Five Shows Jerry Saltz Really Wants to See

Another anticipated show: “Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955–1972.” Click to page two for more. (Photo: © The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow/Piotr Stanislawski/ADAGP, Paris.Photo by Thomas Mueller/Courtesy of Broadway 1602, New York, and Galerie Gisela Capitain GMBH, Cologne.)

1. Picasso Black and White
Picasso is back, this time in black-and-white. Only. Before Picasso, few painters depicted the world without color. This thrilling show of over 100 works will put forward his massive graphic power and also demonstrate how much can be done with little. Socks should be knocked off. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; opens Oct. 5.

2. Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists; Fifty Years
It wouldn’t be a museum season without a Warhol show, and the Met’s jump into the Warhol ruckus is a look at the ever-expanding cloud of artists who emanate from Andy. The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Sept. 18–Dec. 31.

3. Wade Guyton OS
Of all the artists not in the Met’s Warhol show, Wade Guyton is the one who today may be doing the most to extend Andy’s reproductive processes. This mid-career survey will let us see just how germane these investigations are. Whitney Museum of American Art; Oct. 4–Jan. 13.

4. Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos
The New Museum continues its ever-improving march toward non-annoying excellence with this three-floor show of a German artist who since the seventies has pushed boundaries around social sculpture, craft, political art, neo-conceptualism, and elegant beauty. The New Museum; Oct. 24–Jan. 21.

5. Mickalene Thomas: The Origin of the Universe
Few artists hit you with a glammed-up multicolored retinal blast as shocking and smart as Thomas’s. Her massive landscapes and portraits embellished with rhinestones, enamel, and paint exude sheer aesthetic gall and visual intelligence. Brooklyn Museum; Sept. 28–Jan. 20.

And We’re Also Anticipating

“Eric Yahnker: Virgin Birth n’ Turf” 
Because his epically scaled drawings of models with hair in their eyes have been a painstaking two years in the making. The Hole; Sept. 4–Oct. 6.

“Susan Philipsz” 
Because the Turner Prize winner’s soundscapes are so lush and evocative they have no problem filling an empty room. Tanya Bonakdar; Sept. 6–Oct. 20.

“Toxic Beauty: The Art of Frank Moore”
Because the extraordinarily intricate realist-allegorical paintings of this artist—another lost in his prime to aids—delve into biogenetics, the environment, and his own declining heath. Grey Art Gallery; Sept. 6–Dec. 8.

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