10 Must-See Art Shows Opening This Week

Acquavella Galleries (18 East 79th Street) opens a show of works of art on paper (+2 paintings) by Jean-Michel Basquiat on Thursday, May 1st. Twenty-two of his drawings from the collection of the Schoor family will be on view until June 13, and this will be their first public exhibition.

Also opening on Thursday, May 1st, 6 to 8 p.m., is an installation and film called "Breakdown Lane" by Greg Smith at Susan Inglett Gallery (522 West 24th Street). The film features the artist as "protagonist on a dystopian road trip" and objects from the film will be incorporated into the installation. It's on view until June 7th.
 
From May 1st until May 16th, you can bid on a selection of nudes by various artists and photographers curated by Vogue's creative director Grace Coddington. The online auction entitled "No Clothes," is via Paddle 8. Go HERE to preview the works and make a bid.

ArtNowNY (548 West 28th Street) has the first solo exhibit of works by the New York-based photographer Charles Quiles opening on May 1, 6 to 9 p.m. Photos from his work in the fashion industry as well as his personal collection will be on view in this show called "Fais-Mois L'Amour" that stays up until May 24th.

Brooklyn-based artist Fred Tomaselli has a show of new works called "Current Events" opening on May 1st, 6 to 8 p.m., at James Cohan Gallery (533 West 26th Street). The show coincides with the release of a new publication from Prestel called "The Times." It's up until June 14th.

On May 2nd, from 6 to 9 p.m. there's an opening for a new show by 18 Mexican street artists at Dorian Grey Gallery (437 East 9th Street). The muralists include: Bebo, Dhear, Meiz, Saner, UNDO and Seher One. The works will be on view until June 15th.

An exhibition called "Black Eye" looks at "black identity experience" in the 21st century and it opens on Friday, May 2, 6 to 9 p.m., at 57 Walker Street. The group show was curated by Nicola Vassell and includes works by over 26 artists including Kehinde Wiley, Gary Simmons, Rashaad Newsome and Nick Cave. It will be up until May 24th.

Paul Kasmin Gallery (293 Tenth Avenue) opens a show of new "monumental" paintings by New York-based artist Walton Ford on Thursday, May 1st, 6 to 8 p.m.  The exhibition, "Watercolors," expands on traditional natural-history painting and "chronicles encounters between human culture and the natural world." It's up until June 21st.

David Zwirner (525 & 533 West 19th Street, 537 West 20th Street) opens a big group show called "No Problem: Cologne/New York 1984 - 1989" on May 2nd, featuring works by twenty-one artists including Jenny Holzer, Mike Kelley, George Condo, Raymond Pettibon and Richard Prince. The exhibition "examines the 1980s through the lens of the Cologne and New York art scenes of the period." It's up until mid-June.

Also on the 2nd, 6 to 9 p.m., Gavin Brown's Enterprise (620 Greenwich St.) opens an exhibition of works by Kerstin Bratsch, Mark Handforth and Mark Leckey.

And finally, don't forget that Pioneer Works (159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn) is having their first big fundraiser on Sunday, May 4th, 5 p.m. with open studios, a dinner by Fat Radish, an art auction and Ariel Pink performing live; plus DJs including East Village Radio's Chances With Wolves, MGMT and Beastie Boy Mike D. Tickets are HERE.