EAST VILLAGE—Every two decades is a response to the previous two. After decades of irony, the purposeful ugliness of the 80s and 90s (“Anything that’s beautiful is suspect.” Jenny Holzer. “I never had a message. My message was the beauty of the blank.” Richard Prince), the art world may be ready to accept beauty again. A newly opened gallery in the East Village that epitomizes a return to classical aesthetics...
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EAST VILLAGE—Every two decades is a response to the previous two. After decades of irony, the purposeful ugliness of the 80s and 90s (“Anything that’s beautiful is suspect.” Jenny Holzer. “I never had a message. My message was the beauty of the blank.” Richard Prince), the art world may be ready to accept beauty again.
A newly opened gallery in the East Village that epitomizes a return to classical aesthetics is Slip House. Founded by Ingrid Lundgren and Marissa Dembkoski, launched during New York Art Week with a mission steeped in the ethos of Coenties Slip—a 20th-century downtown artist enclave that included Agnes Martin, Ellsworth Kelly, and James Rosenquist. Their newly opened space aims to challenge the traditional gallery model by fostering a domestic, historically-rooted atmosphere for contemporary work. The inaugural exhibition, As if a line, reflects that vision through an interplay of modernist, metaphysical, and figurative works across three floors.
Ingrid Lundgren and Marissa Dembkoski
Slip House once belonged to artist and designer Charles Kritsky, who lived and worked there through the ’80s and ’90s. His mosaic still marks the façade—a holdover from a time when the building served as an informal salon for artists and neighbors. That communal energy carries into the space’s first exhibition, a multigenerational presentation co-curated by former Sprüth Magers director Jessica Draper. The show pairs historical works by Jack Whitten and Claude Viallat with new pieces by Anne Hayden Stevens, Lizzy Gabay, Max Guy, Nour Malas, Katharina Schilling, Oda Iselin Sønderland, Jill Tate, Noelia Towers, and others.
More International Artists Creating Classically Beautiful Works
Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and now based in Munich, Aliya Abs crafts paintings that evoke a sense of nostalgia and introspection. Her figures, often faceless, inhabit vintage or historical settings, allowing viewers to project their own emotions onto the scenes. Abs’s compositions blend acrylics, oil pastels, and occasionally collage elements, resulting in works that are both intimate and universally resonant. Her pieces, such as “Revelling In Memories”, capture fleeting moments with a delicate balance of melancholy and warmth.
L’escalier by Victoria GlinkinaNue by Victoria Glinkina
A young talent from Seversk, Siberia, Victoria Glinkina infuses her paintings with a sense of spontaneity and freshness. Her works often depict everyday scenes—interiors, still lifes, and figures—rendered with subtle tonal shifts and a soft palette. Glinkina’s art captures the ephemeral nature of youth and memory, inviting viewers into a world where light and color harmonize to evoke emotion.
Italian artist Luca Giovagnoli, hailing from Rimini, brings a poetic realism to his paintings. His works often feature solitary figures or intimate scenes, rendered with a muted color palette and textured surfaces. Giovagnoli’s technique involves layering acrylics with natural materials like sand and earth, creating a tactile depth that enhances the emotional resonance of his subjects. His art reflects a contemplative exploration of human experience, bridging the gap between past and present.
Super Heros by Luca Giovagnoli
Upcoming and Current Shows
As if a line, Slip House 246 East 5th Street, East Village. May 9–June 14, 2025.
Brush and Pixel Ballet, Braw Haus 52 Walker St, Tribeca. June 6–30, 2025.
Pools of Enchantment, Private Gallery, Chelsea. July 25–August 18, 2025.
Close-up: Clara Holt & Sasha Epshtein. Opens concurrently, July 25.
Lady Writing a Letter... by Johannes Vermeer (detail)
As of today, there's ten authenticated Johannes Vermeer paintings on public view in New York, the most of anywhere outside of the Netherlands. All of... Text by Marguerite de Ponty. Read More
Jeannie Four Roses (detail) Oil on linen 45 x 30 in. by Jamie Adams
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In 2022, the city of Rome hosted a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Francesco Messina at Villa Torlonia. Titled Francesco Messina. Novecento Contemporaneo, the show brought... Text by dannik. Read More
Richard Hawkins. New Paintings at Greene Naftali in New York
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MILAN—Italy’s long affection for bamboo can be glimpsed beyond fashion and design. Franco Maria Ricci’s Labirinto della Masone, the sprawling bamboo maze outside Parma, stands... Text by Cici Thompson. Read More
Pol Taburet, Desire and Stones (detail), 2025. Acrylics, alcohol-based paint, and oil pastel on canvas, 250 × 190 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Mendes Wood DM. Photo: Romain Darnaud.
MADRID—French-Guadeloupean artist Pol Taburet makes his Spanish debut in Oh, If Only I Could Listen, a site-specific exhibition staged inside Madrid’s historic Pabellón de los... Text by Edward Bellow. Read More
Photograph by Erich Höhne. Courtesy of Deutsche Fotothek.
The Geometry of Motion and Zadie Smith. Wassily Kandinsky, a painter of color and form, once envisioned a future where dance would shed its ornamental... Text by Marguerite de Ponty. Read More
Located in the stunning, spaceship-like expo of Messeplatz, Art Basel faces Design Miami, another expo for the rich and curious, displaying furniture and aesthetic products... Text by Madina Tulakova. Read More
VENICE—The Biennale, Stranieri ovunque, is a mirror this year. "You judge, you gossip, you wash it all down with Prosecco. Have you seen the Uzbekistan... Text by Simona Alberi. Read More
Textile art, or as Anni Albers said, "the poetry of materials," has had many lives. In the 40s, we loved fabric. 24 foot stage curtains.... Text by Pina Lomb. Read More
Franco Maria Ricci in 1984, at the launch of FMR U.S.A. at the New York Public Library.
Caverns were probably the first labyrinthine structures human beings came into contact with, in a distant past. And I, too, rummaged through my own past,... Text by fmr. Read More
