Highlights from New York Art Fair Week
Frieze New York, 2025
New York Art Fair Week is one of the most anticipated events in the art world calendar, offering a thrilling mix of international galleries, emerging artists, and groundbreaking exhibitions. Whether you're a seasoned collector or an art lover seeking something new, this guide highlights the standout shows that promise to shape the week. From Frieze New York's bold, blue-chip presentations to Independent’s curated, intimate booths, and NADA’s fresh, young voices, there’s something for everyone. We’ve also rounded up exhibitions that blur the lines between art forms, including monumental outdoor sculptures, conceptual installations, and immersive digital experiences.
So, lace up those comfortable shoes—you’ll need them to navigate all the art!
At The Fairs
Frieze New York, 2025
Polly Apfelbaum, Off Grid, 2025. Terracotta and glaze, 58.4 × 43.2 cm. Courtesy Frith Street Gallery, London
Frieze New York
Frieze New York is the anchor of Art Week, returning to its home at The Shed for another year of cutting-edge exhibitions. With around 70 galleries showcasing a mix of blue-chip artists and emerging voices, the fair promises to be a dynamic highlight of the season. Notable works include Polly Apfelbaum's terracotta and glaze wall-sculptures at Firth Street Gallery, which explore personal narratives developed during her residency at Arcadia University; Donald Moffett’s textured, sculptural paintings at Alexander Gray Associates, offering poignant commentary on environmental vulnerability; Issy Wood’s provocative oil-on-velvet paintings of jackets and guns at Carlos/Ishikawa; and Mary Stephenson’s tender, colorful canvases at The Sunday Painter, which explore intimacy and memory through a range of marks from the architectural to the organic.
A Hug From The Art World at Independent Art Fair, New York
Eva Struble, Panamint, 2025. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 40 × 30 in (101.6 × 76.2 cm). Courtesy the artist and Jane Lombard, New York
Independent Art Fair
Independent Art Fair continues to be a destination for thoughtful, intimate presentations. Highlights include Guy Richards Smit's cartoon-like, larger-than-life paintings at A Hug From The Art World, delving into themes of narcissism, power, and failure; Eva Struble’s vibrant, multisensory abstract landscapes at Jane Lombard Gallery, translating her connection to nature through color and form; Adam Higgin’s almost photographic renditions of Caesar salads at Chris Sharp’s booth; Clinton King’s minimalist oil-on-linen paintings at George Benias Gallery, exploring the material and perceptual boundaries of painting; Zearo’s intricate, dreamlike visual narratives at The Sunday Painter; and Lita Albuquerque’s cosmic-themed "Auric Field" paintings at GAVLAK, where refracted light evokes the celestial and earthly.
Saenger Galería at NADA New York. Courtesy Saenger Galería
Sarah Bedford at Mrs.’s booth, NADA New York
NADA New York
NADA continues to offer a platform for young galleries and emerging artists, bringing fresh voices to the forefront of New York Art Week. At Cob, Chinese artist YaYa Yajie Liang presents a new suite of oil-on-canvas paintings alongside delicate works in watercolor and ink on Indian paper. HESSE FLATOW features Andina Marie Osorio’s powerful exploration of memory, identity, and queer affect through photographic works created in collaboration with bees. At Saenger Galería, Yoab Vera unveils a new series of colorful, haptic contemplative landscapes, blending oil-stick and concrete to reflect on the urban environment. Sofía del Mar Collins brings hand-dyed textile paintings inspired by the Caribbean wetlands at Chozick Family Art Gallery, while at Luis de Jesus Los Angeles, Laura Krifka’s intimate, gender-fluid portrayals of figures in carefully constructed interiors question the traditional boundaries of subject and object. Sarah Bedford’s layered floral paintings at Mrs. combine still life and landscape traditions to explore memory and the unseen rhythms of the natural world.
At The Galleries
Lotus L. Kang, Installation view, 2025. Courtesy the artist and 52 Walker
Breaking Material Boundaries
If you're a fan of art that doesn’t just sit still, Lotus L. Kang’s Already at 52 Walker is one for the books. The Canadian-born, New York-based artist knows how to bend materials like photographic paper and film to her will, turning them into delicate time capsules that capture the traces of architecture and bodies around them. The show, housed within two greenhouses, is both contemplative and strikingly physical, with objects and wall works that seem to grow and mutate. Kang’s title, Already, pulls from Kim Hyesoon's poem Autobiography of Death, which touches on the Buddhist practice of rituals performed between death and rebirth—think of it as a meditation on memory, impermanence, and the space between what’s gone and what’s yet to come. It’s a show that makes you ponder what you’re looking at, what’s left behind, and what might be waiting in the wings. Don’t expect a tidy experience—Kang’s work lingers, just like the ghosts of what’s left unsaid.
Installation view of Pirelli, let me count the ways [Part II] at Jane Lombard Gallery, New York. Photo credit: Adam Reich.
