The Best Art Exhibitions to See This Month

Image via Complex Original

Location: Studio Vendome Projects, 30 Grand St., New York 10013
Dates: Oct. 22 - Nov. 22, 2014

While we're all familiar with the concept of vacation, the title of Lidija Slavkovic's current show actually has another meaning. It represents the Serbian artist's view that “a drawing is no more than a plan,” according to the show's press release. Additionally, she uses the term “vacation,” to refer to the act of vacating or voiding something. In a nutshell, Slavkovic is trying to break down the common perception of a “landscape.” She does so successfully, for it just might take you a while to recognize the sunsets and oceans in her landscape drawings.

Location: Galerie Perrotin, 909 Madison Ave., New York 10021

Dates: Oct. 9 - Nov. 15, 2014

John Henderson is an artist who creates paintings without using any paint. Instead, he works with an assortment of non-traditional mediums and methods, including molds, castings, digital printing, video, and photography to create highly textural “paintings” that appear 3D. The Chicago-based artist created his "Proof (wall rip, verso)" series, for instance, by sticking linen onto the walls of his studio. He then ripped the fabric off, simultaneously removing a strip of the wall paint. Afterwards, he blew up the image and digitally rendered it in dye on polyester. His finished results, while flat in actuality, look 3D. Intrigued? Go see his show at Gagosian Gallery.

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave., New York 10028

Dates: Oct. 20 - Feb. 16, 2014

Leonard Lauder (son of Estée Lauder) has collected priceless Cubist works since the 1970s. In April 2013, the American businessman and art enthusiast generously donated his collection to the Met, on view in its entirety for the first time ever. A must-see for all Cubisism fans, it features paintings, works on paper, and sculptures by the OGs of Cubism—George Braque, Juan Gris, Fernand Léger, and of course, Pablo Picasso.

Location: Japanese American National Museum, 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles 90012
Dates: Oct. 11 - April 26, 2015

Cat or not, Hello Kitty remains one of the most famous characters of all time. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the beloved kitten, the Japanese American National Museum assembled and opened the first U.S. museum retrospective dedicated to everyone's favorite feline friend. The massive exhibition contains a collection of rare Hello Kitty goods from over the years and 40 works of contemporary art inspired by the Sanrio character.

Location: Yeelen Gallery, 294 N.W. 54th St., Miami 33127
Dates: Nov. 22, 2014 - Jan. 10, 2015

On view at Yeelen Gallery through Art Basel are Tim Okamura's large-scale, hyper-realistic portraits. The Brooklyn-based artist's paintings pay homage to women whose stories have been ignored by society. “His brush echoes the struggle for equality across lines of race, gender, and ethnicity … I see generations of women that have taken up the torch and continue to fight,” gallerist Karla Ferguson said in a press statement. Inspired by the graffiti, people, and elements of Brooklyn, Okamura blends traditional painting with contemporary aesthetics in his works.

Location: Musée d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 11 avenue du Président Wilson 75116 Paris

Dates: Oct. 10, 2014 - Feb. 1, 2015

David Altmejd's exhibition at the Musée d'Art Moderne is both a sweet dream and a beautiful nightmare. The first retrospective of the Canadian artist's sculptures, “Flux” is rife with anthropomorphic and animal-like creatures that have taken over the architecture of the museum. At once fascinating and terrifying, his works merge the grotesque with glamor. Some of the sculptures on view inside the Parisian museum, for example, consist of plaster and resin, as well as mirror shards and sequins.

Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Dates: Oct. 14, 2014 - April 6, 2015

If you happen to be in London in the next few months, be sure to stop by Whitechapel Gallery's retrospective of Richard Tuttle's works. Then, head over to Tate Modern's Turbine Hall to see the American sculptor's latest sculptural commission. The installation consists of vibrantly colored fabrics designed by Tuttle, and it showcases the artist's craftsmanship.

