Editors’ Picks: 6 Great Art and Design Events This Week

It’s a week of firsts in New York. The Lower East Side celebrates its first art week with some 20 participating galleries; on the Upper East Side, artist Nate Lowman has his inaugural show at Gagosian; and in Midtown and Long Island City, MoMA and MoMA PS1 team up to host the first retrospective of American artist Bruce Nauman in 25 years.

Read on for Galerie’s curated list of the best art and design offerings this week.

The Botín Centre designed by Renzo Piano in Santander, Spain. Photo: Courtesy of the Architecture and Design Film Festival

1. Architecture and Design Film Festival
Cinépolis Chelsea

Over the course of six days, the festival presents over 30 feature-length and short films as well as interactive experiences, pop-up installations, and panel discussions. Don’t miss the premiere of Leaning Out, a 2018 film by Basia and Leonard Myszynski about the structural engineer of the World Trade Center, Leslie Robertson, and his life in the aftermath of 9/11. Other highlights include director Carlos Saura’s Renzo Piano: The Architect of Light, which follows the Pritzker Prize–winning architect’s creative process as he designs the Botín Centre in Spain; and Ultan Guilfoye’s Frank Gehry: Building Justice, which follows Gehy’s exploration of prison design, from the worst America prisons to the “luxury” prisons of Norway.

Where: Cinépolis Chelsea, 260 West 23rd Street
When: October 16 – 21

Jacopo Tintoretto, Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1550s. Oil on canvas. Photo: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

2. Celebrating Tintoretto: Portrait Paintings and Studio Drawings
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Twenty-one works, including ten small-scale, informal portraits, celebrate the 500th anniversary of Jacopo Tintoretto’s birth. Although the artist is primarily known for his large-scale narrative paintings and political portraits, these small works give rare insight into his process and shrewd perception of the sitter’s personality.

Where: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue
When: October 16 – January 27, 2019

Emily Mae Smith, Prickly Pair, oil on linen. Photo: Courtesy of Perrotin

3. Lower East Side Art Week

24 galleries within walking distance of each other take a week off from their regular programming to present works by female artists for the first Lower East Side Art Week. Identifying the LES as a hub of “nonconformism,” the event aims to spotlight the diversity of the area. Participating galleries include David Lewis, Denny Dimin, Lesley Heller, Perrotin, Rubber Factory, and more.

Where: Lower East Side
When: October 17 – 21

Recommended: Yoko Ono Unveils Six Beautiful Mosaics at a New York City Subway Station

Nate Lowman, Memory Quilt for a Large Ball, 2017. Photo: © Nate Lowman. Photo: Rob McKeever

4. “Nate Lowman: Never Remember”
Gagosian 

Nate Lowman’s inaugural exhibition with Gagosian features his drop-cloth “Maps” series, which the artist has been working on since 2013, alongside other works. Much of Lowman’s practice is drawn from symbols in media and popular culture resembling “a sort of hybrid between the blurred Xerox image and a fresh tattoo,” a statement reads.

Where: Gagosian, 980 Madison Avenue
When: Opening reception: Friday, October 19, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.; on view through December 15.

Anna Atkins, Dictyota dichotoma, in the Young State; and in Fruit, circa 1849. Cyanotype. Photo: Courtesy of New York Public Library

5. “Blue Prints: The Pioneering Photographs of Anna Atkins”
New York Public Library

A Victorian period photographer, Atkins was one of the first to create cyanotypes, originally to document her seaweed collection. Now a survey of her work opens following a decade of research, locating her within the greater history of photographers and the cyanotype process, which endures to this day.

Where: New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 476 Fifth Avenue
When:  October 19 – February 17, 2019

Bruce Nauman, One Hundred Live and Die, 1984. Neon tubing with clear glass tubing on metal monolith. Photo: Dorothy Zeidman, courtesy the artist and Sperone Westwater, New York

6. “Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts”
Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1

The first retrospective in 25 years devoted to American artist Bruce Nauman premieres at both MoMA and MoMA PS1, encompassing the artist’s entire career and the wide range of mediums he utilized, from drawing and printmaking to neon and performance pieces.

Where: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street; and MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City
When: October 21 – February 25, 2019