Arts · Exhibition preview
Three exhibitions opening Friday at Pace Gallery in Chelsea approach the human body, memory and the things people leave behind from markedly different directions.
At 540 West 25th Street, Li Hei Di’s the year of mud brings new paintings that hover between recognizable figures and dissolving forms. The London-based artist draws on the Chinese creation story of Nüwa, who formed human beings from mud, to consider changes in identity, memory and the body. On view through December 19, it marks Li’s first New York solo exhibition with Pace since joining its program in 2024.
Upstairs, Lucas Samaras: Boxes and Reconstructions revisits the artist’s inventive treatment of objects and containers. The exhibition remains on view through January 23, 2027. A short walk away, at 508 and 510 West 25th Street, the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset presents TRANSITION, a new sculptural installation running through January 16.
Rather than share a single subject, the three shows offer separate ways of making the familiar feel unstable: bodies that seem to change shape, objects that resist ordinary use and environments that question how visitors occupy them.
All three exhibitions open November 6 at Pace Gallery’s West 25th Street spaces. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Exhibition details.
