Editors’s Picks: 10 Things Not to Miss in the Virtual Art World This Week

Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and
thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. We are currently
highlighting events and exhibitions available digitally. See our
picks from around the world below. (Times are all EST unless
otherwise noted.)

Through Wednesday, April
1

1. “Terrence McNally: Every Act
of Life” on PBS American Masters

Playwright, librettist, scriptwriter, and outspoken LGBTQ
activist Terrence McNally died on March 24. Now, to honor his
life and legacy, an American Masters documentary exploring the
writer’s six-decade career, which originally premiered last June.
is available to stream for the next few days on pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS
Video app.

Among those featured in the documentary are F. Murray
Abraham, Audra McDonald, Christine Baranski, Edie
Falco, Nathan Lane, Angela Lansbury, and Rita Moreno, who
all talk about the highs and lows of McNally’s influential career
and the struggles he faced.

Price: Free
Time: Open daily, at all times

—Eileen Kinsella

Thursday, April
2

2. “Taggart Talk: John Knuth” at Hollis Taggart

New York gallery Hollis Taggart launched Taggart Talk, a new
Instagram TV series hosted by its director of contemporary art,
Paul Efstathiou. Last week’s guest was Leah Guadagnoli and on
Thursday it continues with artist John Knuth, who’ll discuss his
studio practice, his influences, and how those are shifting in
light of current events.

Price: Free
Time: 7:30 p.m.

—Tanner West

Friday, April
3

3. “Platform: New York” at David Zwirner

What if I told you that someone was bringing together a dozen of
New York’s most beloved risk-taking independent small galleries,
putting them under one roof, and having them each let one of their
star artists go nuts—who wouldn’t want that? Now what if I told you
that this person is David Zwirner, who has been called the most
powerful person in the art? Anyway, this happened because some
of Zwirner’s young staffers—including his children Lucas and
Marlene, along with Alec Smyth, Thor Shannon, and Cristina Vere
Nicoll—hatched up a crackerjack idea to share their spiffy online
viewing room with 12 of the spaces that New Yorkers so
desperately miss.

As a result we have “Platform: New York,” an online-only
mini-fair, and the lineup is a murderer’s row. All killer no
filler: artist Kyle Thurman at David Lewis Gallery, Elaine
Cameron-Weir at JTT, Sven Sachsalber at Ramiken, Lisa Alvarado at
Bridget Donahue… I could go on, those are just some of the
highlights of a viewing room with absolutely zero weak links. And,
yeah, just typing out the names of those galleries makes me
incredibly melancholy thinking about their shuttered storefronts
in an abandoned downtown Manhattan and the eerily quiet Brooklyn.
But I’ll take what I can get.

Price: Free
Time: Open daily, at all times

Through Saturday, April
4

4. “Peter Saul: No Convictions” at
Pace Prints

At first glance, a lot of Peter Saul’s cartoon-like work can be
enjoyable to look at: Saul distorts people and buildings using
bright colors and vivid characters. But look a little closer and
you’ll find brutal, grotesque, and disturbing elements that often
serve to interrogate American history and popular culture. Even
though Saul’s widely lauded survey at New York’s New Museum had to
close earlier this month, Pace Prints has created an online
exhibition accompanied by clips of the artist talking about his
approach to making art. Examining the intricacies of Saul’s work
makes the perfect exercise for the quarantined brain.

Price: Free
Time: Open daily, at all times

—Katie Rothstein

Saturday, April
4

5. “Virtual Free Saturday” at the
Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum may be closed indefinitely, but the
institution will attempt to continue its proud tradition of
welcoming the public free of charge the first Saturday of every
month as it has done for more than 20 years. Tune in on the
museum’s YouTube channel to catch a
foil embossing demonstration, followed by a teen variety show,
music from Adeline and DJ Amber Valentine, and a disco-themed
performance by drag queens from Brooklyn’s House of Bushwig.

Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m.–10 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Sunday, April
5

6. “Ariana Schick: Rebecca’s
Room” at Super Dakota 

One (albeit narrow) silver
lining of the current shutdown is that galleries that have
pioneered smart digital initiatives are now seeing a well-deserved
uptick in eyeballs. One of those galleries is the sharp Belgian
outfit Super Dakota, which has been hosting video art on its
website in a dedicated “showroom” since 2016. While its physical
gallery is closed, the gallery has opted to present a new film each
week, rather than every six weeks. Up next: Rebecca’s Room (2018), by London-based artist Ariane Schick.
The nearly six-minute film collages a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s
film Rebecca with background sounds from a Lil’ Kim video
and snapshots from women’s magazines. The disorienting vibe is
perfect for right now. 

Price: Free to
view (although the video is also for sale)
Time: Open daily, at all
times

—Julia Halperin

Saturday, April 4–Monday,
April 6

7. “Netsuke edo & now” at D-Day Studio

The Woodstock, New York, gallery D-Day Studio is auctioning off
the contents of its current show on Air Auctioneer. The exhibition pairs
Japanese antiques, including an 1800s-era gold-leaf shrine and
carved Edo-period Netsuke sculptures, with contemporary
interpretations of the Netsuke form. Featured artists include Susan
Cianciolo, Anicka Yi, Kentaro Takashina, and Eric Ernschwender.

Price: Varies by object
Time: Open daily, at all times

—Nan Stewart

Through Friday, April
10

8. “Alice Neel: A Film by Andrew Neel” at
Xavier Hufkens

Respected Brussels gallery Xavier Hufkens launches its online
film program with a documentary on the great dynamo of figurative
painting Alice Neel. Written and directed by her grandson, the film
weaves interviews with surviving friends and family together with
material sourced from the artist’s own personal archive of footage.
The result explores the highs and lows of Neel’s practice as what
she called “a collector of souls,” responsible for some of the most
indelible portraits of the 20th century.

Price: Free
Time: Open daily, at all times

—Tim Schneider

Through at least Saturday,
May 9

9. “Richard Diebenkorn: Paintings and Works on
Paper 1946-1952” & “Special Presentation | Wartime Works
1943–1945“ at Van Doren
Waxter 

Though Richard Diebenkorn is best known for his pastel-colored
vistas of California architecture and cityscapes, he was an
accomplished draughtsman as well. In the dual presentations on view
through Van Doren Waxter’s website (plus a digital catalogue), rare works that show
the artist’s other skills are on view, including a moodier color
palette in abstract canvases, and intimately-scaled watercolor
portraits of soldiers and other wartime scenes.

Price: Free
Time: Open daily, at all times

—Caroline Goldstein

Through Sunday, May
10

10. “Jessie Makinson: Dangerous Pleasing” at Lyles &
King

Available for viewing on the Lyles & King website are works by
London-based artist Jessie Makinson. Drawing inspiration from 17th-
and 18th-century erotica and early Renaissance altarpieces,
Makinson creates worlds where women dominate and look fabulous in
leopard print catsuits (picture Carole Baskin from Netflix’s
Tiger King vibes). Kate Neave acutely observes in the
exhibition’s press release that “Makinson’s characters seem
motivated by jealousy, narcissism, and, desire. Her paintings bring
to mind conspiracies and betrayals, invoking plot lines that could
equally have been plucked from Tudor England or Instagram
stories.”

Price: Free
Time: Open daily, at all times

—Cristina Cruz

The post Editors’s Picks: 10 Things Not to Miss in the
Virtual Art World This Week appeared first on artnet
News.