On Thursday, October 29, from 6 to 8 p.m., Berry Campbell at 524 West 26th Street holds the opening reception for "Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989)." The show runs through December 19, and the gallery has scheduled a lecture for Saturday, October 31, and a panel on November 19. On its own, that's a normal Thursday on West 26th. Starting November 11, the same blocks become the main room of something New York hasn't done before.
Art Week NYC runs Wednesday, November 11, through Saturday, November 14. ARTnews calls it the city's "first-ever dedicated Art Week." The festival lands in the same weeks that Chelsea's galleries take down their fall shows and hang their winter ones, so for four days a single walk through the West 20s shows the end of one exhibition season and the start of the next.
A festival built around galleries puts the West 20s at the center
New York has had "art weeks" before, informally, and ARTnews notes they generally centered on art fairs like Frieze and the Armory Show. This one has no fair tent. Artforum, ARTnews and Art in America, all owned by Penske Media, put it together around three days of gallery openings and activations organized by neighborhood, a full day of public programming with the New Museum, and ARTnews editor-led tours through each gallery district.
Artforum's publisher put the premise plainly in the launch announcement:
"We are thrilled to finally bring a dedicated Art Week to the city, focused on the galleries."
If galleries are the venue, Chelsea has the biggest floor. The official directory tags at least two dozen Chelsea participants. They include Gagosian, David Zwirner, Pace, Hauser & Wirth, Gladstone, Paula Cooper Gallery, Lehmann Maupin, Galerie Lelong, DC Moore Gallery, Lisson, Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, Yancey Richardson, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, Hollis Taggart, Nicola Vassell, Miles McEnery Gallery, Nara Roesler, Boesky Gallery, Hales, Yossi Milo Gallery and Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl. The institutions list adds four Chelsea names: The FLAG Art Foundation, White Columns, Fountain House Gallery and The High Line. Curated walking tours are planned in four districts: Chelsea, Tribeca, the Upper East Side and the Lower East Side.
The calendar Chelsea was already keeping
Chelsea galleries run on their own exhibition calendars, and the festival lays four days of programming over them. Here's how those calendars line up around November 11–14, sorted by when each show opens:
| Gallery and address | Exhibition | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 100 11th Avenue | Norman Lewis: Jumping Jive | September 10 – November 14 |
| Gallery Henoch, 555 West 25th Street | The Shape of Stillness: John Evans | October 15 – November 7 |
| Yancey Richardson, 525 West 22nd Street | Karen Gunderson: Dark Waves Rising and Sharon Core: Flowering | October 22 – December 19 |
| Berry Campbell, 524 West 26th Street | Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989) | October 29 – December 19 |
| Lisson, 504 West 24th Street | Yu Hong: Field of Asura | November 4 – January 9, 2027 |
| Luhring Augustine, 531 West 24th Street | Jason Moran: STACKS | November 6 – December 19 |
| Gagosian, 555 West 24th Street | Georg Baselitz: Meine Schule | November 12 – January 23, 2027 |
One show closes before Art Week begins. One closes on the festival's last day. Three open in the eight days before or during it. Two that opened in late October run well past it.
What closes as Art Week ends, and what opens as it starts
The Norman Lewis show at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery has been up since September 10 and closes on Saturday, November 14, the last day of Art Week. Michael Rosenfeld is a listed Art Week participant, so the festival's final day doubles as the final chance to see this show. Gallery Henoch's John Evans exhibition ends on November 7, four days before the festival starts. If either is on your list, the safe window is now, before Art Week traffic fills the blocks.
The new shows open in quick succession on West 24th Street. Lisson opens Yu Hong's Field of Asura at 504 West 24th on November 4. Luhring Augustine follows two days later with Jason Moran's STACKS at 531 West 24th. Gagosian opens Georg Baselitz's Meine Schule at 555 West 24th on November 12, Art Week's second day, and keeps it up through January 23, 2027. That puts three new exhibitions within one block, all opened in the eight days leading into Thursday, November 12.
The shows that opened in late October do a different job. Yancey Richardson's Karen Gunderson and Sharon Core shows on West 22nd and Berry Campbell's Elaine de Kooning survey on West 26th all run through December 19, so they'll still be up after the festival leaves. If a weekday visit is easier than a crowded festival evening, these can wait. The closing and opening shows can't.
Free at the door, registered on the tour
Most of the week costs nothing. Secret NYC's October 20 preview reports that many gallery walk-ins and outdoor installations are free to the public, while institutional programs, the New Museum panels and guided walking tours require advance registration.
One Chelsea tour already has its details posted. ArtTable, in partnership with Art Week, is running a Chelsea gallery walk on Thursday, November 12, from 9:30 to 11:45 a.m. It visits Galerie Lelong, Lehmann Maupin and DC Moore, with a talk from a director at each stop. Registration is $15 for ArtTable members, $20 for member guests and $25 general admission. The morning start keeps it clear of any evening openings.
Saturday works a little differently. The New Museum's public-programming day is set for Saturday, November 14, on the Lower East Side, according to the Penske Media announcement from October 16. That release also says select museums and institutions are presented in partnership with Bloomberg Connects, the free museum-guide app. Saturday is also the last day of the Norman Lewis show. Anyone hoping to catch Lewis and the downtown panels on the same day will need to plan the trip between 11th Avenue and the Lower East Side.
As of late October, Art Week's site still asks visitors to sign up at art-week.com for the finalized neighborhood schedule and ticket announcements. That's where Chelsea's own opening-night date and hours will be posted.
A route from West 22nd to West 26th
The participating galleries and the changeover shows mostly sit within a five-block strip, so you can walk one loop south to north. Here's one that fits a single afternoon or a free weekday morning before November 11:
- Start with a bagel at MadDough Bagels, 261 West 19th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, which opened September 12.
- Walk west to Yancey Richardson at 525 West 22nd Street for the Gunderson and Core shows.
- Head up to West 24th Street for Lisson at 504, Luhring Augustine at 531 and Gagosian at 555. The Baselitz show at Gagosian opens November 12, so before that date the stop works only for the first two.
- Pass Pace at 540 West 25th Street, a listed Art Week participant, on the way north.
- Finish at Berry Campbell, 524 West 26th Street, for Elaine de Kooning.
- Before November 14, add a detour to Michael Rosenfeld Gallery at 100 11th Avenue for the last days of Norman Lewis.
The High Line runs along the same strip and is on Art Week's institutions list. Its docent-led "From Freight to Flowers" tours run Wednesdays and Saturdays from November through April, so the season is already underway by the time Art Week opens, and its Wednesday and Saturday schedule overlaps the festival's first and last days. Check the park's alerts before you go. The High Line announced that the section between West 18th and West 23rd Streets would be temporarily closed on October 19.
To end the loop with a drink, there's Bar Lento at 158 Eighth Avenue near West 18th Street, which opened October 1. Or there's Bar CC at 85 10th Avenue near West 15th Street, open since September 25.
Chelsea's galleries are a big part of what makes the West 20s feel like home, and Art Week shows them off at their busiest. If you're thinking about what life on these blocks looks like over the long run, whether that's a loft near West 24th or a prewar apartment within walking distance of 11th Avenue, Darya Goldstein knows this part of Chelsea well and is glad to talk it through, gallery recommendations included. Let's Connect.
