10 Must-See Art Shows in NYC Right Now (May 2026)
The strongest cluster of solo and group shows in New York this May is downtown. Chinatown, Two Bridges, and the Lower East Side are running ten exhibitions worth crossing the city for — every one of them on view today, every one bookable on the Gallop app. Below: the shows, their galleries, the dates, and what to actually look at when you get there.
1. Mothers of Time by Amorelle Jacox at Management
- Show
- Mothers of Time
- Artist
- Amorelle Jacox
- Gallery
- Management
- Address
- 39 East Broadway, Chinatown
- On view
- Apr 29, 2026 – Jun 8, 2026
Amorelle Jacox's debut solo show with Management opens her metaphysical paintings to a wider audience. Mothers of Time runs April 29 – June 8, 2026 at 39 East Broadway in Chinatown. The seven new paintings synthesize color field, transcendentalist, surrealist, and symbolist languages into compositions that hold real gravity — Jacox treats the canvas as a vehicle for a feminist philosophical inquiry rather than as decorative surface. If you can see only one show on this list, see this one. The gallery is closed Mondays; weekend afternoons tend to be quietest.
2. Point and Click by Xinan Helen Ran at Essex Flowers
- Show
- Point and Click
- Artist
- Xinan Helen Ran
- Gallery
- Essex Flowers
- Address
- 19 Monroe Street, Two Bridges
- On view
- May 22, 2026 – Jun 22, 2026
Point and Click is Xinan Helen Ran's fourth solo show with Essex Flowers, on view May 22 – June 22, 2026 at 19 Monroe Street in Two Bridges. Ran's back-gallery presentation begins from the trackball — a now-obsolete computer-mouse component — and follows the artist's curiosity about the textures of early digital navigation through a sequence of material studies. The show is a quiet, granular companion piece to anything else happening in the neighborhood. Reach Essex Flowers via the F train to East Broadway.
3. Forget Me Not by Rina Lam Goldfield at Essex Flowers
- Show
- Forget Me Not
- Artist
- Rina Lam Goldfield
- Gallery
- Essex Flowers
- Address
- 19 Monroe Street, Two Bridges
- On view
- May 22, 2026 – Jun 22, 2026
In the front gallery during the same window — May 22 – June 22, 2026 — Essex Flowers presents Forget Me Not by Rina Lam Goldfield. Goldfield's new paintings build from 19th-century friendship albums in the New York Public Library's collection: pages of loop-di-loops, calligraphic nonsense, watercolors, and locks of hair young women used to memorialize each other. The two Essex Flowers exhibitions are a single visit. Treat them as a pair.
4. Elite Fine Art by Tinmantis at Foreign & Domestic
- Show
- Elite Fine Art
- Artist
- Tinmantis
- Gallery
- Foreign & Domestic
- Address
- 24 Rutgers Street, Lower East Side
- On view
- May 22, 2026 – Jun 29, 2026
Tinmantis's first proper New York survey, titled Elite Fine Art, runs May 22 – June 29, 2026 at Foreign & Domestic, 24 Rutgers Street, Lower East Side. The artist is a divisive figure — slogans, weapons, hateful threats and exotic visual pleasure stacked side by side — and the gallery's accompanying text bills the show as a defense of an outsider talent. Worth seeing if only to argue about afterwards.
5. Community as Praxis Benefit at 56 Henry
- Gallery
- 56 Henry
- Address
- 105 Henry Street, Chinatown
- On view
- May 20, 2026 – Jun 1, 2026
56 Henry's annual benefit exhibition runs May 20 – June 1, 2026 at 105 Henry Street in Chinatown — a compressed 12-day window with work by more than 70 artists including Daniel Arnold, Sascha Braunig, Marcel Dzama, Elizabeth Jaeger, Clifford Prince King, Ebecho Muslimova, and Rob Pruitt. This is the densest single show on the list and proceeds support the gallery's programming. Go early; small works tend to sell within the first week.
6. Wade in the Water by Vaughn Davis Jr. at Superhouse
- Artist
- Vaughn Davis Jr.
- Gallery
- Superhouse
- Address
- 120 Walker Street, 6R, Chinatown
- On view
- May 20, 2026 – Jun 28, 2026
Vaughn Davis Jr.'s solo show at Superhouse, May 20 – June 28, 2026, takes painting as a condition shaped by action rather than as image. Davis Jr. works on unstretched canvas, pouring pigment onto wet surfaces and letting color bleed before cutting, folding, and creasing the result. The exhibition runs alongside a site-responsive installation. Superhouse is at 120 Walker Street, 6R — buzz up; the elevator is small.
