Venus Over Manhattan

Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present Richard Mayhew: Watercolor, the first exhibition in over two decades dedicated exclusively to the artist’s remarkable work in watercolor, and the first presentation of Mayhew’s work since his passing in September at the age of 100.Opening on Thursday, November 7th, the show features some twenty-five works spanning the last thirty years of his practice, including several created expressly for this exhibition, and many that have never before been publicly exhibited. The exhibition showcases Mayhew’s enduring vision across a notoriously challenging medium. Richard Mayhew: Watercolor will remain on view at 39 Great Jones Street through Saturday, January 18th.

On September 12, Venus Over Manhattan will open the first US-based solo exhibition of artist and poet John Pule. From the small island nation of Niue in the South Pacific Ocean, Pule has risen to become one of the region’s most celebrated and important artists and is increasingly gaining notoriety across the world. His intricate paintings and drawings offer distinct meditations on the history, natural environs, and iconography of his home island and Polynesia more broadly. With John Pule, Venus Over Manhattan presents a unique opportunity for American audiences to experience the depth of Pule’s dynamic work, enhancing global awareness of his singular vision and practice. The exhibition will remain on view through October 26, at the gallery’s location at 39 Great Jones Street.

Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present a two-person exhibition featuring the vibrant works of Maija Peeples-Bright and Roy De Forest, curated by artist Adrianne Rubenstein. Both Peeples-Bright and De Forest were central figures in the Northern California Funk Art movement of the 1960s, a period known for its whimsical imagination, vibrant colors, and unique quirkiness. Featuring historical works by both artists, as well as new work by Peeples-Bright, the exhibition draws out the visual and historical connection between these two artists’ work. Comprising paintings, works on paper, and sculpture, the presentation will be on view at 39 Great Jones Street from June 20th through July 26th, 2024.

(New York, NY) – Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present Paradise Under Reconstruction in the Aesthetic of Funk: The Second Coming, the gallery’s debut solo exhibition with artist and cultural activist Xenobia Bailey. This landmark presentation—Bailey’s first solo gallery exhibition in New York City in over two decades—explores her signature method of crochet, featuring some twenty recent and historic works that comprise an immersive installation. Notably, this presentation marks Bailey’s first gallery exhibition since the unveiling of “Funktional Vibrations” in 2015, the artist’s large-scale mosaic commissioned by the MTA for the 34th Street Hudson Yards subway station, one of the largest works ever commissioned by the authority. Staged in advance of Bailey’s participation in the Seattle Art Museum’s exhibition “Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture,” the exhibition will feature a series of public programs that activate the presentation. Paradise Under Reconstruction in the Aesthetic of Funk: The Second Coming will be on view at 39 Great Jones Street from May 15th through June 15th, 2024.

(New York, NY) – Venus Over Manhattan and 56 Henry are pleased to present a collaborative, two-venue exhibition of new work by Al Freeman. On view simultaneously at 39 Great Jones St. and 56 Henry St., the exhibition marks the first solo presentation dedicated to the artist’s drawing practice. Featuring recent drawings of book covers and album covers, the exhibition is titled Covers: Drawings 2023–2024, referencing both the subjects depicted and Freeman's appropriative strategy of reinterpreting existing works. The exhibition will be on view at both 39 Great Jones Street and 56 Henry Street from April 6th through May 6th, 2024. An opening reception will take place at 56 Henry on Saturday, April 6th, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Covers marks the artist's first solo presentation with Venus Over Manhattan, and her fourth with 56 Henry.

(New York, NY) – Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to announce Reflections on Porgy & Bess, a major solo exhibition of new paintings by Chicago-born, New York-based artist Claude Lawrence. Spanning the gallery’s spaces at 39 and 55 Great Jones Street, this presentation—Lawrence’s first with Venus—debuts a suite of exuberant, monumentally scaled canvases created in response to composer George Gershwin’s 1935 masterpiece Porgy & Bess. Lawrence’s abstract paintings unfold sequentially, echoing the opera’s sweep and emotional impact through the artist’s radiant abstraction and confident improvisation.

