I was supposed to be in New York City a lot this April, and had a long list of art shows I planned to see on the first trip. Before every visit, I make a list. I organize it by neighborhood, plot out the days so that friends might join me, coordinate evening plans and fit everything in. Then I add on once I’m there.

Though it’s definitely not like being there in person, it has been helpful to take a look at the shows on line. I thought you, dear readers, might be interested.

My friend Sharyn, and I, visited the Museum of Modern Art this past Fall, the week after it re-opened. The museum just went through an extensive renovation and expansion. Sharyn and I had plans to go back this Spring together, as a portion of the collection will be rotating every six months. MOMA always offers special exhibits I want to see and it is just an amazing place to spend time. We like to see it all, and we do, but we also really wanted to see the Judd retrospective. The show was expected to be open until July 11th. I listened to the live Q&A and curator Ann Tempkin mentioned that they have been speaking with people who lent them art for the exhibition, in hopes of extending the exhibit once the museum reopens.

My friend Kathleen and I were supposed to see Arlene Shechet at Pace Gallery, and would have visited other shows at the Chelsea galleries as well. I was so excited to be in town for the show “Skirts”, as I follow her career carefully. I had made Kathleen an Arlene Shechet fan after taking her to see a show at The Frick Collection back in 2017, and knew this was the art outing on which she’d want to join me.

Gerhard Richter: Painting After All was slated to be the last show at The Met Breuer, which already had plans to close in July. The Met Breuer, which used to be the old Whitney Museum of American Art, was designed by Marcel Breuer in the mid 1960’s. I have been going there since I was young, and have always found good shows there, in both the Whitney and The Met Breuer incarnations. I’m really sad to see it close. I usually plan my visit there around an espresso and a glass of wine, as a late afternoon treat, at the lovely bar in the basement (my drink trick for dealing with the time change and a full schedule). Here is a nice write up of the show. If I can’t get there before July, I’ll definitely try to see it in L.A. as it heads to Southern California next. I love Gerhard Richter’s work, and at 88 this show was covering 60 years of his work. I can watch this over and over again, and this documentary I saw years ago was fantastic.

I never miss a trip to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Its downtown location is convenient, and it reminds me of living in that neighborhood. I lived there starting in the mid 1980s, and the neighborhood is completely different than back then. Some of my absolute favorite artists have work in the show Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950-2019 which was originally scheduled to run until January 2021. Fingers crossed the museum will be open before then.

I also wanted to go to MoMA PS1 to see the Niki de Saint Phalle Structures for Life show which was originally scheduled to run April 5th – September 7th.

I was planning to finally make time to see Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party at the Brooklyn Museum. I had hoped to take my daughter with me, to surprise her with a place setting featuring her name. Fortunately that installation is there permanently.

There also was to be an artist opening at Jack Hanley Gallery on a Thursday night during my visit, and I know my friend Melissa would have joined me. I had seen Emma Kohlmann’s work at NADA for the first time when I was there for Art Basel this past December. I was excited to see some of her larger work in person.

I still am hopeful that I will get to see some of these shows. In the meantime, I’ll keep adding to my ongoing list.