Before the holiday fever sets in, take advantage of all that the city’s museums and galleries have to offer. The Mets Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876-present and the triennial of El Museo Stream states are full of provocative ideas and compelling artworks from both big names and emerging artists. And speaking of big names: Ai Weiwei is one of those rare art world heavyweights who always seems to have something valuable to say. Don’t miss the chance to see a variety of his socially and politically incisive pieces at Brooklyn’s Faurschou. FIT’s show on fashion from the black and African diaspora and a fun food-themed exhibition at Water Street Projects (with an accompanying restaurant!) are full of delights, while Maiko Kikuchi’s performances and objects are a welcome escape from the burden of the world. — Natalie Haddad, reviews editor
Maiko Kikuchi: Pink Bunny
NowHere gallery40 Wooster Street, Soho, Manhattan
Until November 24th
At a time when the waking world can feel like a nightmare, what better than a daydream to provide respite and perhaps new perspective? Multimedia artist Maiko Kikuchi’s enigmatic performances are steeped in wonder and mystery, but, like the daydreams that inspire her, unfold with intention. Trained in theater arts, fashion and sculpture, she combines these to create fantastic worlds that are simultaneously strange and familiar. Her professional experience with object-based theatre, animation and puppetry shines through: she has given performances at experimental theater venues such as St. Ann’s Warehouse and La MaMa, as well as at art institutions. Try to go to her weekend performances (make sure you’re safe). tickets in advance). But if you can’t, her paintings and props are mesmerizing works of art in themselves. Worth seeing in their own right, they’re glimpses into the power of daydreams to keep us alive. — NH
YES, CHEF and Black Caesar
Waterstraat projects161 Water Street, South Street Seaport, Manhattan
Until December 15th
This is a lot of fun, as this massive two-story exhibition, curated by Water Street Projects curator Zoe Lukov, takes a look at food and its relationship to art. It features works by several established and emerging contemporary artists, including Claes Oldenburg, Sarah Lucas, Tania Bruguera, Jumana Manna, Lucia Hierro, Lauren Halsey, Patrisse Cullors, Janine Antoni, Zhang Huan and Tavares Strachan, whose site-specific sculpture takes its name from the related restaurant . I’m still captivated by Chloe Wise’s chandeliers, which combine her love of culinary trompe-l’œil with imaginative baroque details that seem appropriate to the subject, especially near Wall Street – let ’em eat cake.
But that’s not all. Lukov entrusted chef Darrel Raymond to create a menu inspired by Strachan’s artwork about Septimius Severus – the African-born Roman emperor who ruled from 193 to 211 CE – using ingredients sourced from North Africa and the Italian peninsula. The eponymous Caesar salad, for example, uses black garlic and a strategic vertical placement of lettuce leaves to mirror the sculpture itself. That’s possible make a reservation for the restaurant from Friday to Sunday (lunch and dinner only), called Black Caesar, on Resy. — Hrag Vartanian
African fashion diaspora
The museum at FIT227 West 27th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan
Until December 29
This celebration of fashion in African and Black diaspora cultures shows how artists can showcase and reinvigorate identity through what we wear. From a Kerry James Marshall t-shirt collaboration with Grace Wales Bonner to Telfar Clemens’ designs for the Liberian uniforms for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, there’s a fresh and vibrant energy that makes the clothes all feel exciting, even as they are decades old. This two-room exhibition, featuring 60 ensembles and accessories, is said to be the first show to explore fashion as a mode of cultural production across diasporas, advocating for more global perspectives on culture that transcends borders, even if it does so via airplanes, shopping centers or screens. — HV
Flow states – LA TRIENAL 2024
The Museo del Barrio1230 Fifth Avenue, East Harlem, Manhattan
Until February 9, 2025
In the latest iteration of El Museo del Barrio’s triennial exhibition, the term “Latinx” is expanded to include artists of Latin American and Caribbean descent who work both in their native countries and in diasporas around the world. The result is a show that embraces the diverse, sometimes contradictory features of the world Latin America while exposing the fault lines of that inherently weak concept. I recommend spending ample time with the collages of South Florida-born artist Kathia St. Hilaire, who meticulously layers charged signifiers like Chiquita banana stickers and skin-lightening cream to build compositions that shimmer like Haitian Vodou flags . The title of the exhibition, Stream statesresponds to our elusive social desire for hyperfocus and at the same time raises questions about movement, borders and migration. —Valentina di Liscia
Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876-present
The Metropolitan Museum of Art1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Until February 17, 2025
Curator Akili Tommasino has done an excellent job helping us understand the reception of ancient Egyptian art by black (mainly American) artists, including some musicians and filmmakers, in this recently opened exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fred Wilson’s now iconic “Grey Area (Brown Version)” (1993) is at the heart of this show, as the artist renders the bust of Nerfertiti in six versions, ranging from light beige to dark brown. The colors also seem to be reflected throughout the exhibition in the choice of wall colors for different rooms.
Tommasino’s roster is strong and diverse: it includes Betye Saar, Renee Cox, Irene Clark, Damien Davis, Kara Walker, EJ Hill and many others. He even dedicates a gallery to modern Egyptian responses to ancient Egypt, although the connection to the rest of the show is a bit unclear, as definitions of Black are not the same in the SWANA region. Overall, his exploration of Egypt’s legacy shows how the spirit of one of the world’s oldest and most monumental civilizations continues to resonate for those who can find strength in it. One of my favorite moments while watching the show was when a black woman looked at Fred Wilson’s sculptures, raised her hand next to a bust that almost matched her color, then turned to her friend and asked, “Who are you ?’ — HV
Ai Weiwei: What you see is what you see
Faurschou New York148 Green Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Until February 23, 2025
This major exhibition focuses on Ai Weiwei’s toy brick works (both Lego and WOMA), which largely transform well-known Western paintings with a twist. Here, a coat hanger in Giorgione’s ‘Sleeping Venus’ (ca. 1510) refers to many things, including her nudity, but also debates around abortion. Other works of art include photographs that have their own Rorschach quality, such as the Sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022which continues to have serious consequences for the German economy. The exhibition is supplemented with several sculptures, including one of his works Carrots series and another entitled “Combat Vases” (2023), consisting of 90 porcelain helmets resembling those from World War II. The tone of the exhibition is somber and somewhat cold, like a forensic examination of a life support culture. This is a necessary show. — HV
