HIGHLIGHTS
Colorful, mixed-media exhibitions bring vibrancy to the winter season with splashes of exhilaration and discovery.
Light Years
Cristin Tierney
49 Walker St. New York, NY
On view through: December 20, 2025
Featuring: Judy Pfaff
This presentation of works by Judy Pfaff is radiant, electrifying and magnetic. Light Years brings together large-scale mixed-media works. These architectural structures mirror the human figure in form, feeling a bit like abstracted mirrors revealing the haze of one’s psyche; indeed, these maximalist assemblage-paintings serve as ardent reminders of the objects we collect and hold onto with a cherishing grasp. Bright neon is juxtaposed against bits and bobs of packing materials, bits of plastic, paper, bubble wrap, and more. Slick resin coats flat acrylic panels on a wall, glistening under the lights with slickness and smoothness, their sheen spellbinding and grounding at the same time. Moving through the gallery, the various installations hold differing moods, alternating between the curious, the comforting, and the alien. The sensory plunge of light, color and form oscillates in a dance between warmth and coolness, all the while continuously engaging with new discoveries the longer one stays for the slow reveal.
In the Fold
James Howe Gallery
On View Through: December 19, 2025
Featuring Robin Feld, Kellie Lehr and Jamie Powell
Curated by Shazzi Thomas
Kean University
Union, NJ
@shazzileona @robin_feld @kellielehr @jamielinnpowell @galleriesatkean @keanuniversity @thepaintingcenter
In the Fold, a three-person exhibition in the James Howe Gallery at Kean University, is curated by Shazzi Thomas and features gorgeous works by Robin Field, Kellie Lehr, and Jamie Powell. This interplay between painting, textiles, and sculpture coalesces into a vibrant installation that feels like a thoughtful conversation among the artists. Melding the traditions of painting with various elements of assemblage and collage, each artist strives to make sense of a world that is rapidly changing with or without us. Feld’s acrylic and collage-printed acetate on canvas works evoke fast movement, while Lehr’s in contrast, embody a feeling of stillness and observation; and Powell’s painting-sculpture hybrids are a melding in-between. Poetic threads are enmeshed in this triangulation of poignancy. John Berger’s Ways of Seeing would make for an excellent text accompaniment to this exhibition, which draws out nuances and dialogues in abundance. Through gentle moments of intimacy, Feld, Lehr and Powell follow gestures and processes they’ve been articulating in their respective practices individually, while reflections are fleshed out in a shared language with Thomas’ curation, cultivating space to come together to reflect with thoughtfulness and intention.
My Barbarian
Cat Suit
Lubov
5 East Broadway #402 New York, NY
Info@lubov.nyc
On view through: January 17, 2026
@lubov_nyc @malik_juliang @jadelain @alexandro_segade
All photos courtesy of the writer.
My Barbarian is a collaboration among Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, and Alejandro Segade. Through Cat Suit, we are brought into the profound world of all things feline, magical, and mystical. In an enthralling installation that features enlarged illustrative tarot cards in the main gallery and a potent video, a sculptural work brings them together in an exhibition honoring and worthy of our beloved companions. We traverse symbology and contemplate the feline presence in the wild, in ancient civilizations, throughout history across the globe, within our homes, and, of course, in the ubiquitous bodegas, our lifelines in the modern cityscape. Cats have replaced humans in this particular Arcana, which is a poignant reminder to anyone familiar with the feline/human relationship that we are subservient to their knowledge and power, and have been for millennia. The illustrations vary in style and theme, allowing an array of visceral moments to unfold for the viewer, like gazing into portals that expand across time and space. This dreamy, beautiful presentation draws visitors into the worlds built and narrated by these majestic beings, and like the love of cats, the experience is deeply meaningful.
Join us Dec 19 for the Art Spiel 2025 Brooklyn fundraiser featuring 200+ artists’ works RSVP here
About the writer: Yasmeen Abdallah is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, curator and educator examining history, contemporary culture, materiality, reuse, memory, and space. She has been a visiting and teaching artist at institutions including New Museum; Pratt Institute; Sarah Lawrence College; Residency Unlimited; BRIC; Kean University; Parsons; Columbia University; Children’s Museum of NYC; El Barrio Artspace; Fairleigh Dickinson; and University of Massachusetts. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology (focus in Historical Archaeology) and in Studio Art with honors, with a Minor in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies from University of Massachusetts; and received an MFA in Fine Arts, with distinction, from Pratt Institute. Exhibitions include Art in Odd Places; the Boiler; Bronx Art Space; Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center; Cornell University; Ed Varie; Elizabeth Foundation; NARS Foundation; Open Source; Pratt Institute; PS122 Gallery; Spring Break Art Show; University of Massachusetts; and Westbeth. Publications include Anthropology of Consciousness; Ante Art; Art Observed; Bust Magazine; Emergency Index; Hyperallergic; Papergirl Brooklyn; Free City Radio; Radio Alhara; Tussle Magazine; the Urban Activist; and Transborder Art. Her work is in public, private, and traveling collections in the U.S. and abroad. @86cherrycherry
