Petzel Gallery

OPENING TODAY: James Little's "Homage El Shabazz" opens today, November 5, at Petzel. The exhibition offers an in-depth look at a pivotal series in Little's oeuvre. Produced between 1985 and 1989, the works emerged during a period when questions of Black political identity, self-determination, and institutional power were central to cultural and political discourse—concerns that continue to resonate today. The exhibition marks the largest presentation of the series since 1992, when six of the works were included in the Walker Art Center's "Malcolm X: Man, Ideal, Icon," curated by Dr. Kellie Jones. The series' title refers to Malcolm X, who adopted the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz following his pilgrimage to Mecca. In her essay for James Little's forthcoming monograph, Valerie Cassel Oliver describes the works as "rooted in memory and tribute," noting how Little employs abstraction as a means of understanding and processing the world around him. James Little: Homage El Shabazz 📍520 W 25th Street ⁠ 🗓 Opening November 5, 2026, 6–8 PM James Little Book Launch and Conversation with Aruna D'Souza 📍520 W 25th Street ⁠ ️🗓 November 14, 2026 at 4:00 PM 🔗 RSVP at link in bio 📕 Pre-Order at link in bio Slide 1: Archival image of James Little and David Hammons in front of a Malcolm X mural, ca. 1995; Slide 2: Installation view of "Malcom X: Man, Ideal, Icon," 1992, at Walker Art Center; Slide 3: "Homage El Shabazz #4," 1985, Oil and wax on canvas, 24 3/4 x 24 3/4 in, 62.9 x 62.9 cm. #jameslittle #petzel #paintings #nycshows #chelseagalleries

OPENING TOMORROW: Tschabalala Self's "Tools of Worship" opens tomorrow November 5, presenting a selection of new paintings and the artist's first sculptures cast in concrete. The show marks Self's first exhibition with the gallery and is her first solo show in New York since 2020. This latest body of work is a mediation on corporeality and spirit that asks what it means to consider an artwork as something alive that can return the viewers’ gaze. Self constructs her figures with found and repurposed textiles that bear associations, memories, and traces of prior use, ranging from scraps of old paintings, souvenirs from traveling, and fabrics from her late mother's collection. Rather than neutralizing those earlier lives and personal meanings, she harnesses their residual energy toward new ends. Tschabalala Self: Tools of Worship 📍520 W 25th Street ⁠ 🗓 Opening November 5, 2026, 6:00–8:00 PM #tschabalalaself #petzel #paintings #mustsee #nycshows

Petzel will be hosting a book launch to celebrate the publication of James Little’s first major monograph on November 14 at 4:00 PM — RSVP at link in bio. The book features essays by Valerie Cassel Oliver, Aruna D’Souza, Gavin Delahunty, and Carrie Cooperider, covering the breadth of Little's five-decade career, his early influences, and ongoing commitment to abstraction. The event will include a conversation between Little and Aruna D'Souza followed by a book signing. The launch coincides with Little's third exhibition with the gallery "Homage El Shabazz," opening November 5, 2026. James Little Book Launch and Conversation with Aruna D'Souza 📍520 W 25th Street ⁠ 🗓 November 14, 2026 at 4:00 PM 🔗 RSVP: petzel.com/exhibitions/james… Jame Little: Homage El Shabazz 📍520 W 25th Street 🗓 Opening November 5, 2026 #jameslittle #book #monograph #artisttalk #petzel

For the ADAA Fair, Petzel is pleased to present a solo booth of six new oil paintings by Mérida - and New York - based artist Jorge Pardo, on view November 12–16, 2026. Pardo begins each work digitally, layering personal photographs with references drawn from art history until the original images become nearly unrecognizable. He then translates these compositions into paintings, where gestural marks and unexpected details bring new life to the images. ADAA Fair, Booth C1 📍Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065⁠ 🗓️ November 12–November 16, 2026 Artwork: Jorge Pardo, "Untitled," 2026, Oil pencil on canvas, 60 1/4 x 60 1/4 in, 153 x 153 cm. #jorgepardo #adaafair #paintings #artfair #mustsee

