10 Painters With Shows in NYC Right Now (May 2026)

Painting in New York in May 2026 is in a strong moment — gestural abstraction, surrealist figuration, observational still life, and material-driven oil and acrylic work are all on view across 10 solo exhibitions from Chelsea down to Chinatown. Below: ten painters with shows live right now, each chosen for the rigor and specificity of their practice, plus the gallery, address, and date each show comes down.

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

Mothers of Time is at Management, 39 East Broadway, Chinatown, on view Apr 29 – Jun 8, 2026. Management is pleased to present Mothers of Time, Amorelle Jacox's debut solo exhibition with the gallery, on view in New York. Rooted in metaphysics, Jacox's painting practice navigates the relationship between the self and the cosmic through a unique synthesis of color field, transcendentalist, surrealist, and symbolist influences.

Plan thirty minutes minimum at Management — the works reward time. The gallery is closed Mondays.

2. Elite Fine Art by Tinmantis at Foreign & Domestic

Elite Fine Art is at Foreign & Domestic, 24 Rutgers Street, Lower East Side, on view May 22 – Jun 29, 2026. He has slogans too. Things like: No friends, no trends. Did he make it up? He also likes to pose with weapons, but we'll get to that. A Testament In Defense of the Madman Known as Tinmantis I don't remember who first told me about Tinmantis, and I don't have time to figure it out. My memory is like a moldy Swiss cheese.

Through June 29, 2026. Foreign & Domestic keeps standard NYC gallery hours, Tuesday through Saturday.

3. Half in Love with Oblivion by Stephen Thorpe at DIMIN

Half in Love with Oblivion is at DIMIN, 406 Broadway, Fl. 2, SoHo, on view May 8 – Jun 14, 2026. "Those who travel to mountain tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion" —Robert Macfarlane, Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination Dimin is pleased to present Half in Love with Oblivion, an exhibition of new paintings by British-born, California-based artist Stephen Thorpe.

Worth combining with the nearby galleries on the same block. DIMIN is closed Mondays.

4. Entrance by Zachary Armstrong & Jackson Maximo Armstrong at Entrance

Entrance is at Entrance, 48 Ludlow Street, Chinatown, on view Apr 23 – Jun 7, 2026. Entrance is pleased to present Entrance, a solo exhibition of new work by Zachary Armstrong, featuring a series of encaustic paintings installed within a site-specific intervention by Armstrong, on the gallery’s ground level.

On view through June 7, 2026. Allow at least twenty minutes; the gallery is generally quietest on weekday afternoons.

5. Landscape With Legs by Janet Werner at Anat Ebgi

Landscape With Legs is at Anat Ebgi, 372 Broadway, Chinatown, on view May 2 – Jun 14, 2026. Anat Ebgi is pleased to present Landscape With Legs, Janet Werner's first exhibition with the gallery in New York. The exhibition continues Werner's longstanding investigations in female portraiture that draw from both fashion imagery and art historical references.

Anat Ebgi is most easily reached by subway; check the gallery's hours before walking over, since most NYC galleries are closed Mondays.

6. Estranhas Luzes no Bosque by Lu Ferreira at Tara Downs

Estranhas Luzes no Bosque is at Tara Downs, 424 Broadway, SoHo, on view May 1 – Jun 14, 2026. "O sertão é do tamanho do mundo. The sertão is the size of the world. —João Guimarães Rosa, Grande Sertão: Veredas Tara Downs is pleased to present Estranhas Luzes no Bosque, Lu Ferreira’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. Lu Ferreira attends to the residues of gesture as a site of historical metabolism.

Plan thirty minutes minimum at Tara Downs — the works reward time. The gallery is closed Mondays.

7. Forget Me Not by Rina Lam Goldfield at Essex Flowers

Forget Me Not is at Essex Flowers, 19 Monroe Street, Two Bridges, on view May 22 – Jun 22, 2026. Dear Rina, What is friendship? A half blank page, the bottom filled with loop-di-loops; another half page of calligraphic nonsense. Floating, cropped off the bottom right in playful cursive: An Enig. An enigma? What appears like a contemporary drawing is a spread from a 19th-century friendship album by a 17-year-old Mary Magdalene Russel.

Through June 22, 2026. Essex Flowers keeps standard NYC gallery hours, Tuesday through Saturday.

8. Continuities by Joan Semmel at Alexander Gray Associates

Continuities is at Alexander Gray Associates, 384 Broadway, Chinatown, on view Apr 17 – May 31, 2026. Alexander Gray Associates and Xavier Hufkens present Continuities, an exhibition of recent paintings by Joan Semmel (b. 1932). Conceived with the artist as a single presentation across New York and Brussels, the exhibition’s structure mirrors the paintings’ own logic, playing with doubling and immediacy to extend the act of seeing across continents.

Worth combining with the nearby galleries on the same block. Alexander Gray Associates is closed Mondays.

9. The Candle Is on the Table by Molly Rose Lieberman at Theta

The Candle Is on the Table is at Theta, 184 Franklin Street, Tribeca, on view May 15 – Jun 21, 2026. Theta is delighted to present The candle is on the table, Molly Rose Lieberman's second solo exhibition at the gallery. It was early September: the summer was gone but it was not over. I found a lot of good nouns when I arrived on the auction house floor and I pocketed them for a later date, when words would be table offerings for humble hosts.

On view through June 21, 2026. Allow at least twenty minutes; the gallery is generally quietest on weekday afternoons.

10. Doowon Arrives in New York with Too Many Animals by Doowon Lee at ACA Galleries

Doowon Arrives in New York with Too Many Animals is at ACA Galleries, 529 West 20th Street, Chelsea, on view Apr 25 – Jun 21, 2026. ACA Galleries is pleased to present Doowon Arrives in New York with Too Many Animals, on view. The exhibition marks Lee's second solo presentation at ACA Galleries and introduces New York to a new body of work that is unabashedly exuberant, materially rich, and teeming with life.

ACA Galleries is most easily reached by subway; check the gallery's hours before walking over, since most NYC galleries are closed Mondays.

How to plan a walk

This list spans the city. Cluster the visits by neighborhood: Chelsea on the C/E to 23rd, Tribeca on the 1 to Franklin, Chinatown and the Lower East Side on the F to East Broadway, and the Upper East Side on the 4/5/6 to 86th. A two-day weekend covers everything; one Saturday covers the strongest five.

More shows on view

Point and Click

Xinan Helen Ran · Essex Flowers

May 22 – Jun 22, 2026

Wanna

Sue Tompkins · King's Leap

May 16 – Jun 21, 2026

Recent Paintings

Richard Tinkler · Elliott Templeton Fine Arts

May 17 – Jun 15, 2026

Community as Praxis Benefit

56 Henry

May 20 – Jun 1, 2026

Primal Sound

Brittany Miller · Ruttkowski;68

May 15 – Jun 14, 2026

Whims of Panspermia

Emily Orta · DIMIN

May 15 – Jun 14, 2026