Feminist Minimalism
Over at Jane Lombard Gallery, Jane Bustin’s Pirelli, let me count the ways [Part II] is a quietly fierce exploration of the female gaze, and not just in the way you might think. Bustin, known for her intimate, minimalist constructions, takes on the iconic Pirelli calendar and vintage lenticular images—aka the classic pin-up girl trope—and recontextualizes it. What she’s offering isn’t a simple revision of pop culture, but a sharp, pointed look at how women are depicted, reimagined, and often commodified. There’s a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a ceramic bowl, and even a video filmed in the poet’s Victorian home—honestly, if you didn’t know this was about reframing the gaze, you might be forgiven for thinking it was just a love letter to the past. But Bustin’s work digs deeper, using familiar images to turn the lens back on us. It's a subtle, intellectual kick to the head—and one worth getting lost in.
Theodora Allen: Oak, installation view, Kasmin Gallery, New York. Courtesy the artist and Kasmin Gallery, New York
Theodora Allen’s Celestial Compositions
Theodora Allen’s Oak at Kasmin Gallery takes us on a metaphysical stroll through nature’s symbolic power. The Los Angeles-based artist is no stranger to mythological themes, but in this show, she brings a fresh layer of urgency to the conversation. Her atmospheric oil paintings depict natural phenomena—oak trees, hearts, rainbows, and locusts—each chosen for their significance in both nature and human culture. In Allen's world, the natural and metaphysical are never separate; they twist and interlace, much like the branching compositions she creates. The oak tree, a symbol of wisdom and endurance, is a recurring motif, reminding us that even in ruin, life finds a way. These works are like windows into a world where destruction meets regeneration, creating a dialogue that’s both timeless and painfully relevant. For anyone interested in art that feels as much like an invitation as an observation, Oak is a show to experience.
Remix The Archive, installation view. Courtesy Dunkunsthalle, New York
An immersive exhibition at Dunkunsthalle
Get ready to have your idea of art turned upside down—Remix the Archive at Dunkunsthalle isn’t your average exhibition. Presented by the Finnish National Gallery, this digital reimagining of over 25,000 artworks brings a new kind of generative art to the fore, merging technology with creative coding. The show takes the vast collection of the Finnish National Gallery and transforms it through interactive processes, inviting viewers to “remix” the works themselves. The resulting pieces—by artists like Newyellow, Nahuel Gerth, and Andreas Rau—explore themes of cultural memory, portraiture, and artistic representation. This is art for the now, where you’re not just looking at the work, you’re becoming part of it. Remixing isn't just a metaphor here; it's a call to action, making the digital world as much a playground as a gallery space. It’s one of the most exciting ways to get up close to the future of art—and the future is interactive.
Salman Toor, The Scroller, 2024. 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm). Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York
Around the City
Carl D’Alvia, Tandem, 2025. Courtesy the artist and HESSE FLATOW, New York
Carl D’Alvia’s Broadway Takeover
Artist Carl D’Alvia’s solo, outdoor exhibition, Broadway Hubbub, is a feast for the eyes—and the senses—bringing his Liths series to the streets of New York City. Stretching from 64th Street to 117th Street along Broadway, these five towering, monochromatic sculptures blend D’Alvia’s signature bright colors with the urban landscape in a way that’s impossible to ignore. Ranging from 5 to 12 feet tall, the sculptures are crafted from aluminum and coated in automotive paint, creating an exhilarating contrast between their monumental size and vibrant, playful hues. D’Alvia, known for his ability to fuse humor with formality, continues his exploration of dichotomies—hard/soft, minimal/ornate—in these works, imbuing them with both strength and vulnerability. Inspired by the weighty forms of ancient monoliths and mid-century sculptors like Alexander Calder, D’Alvia’s sculptures pulse with life and personality. Pieces like Hot Rod and Tandem (both 2025) turn the traditional statue into something more animated and whimsical, while still holding the gravitas of historical monumentality. It’s sculpture with a sense of humor and heart, bringing new vitality to the streets of New York.
R U STILL PAINTING???, installation view. Courtesy FALCON Art Collective
An Immersive Experience
If you’re looking for a gallery show that refuses to be boxed in, FALCON Art Collective’s R U STILL PAINTING??? is your go-to this season. Transforming 40,000 square feet of raw, corporate space in Midtown, this inaugural exhibition turns the question "Are you still painting?" on its head. But don’t mistake it for a casual query—it’s a full-throttle provocation, drawn from meme culture and an ironic response to the digital age where the human hand feels increasingly redundant. The show’s title celebrates the imperfections of physical painting—the bleeds, the groans, the stumbles, and the laughable bits that often get scrubbed out in favor of flawless digital imagery. FALCON’s curatorial team channels the energy of New York’s early 2000s art scene, taking back space in a city where independent creative zones are rapidly vanishing. The exhibition celebrates painting as an evolving, urgent medium, an antidote to a disembodied digital world. Far from a relic, painting here becomes a declaration of presence—a messy, living practice that fractures traditional imagery into something new and unpredictable. It’s a celebration of the physical, the human, and the beautifully imperfect.