SAVE THE DATE: Next week on November 5th, Jame's Little's "Homage El Shabazz" opens at Petzel. The exhibition will feature six works from Little's pivotal series "Homage El Shabazz," which serves as a tribute to Malcolm X. The Petzel show will run concurrently with three institutional group shows featuring Little's work: "Geometries" at The Studio Museum in Harlem, "Hard Art" at MoMA PS1, and "Rhapsodies in Black" at the Memphis Art Museum. On November 14, Petzel will host a book launch celebrating the publication of Little's first major monograph. The event will include a conversation between Little and Aruna D'Souza followed by a book signing. To RSVP, please visit the link below. Jame Little: Homage El Shabazz 📍520 W 25th Street 🗓 Opening November 5, 2026 James Little: Book Launch & Conversation with Aruna D’Souza 📍520 W 25th Street ⁠ 🗓 November 14, 2026 🔗 RSVP: petzel.com/exhibitions/james… #jameslittle #booklaunch #artisttalk #event

Sean Landers’s new painting “Lincoln in the Bardo” is now on view at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York. The work celebrates the world premiere of “Lincoln in the Bardo,” an operatic adaptation of George Saunders’s Booker Prize–winning novel composed by Missy Mazzoli. The exhibition is curated by Gallery Met director and curator Dodie Kazanjian and will be on view through November 14, 2026. Sean Landers “Lincoln in the Bardo” 📍 Metropolitan Opera 30 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York 🗓 On view through November 14, 2026 Artwork: Sean Landers, “Lincoln in the Bardo,” 2026, oil on linen, 48 x 40 in, 121.9 x 101.6 cm. Photos by Meg Symanow. #seanlanders #petzel #painting #themetopera #lincolninthebardo

Petzel is pleased to present "Homage El Shabazz," James Little’s third exhibition with the gallery, which brings together a rarely seen body of work from the 1980s, a pivotal moment in Little’s practice. The exhibition comprises six intimately scaled paintings from Little’s "Homage El Shabazz" series, making this the largest presentation of this body of work since 1992. In each work, four triangular panels converge at the center to form an “X” — a tribute to political activist Malcolm X, who used the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz following his pilgrimage to Mecca. Coinciding with the show, the first extensive monograph on Little’s five-decade career will be published this fall, featuring essays by Valerie Cassel Oliver, Aruna D’Souza, Gavin Delahunty, and Carrie Cooperider. Petzel will host a public launch and signing for the book at their 25th Street location on November 14, with Little in conversation with Aruna D’Souza. James Little: Homage El Shabazz 📍520 W 25th Street ⁠ 🗓 Opening November 5, 2026 James Little: Book Launch & Conversation with Aruna D’Souza 📍520 W 25th Street ⁠ 🗓 November 14, 2026 Artwork: James Little, “Homage El Shabazz #3,” 1985, Signed, titled and dated verso, Oil and wax on linen, Framed: 32 3/8 x 32 5/8 in, 82.2 x 82.9 cm, Unframed: 24 3/4 x 25 in, 62.8 x 63.5 cm. #jameslittle #petzel #painting #mustsee #nycshows

Cosima von Bonin's “Dollys & Beaux” is now on view at the Petit Palais as part of Art Basel Paris’s Public Program. Set against the grandeur of the museum’s Beaux-Arts architecture, von Bonin’s plush creatures create a playful tension between their softness and the monumentality of their surroundings. The presentation is organized in collaboration with Petzel, Gaga, and Galerie Neu. Cosima von Bonin: Dollys & Beaux 📍Art Basel Paris 🗓 On view through October 25, 2026 Photos: Installation view, Cosima von Bonin, "Dollys & Beaux," 2026. Photos by Flavio Karrer. Artworks commissioned by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for the Loewe Fall Winter 2026 show. #cosimavonbonin #artbasel #artbaselparis #petitpalais #sculpture

