Chelsea: Painting Heavyweights

Here’s a walkable itinerary you can knock out in an afternoon on foot. A painting-only walk through Chelsea's biggest rooms. Jasper Johns on copying, a four-decade Frankenthaler survey, Carol Rama's radical six decades, Celia Paul's first show with Gladstone, and Joan Brown's late, fearless work.

5 exhibitions

Jasper Johns: Copy/Trace

David Zwirner Gallery, 537 West 20th Street

Two processes running through Johns's six decades — copying and tracing — in drawings, prints, and works on plastic.

May 7 - Jun 26

Helen Frankenthaler: The Moment and the Distance

Gagosian, 522 West 21st Street

Four decades of Frankenthaler (1960–1992): 20+ of her largest, most ambitious canvases arranged by decade.

Apr 30 - Jul 2

Carol Rama: I See You You See Me

Hauser & Wirth

Six decades of the radical Italian artist (1947–1998) across paint, textile, sculpture, and bricolage.

May 12 - Jul 31

Celia Paul: Innervisions

Gladstone Gallery, 515 W 24th Street

Paul's first show with Gladstone: portraits of herself, her mother, and sisters, painted as relationships rather than motifs.

Apr 28 - Jun 13

Joan Brown: The Golden Age

Matthew Marks, 523 W 24th St

Fourteen late paintings and sculptures (1981–1988) from the decade before Brown's death at 52 — Rousseau-inflected, fearless.

May 7 - Jun 27