creators’ pieces together makes them truly come alive, both individually and as a group. For more, visit venusovermanhattan.com.

Angel Ortiz’s Ode 2 NYC

If you only know the pioneering artist Angel Ortiz in the context of his close collaborator and friend Keith Haring, an upcoming exhibition will allow you to see him in a whole new light. Ode 2 NYC, opening May 18-June 18 in New York City’s SoHo gallery Chase Contemporary, will feature a unique body of Ortiz’s geometric, abstract work—all of which is dedicated to his love and admiration for Manhattan, his hometown. (The show follows a sold-out exhibition in London last fall, which marked Ortiz’s international solo debut). Born and raised on the Lower East Side, Ortiz’s work captures the frenetic and bustling energy of that area through images that resemeble hieroglyphics or an advanced form of calligraphy. (That tracks—his signature motif is the street tag “LAII” or “LA2,” which drew Haring’s interest back when Ortiz was a 13-year-old tagger). The artist’s work has been featured at the Whitney, MoMA, Guggenheim, and many other New York City institutions—but Chase Contemporary’s exhibition gives Ortiz a homegrown, downtown feel that corresponds directly to the crux of his work. For more, visit Chase Contemporary’s website.

Africa Fashion at the Brooklyn Museum

Following a historic showing at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London last year, Africa Fashion is making its way Stateside. From June 23 to October 22, the Brooklyn Museum will play host to the exhibition, which highlights the lively and imaginative history of African fashion—alongside the global influence of Africa’s contemporary style. Pieces from labels like Thebe Magugu, IAMISIGO, and Kenneth Ize will be on display. The show will continue its mission from across the pond: to provide a comprehensive timeline of the evolution of African fashion on the continent while also exploring themes like colonialism and neo-colonialism in Africa’s fashion language, and the practice of drawing inspiration from different parts of the continent. In addition to contemporary designer garments, there will also be photography, film, catwalk footage, and editorial spreads on view.

Mark Bradford at Hauser & Wirth

Los Angeles native Mark Bradford’s artistic work feels more timely than ever. That’s why we’ve included Hauser & Wirth’s new exhibition of the painter, sculpture, and performance artist on this list. You Don’t Have to Tell Me Twice is a major solo exhibition by Bradford that fills Hauser & Wirth’s entire 22nd Street building in New York City. And the artist’s first show in New York since 2015 is deserving of all that space and more: the work consists of a deeply personal exploration of displacement and “the predatory forces that feed on populations driven into motion by crisis,” according to the gallery. His sculptures on view are especially arresting—“Death Drop,” a mixed-media piece that shows off the popular house ball dance move, is a gorgeous visual ode. For more, check out Hauser & Wirth’s website.

Sarah Sze at the Guggenheim

Sarah Sze is an artist known to push the limitations of form. Her paintings, installations, and architectural works will often extend far off the canvas, extending onto the floor or creeping up toward the ceiling. This month, Sze’s signature sculptural practice arrives at The Guggenheim Museum, in a series of site-specific installations called Sarah Sze: Timelapse. Opening March 31, the artist’s work will interact with the Guggenheim’s iconic architecture, turning the building millions flock to a year into a tool for timekeeping, and a rumination on the ways people mark and experience time passing. The show will run at the Guggenheim until September 10, 2023.

Our Neighborhood at Hannah Traore Gallery

Hannah Traore Gallery, an arts space located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, has quietly been playing host to some of New York City’s best indie exhibitions since it opened in 2022. Its latest show, Our Neighborhood: Seen Through The Eyes of The Anna Silver School, The Benjamin Altman School and The Island School, pays homage to the community surrounding Hannah Traore Gallery, by featuring artworks created by local students from three schools in the area. The Anna Silver School, Benjamin Altman School, and The Island School are leaders in their commitment to keeping art education available to all students, making the trio a perfect fit for a collaboration with the gallery. Each of the kids were asked to make a piece about their neighborhood—the results? A range of paintings, colorful drawings, and even paper plate works that capture the purity and heart of a child’s love for the arts.

In January of 1967, Dan Flavin—the artist famous for creating minimal sculptures and installations from fluorescent lights—mounted two groundbreaking exhibitions at New York City’s Kornblee Gallery. On January 10, David Zwirner is recreating those two projects inside its Upper East Side location. The “situations,” as Flavin used to call them are separated into two distinct rooms inside the townhouse at 34 East 69th Street. At Zwirner’s London gallery, there will be concurrent show titled Dan Flavin: Colored Fluorescent Light.

