Hans Hofmann | Forbes

NEW YORK

"Art and New York are synonymous, but before trodding the well-worn path back to The Met, MoMA, the Guggenheim or the Whitney, enjoy an adventure by visiting one of the city’s countless galleries.

Elizabeth Houston Gallery on the Lower East Side presents the challenging mixed-media artwork of Julie Green who spent the last 20 years of her life highlighting the cruelties of America’s carceral system. For something more joyful, Miles McEnery Gallery adjacent to the High Line in Chelsea offers Hans Hofmann’s vibrantly colored Chimbote Mural paintings.

In 1950 Hofmann was invited to collaborate in the making of a modernist site in the coastal town of Chimbote, Peru. Hofmann planned to paint nine large murals that would become a mosaic at the site, but the project was never realized. The resulting large-scale abstract panels—nearly 7 x 4 feet at their widest—provide significant insight into his energetic compositions and distinct theoretical approach to painting.

Consider stopping by fitting homage to Hofmann, a central figure in New York’s ascendance to the pinnacle of the art world as a revered teacher of Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler and other stalwarts of the “New York School.”