5 Standout Shows to See at Small Galleries This October
In an art world where industry giants often dominate headlines, small galleries silently steal the show. These spaces, passionately dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging artists, have proven their resilience and adaptability in the three years since the pandemic. Away from the crowds and monumental museum exhibitions, small galleries allow visitors immediate access to their city’s art scene.
For this roundup, we spotlight five stellar exhibitions at small and rising galleries in five cities worldwide.
Jennifer Latour, a Quebecois artist based in Vancouver, Canada, sought comfort in nature during the initial pandemic lockdowns. However, her musings on wildlife do not take traditional forms. With training as a special effects makeup artist, she seamlessly blended her passion for sculpture and photography to craft “Bound Species,” a series of temporary organic sculptures that she photographs in her studio and in the wild. Her photographs, such as Bound Species no.39 (2023), capture the ethereal allure of spring through carefully oriented photographs of her handmade plants.
The latest works from this series are featured in “Shapeshifters” at Open Doors Gallery in London. Inspired by locally sourced flowers, the sculptures in these photographs twist reality, emerging as free-standing plants that reject their sprouted origins. In Shapeshifter no.6 (2023), Latour presents a self-supporting plant adorned with purple-pink flowers, such as a square dahlia. Together, her pieces trace a technicolor reimagination of nature’s creations, and thanks almost entirely to her keen eye, the photographs invite us into her strange world.
Saúl Castro and Ixrael Montes, “Portraits of Oaxaca: A Dual Brushstroke”
Monterroso Gallery, Houston
Oct. 5–Nov. 29
Coinciding with the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, this exhibition by Oaxacan artists Saúl Castro and Ixrael Montes presents works that preserve their shared artistic heritage. In “Portraits of Oaxaca: A Dual Brushstroke,” hosted at Monterroso’s Crimson Living penthouse gallery, the two artists’ works invite viewers to immerse themselves in a culturally rich body of work.
Near the entrance, Montes’s Mistico (ca. 2022), an almost eight-foot artwork wrapped around a gallery column, greets visitors. In the large-scale piece, depicting totem-like heads surrounded by dynamically illustrated animals, Montes fully displays his fascination with spiritual symbolism and Indigenous cultures. His art evokes wonder—a captivating yet bewildering reflection on the balance between life, death, and the Earth.
Castro’s contributions to the show are similarly occupied by both the mythological and the symbolic. For instance, Floreciendo (ca. 2022) depicts a cow engulfed in a red canvas and surrounded by roosters—a symbol of Oaxacan folklore representing courage, authenticity, and vitality. Meanwhile, much of his work fixates on women figures adorned by signs, like the seahorse emblems in Dama del Mar (ca. 2022). Like Montes, Castro intricately weaves a tapestry of stories, emotions, and colors that resonate with their reflections of ancestry.
Paul Burlin, “Transformation of Spirit to Pigment: Harmony in Chaos”
Peyton Wright Gallery, Sante Fe
Oct. 6–Nov. 24
Born in 1886 in New York, Paul Burlin heralded early modernism in the American Southwest. Inspired by the vibrant landscapes and region’s cultures, his abstract compositions blend Native American motifs with European avant-garde techniques.
Burlin was one of the youngest artists in the 1913 Armory Show and one of the first modernist painters in the American Southwest. “Transformation of Spirit to Pigment: Harmony in Chaos” catalogs the artist’s later works, conceived in his most prolific period. Paintings like Deus Ex Machina (1951) and Route 66 Nowhere (1961) span the decade in which Burlin began losing his eyesight. Despite this, his paintings, defined by their rich, earthy palette and expressive brushstrokes, convey an intensified emotional clarity, capturing the subjects of his attention with vigor.
Garvey|Simon seeks to directly foster a dialogue between the gallerist and artist, particularly through its “Select West” and “Select East” programs, which showcase work from emerging and mid-career artists. Now in its eighth year, the “Select East” exhibition features work from Kathleen Beausoleil, Martin Benson, Sarah Brenneman, Jaynie Crimmins, Beth Dary, Leslie Fry, Julie Peppito, Christine Romanell, and Lynnette Sauer, hand-selected by gallery director Elizabeth K. Garvey.
In a hybrid exhibition hosted online on Artsy and in person at its Upper West Side gallery, the nine artists come together to present a dynamic range of styles. Among the works on view are Sauer’s “layered meditation” series, comprised of meticulously drawn chromatic illustrations, and Benson’s It Takes Two To Tango (2021), a sublime painting reminiscent of the work of Hilma af Klint.
Moreover, the exhibition includes several sculptors, like Beth Dary and Leslie Fry, whose drastically different sculptures still resonate with each other. Dary’s hand-blown glass evokes contemplations of the planet and decay, whereas Fry’s metal hands, sprouting flowers at their base, suggest revival. Despite the contrasts, “Select East” offers a dynamic group of meditations designed to pull visitors into an ongoing, highly active dialogue between forms and artists.
El Anatsui, the famed sculptor and installation artist born in Ghana, is known for transforming scrap metal into shimmering sculptures. With his direction and personal touch, he transforms mundane items like bottle caps and copper wires into expansive tapestries, evoking images of traditional African fabrics. Despite their metallic exteriors, his wall-hanging sculptures, such as Cloud gathering over the city and G6 (both 2023), move with textile-like fluidity. On closer look, the sharp edges of the metal lure in a viewer, and then reject touch.
In “TimeSpace,” Anatsui engages with topics like overconsumption, environmental disaster, and the complicated dynamics between Africa and the Western world—embodied by the work’s clashing cultural influences and materials. His show at October Gallery—which coincides with the artist’s major Hyundai Commission installation at the Tate Modern—features new works juxtaposed with the artist’s earlier work, like From the Venovize Series (1985), a ceramic vessel cracked down the orbed base. By viewing this work, visitors can trace the path of the visionary artist, exploring his experimental approach to sculpture and artmaking.
