Kick off your weekend exploring the vibrant downtown NYC art scene, where galleries, project spaces, and artist-run venues come alive across some of Manhattan’s most influential neighborhoods. From the Lower East Side and Chinatown to Tribeca and the West Village, this guide captures the pulse of contemporary art in New York City, ideal for collectors, curators, and art lovers searching for the best NYC art shows this weekend. Alongside a diverse mix of emerging and established artists, you’ll find curated art crawl maps that make it easy to navigate neighborhood-to-neighborhood, plan efficient routes, and experience multiple exhibitions in a single afternoon. Whether you’re following a map or wandering organically, this weekend’s downtown Manhattan art shows offer a compelling snapshot of what’s happening now in NYC art.
Lower East Side | Fri
Uffner & Liu , 170 Suffolk Street, ‘Hilary Harnischfeger’ with Songs for Clouds, ‘Toki-No-Wa; Harmony of Time’ with Miwa Neishi, Toshiko Takaezu
Plato, 202 Bowery, ‘Are They Peasant’ by Émile Brunet, ‘Input/Output’ by Jacob Rochester
Perrotin New York, 130 Orchard St, ‘Slow Wave Sleep’ by Young-il Ahn, John Henderson, Shim Moon-Seup, ‘Phantom Tales’ by OB, ‘Blau Im Gedachtnis - Blue in Memoriam’ by Gregor Hildebrandt
Miguel Abreu Gallery, 88 Eldridge St, ‘Inscriptions in a Shade of Color’ by Paul Pagk
McBridge / Dillman, 195 Henry St, ‘Street Corner Conversations’ with Sharon Butler, Wendy Fulenwider Liszt, and Ariel Mitchell
Kates-Ferri Projects, 561 Grand Street, ‘Myth and Kinship’ by Wilhelmina Von Blumethal
Derek Eller Gallery, 300 Broome St, ‘Stratacaster’ by Ara Peterson, ‘Nebula’ by Michelle Segre
Auxier Kline, 19 Monroe St, ’90s Softcore’ by Benjamin Murphy’
The Hole, 312 Bowery, ‘Constructing Textiles’ reading by Anni Albers
Will Shott, 17 Pike Street, work by Amanda Atria
West Village | Fri
White Columns, 91 Horatio St, Looking Back / The 16th White Columns Annual, selected by Augusto Arbizo
Tribeca | Fri
Ulterior, 424 Broadway, #601, ‘Cartographic Affinities’ by Noora Schroderus, Päivi Takala, Elina Vainio
Tara Downs, 424 Broadway 3rd Fl, work by Yirui Fang
Mendes Wood DM, 47 Walker St, ‘Affirmation Room’ by Adriano Amaral, Laís Amaral, Lucas Arruda, Sérgio Camargo, Amílcar de Castro, Torkwase Dyson, Advânio Lessa, Wen Liu, Paulo Nazareth, Lygia Pape, Rubem Valentim, Guan Xiao, Leah Ke Yi Zheng
Jane Lombard Gallery, 58 White Street, ‘Goddess of All’ by Squeak Carnwath
GR Gallery, 116 Chambers St, ‘Misfits’ by Daniel Nunez
Friedrichs Pontone, 273 Church Street, ‘Memories of Elsewhere’ by Park Jieun and Kristi Kongi
Asya Geisberg Gallery, 45 White St, ‘Here a Dead Leaf Fell’ by Melanie Daniel
apexart, 291 Church Street, ‘Surviving Shadows - Afghan Art in the Face of Suppression’ Curated by Yama Rahimi
Almine Rech, 361 Broadway, ‘Last Watch Before Dawn’ by Ali Cherri
DDDD, 79 Leonard Street, ‘Dromos’ by Philipp James Hoffmann
Luhring Augustine, 17 White Street, ‘Beyond the Stars’ by Zarina
Loy Luo Space, 101 Lafayette St, ‘Unsayable’ with various artists
Friday Art Crawl Map:
Lower East Side | Sat
Marc Strauss, 299 Grand St, “15-Year Anniversary Exhibition’ Curated by David Ebony
Hashimoto Contemporary, 54 Ludlow St., ‘The Invisible Dog Takes a Walk,’ featuring various artists co-curated by Lucien Zayan
Harman Projects, 210 Rivington St, ‘Tondo’ by Chris Austin, Paul Barne, Jana Brike, Dennis Brown, Chiaki, Jon Ching, ChrisRWK, Jeremy Fish, Alex Garant, GATS, Frank Gonzales, Adam Hall, Joshua Horkey, Sarah Joncas, Josh Keyes, Augustine Kofie, Huntz Liu, Petites Luxures, Jerome Masi, Aaron Nagel, Lori Nelson, Emilia Nurmivaara, Zachary Oldenkamp, PichiAvo, Jason Raish, Taylor Schultek, Bennett Slater, Brian M. Viveros
Blank Mag Books, 17 Eldridge St, ‘El Cucuy’ group show curated by Alexis Ayala, Pedro Duran, 5pm-9pm
Tribeca | Sat
Kerry Schuss Gallery, 73 Leonard St, Here Comes the Sun by Ryan Forester
Bureau, 112 Duane St, Hunks by Lucas Blalock & Julia Rommel
Saturday Art Crawl Map:
As you plan your route through this weekend’s NYC art openings, be sure to take advantage of the art crawl maps included in this guide—they’re designed to help you move seamlessly between neighborhoods, maximize your time, and experience the depth of downtown Manhattan’s gallery scene in one cohesive journey. Whether you’re following a Lower East Side loop or a Tribeca-focused crawl, the maps turn the weekend into an accessible, self-guided exploration of contemporary art in New York City.
This week’s featured artist, Ryan Foerster, offers a fitting lens through which to close out the crawl. His recent body of work reflects on time, travel, absence, and return—blending photography, photograms, publishing, and lived experience into a practice rooted in chance, duration, and care. Moving between Brighton Beach, Europe, and temporary public encounters, Foerster’s work mirrors the rhythms of the city itself: layered, improvised, and shaped by light, memory, and movement. As you navigate this weekend’s NYC art shows, his practice underscores what makes these downtown art crawls essential—not just seeing what’s on view, but experiencing how artists and neighborhoods continue to shape one another in real time.
Featured work above by Ryan Foerster at Kerry Schuss Gallery
