ACA Galleries

ACA Galleries is pleased to present an exhibition investigating the arc of American Abstraction from the 1930s to the 1980s. Opening November 21, this exhibition features a selection of paintings and works on paper by prominent artists associated with the New York School of Abstract Expressionists and the American Abstract Artists. Founded in 1936, the American Abstract Artists (AAA) was a predecessor to Abstract Expressionism and contributed to the broader development and acceptance of abstract art in the United States. American Abstraction will feature rarely exhibited and lesser-known works by artists including Norman Bluhm, Ilya Bolotowsky, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Balcomb Greene, Grace Hartigan, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Norman Lewis, Jackson Pollock, Jean Paul Riopelle, Rolph Scarlett, Jon Schueler, and Theodoros Stamos. The gallery’s pioneering interest in progressive American art was established early on in exhibitions featuring—often for the very first time—the work of Rockwell Kent, Alice Neel, Barnett Newman, Irene Rice Pereira, David Smith, and Charles White, among many others. In 1935, ACA hosted the inaugural meetings of the American Artists’ Congress (AAC), the influential precursor to the Federal Art Project (FAP) and Works Project Administration (WPA), federal programs that aided American artists and funded public art projects throughout the depression. In the 1960s, ACA Galleries established its first foreign branch in Rome, and the ACA Heritage Gallery in Los Angeles and New York City, signaling a vital foray into 19th and early 20th century American and European art.

New York, NY…ACA Galleries is pleased to present We The People, an exhibition featuring mixed media, fiber, and stained glass works by multimedia Afro-Caribbean American portrait artist Kandy G Lopez and trailblazing visual artist Aminah Robinson. This intergenerational exhibition will feature a kaleidoscopic selection of over twenty works exploring the power and potential of honoring community through artistic representation.

Summer in the City is a multimedia exhibition featuring works spanning over a century by an intergenerational collection of artists who have depicted New York City over the years. From Saul Chase’s serigraphs of subway architecture to Edmund Yaghjian’s lyrical oil paintings of city views, the group exhibition captures the wide range of daily urban rhythms and architectural landmarks central to the New York City experience. The diverse range of artistic mediums and approaches presented in the show–etchings, paintings, serigraphs, pastel works, and more–demonstrates the rich artistic legacy of the urban center and its dynamic role in both shaping and being shaped by public imagination and popular culture over the decades.

ACA Galleries is thrilled to present “Chelsea Hotel Portraits” the first public presentation of photographer Tony Notarberardino’s iconic black and white portraits of the extraordinary individuals drawn to The Chelsea Hotel, shot over the course of the past 25 years. Raised in Melbourne by Italian emigrant parents, Notarberardino arrived at The Chelsea Hotel in 1994, and never left. A New York City landmark, built in 1884 this Victorian Gothic building on West 23rd Street was one of the few remaining bohemian refuges in a fast and ever-changing city, and played host to legendary artistic collaborations, boundary-breaking performances, and so much more. The unique characters that both lived in and frequented the hotel inspired Notarberardino to begin capturing portraits. The photographer recounts the moment the series came to life: “At 4am one night in September 1997, I was inside the Chelsea Hotel elevator returning home when suddenly a hand adorned with long, painted fingernails blocked it from closing. In walked an aged drag queen carrying more shopping bags than she could manage while holding the hand of a six-year-old boy. After four years of letting these moments pass by, I introduced myself and asked if I could photograph her. Without hesitation, she agreed.” Notarberardino’s portrait series captures the atmosphere of authenticity by documenting the remarkably rich visual cast of characters that pass through the hotel's doors daily. He photographs all portraits with a large format 8X10 black and white film on his vintage 1960s Toyo-View 810GII in the hallway of his apartment, the former residence of Australian artist Vali Myers. From counter cultural icons to the lesser known, the series stands as a definitive document of the people who made the landmark so unique, leaving audiences with a last glimpse of the subterranean romance of The Chelsea Hotel. Notarberardino has documented over 1500 portraits, including: Arthur. C. Clarke, Dee Dee Ramone, Sam Shepard, Grace Jones, Elias Jose Reranos, Abel Ferrara, Storme Delarverie, Victor Bockris, Rose Wood, Stephen Baldwin, Debbie Harry, Frank Roth, Mary Ellen Mark, Arnold Weinstein, Ron Jeremy, Amanda Lepore, Shalom Harlow, Peter Sarsgaard, Susan Bartsch, Selinie Luna, Ira Cohen, Lola Schnabel, Dirty Martini, Maria Beatty, Bruce Levingston, and Stanley Bard.

ACA Galleries is pleased to present an exhibition of Richard Hambleton’s work that will offer a new recontextualization of his famed street art practice. Opening on January 27, the show will reframe the artist’s legacy by locating his work within the context of the broader Abstract Expressionist movement that inspired him. This exhibition will include paintings and works on paper by Richard Hambleton, alongside works by leading figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement, including Franz Kline, Theodoros Stamos and Ad Reinhardt.