The Return of Abstraction

Parallax presents new paintings by Barbara Takenaga inspired by the optical effect in which an image shifts depending on the viewer’s position. Through meticulous structure and chance-based processes, Takenaga creates abstract compositions that resemble cosmic vistas, imagined landscapes, or microscopic forms. Using vivid color, paint pours, and layered brushwork, the works explore shifting perception, repetition, and visual systems drawn from sources such as mushrooms and Japanese woodblock prints.

Mar 19 - May 2

In A Light Left on in the Hallway, Caroline Kent presents paintings that range from intimate linen panels to monumental unstretched canvases. Inspired by midcentury black-and-white cinema, she flattens and carves space, embedding pigmented cement forms into recessed surfaces. Repetition with subtle variation guides shifting motifs across cloth, wood, and concrete. Light and shadow structure these works, which hover between memory, architecture, and abstraction.

Mar 12 - Apr 18

An exhibition of recent paintings and watercolors by David Novros will be on display at Paula Cooper Gallery. Monumentally scaled to the gallery’s main location at 534 West 21st Street, each work is composed of 10 to 37 tightly integrated irregularly shaped modular panels that enclose and define the supporting walls using interlocking rectangles and right-angles. These paintings are part of an ongoing series of “portable murals” that cohere into a total painted environment.

Mar 7 - Apr 25

David Nolan Gallery presents Time Measures Itself, spanning Dorothea Rockburne’s career from the 1960s to today. Early brown paper works and Golden Section paintings rooted in mathematics appear alongside later vellum “Angel” pieces and new paper bag drawings that let geometry arise from existing creases. A recent sculpture combining tires and oars extends her use of industrial materials, tracing decades of rigorous inquiry into proportion, structure, and form.

Feb 25 - Apr 18

Hannah Traore Gallery presents Dreamkeeper, Arlina Cai’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. The Brooklyn-based artist creates vibrant abstract paintings on unstretched canvas using diluted acrylic washes. Working intuitively on the floor, she approaches painting as a meditative practice rooted in emotion and bodily sensation. Swirling color fields and symbolic details invite viewers into contemplative spaces shaped by memory, imagination, and personal reflection.

Mar 19 - May 30

Anne Truitt: Waterleaf presents twelve paintings on handmade paper made in 2003 alongside four sculptures produced between 1963 and 2003. The Waterleaf series explores subtle color divisions that articulate space through vertical and horizontal structure, reflecting Truitt’s sustained attention to proportion and placement. The exhibition also includes early and later sculptures that extend her investigation of color, gravity, and form in three dimensions.

Feb 12 - Apr 18

Gabriele Münter was a pioneering modernist who overcame exclusion from public art schools to become a central figure in early 20th-century European art. A founding member of The Blue Rider, she explored how color and form convey emotion and spirituality. This exhibition focuses on her work from 1908 to 1920, highlighting bold, vibrant compositions in still life, landscape, and portraiture, as well as later works that reflect her ongoing experimentation and influence.

Nov 7 - Apr 26