Petzel is pleased to present “Tools of Worship,” Tschabalala Self ’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, opening November 5, 2026. The show brings together new paintings and the artist’s first sculptural works in concrete. Following her monumental public sculpture for the New Museum’s façade in New York and the unveiling of her Fourth Plinth commission in London, “Tools of Worship” develops Self’s sustained investigation of the human figure, considering the body as both an object and a site of exchange through which meaning, desire, memory, and belief circulate. “Tools of Worship” asks what it means to encounter an artwork as something alive—something capable of returning the viewer’s gaze. The exhibition ultimately proposes that both art and the human body are conduits of reverence and projection, through which transformation becomes visible and inevitable. Tschabalala Self: Tools of Worship 📍520 W 25th Street ⁠ 🗓 Opening November 5, 2026 Artwork: Tschabalala Self, “In Creation,” 2026, Acrylic paint, oil paint, colored pencil, oil pastel, fabric, thread, painted canvas on canvas, 121 x 121 in x 1 1/2in, 307.3 x 307.3 x 3.8 cm. #tschabalalaself #petzel #paintings #mustsee #nycshows

Tomorrow, October 20, Cosima von Bonin will present “Dollys & Beaux,” an installation of twelve plush animal sculptures at the Petit Palais as part of Art Basel Paris’s Public Program. The menagerie includes a leather octopus, mohair whales, and velvet St. Bernards, among other creatures. Originally commissioned by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for the Loewe Fall Winter 2026 show, the sculptures will appear at the Petit Palais with new theatrical accessories, including tartan textiles and silk scarves. The presentation is organized in collaboration with Petzel, Gaga, and Galerie Neu. Cosima von Bonin: Dollys & Beaux 📍Art Basel Paris 🗓 On view October 20 through October 25, 2026 Artwork: Cosima von Bonin, “Beau 15 (deep blue velvet whale version),” 2026, Deep blue velvet and mixed media, 39 3/8 x 37 3/8 x 36 1/4 in, 100 x 95 x 92 cm. Photo by Oskar Lee. #cosimavonbonin #artbasel #artbaselparis #petitpalais #sculpture

Ross Bleckner is featured in the October issue of Artforum. The article highlights a selection of Bleckner's notebooks, offering an inside look into the artist's development and process between 2009 and 2023. In his introduction to the article, Ryan Sullivan states: “In life as in art, [Bleckner] wants to say something about the human condition that by its nature can’t be pictured or described, which I think is the reason he keeps trying.” Ross Bleckner's current exhibition, "Octopus," is on view at Petzel through October 24, 2026. Photos: Ross Bleckner, notebook pages, 2009–23. #rossbleckner #artforum #artist #paintings #mustsee

On October 20 Cosima von Bonin will present “Dollys & Beaux,” an installation of twelve plush animal sculptures at the Petit Palais as part of Art Basel Paris’s Public Program. The menagerie includes a leather octopus, mohair whales, and velvet St. Bernards, among other creatures. Originally commissioned by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for the Loewe Fall Winter 2026 show, the sculptures will appear at the Petit Palais with new theatrical accessories, including tartan textiles and silk scarves. The presentation is organized in collaboration with Petzel, Gaga, and Galerie Neu. Cosima von Bonin: Dollys & Beaux 📍Art Basel Paris 🗓 On view October 20 through October 25, 2026 Artwork: Cosima von Bonin, “Dolly 2 (nappa st. bernard version),” 2026. Photos by Oskar Lee. #cosimavonbonin #artbasel #artbaselparis #petitpalais #sculpture

