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When walking into the back gallery at The Hole NYC on Bowery, you are both welcomed and challenged by five obelisk-like cocoons. At first glance, you’ll think there are ominous sarcophagi standing erect in front of you, but upon a second look, you see that they are actually sleeping bags, fashioned in a similar shape.

Artist Adam Parker Smith’s show, Standing on the Moon, showcases these sarcophagi, which he molded and sculpted with resin but look incredibly realistic. He references pop art in the direct “copying” of an existing object, creates a dialogue with art history with the marble pedestals upon which the sculptures stand, and reminds us of sci-fi movies with their iridescent cocoon-like quality. They’re all at once ancient and futuristic.

The sculptor, videographer, and mixed-media artist employs a playful sensibility in much of his work: for example, his casts of mylar balloons, pool floats, and other synthetic objects. However, there is a grounding sense of emotion, weight, and environmental commentary. The sunset paint jobs and plastic monuments will outlive us all.

Smith’s Standing on the Moon sculptures really need to be seen in person to see just how strong of a presence they have. Standing in the gallery alone, you will feel something looming there. These anonymized human forms are reminiscent of a time when bodies were preserved through mummification, but are a response to the recent global loss this planet has suffered in the last couple of years.

In regards to the title, Smith said, “The title of the show is crucial for a full understanding of the show, both conceptually and emotionally… ‘Standing on the Moon’ is a song written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia… The song starts with the protagonist doing just what the title describes — standing on the moon. They are looking down at earth and detailing all the flaws… This is contrasted against the signer’s own surroundings, which are entirely quiet and peaceful… As the song goes on it seems very much to be an antiwar anthem… It’s not until almost the very end of the song that everything is flipped upside down. The singer admits that while they are standing on the moon, they would ‘rather be with you, somewhere in San Francisco, on a back porch in July,” and so, forsaking all the heavenly tranquility on the moon, to be back on a very flawed earth, just to be with the one they loved. The first time I heard this song, I realized that I always thought of loss as the living mourning the deceased, but never as the deceased missing the living… What a wonderful thing it is to be here with everybody.”

The show, open until August 8th, is the debut of the full collection of Smith’s iconoclastic sarcophagi, and you won’t want to miss seeing the mourning monuments face to face.

Hank Willis Thomas continues to confront what it means to be an American in his latest exhibition Everything We See Hides Another Thing. Works in this latest installment span across different mediums — photography, sculpture and textile, solidifying his place as a truly multidisciplinary master. The work takes on a cataclysmic approach to classic American iconography while referencing the aesthetics of some of the greatest American artists throughout history such as Warhol and Rauschenberg. 

Read our interview with Hank Willis Thomas from issue 18 here.

The American flag, a recurring theme of his body of work, appears in the show in the piece 'Falling Stars' which depicts thousands of embroidered stars honoring the lives of the number of victims of gun violence in America — an issue deeply personal to Willis Thomas after he lost a friend to gun violence. The most interactive and quirky element of the exhibition is the retroflective work which forces the viewer to step out of the passive viewing of photography and intentionally engage with the art by using a flash in order to reveal the subject.

Everything We See Hides Another Thing is on view at both Chelsea locations of the Jack Shainman Gallery until October 29th, 2022.

At the very least, if you've ever listened to Frank Ocean then you've come across the work of photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, who shot the legendary cover of Blonde (2016) a.k.a Frank Ocean crying in the shower. Now, on view at the Museum of Modern Art, the legendary image maker is having his first ever New York exhibition, including approximately 350 pieces from over three decades, ranging from photography to video and other forms of mixed visual media.

Wolfgang Tillmans: To Look Without Fear discloses a vast scope of his work as an artist rather than a photographer. As part of his creative signature, not adding any additional effects to his photographs gives them an understated and sentimental, rather than flashy, look — a personal element that is an aesthetic that could almost be overseen. However, it's the motifs and expressions he decides to capture that evoke emotions. 

Switching from abstract experimental photography, to raw journalistic documentary, to staged trailblazing fashion editorials for both publications and iconic campaigns has proven his work transgresses one set category.

Apart from that, the German-born artist has developed a one-of-a-kind tactic of coalescing a relationship between space and his exhibits. By placing his work in a rather unconventional way — yes, the photograph is meant to be next to the fire extinguisher — the exhibition transforms from looking at 2-D art to a three-dimensional installation. Tillmans' work is conveyed by integrity and research that conquers to create proximity between the captured object or person and the viewer. 

The exhibition will be open to the public from the 12th of September until the 1st of January 2023 found in the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions.

Since the 1980's, photographer David LaChapelle has been making an undeniable impact on the creative world — one seen across fashion, arts, and culture. 

His bold and unapologetic style has held its own in a competetive industry and garnered a dedicated, well-deserved fanbase for its unique aesthetic: each piece drips with deep-set religious references, highly saturated color schemes and hypersexual visuals.

Without forgoing tongue-in-cheek attitude, LaChapelle has proven over the years he has an inherent and unmatched ability to turn a celebrity portrait into a challenging, erotic, exciting, political and sociological statement as much as a beautiful work of art.

Though his work is anything but a stranger to the gallery setting, aptly during NYFW, Fotografiska New York opens the most extensive retrospective of DLC's career to date. Touching on the wide range of themes and techniques the artist has approached throughout the 40 years he's been in practice, highlighting in particlar the religious under- (and over-) tones his work has become both fervently beloved and criticized for, the exhibition titled Make Believe will present to the public over 150 works created by LaChapelle between 1984 and 2022.

From his prolific 90's portfolio featuring everyone from Tupac and David Bowie to Britney Spears, to more current portraits of Kim Kardashian, Travis Scott and the like — the historic, and ironically church-like Fotografiska building in Midtown has dedicated its entire space to the exhibition. 

Check out a preview below, and be sure to head over to the show yourself, opening September 9th. 

Please confirm that you are at least 18 years old.