WHAT TO SEE IN NEW YORK? Five solo exhibitions explore the unexpected. Best known for her monochromatic cut-paper silhouettes, Kara Walker’s latest show features a few dozen watercolors produced in a spectrum of color. New collage paintings made by Trenton Doyle Hancock explore satirical narratives with his superhero character confronting Philip Guston’s Klan figures. Also on view are exhibitions presenting examples of early printmaking by Terry Adkins, large-scale abstract works by Martha Jarvis Jackson, and Elias Sime’s mixed-media canvases featuring stitched yarn and found objects.
TRENTON DOYLE HANCOCK, “Step and Screw: The 666 Cents,” 2024 (acrylic, graphite, paper collage, plastic bottle caps on canvas, 84 x 84 inches / 213.4 x 213.4 cm). | © Trenton Doyle Hancock, Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery
Trenton Doyle Hancock: Torpedoboy and the Revisionist Mystery @ James Cohan Gallery, 52 Walker Street, New York, N.Y. | Oct. 25-Dec. 21, 2024
The latest exhibition of Trenton Doyle Hancock (b. 1974) presents a dozen new collage paintings from his Step and Screw series. The works feature Torpedo Boy, the artist’s alter ego, facing off with the comic Klan figures that recur in the work of Philip Guston (1913-1980). The gallery show at James Cohan Gallery coincides with “Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston,” a major exhibition of the artist on view at The Jewish Museum in New York, through March 30, 2025. Hancock lives and works in Houston, Texas.
ELIAS SIME, Untitled, c. early 2000s (stitched yarn on canvas, 38 x 25 1/4 inches / 96.5 x 64.1 cm). | © Elias Sime, Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery
Elias Sime @ James Cohan Gallery, 52 Walker Street, New York, N.Y. | Oct. 25-Nov. 23, 2024
Ethiopian artist Elias Sime (b. 1968) works with circuit boards and communications wires, weaving and layering the everyday materials into monumental tableaus that speak to human connection and the tension between generational customs and technological advancements. This exhibition features earlier abstract works, stitched canvases made in the 2000s. The focused selection of eight works employs traditional Ethiopian weaving and embroidery methods, providing a lens into the foundation of the artist’s practice. Sime was born in Addis Ababa, where he lives and works.
KARA WALKER, “The Shiftless Countryside of Emancipation,” 2024 (watercolor and sum-e ink on cut paper on paper, 78 3/4 x 89 3/8 / 200 x 227 cm). | © Kara Walker, Courtesy the artist and Sikkema Jenkins
Kara Walker: The High and Soft Laughter of the Nigger Wenches at Night, In the Colorless Light of Day @ Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, 530 West 22nd Street, New York, N.Y. | Oct. 25–Dec. 14, 2024
The work of New York artist Kara Walker (b. 1969) confronts America’s checkered history and attendant cultural issues—including race, gender, sexuality, power, and violence—with candor and often humor. This exhibition presents works on paper, including watercolor and ink collages, many produced on a large-scale. Known for her black silhouettes, Walker’s new body of work embraces color. The display also includes four bronze busts. She developed the sculptures in the process of working on “Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine),” a special installation of automatons at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, on view through Spring 2026.
Installation view of “Terry Adkins” Works on Paper,” Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, N.Y., 2024 | Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, Photo by Steven Probert
Terry Adkins: Works on Paper @ Paula Cooper Gallery, 521 West 21st Street, New York, N.Y. | Nov. 2-Dec. 7, 2024
New York artist Terry Adkins (1953-2014) founded and performed with the Lone Wolfe Recital Corps and was known for sculptural compositions that often repurposed instruments. This exhibition features early works showcasing his little-known printmaking practice. Employing an array of techniques, including photogravure, etching, collagraphy, and silkscreen, the works on paper are presented alongside “Miy Paluk 1866” (2011), a video installation in which Adkins depicts Matthew Henson, the first African American Arctic explorer.
MARTHA JACKSON JARVIS, “Crossing Land,” 2020 (black walnut ink, oil, acrylic, watercolor, Arches cold press 300 lb. paper, and canvas, 84 x 120 inches). | © Martha Jackson Jarvis
Martha Jackson Jarvis: What The Trees Have Seen II @ Susan Inglett Gallery, 522 West 24th Street, New York, N.Y. | Oct. 17-Nov. 30 2024
A journey from Virginia to South Carolina, through history and terrain, is recorded in the dynamic, large-scale abstract works of Martha Jackson Jarvis (b. 1952). Researching her family heritage, Jackson Jarvis discovered her great great great great grandfather was a free Black militia man during the American Revolutionary War. For her inaugural exhibition with Susan Inglett, the artist is presenting a series of mixed-media paintings. Embedded with constructed memories the works pay homage to his experiences. Jackson Jarvis lives and works in Washington, D.C. “What the Trees Have Seen,” a larger presentation of the works, was recently on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art. CT
BOOKSHELF
A digital catalog accompanies “Kara Walker: The High and Soft Laughter of the Nigger Wenches at Night, In the Colorless Light of Day,” the artist’s exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins gallery. “Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine): A Respite for the Weary Time-Traveler. Featuring a Rite of Ancient Intelligence Carried out by the … of the Human Specious” is published on the occasion of Kara Walker’s SFMOMA installation. Another new publication, “An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children” is authored by Jamaica Kincaid with illustrations by Walker. “Terry Adkins: Recital” is the first career-spanning volume of the artist’s practice. “Terry Adkins: Resounding” also explores the late artist’s three-decade career. “Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston” documents Hancock’s current exhibition at The Jewish Museum. “Trenton Doyle Hancock: Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass” accompanied the artist’s exhibition at MASS MoCA. Also consider, “Elias Sime: Tightrope,” the first monograph of the artist published a few years ago.