7. Recent Paintings by Richard Tinkler at Elliott Templeton Fine Arts
- Show
- Recent Paintings
- Artist
- Richard Tinkler
- Gallery
- Elliott Templeton Fine Arts
- Address
- 105 Henry Street, Chinatown
- On view
- May 17, 2026 – Jun 15, 2026
Richard Tinkler's new show runs May 17 – June 15, 2026 at Elliott Templeton Fine Arts, 105 Henry Street, Chinatown. Tinkler's process is unusually open about its own iteration — he describes painting as a series of procedures where each canvas creates the problem the next one tries to solve. The gallery is one floor up from 56 Henry, so combine the visit.
8. Wanna by Sue Tompkins at King's Leap
- Show
- Wanna
- Artist
- Sue Tompkins
- Gallery
- King's Leap
- Address
- 105 Henry Street, Store 4 & 5, Chinatown
- On view
- May 16, 2026 – Jun 21, 2026
King's Leap presents Wanna, a twenty-year survey of Sue Tompkins's work in performance, painting, typewritten pages, and fabric. Open May 16 – June 21, 2026 at 105 Henry Street, Store 4 & 5. Tompkins treats language as a material that can be shifted, compressed, layered, and modulated — the survey makes the connection between her performances and her static work explicit. The third must-stop on the 105 Henry stack.
9. Blooms Disrupted by Fred Tomaselli at James Cohan
- Show
- Blooms Disrupted
- Artist
- Fred Tomaselli
- Gallery
- James Cohan
- Address
- 48 Walker Street, Chinatown
- On view
- May 15, 2026 – Jun 28, 2026
Fred Tomaselli's seventh solo show at James Cohan opens May 15, 2026 and runs through June 28. Located at 48 Walker Street, Chinatown. Forty years into his practice, Tomaselli is still fusing organic matter, photographic reproductions, and dense ornamentation into surfaces that read as both microscopic and cosmological. The new and recent works on view include large-scale collaged paintings and works on paper. James Cohan's space is wheelchair-accessible.
10. Primal Sound by Brittany Miller at Ruttkowski;68
- Show
- Primal Sound
- Artist
- Brittany Miller
- Gallery
- Ruttkowski;68
- Address
- 46 Cortlandt Alley, SoHo
- On view
- May 15, 2026 – Jun 14, 2026
Primal Sound is Brittany Miller's first New York solo show and her debut with Ruttkowski;68, on view May 15 – June 14, 2026 at 46 Cortlandt Alley in SoHo. The paintings move through caves, labyrinths, forests, and fortresses — enclosed spaces with deep ritual associations — and Miller treats them as archives of sound, picking up a Rilke passage about a phonograph needle tracing the sutures of a skull. The smallest gallery on this list; the show rewards patience.
How to plan a walk
Six of these ten shows sit within a 12-minute walk of the East Broadway F stop. The two Essex Flowers shows are a single visit. The three 105 Henry Street shows (56 Henry, Elliott Templeton, King's Leap) share an address — start there. Then walk one block north to Management at 39 East Broadway, two blocks east to Foreign & Domestic at 24 Rutgers, and four blocks west to Superhouse at 120 Walker. James Cohan and Ruttkowski;68 add ten minutes on foot through Tribeca and SoHo.
On the map
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Frequently asked
What art shows should I see in NYC in May 2026?
The strongest shows on view in May 2026 are clustered in downtown Manhattan — particularly Chinatown's 105 Henry Street stack (56 Henry, Elliott Templeton, King's Leap), the two Essex Flowers exhibitions in Two Bridges, Amorelle Jacox at Management, and the Anselm Kiefer and Helen Frankenthaler shows at Gagosian in Chelsea.
Are NYC galleries open on Mondays?
Most galleries are closed Mondays. Standard hours are Tuesday – Saturday, roughly 11am to 6pm. Sundays vary — many downtown galleries are open, but always check before walking over.
How do I see what's on view this week?
Open the Gallop app to browse every show on view in NYC on a single map, filtered by neighborhood, opening date, or what's open today. It covers 460+ NYC galleries.
Which galleries are at 105 Henry Street?
105 Henry Street in Chinatown houses three galleries — 56 Henry (ground floor), Elliott Templeton Fine Arts, and King's Leap. Hopping all three takes about an hour.
