8 Must-See Solo Gallery Shows in September

Rounding up the best gallery exhibitions across the United States each month, Galerie journeyed from the East Coast to the West Coast—with stops in Chicago and Dallas—to discover the top solo shows for September. From colorful curvilinear abstractions by Yuan Fang at Skarstedt in New York and Alex Katz’s vision of cool couples at GRAY in Chicago to portraits of fashionable Black figures by Kwesi Botchway at Vielmetter Los Angeles and Katy Grannan’s photos of rural recluses seeking recognition at San Francisco’s Fraenkel Gallery, these are the not-to-be-missed shows this month.

1. Yuan Fang | Skarstedt, New York

Celebrated for her large-scale gestural abstractions, Yuan Fang layers bold, swirling brushstrokes to craft captivating compositions that catch the eye and keep it moving. Beginning with looser background marks, like broad brushwork and paint pours, each gestural layer becomes more precise, physically engaging, and intense. In the exhibition “Spaying,” the China-born, Brooklyn-based artist powerfully explores the medical and emotional effects of her recent breast cancer diagnosis and treatments. Viscerally referencing the body, she visually slices the surface of the canvas to reveal a sensual layering of curvilinear forms and negative space. Through layers of improvisational actions and controlled reactions, Fang creates a painterly vortex that pulls the viewer into the action, forming an entrancing twist in the picture plane rather than a traditional perspective.

Through October 25

2. Sam McKinniss | Jeffrey Deitch, New York

Sam McKinniss captures the spirit of the time on canvas by drawing on popular culture images found online. Reflecting on recent events that have garnered attention in both traditional and social media, the Connecticut-based artist uses a curated collection of pictures from movies and news photos for his colorful “Law and Order” exhibition. His paintings portray a diverse range of subjects, including criminals, politicians, folk heroes, and escaped animals, spanning scenes of Luigi Mangione being arrested in Pennsylvania and Callista Gingrich at a Republican rally for her husband, to runaway cavalry horses galloping through the streets of London, and Parker Posey playing Mary Boone in the Basquiat movie. The provocative exhibition aims to explore and depict the limits of a hierarchical worldview, creating a visual narrative that allows life to thrive fully, regardless of the situation.

Through October 25

3. María Berrío | Hauser & Wirth, New York

Drawing on her Colombian heritage and her experiences as an artist living and working in New York for the past 25 years, María Berrío explores memory, identity, and mythology in her vibrant storytelling artworks. Creating collages with artisanal Japanese papers blended with sections of watercolor, she constructs layered worlds filled with childhood memories, reflections on migration, and issues of conflict. Blending contemporary themes with mythological motifs and art historical references, the characters, environments, and stories in her “Soliloquy of the Wounded Earth” exhibit blur the lines between abstraction and realism, as well as different art forms. From captivating reinterpretations of the Greek Fates, who control the thread of life from birth to death—depicted as colorful Cumbia dancers—to processions on horseback through chaotic urban landscapes, her dreamlike imagery opens a visual gateway to a highly enchanted realm.

Through October 18

4. Maria Nepomuceno | Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York

Expanding on ancient traditions and craft techniques, Maria Nepomuceno creates complex sculptures and installations that utilize indigenous methods of rope weaving and straw braiding, as well as her own innovative techniques, including sewing coils of colored rope into spirals. Basing her organically shaped works on the spiral, the Rio de Janeiro-based artist incorporates colorful beads, playful ceramic forms, and found objects into her pieces, creating a bridge between painting and sculpture. Inspired by artists such as Lygia Clark and Louise Bourgeois, as well as Brazilian carnival and samba music, her works explore themes of abundance and fertility, highlighting the regenerative powers of the human body, society, and interactions with nature. Collaborating with women artisans in local communities, Nepomuceno believes that original cultures can better help us adapt to our planet’s changing environment.

Through October 11

5. Alex Katz | GRAY, Chicago

The consummate New York artist, Alex Katz, 98, was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Queens, and studied art at The Cooper Union after World War II. He started his artistic career during the height of Abstract Expressionism, a style he opposed with a form of realistic painting influenced by television, film, and advertising. Titled after the HBO dark comedy White Lotus, but having no actual connection to it other than evoking a sense of luxury, calm, and voluptuousness, this series of large-scale horizontal canvases depicts stylish couples formally interacting in serene, blue realms. Close in proximity but distant in affection, they keep a coolness, as if they are aware of watchful eyes.

Through September 20

6. Jessica Drenk | Galleri Urbane, Dallas

Jessica Drenk practices a form of “conceptual alchemy” by treating everyday objects as raw materials to sculpt, physically manipulating them until their meanings are transformed. Each piece directly responds to the material, subverting its associated meanings and referencing the object’s life cycle over time. Raised in Montana, where she developed an appreciation for the natural world that remains an important inspiration for her artwork today, Drenk now lives and works in Upstate New York. The artist’s seventh solo exhibition at the gallery, Elemental Form, features painterly sculptural reliefs crafted from recycled junk mail that imitate agates, geodes, and exposed layers of earth.

Through November 8

7. Kwesi Botchway | Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles

A Ghanaian painter with a mission to portray Blackness beyond the confines of mainstream narratives, Kwesi Botchway blends French Impressionism and African Realism to explore themes of becoming and possibility. Using colors like emotions, the artist, based in Accra and Belgium, believes that colors are characters that express attitudes. Painted during a residency in Los Angeles this spring, the portraits in his “Be Your Own Cool” exhibition show his subjects in moments of reflection and stillness. Celebrating the evolution of contemporary Black life, his paintings highlight Black individuals and their unique choices in hairstyles, clothing, and personal style. Representing different aspects of the Black experience, his focus on the face captures the essence of his subjects’ souls.

Through September 13

8. Katy Grannan | Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

A photographer and filmmaker who works closely with her subjects to create revealing portraits, Katy Grannan produces work that depicts the lives of people at the edges of American society. With experience working in various rural and urban settings, the Northern California-based artist has often found her models by posting ads in newspapers and on social media. For the photographs in her “Mad River” exhibition, Grannan selected local subjects who reflect the independent spirit of Humboldt County, known for its privacy and seclusion, by posting flyers on bulletin boards and ads on Craigslist. Recognized as a place where nonconformists go to escape, she discovered a diverse group of people—from an autistic teenager and a circus performer to a queer farmer and a man with his goat—all seeking recognition.

Through October 25