Location: Bonnefantenmuseum, Avenue Ceramique 250, 6221 KX Maastricht, Netherlands

Dates: Nov. 7, 2014 - Feb. 8, 2015

It's hard to sum up “Beating around the bush Episode #4.” The fourth and last part of a collection of works, “'Beating around the bush' focuses on artworks that can be connected to a greater or lesser degree with themes like identity, performance, and physicality,” according to the press release. With each episode exploring a different theme and artists' practices, the last one features art by Zackary Drucker & Rhys Ernst, Jutta Koether, Maha Maamoun, Ed Templeton, and Aline Thomassen.

Location: 1AM Gallery, 1000 Howard St., San Francisco 94103
Dates: Nov. 6 - 28, 2014

No one artist is exactly like another. Each differs in his or her thoughts, habits, and past. Thus, every artist's creation is also unique. Just see the art of Steve Javiel, Daniel Valadez, Malik Girley, Monty Guy, Christopher De Leon, Leon Loucheur, Emily Moore, and J.S. Weis, whose works are featured in 1AM Gallery's latest group exhibition. A documentation of the creative process, all the work featured in “Emergent” embodies the idea that art is a “tapestry of experience woven by a skilled hand,” as the show's press release so aptly declares.

Location: MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, NY 11101
Dates: Oct. 26, 2014 - March 8, 2015

When we think of Greek and Roman sculptures, we typically imagine statues crafted out of white marble. It turns out, however, that some of these ancient carvings were actually painted in vibrant palettes. After working with a team of archaeologists and researchers, Francesco Vezzoli has painted five Roman busts in the way they would have been colored thousands of years ago. With the fresh pop of color, viewers get to see these sculptures like we've never seen them before.

Location: Gagosian Gallery, 7/F Pedder Building 12 Pedder St., Central, Hong Kong

Dates: Nov. 6 - Dec. 20, 2014

There aren't any Jeff Koons balloons on view at “Hulk Evis.” Instead, the Gagosian Gallery in Hong Kong features the American artist's newest collection of paintings. Vibrantly colored, Koons' paintings are a collision of his signature inflatable monkeys, geishas, birds, and the Incredible Hulk, of course. “'Hulk Elvis' represents, for me, both Western and Eastern culture, a sense of guardian, a protector, that at the same time is capable of bringing the house,” Koons said in a press statement.

Location: Steve Turner Contemporary, 6026 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90036

Dates: Nov. 1 - 29, 2014

Rafael Rozendaal is a gamechanger in the realm of digital art. One of the first artists to sell websites as works of art, the Dutch-Brazilian artist recently opened his second solo exhibition at Steve Turner Contemporary. It features “lenticular paintings,” seemingly static works of art that becomes animated when the viewer moves. Also on view inside the gallery is an interactive projection that allows guests to experience all of Rozendaal's websites.

Location: New Museum, 235 Bowery, New York 10002

Dates: Oct. 29, 2014 - Jan. 25, 2015

Chris Ofili's work has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Although his work has gone from being bold and expressive to highly introspective, there are some constants. “Ofili has become identified with vibrant, meticulously executed, elaborate artworks that meld figuration, abstraction, and decoration,” according to the press release of his show at the New Museum. His works are intriguing, as they borrow imagery and take inspiration from diverse sources, including the Bible, hip-hop, Zimbabwean cave paintings, and poetry by William Blake.

Location: bitforms gallery, 131 Allen St., New York 10002
Dates: Nov. 2 - Dec. 7, 2014

Addie Wagenknecht uses the Internet and pop culture imagery to critique and comment on modern society. In the past, for instance, she has created GIFs, superimposing “female” iconography (photos of cats, pink dildos, and engagement rings) into stereotypically masculine images of lasers and drones. The artist recently opened her first solo exhibition in the United States at bitforms gallery. Similar to her past exhibitions, “Shellshock” explores the relationship between technology and social interaction.