Raphaela Vogel’s first solo exhibition in Belgium, “De mens is geen vogel (Man is No Bird),” will open on October 4, 2026, at Z33. Bringing together monumental installations, sculpture, painting, and a new multimedia work, Vogel transforms the galleries into immersive environments where image, sound, and technology converge. Blending deadpan humor with theatrical intensity, her works navigate the space between vulnerability and strength, reality and fiction, inviting viewers into uncanny worlds where humans, animals, and architecture collide. Photos: Installation view, Raphaela Vogel, “De mens is geen vogel (Man is No Bird),” Z33, 2026. Photos by Lola Pertsowsky. #raphaelavogel #artist #petzel #mustsee

The opening celebration for Derek Fordjour’s exhibition “FUMBLE” will take place October 4, 2026, at NXTHVN in New Haven, Connecticut. At 3 PM, Fordjour will join MacArthur Fellows Titus Kaphar and Dr. Imani Perry for a public conversation on artistic practice, narrative power, and the role of artists in civic life. An extension of NXTHVN’s Visiting Artist program, “FUMBLE” continues Fordjour’s decade-long engagement with sportsmanship as an allegory for artistic practice. Featuring a selection of recent paintings and sculptures alongside a video documenting Fordjour’s ARENA performance at Petzel in 2023, the exhibition considers the irony of missteps, positioning the “fumble” not as a failure, but as an inevitable and defining element of an enduring career. Derek Fordjour: FUMBLE 📍NXTHVN, New Haven, CT 🗓 On view September 23–November 22, 2026 Artwork: Derek Fordjour, “Highstep Fumble,” 2022. Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas, 85 x 65 in. #derekfordjour #paintings #mustsee #nxthvn

Ross Bleckner’s latest exhibition, "Octopus," brings together six new large-scale paintings in Petzel’s West Gallery. In "Two Chests and a Brain II," linear gestures weave through a cell-like field, recalling an anatomical diagram or vascular system. The work extends Bleckner’s longstanding engagement with microscopic imagery and molecular structures. “I’ve always thought of the different layers in a painting kind of like a body,” Bleckner remarks. “There’s things that happen underneath the skin … things under the painting that are covered up.” Ross Bleckner: Octopus 📍520 W 25th Street ️🗓 On view until October 24, 2026 Artwork: Ross Bleckner, “Two Chests and a Brain II,” 2026, Signed, titled, dated verso, Oil on linen, 84 x 60 x 2 in, 213.4 x 152.4 x 5.1 cm. #rossbleckner #artist #paintings #mustsee

This week, “Maria Lassnig and Edvard Munch: Flow of Paint = Flow of Life” opens at Kunsthaus Zürich, on view from October 2, 2026, through February 21, 2027. Bringing together more than seventy paintings and numerous works on paper, the exhibition illuminates new connections between the two artists’ practices. For Lassnig, Munch was a significant artistic point of reference, one she explicitly placed within her own lineage of painters. Seen through Lassnig’s work, Munch’s paintings take on new dimensions, revealing not only psychological states but also the physical and embodied experience of emotion. Together, their works demonstrate how the body can become a vehicle for making human interiority visible. The show will be accompanied by a catalogue featuring essays by Sandra Gianfreda, Johanna Hornauer, Hans Dieter Huber, Brigitte Kölle, and Johanna Ortner. Maria Lassnig and Edvard Munch: Flow of Paint = Flow of Life 📍Kunsthaus Zürich 🗓 On view October 2, 2026, through February 21, 2027 Artwork: Maria Lassnig, “Traditionskette (Chain of Tradition),” 1983, (Lassnig, Van Gogh, Munch, Velázquez) © Maria Lassnig Foundation. Photo: Ulrich Ghezzi Photography. #marialassnig #edvardmunch #paintings #mustsee #kunsthauszürich

