10 Exhibitions to See in Upstate New York This January

Guide

Joyce Kozloff’s tenacious spirit, Nina Katchadourian’s eccentric universe, Linda Mussmann’s political stance against passivity, and more.

Michael McGrath, "Cat song reformer" (2025), oil on canvas (photo courtesy the artist)

Inhale, exhale — and here we are: a new year, and a proverbial clean slate. What lies ahead of us in 2026? Year after year, art answers our existential questions with imaginative possibilities. This month, Upstate New York kicks off a new era with exuberant and inspiring shows. Convey/Er/Or Gallery presents a series of playful yet powerful stick artworks by Loren Eiferman, and Headstone Gallery features fun-loving mythical paintings by Michael McGrath. Yatta: Iron + Palm Wine at Art Omi is an experimental immersive installation exploring the intersection of sound and storytelling, while Time & Space Limited presents recent political paintings by badass artist and co-founder Linda Mussmann. For a feel-good encounter with delightful faux greenery, check out Nina Katchadourian’s exhibition at the Hyde Collection. And for a more sobering vision of the United States and its impact around the planet, don’t miss Joyce Kozloff’s show at the Everson Museum of Art. Whatever direction the world takes this year, art leads the way with conviction and care!

A Gnawing Thought

Utopia, 35 North Front Street, Kingston, New York
Through January 17

Jenny Kemp, “Festoon” (2025), acrylic on linen over panel (photo by Nick Carder, courtesy Utopia)

Curated by Mandolyn Wilson Rosen and featuring 18 New York-based artists working in a variety of media, A Gnawing Thought at Utopia aptly captures art as something lovely that nibbles happily at the edges of your mind. Padma Rajendran’s Surrealist-meets-domestic “Lemon Life” (2018) consists of stitching on fabric, including a disembodied red hand, hovering green door, two palm trees, and an overflowing jug. “Festoon” (2025) by Jenny Kemp is a sumptuous wave of sherbert shapes unfolding in harmonious glory; meanwhile, “Yellow Square Floating” (2025) by Nancy Shaver consists of sturdy wooden blocks covered in fabric and paper in a sober arrangement while a yellow one floats joyfully among them.

Loren Eiferman: Gathering of Sticks

Convey/Er/Or Gallery, 299 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, New York
Through January 19

Loren Eiferman, “Landscape In Passing” (2025), 88 pieces of wood, acrylic paint, mirrored mylar (courtesy Convey/Er/Or Gallery)

Each work here is made of no less than 80 different pieces of twigs and broken tree limbs — which is to say that the title of Loren Eiferman’s exhibition, Gathering of Sticks, keeps its promise. Her ritualistic artworks are simultaneously organic and futuristic: “Powerstick #1” (2018) consists of three long sticks that reach in different directions, each crowned with a distinct shape; altogether, it's a glowing vision of mystical power. “Albutilon” (2022) bursts forth looking like a flower-face, while the metallic green “Salvia” (2022) takes the form of a noble tower of abstract configurations.

Michael McGrath: Under Panther Mountain

Headstone Gallery, 28 Hurley Avenue, Kingston, New York
Through January 25

Michael McGrath, "Heavy metal mountain choir" (2025), colored pencil on wood panel (photo courtesy the artist)

Sometimes art makes one squeal with glee, and Michael McGrath made me do just that. Under Panther Mountain at Headstone Gallery, consisting of more than 20 new works (all 2025), is laden with recurring symbols, including headless singers, wild ravens, and fiery meteors that plunge toward bucolic environments. In “Afterlight, Panther Mountain,” floating eyes hover in a pink sky above two erupting volcanoes as figures wander nonchalantly amid a green landscape below. In “Cat song reformer,” a lone black feline with a dragonfly over its head faces a high hill as white spheres occupy the heavens. “Heavy Metal Mountain Choir” is a blithe vision of all of McGrath’s icons together — eyes, crows, heads, flaming orbs — in a medley of melodious fun.

Yatta: Iron + Palm Wine

Art Omi, 1405 County Route 22, Ghent, New York
Through February 1

Installation view of YATTA: Iron + Palm Wine (photo by Olympia Shannon, courtesy Art Omi)

Combining aspects of music, performance, sculpture, and sound art, the Sierra Leonean-American artist’s experimental installation Iron + Palm Wine features video, sound, and digital collage, showcasing their ongoing explorations of West African finger-picking blended with looped vocals and storytelling. One area of the show includes a sculptural scene of a TV screen positioned on lawn chairs with a headset to listen to interviews conducted by Yatta. Other elements include poetic phrases on the walls; statements such as “the black wanderer is a mode of being” offer a cerebral dimension to this dynamic show.

Linda Mussmann: Shebang!

Time & Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street, Hudson, New York
January 3–February 1

Linda Mussmann, "Humpty Dumpty" (2025) (photo by Linda Mussmann, courtesy Time & Space Limited)

TSL co-founder Linda Mussmann is part of a generation of old-school artists who continue to redefine the notion of the sociopolitical in art. Featuring a series of recent paintings (all works 2025), some painted on bedsheets, Shebang at TSL embodies her passionate stance against political passivity. Works such as “Fire Five Alarm” include two patches of bright color side by side with a grid overlay and an urgent run-on sentence that reads in part “is anyone listening is anyone hearing.” Meanwhile, “Was it Was it” boldly asks “was it was it ok ok ok ok or not or not” (I’d answer, given the state of the world, that no, it’s not ok).