(New York, NY) — Opening February 1, 2024, Venus Over Manhattan presents Ecce Homo, a testimonial film written and performed by painter Maryan. Filmed in 1975, Ecce Homo recounts Maryan’s harrowing experience as a young Jewish man during the Holocaust. The film is composed of Maryan’s anecdotal narration interspersed with arresting images of human violence, from the Holocaust to the K.K.K to the Vietnam war. Grappling with his survival in a post-Holocaust world, Maryan questions what it means to be human, and laments the bitter suffering that exists across the globe. A selection of archival materials, used by the artist during the production of the film, will also be on view.

(New York, NY) – Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present A Boy’s Head, an exhibition of new paintings by Seth Becker. The presentation marks the artist’s debut solo exhibition in New York City, and the gallery’s inaugural solo presentation of his work. Borrowing its title from a poem by Miroslav Holub, A Boy's Head follows Becker’s participation in the gallery’s 2022 exhibition Small Paintings. Venus Over Manhattan will publish a small catalogue in conjunction with the exhibition, which will be on view from February 1st through March 9th at 39 Great Jones Street.

(New York, NY) – Beginning Friday, November 17th, Venus Over Manhattan will present the first solo exhibition in the United States of work by Japanese artist Yuichiro Ukai, organized in collaboration with the Kyoto gallerist Yukiko Koide of Yukiko Koide Presents. This presentation of 14 new works by the artist marks Ukai’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, and follows a recent acquisition of his work by the American Folk Art Museum in New York. A catalogue, featuring a new text by Kenjiro Hosaka, Director of the Shiga Museum of Art, will accompany the exhibition. The presentation will be on view at the gallery’s 39 Great Jones Street location through January 13, 2024.

(New York, NY) – Beginning November 16, 2023, Venus Over Manhattan will present "Retinal Hysteria," an expansive two-venue exhibition curated by Robert Storr, who was previously Senior Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, and Dean of the Yale University School of Art.

(New York, NY) – Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present The Motherland, an exhibition of new paintings by New-York-based Japanese artist Susumu Kamijo. This exhibition marks Kamijo’s first solo exhibition with the gallery since announcing representation of the artist earlier this year, and will be on view at 39 Great Jones Street from October 18th to November 11th, 2023.

(New York, NY) – Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present an exhibition of ten new paintings made by acclaimed artist Peter Saul over the course of 2022 and 2023. This major exhibition marks the 89-year-old artist’s first solo presentation of new work in New York since 2021, and his fifth solo exhibition with the gallery. The presentation will be on view at the gallery’s 39 Great Jones Street location, from Thursday, September 7, through Saturday, October 14.

(New York, NY) – Beginning Tuesday, June 27, Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present Sally Saul: People and Vases, an exhibition of new work by the Hudson Valley based artist. Comprising a selection of exuberant ceramics imbued with the artist’s signature blend of whimsy and sensitivity, this show marks Saul’s first exhibition with the gallery since it announced representation of the artist in 2022. These ceramic sculptures—vessels, human figures, flora, and fauna—illustrate the continued development of Saul’s singular, decades-long ceramic practice. Presently Saul’s work can be seen on view in “Funk You Too! Humor and Irreverence in Ceramic Sculpture” at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York as well as highlighted in two recent books, Clay Pop, published by Rizzoli this March and Funk You Too! the catalog published by MAD in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition. Sally Saul: People and Vases will be on view at 39 Great Jones Street from June 17 through Friday, August 4, 2023.

Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present Richard Mayhew: Natural Order, the inaugural presentation at its new gallery space at 39 Great Jones Street. This landmark exhibition, featuring some twenty paintings and works on paper, marks the gallery's debut exhibition with the artist, and features key loans from the collections of important supporters of Mayhew's practice. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition, and in September the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art will open a survey of Mayhew’s work, titled “Richard Mayhew: Inner Terrain.” Venus Over Manhattan’s exhibition, organized in collaboration with ACA Galleries, will be on view from May 6th through June 23rd, 2023.