One of the most hotly anticipated openings of the year is coming to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art on February 4. Projects: Ming Smith is a deep dive into the work of the inimitable photographer, who has been living and working in New York since the 1970s and inspired a generation of artists that followed her. Curated by Thelma Golden, the director and chief curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem, along with associate curator Oluremi C. Onabanjo, Projects is a deep dive into Smith’s archives, and a new examination of her most famed images. If you can’t make it to New York and are hoping for more Ming, no worries—Nicola Vassell Gallery will have a booth at Frieze L.A. with a solo exhibition of the photographer’s work.

On the West Coast, LACMA presents Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982, a show exploring how the rise of computer technology has shaped how art is made. Featuring artists, writers, musicians, choreographers, and filmmakers—some of whose work will be digitally generated—this exhibition will run from February 12 through July 2.

The New York–based Colombian artist María Berrío is taking her large-scale, collaged paintings to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Using Japanese paper and watercolors, Berrío makes artworks that capture riveting, magical scenes, evoking folkloric stories of her upbringing. For this particular exhibition, Berrío blended the history of the Children’s Crusade of 1212 with modern-day migrant stories of displacement, loss, and the unknown. On view from February 16 through August 6.

At last year’s Venice Biennale, the American sculptor Robert Grosvenor displayed three of his signature super-sized installations; those three pieces became sources of inspiration for Grosvenor’s next show at Paula Cooper Gallery in New York City. The artist, who is known for his large-scale room installations that toe the line between sculpture and architecture, created untitled—a bright orange, VW Buggy-looking car sitting directly on the gallery’s floor—just for Paula Cooper. But rare photographs he snapped between 2000 and 2013 will be on display as well. The show closes on January 28.

Archetypes of Desire at Eclectico Studio

Eclectico Studio, a virtual gallery founded in 2013 by the curator Stefan Cosma, specializes in featuring works that represent the best and brightest of European post-modern design. Now, Eclectico is bringing an IRL exhibition to Paris. From March 28 through April 2, Archetypes of Desire will be on view at 29 Boulevard de la Tour-Maubourg in the Invalides neighborhood of the French city. Taking place during Spring Art and Design Week, Eclectico’s new show will include nearly 100 rare pieces from the 1980s and 1990s—designed by post-modern design heavyweights like Memphis Group, Philippe Starck, and Paolo Pallucco. Above, some of our favorite selections from the show—don’t miss Nanna Ditzel’s Art Deco-inspired approach to furnishing a small apartment and Bohuslav Horak’s nature-inspired lamp fixtures.

The Argentine-Italian artist Leonor Fini (1907-1996) spent her life surrounded by sartorial elegance, excess, and high fashion. She maintained personal relationships with Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli, and created decadent paintings, sculpture, and works on paper that explored themes of masquerade and performance. Now, a portion of her oeuvre is on view at Kasmin Gallery in Metamorphosis—a tribute to Fini’s figurative depictions of drama and folklore. This is the first-ever solo presentation of work by the artist at Kasmin, and it will run through February 25.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres at David Zwirner Gallery

Four of the renowned Cuban-American conceptual artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s massive installation works have officially entered one of the most heralded galleries in the world. Through February 25, Gonzalez-Torres’s pieces will take over all three of David Zwirner’s New York City gallery spaces. Notably, it’s the first time his works “Untitled” (1994–1995) and “Untitled” (Sagitario) (1994–1995) have been put on public display (each creation from the artist’s decades-long career are named “Untitled”). According to reps from Zwirner, this is also the first time these pieces have been realized in the manner Gonzalez-Torres envisioned them, prior to his untimely passing in 1996, when he died from complications related to AIDS. Seeing Gonzalez-Torres’s huge billboards and paired circular objects together in a gallery context is a very special experience indeed.

Two Heads at Kapp Kapp

It should come as little surprise that twins Haylie and Sydnie Jimenez’s ceramic practices are informed by their sisterhood. The Afro-Latina artists are now bringing the fantastical, imaginative, and at times twee sculptures of their figurative universe to New York City for the first time. On view through April 15, 2023 at Kapp Kapp Gallery (86 Walker Street in Manhattan), Two Heads exemplifies the similarities and stark differences between the siblings’ art practices; Sydnie leans toward ceramic, while Haylie primarily draws and paints. Both sisters have been in residence at the Helena, Montana Archie Bray Foundation, where they’ve been working on pieces that will be included in the show.