Karen Kimmel: Basket as We, Basket as Me

Maiden Lane Gallery, 51 Maiden Lane, Kingston, New York
Through February 8

Karen Kimmel, "Case 4 - 2 Goods" (2025), cord, ash, stoneware, and hand dyed fabric (photo by Wendy Polish, courtesy Maiden Lane Gallery)

Using cotton rope to create original shapes that are one-part abstract sculptures, one-part bespoke fashion items, Karen Kimmel is redefining the art of cord. Featuring 23 hand-woven “basket” pieces (all 2025), Basket as We, Basket as Me at Maiden Lane Gallery honors the shape as both familiar and visionary. “Case 1 – 2 Goods” is a smaller pink-cord creation hanging below a gray French-beret-meets-balaclava above, both suspended on a thin wood plank against the wall. “Tender” features a grayish-white shape that curves upward like a banana as three loose cords dangle freely, while “Case 5 – 2 Goods” consists of a white hat-like “basket” and tan animal-like “basket” perched on opposite sides of a piece of wood, domestic and sophisticated in its beauty.

Nina Katchadourian: Fake Plants and Other Curiosities

The Hyde Collection, 161 Warren Street, Glens Falls, New York
Through March 8

Nina Katchadourian, "Fake Plant #43" (2021), C-print (photo courtesy the artist, Catharine Clark Gallery, and Pace Gallery)

Through her tinkering with upcycled materials, including food packaging, plastic medical waste, and other discarded objects, Nina Katchadourian creates an eccentric universe of original design. Fake Plants and Other Curiosities at the Hyde Collection brings together sculptures and photographs from her Fake Plants project, begun during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, installed in both the main gallery and throughout the Hyde House. Her photos document lovably quirky works such as “Fake Plant #43” (2021), a bright sunflower made of paper product, and “Fake Plant #45” (2022), a happy little chorus of white balls that float upward from a rock. “Plant #53 (Joshua Tree)” (2025) is a cardboard cactus that looks like it arrived fresh from the California desert, while “Fake Plant #35” (2021) is a burst of ghostly white shapes that cascade like fireworks against a black night sky.

Joyce Kozloff: Contested Territories, 1983-2023

Everson Museum of Art, 401 Harrison Street, Syracuse, New York
Through April 5

Joyce Kozloff, "If I Were a Botanist (Gaza)" (2015), mixed media on canvas (courtesy the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York)

I first learned of Joyce Kozloff’s diverse artistic practice and alignment with feminist art during the late 1990s, and her work continues to inspire a contemporary generation today. Joyce Kozloff: Contested Territories, 1983-2023 at the Everson Museum of Art reflects her tenacious spirit and politically charged art. The centerpiece of this show is her “Targets” (2000) sculpture, a walk-in globe with aerial maps of locations bombed by the US military between 1945 and 2000 painted on the inside. “Jeez” (2012) includes countless cultural images of Jesus from all parts of the world, while “If I Were a Botanist (Gaza)” (2015), a bright mixed-media work with glorious star-like patterns alongside a map of the Gaza Strip, highlights life’s persistence amid devastation.

Shen Wei: Still Moving

Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay Street, Katonah, New York
Through April 19

Swirling in an unbounded flurry of expression, Shen Wei: Still Moving at the Katonah Museum of Art (in collaboration with the Pocantico Center in Tarrytown) is pure exhilaration. Featuring paintings, works on paper, choreographic compositions, and short films made during the past 30 years, Shen Wei’s interdisciplinary practice is on full view for the first time in this show. Colorful works such as “Brush Movement and Music #4” (2023) explode with power and grace, while “Movement No. 2 (Mozart Piano Sonata in Black and White)” (2005–6) is an all-out frenzy of painterly excitement. “Untitled Number 31” (2015–20) is a stoic vision of an abstract mountain range set against a white background, an homage to Shen Wei’s native Hunan.

Yoichi Ohira: Japan in Murano

Magazzino Italian Art, 2700 Route 9, Cold Spring, New York
Through May 4

Yoichi Ohira, "Maestro Livio Serena Polvere" (1997), glass (courtesy Magazzino Italian Art)

Yoichi Ohira’s exquisite vessels are a charming vision of the magical potential of glass. Japan in Murano, curated by Nicola Lucchi at Magazzino Italian Art, celebrates his masterful engagement with this atypical medium during his nearly 40-year career in Murano through a troupe of candy-colored delights in the form of more than 60 glass works. “Gocce di cristallo” (1999) is a stout jar patterned with small dazzling squares, while “Grappolo in rosso e in nero” (2001) is a balloon-shaped piece with compelling red, black, and white coloring. “Finestre” (1997) shines brightly in pure azure, and “Mille luci” (2002) is among the most elegant works in the show, glowing brightly in its perfect translucent teardrop shape.

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