Location: Gagosian Gallery, 555 W. 24th St., New York 10011
Dates: Nov. 10, 2014 - Jan. 17, 2015

While Takashi Murakami's colorful flowers and cuddly creatures may seem adorable and delightful to us, his art actually stems from dark origins. “To me, religions are a narrative … Natural catastrophes, earthquakes, are things caused by nature. Such chaos is natural, but we have to make sense of it somehow, and so we had to invent these stories,” he told Gagosian Gallery. Art is Murakami's way of dealing with disaster and trauma. Since the Great Tohoku Earthquake struck Japan in 2011, the artist has studied past Japanese art created in response to natural disasters. Centuries ago, for example, painters such as Kano Kazunobu turned to religion and painted 500 arhats (which are protectors of Buddha's teachings) following the Great Asei Edo Earthquake. Likewise, Murakami has created an immersive installation along with a series of paintings and sculptures for his latest exhibition, all of which explore the role of religion in dealing with trauma.

Location: Joseph Gross Gallery, 548 W. 28th St., 2nd Floor, New York 10001

Dates: Nov. 6 - 29, 2014

Peter Gronquist's newest paintings and sculptures are a departure from his old work. In the past, Gronquist made ironic, conceptual sculptures made up of taxidermy animals and large guns. His latest body of work, however, is much more abstract, consisting of oil enamel and acrylic paint on Plexiglas. The artist himself calls his latest exhibition a “'liberation' from the high production value of past works,” according to the show's press release. Somehow it feels more approachable than his previous tongue-in-cheek works.

Location: Subliminal Projects, 1331 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 90026

Dates: Oct. 17 - Nov. 15, 2014

Memories get “remade” in Amber Jean Young's fabric sculptures, quilts, and wall hangings. In an attempt to preserve her memories of her childhood house, Young printed photographs of her Northern California home onto fabric. She then tweaked the color, contrast, and aspect ratio of the photo during the printing process to create variations of the same image, eventually cutting the fabric into numerous shapes and incorporating the pieces into her quilts. Beautiful and contemplative, her visual reconstruction of memory emphasizes all that has been forgotten.

Location: Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, 505 W. 24th St., New York 10011
Dates: Oct. 30 - Dec. 13, 2014

In case you're unfamiliar with Shea Hembrey, he's an artist who presents his solo exhibitions as group shows. He invented five fictional artists (in this case, Artemesia Adebayo, Pawnee Calhoun, Harvey Lee, Elgin Rivers, and Phyllia Stanhope) and spent the past year living the lives of these imaginary people. Inspired by science and nature, Hembrey attempts to make his viewers less focused on themselves and more on their place in the cosmos through his art.

Location: Gagosian Paris, 800 Avenue de l'Europe 93350 Le Bourget (Paris)

Dates: Oct. 14 - Dec. 20, 2014

“Le Jardin Décomposé” imagines a city in which unattended plants begin mixing with the urban environment. It refers to botanist and writer Gilles Clément's “Third Landscape,” a place “for the multitude of species not finding place elsewhere,” according to the show's press release. It features works like Richard Prince's Untitled (tire planter) (2007), an orange vessel containing a clump of weeds, Holmby Hills Light Folly, a park square dreamed up by Chris Burden, and works by many others.

Location: Lazarides Rathbone, 11 Rathbone Place, London, W1T 1HR
Dates: Oct. 24 - Nov. 20, 2014

Like many Lazarides Rathbone artists, Marcus Jansen has no formal training in art but has forged his artistic career out of his life experiences. Before he was an artist, he was a combat soldier. Born and bred in Manhattan, Jansen takes inspiration from the graffiti he saw in his childhood neighborhood of Bronx as well as art he encountered during his rehabilitation art therapy classes after being discharged from the military. His art, which consists largely of gestural paintings and gritty landscapes, are attempts to spark conversation among his viewers about today's socio-political issues.