The 4 Hottest Exhibits Coming To NYC This Season

From exploring fashion icons to foundational works, these anticipated exhibitions offer a range of intriguing perspectives.

“Align” (2022, free-standing structure, wood, paint and seven-channel video with sound).

Xaviera Simmons: Crisis Makes a Book Club

“Crisis Makes a Book Club” (2022, print on self-adhesive vinyl on the museum facade)

In her largest museum presentation yet, Xaviera Simmons explores how the construction of whiteness, labor politics and institutional failures shape the United States and the art industry.

“Florals” (2022, series of 14 chromogenic color prints)

“Simmons is rigorous and specific in her call for accountability and repair on a systemic level, as echoed in the books distributed for free in relation to her exhibition, which are vital to our time,” says assistant curator and studio programs manager Lindsey Berfond.

“Gallery 6 Figures, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3” (2022, papier-mache with papier-mache clay, plaster and paint), fabricated by Gregory Corbino

The exhibit, Crisis Makes a Book Club, conveys Simmons’ message through photography, painting, sculpture, video and installation. Through March 5, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Building, Queens

Fresh, Fly and Fabulous

Doorknocker earrings and Kangol hat (2022)

From baggy jeans to gold chains, the Museum at FIT’s upcoming exhibit Fresh, Fly and Fabulous celebrates the 50th anniversary of hip-hop by telling the story of its influence on fashion. Along with clothing, the show features artifacts and video oral histories from designers and notable hip-hop personas.

Timberland boots (2013)

“This exhibition celebrates an innovative and multifaceted style, originated mostly by people of color, that has come to dominate American style,” co-curator Elena Romero says. Designed and curated by women of color, the exhibit is accompanied by a book of the same name, published by Rizzoli. Feb. 8-April 23, 227 W. 27th St.

Wangechi Mutu: Intertwined

Wangechi Mutu, “In Two Canoe” (2022, bronze), 180 inches by 68 inches by 72 inches

African and diasporic cultural traditions, mythical and folkloric narratives, feminism and Afrofuturism—these are some of the themes portrayed in the New Museum’s solo exhibition of Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu. Featuring over 100 pieces in various media from the artist’s 25-plus-year career, Intertwined offers an opportunity to see the range and depth of Mutu’s art. “Her work has long been characterized by a sense of permeable boundaries and hybridity, invested in the complex encounters of bodies, sites and structures that are both specific and expansive,” says Margot Norton, Allen and Lola Goldring senior curator. March 2-June 4, 2023, 235 Bowery

Monet to Morisot: The Real and Imagined in European Art

Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), “The Doge’s Palace” (1908, oil on canvas), 32 inches by 39 inches

Featuring nearly 90 historical and influential works of European art from the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Brooklyn Museum is casting a new light on the traditional canon with Monet to Morisot.

Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917), “Portrait of a Man (Portrait d’homme)” (circa 1866, oil on canvas), 34 inches by 25 1/2 inches

“I’m particularly excited about the opportunity that this and future European art presentations provide to reexamine and expand the stories we can tell with these objects, to make connections across all of the museum’s collections, and, most importantly, to think critically about what and who is missing,” senior curator Lisa Small says. Through May 21, 2023, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn

József Rippl-Rónai (Hungarian, 1861-1927), “Woman with Three Girls” (circa 1909, oil on board), 24 1/8 inches by 36 3/4 inches