Five NYC Art Shows to See This Week

A good two-person show can bring out the best of both artists. Trenton Doyle Hancock and Philip Guston at the Jewish Museum may be the city’s most high-profile pairing at the moment. John Yau follows his podcast conversation with Hancock with a review of this spectacular show, but Yau also urges readers to take note of Amanda Church and Jenny Hankwitz at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects — a pairing he calls a “stroke of genius.” Make sure to check out both shows, and round out your art viewing this week with socially conscious works by Tuan Andrew Nguyen and Alex Strada, and an intimate encounter with some medieval treasures at Luring Augustine in Tribeca. —Natalie Haddad, Reviews Editor

Intersection: Abstractions by Amanda Church and Jenny Hankwitz

Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, 208 Forsyth Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Through March 8

“The pairing of paintings by Amanda Church and Jenny Hankwitz in Intersection was a stroke of genius and another reminder that planar abstraction is thriving, even if the art world seldom focuses on it.” —John Yau 

Read the full review here.

Treasures of the Medieval World

Luhring Augustine, 17 White Street, Tribeca, Manhattan
Through March 8

“The rich color and details of each work invite viewers to spend time looking, and the opportunity to have a relaxed, intimate experience with these pieces should not be missed.” —NH

Read the full review here.

Collective Mobilities

DeKalb Gallery at Pratt Institute, 331 Dekalb Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Through March 9

“With Collective Mobilities, Alex Strada argues that aesthetic care and dignity are not rewards for attaining basic needs, but something to be found in that dispensation.” —Lisa Yin Zhang

Read the full review here.

Tuan Andrew Nguyen: Lullaby of Cannons for the Night

James Cohan Gallery, 291 Grand Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
Through March 22

“When people are dehumanized — an essential first front of war, fought right at home, in the theater of the psyche — humanizing an object might, paradoxically, kindle empathy.” —LYZ

Read the full review here.

Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston

The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Through March 30

“In the worlds they have built, where a jalopy is held in by the canvas’s edge, and a red ouroboros encircles a painting, Guston and Hancock can look at the outside world without turning away.” —JY

Read the full review here.

Listen to Trenton Doyle Hancock’s conversation with John Yau and Hyperallergic‘s Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian here.