NYC Art Exhibitions You Don't Want to Miss

It can be challenging to stay motivated or inspired or let alone leave your apartment when it’s constantly down-pouring and we’re faced with that seasonal depression. There are many entertaining indoor activities around NYC to lighten your mood, but one of my personal favorites is exploring museums and galleries.

We can expect warmer days ahead of us, but while we hunker down in the last stretch of this frigid weather, here are a few exhibits you should visit before it’s too late:

Damien Hirst: Forgiving and Forgetting

Damien Hirst is an English artist best known for his “installations, sculptures, paintings, and drawings that examine the complex relationships between art and beauty, religion and science, and life and death.” From January 20 to April 16, 2022, you’ll be able to view his work at the Gagosian, located at 541 W 24th St. in New York.

His exhibition, Forgiving and Forgetting, features works from his past project Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable. This project showcases sculptures of Disney characters that appear to have been excavated from a shipwreck. In this exhibit, “Hirst aims to invoke feelings of wonder at their meticulous physical and conceptual fabrication.” This is for all the Disney adults out there.

Andy Warhol: Revelation

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Source: Warhol

Andy Warhol is one of the most well-known artists of our time. While celebrated for his role in the Pop art movements, this exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum focuses on the artist’s “Byzantine Catholic upbringing,” and his “lifelong relationship with his faith that frequently appeared in his artworks.” On display from November 19, 2021, to June 19, 2022, you’ll see a different side to Warhol and his typical pieces, and develop a deeper sense of his artistry. Also stop by the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (if weather permits), while you’re there to see the cherry blossoms in bloom.

Tomás Saraceno: Particular Matter(s)

Tomás Saraceno is an Argentinian-born artist, fighting for environmental justice and bringing awareness to issues regarding the “destructive effects of capitalism on the environment” and the communities affected by these matters. Through his use of sculpture, installations, and other mediums, he creates a conversation about our future and “the complexity of our collective existence while looking for ways to live together differently.” Saraceno’s work is currently on display at The Shed through February 11–April 17th. The “large-scale exhibition” is a “sensory experience with spiderwebs, air, and the cosmic web.” The interactive installation is an experience like no other, but not for the Arachnophobic.

I hope these recommendations will serve as a creativity booster to those struggling, or just provide a fun activity for anyone looking to discover something new. Comment some of your experiences and drop some more recommendations below!