Joyce Pensato’s “EYES FOR YOU,” the artist’s first major European solo exhibition since her passing in 2019, opens October 10, 2026, at Deichtorhallen Hamburg’s Falckenberg Collection and will be on view through April 4, 2027. The show will travel to Frac des Pays de la Loire in Carquefou in May 2027. Throughout her career, Pensato transformed popular comic and cartoon characters—including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Felix the Cat—into expressive, often foreboding symbols through a process of overpainting, sanding, and breaking down layers of paint, imbuing them with an intensified emotional depth and force. “EYES FOR YOU” traces the development of Pensato’s work, from early abstract paintings and Batman drawings of the 1970s, to the large-scale black-and-white enamel paintings of the 1990s and beyond. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Frac des Pays de la Loire and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami where it was originally curated by Alex Gartenfeld, Irma and Norman Braman Artistic Director; Gean Moreno, Art + Research Center and Monica and Blake Grossman Curator; and Stephanie Seidel, former curator at ICA Miami in collaboration with the Joyce Pensato Foundation. A catalogue is forthcoming. Joyce Pensato: EYES FOR YOU 📍 Deichtorhallen Hamburg’s Falckenberg Collection 🗓️ On view October 10, 2026–April 4, 2027 Artwork: Joyce Pensato, “Psycho Killer,” 2007, Enamel and metallic paint on linen, 90 x 72 in, 228.6 x 182.9 cm. Artwork © Joyce Pensato Foundation. #joycepensato #petzel #artist #paintings #mustsee

Emily Mae Smith’s new exhibition "Transit of Venus" is the subject of a new feature in Artsy by Senior Staff Writer Katie White Writing on Smith’s latest group of paintings, White explores the artist’s use of shadow, transformation, and art-historical references, as well as her ongoing interrogation of what painting can be and do in the present moment. “Painter Emily Mae Smith’s Surreal Visions Embrace the Dark Side” on Artsy. “Transit of Venus” is on view at Petzel through October 24, 2026. Read more: petzel.com/attachment/en/636… #emilymaesmith #artsy #press #mustread

In Ross Bleckner’s current exhibition, “Octopus,” each painting becomes the point of departure for the next, as ideas mutate, dissolve and reappear through the act of painting itself. Images drift between recognition and abstraction while motifs are repeated, layered and reconfigured until their origins become almost impossible to locate. Rather than illustrating a single idea, the paintings unfold as a stream of visual consciousness, where intuition and association guide each successive mark. The exhibition is on view through October 24, 2026. Ross Bleckner: Octopus 📍520 W 25th Street 🗓 On view until October 24, 2026 Artwork: Ross Bleckner, “Alone With Everyone,” 2026, Signed, titled, dated verso, Oil on Canvas, 84 x 60 x 2 in, 213.4 x 152.4 x 5.1 cm. Photos by Jason Mandella. #rossbleckner #petzel #paintings #mustsee #nycshows

James Little’s “Homage El-Shabazz (#10),” 1986, is on view in “Geometries” at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, through January 31, 2027. The exhibition—organized by Thelma Golden and Simon Ghebreyesus—considers geometry as a vehicle for complex ideas, human emotion, and questions of identity. The work belongs to Little’s “Homage El-Shabazz” series of the 1980s, in which four triangular panels converge to create an “X” at its central meeting point. This body of work is a tribute to Malcolm X, who used the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz following his pilgrimage to Mecca. Petzel will present a selection of paintings from this series this November. “I was being radical in my own way,” Little has stated. “I just don’t have a race-based aesthetic. I don’t use figurative imagery, but underlying all of my work is a revolutionary spirit.” (1) Artwork: James Little, “Homage El-Shabazz (#10),” 1986, Oil and wax on canvas, in four parts, all contained in a wooden frame, 24 3/4 x 24 7/8 x 1 1/2 in, 62 1/2 x 63 1/4 x 3 3/4 cm. (2) Photo: Installation view, “Geometries,” Studio Museum, 2026. Courtesy Studio Museum in Harlem. Photo by Kris Graves. 📍 Studio Museum in Harlem 🗓️ On view through January 31, 2027 #jameslittle #petzel #artists #painting #mustsee