Drake Carr is taking a page out of Marina Abramović’s playbook. This month, the Brooklyn-based artist presents a residency and exhibition of live drawings at New York Life Gallery. Meaning: Carr will draw both personal friends of his and models by trade (including supermodel and fellow illustrator Connie Fleming) in person at the gallery over the course of 12 days. The sketches, drawings, and paintings born from that nearly two-week period will be installed directly and immediately onto the gallery walls—where they’ll be on view from January 14 to February 9. Plus, the artist will be on site and making drawings periodically throughout the exhibition period while the gallery is open to the public—an opportunity to witness his process.

Technically, this show opened in October 2022—but it’s so good, we had to include it on this list. (Plus, it’s open through March 26, so there’s still plenty of time to check it out.) Por América examines Juan Francisco Elso’s short but significant career from his home in Havana—where he was part of the first generation of artists born and educated in a post-revolutionary sociopolitical landscape. His sculptures—most of which were made with organic materials—dives into Latin America, Caribbean, and Cuban identity, as well as Indigenous traditions, the effects of colonialism, and Afro-Caribbean religious beliefs.

Cy Twombly at Gagosian Gallery

Cy Twombly’s multidisciplinary oeuvre is coming to Gagosian in New York. The artist’s paintings, sculptures, and works on paper will be on display across two floors at the 980 Madison Avenue location beginning January 20 through March 4. This particular exhibition focuses on Twombly’s late work—specifically, the final decade of his life. Created in collaboration with the Cy Twombly Foundation, Gagosian’s exhibition also coincides with Making Past Present: Cy Twombly, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from January 14 to May 7, 2023.

On view through January 21, this hybrid art and design show curated by the New York and Los Angeles-based architecture and interior design firm Charlap Hyman & Herrero features works by Louise Bourgeois, Heidi Bucher, architects Sam Chermayeff and John Hejduk, and many more artists and makers modern and contemporary whose work reflects a moment frozen in time. Felt “shadows” on the floor and an audio artwork by Emma McCormick Goodhart add an electric, surrealist energy to the proceedings. The exhibition is an homage to a project by the same name that Hejduk opened in 1978.

When it comes to today’s trends in furniture and interior design, Gaetano Pesce deserves his due credit. The Italian artist, industrial designer, and architect is the forefather of practically every candy-colored Lucite furnishing and home decoration populating your For You Page today. And at The Future Perfect Gallery’s new sprawling Los Angeles outpost, the Goldwyn House, six decades of Pesce’s visionary designs will be on view—including some never-before-seen works alongside rarely exhibited historic pieces—from February 16 through March 31.

…Plus, 정Jeong at The Future Perfect

Another standout show at The Future Perfect’s New York City location: 정Jeong, an exhibition of new work by eight South Korean artists, designers, and craftspeople. Inside the gallery’s West Village townhouse, you’ll find Korean concept furniture made by Seungjin Yang, soft-focus colorfield sculptures by Rahee Yoon, as well as contemporary interpretations of the moon jar, made by Jane Yang-D’Haene and Jaiik Lee (shown above). Don’t miss this very special show, which opens on February 2 and closes March 17.

Gordon Matta-Clark & Pope.L: Impossible Failures at 52 Walker

52 Walker is kicking off the new year with Gordon Matta-Clark & Pope.L: Impossible Failures, an exhibition pairing the work of the site-specific artist Gordon Matta-Clark and the visual artist Pope.L. The TriBeCa space helmed by Ebony L. Haynes will unveil on February 3 an examination of the two artists’ careers—specifically, their shared fixations on the problematic nature of institutions, language, scale, and value. Running through April 1, Impossible Failures will also feature a new site-specific installation by Pope.L, presented in collaboration with Mitchell-Innes & Nash. Personally, we can’t wait to see the Newark, New Jersey native’s take on Matta-Clark’s preferred medium.

Through February 25, Nicola Vassell Gallery is highlighting the work of Brooklyn-based painter, sculptor, and installation artist Julia Chiang. Chiang’s pieces reflect her obsession with repeating patterns—and offer commentary on the idea of transformation and assimilation. “I grew up with parents who didn’t throw things away,” Chiang writes of her inspiration for the show. “Sometimes out of thrift, but often because my dad would give old things a new life. An old chair leg would become a new railing. A hand-painted wood carving would show up as a holder for some new kitchen gadget. Piles of newspapers in Chinese and English would be twined together, waiting for recycling, but there were too many piles to ever really disappear. There were textures and materials for all kinds put aside for later use, we just weren’t sure what.”