“María Berrío: The Children’s Crusade,” at the ICA Boston
February 16–August 6, 2023
This art show is featuring incredible collages by New York-based Colombian-born artist Maria Berrio. They are made from torn Japanese paper and watercolors and become a museum display. Her Children’s Crusade series draws on medieval history, comparing the legend of children sent to the Holy Land to convert to Islam in 1212 with 21st-century migrant children crossing international borders, often unaccompanied. The works of contemporary art are permeated not only with a sense of loss, but also with childish surprise and a sense of magic. Some of Berrio’s figures are hybrids of animals and humans.
“Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined,” at the New Museum, New York
March 2–June 4, 2023
The new museum is currently bringing together more than 100 works by Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu, who over the past 25 years has expanded her practice from jewel-like collages to paintings, films, performances and large-scale sculptures. The emerging artist touches on the themes of globalization, the African diaspora and the legacy of colonialism, creating figures of Afrofuturists, proudly feminist.
“Simone Leigh,” at the ICA Boston
April 6–September 4, 2023
Simone Lee, who just won the Golden Lion as the U.S. representative at the 2022 Venice Biennale, traveled to Beantown to participate in the artist’s “first comprehensive poll”. Accompanied by a weighty monograph, the ICA exhibition looks back at Lee’s ceramics, sculptures and other work over the course of roughly two decades.
The emerging artist quickly became one of the defining ones of our current era. The exhibit will also visit the Hirshhorn Smithsonian Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC (November 10, 2023 – March 3, 2024).
“Bruce Onobrakpeya: The Mask and the Cross,” at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta
April 7–July 30, 2023
This spring, Bruce Onobrakpeya, known as the father of Nigerian modernism, is holding his first solo exhibition at an American museum. The works of contemporary art by Bruce Onobrakpeya explore religious imagery as well as Nigerian folklore, themes that have come to define post-colonial art and culture in Nigeria.
“Josh Kline: Project for a New American Century” at the Whitney Museum of American ArtApril 19–August 2023
Few emerging artists have dealt with the anxieties of the past decade with as insight and humor as Josh Kline. During a relatively short career as an artist, he imagined trips through a flooded New York, dressed the Teletubbies in protective gear, and used deepfake video technology to depict Bush, Cheney and other leaders of the War on Terror era begging for forgiveness.
Many of his works featured in the art show, as well as several new ones, will be included in the Project for a New American Century, Kline’s first museum study in the United States.
“Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
May 5–July 16, 2023
Three years after the death of the legendary designer, his legacy lives on. He is one of the most important figures in the fashion world. But did you know that Lagerfeld was also an artist? Then you just need to visit this art show. The Met is going to host a special review of his designs for fashion houses including Balmain, Patou, Chloé, Fendi and Chanel, accompanied by original sketches made by Lagerfeld himself.
