Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1545388
Art never takes a vacation. From coast to coast, blockbuster shows abound all season long. BY KAT HERRIMAN pin in it he best summers aren't spent in one place. For those looking to soak in the best of the contemporary art scene across the country this year, that is especially true. The institutions are swinging big, and the geographic options for art travel sprawl from the Hudson Valley to the Nevada desert. Whether you're mapping out an American road trip or collecting excuses to fly somewhere, here's where summer is actually happening. THE WILDS OF NEW YORK AND NEW ENGL AND Upstate Art Weekend (June 25–29) is just a taste of the programming that awaits a couple of hours' drive from New York. The Hudson Valley and Berkshires are brimming with a brand-new crop of shows: Close to the city, Storm King Art Center plays host to Anicka Yi's outdoor debut. Yi—who has taken over the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern and the Guggenheim—touches down at the sprawling sculpture park with work that is, true to form, very much alive. Not far away, at Dia Beacon, check in for a presentation of late iconoclast John Chamberlain's smashed vehicles: It's the only parking lot worth lingering in this summer. Further afield, in Western Massachusetts, MASS MoCA, the industrial plant–turned-kunsthalle, looms larger, with a major presentation by Indigenous artist Jeffrey Gibson, who has been at the forefront of the contemporary art vanguard for the past couple of years. FAR EAST The cradle of Ab-Ex heroes like Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, the Hamptons have long been a storied destination for artists and art lovers alike. The institutions keep that spirit alive by serving the summer throngs their biggest blockbusters of the year. This season brings an Ellsworth Kelly moment to the Parrish Art Museum's airy halls; his bright, defined shapes are a pleasing contrast to the wild meadows that surround the museum. And farther down the road, don't miss a visit to Dia Bridgehampton, where hometown hero Alan Ruiz answers the genius of Dia forebear Dan Flavin with incisive work that wields the language of minimalism to address the power structures that lurk behind our built environment. DESERT DAYS Burning Man isn't the only summer art destination in the desert—but it is the one most beloved by artists. Every year, for one week culminating on Labor Day, a devoted subsection of the art world heads out to the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada to romp around with other creators, and the temporary city they collectively build is one of the most radical artistic experiments on Earth. Not far away, in Reno, the Nevada Museum of Art has transformed its entire 120,000– square-foot building to accommodate "Into the Time Horizon," a landmark survey of nearly 200 artists reckoning with the climate crisis. It is the most ambitious exhibition in the institution's history. In July, Art Santa Fe is the desert's most welcoming on-ramp for new collectors. And if you're making the full pilgrimage into Texas Hill Country, don't skip Ballroom Marfa, where Raven Halfmoon presents colossal glazed stoneware sculptures that honor her Caddo Nation ancestors and the generations of Indigenous women who keep their traditions alive. put a T Works by Mark di Suvero preside over the South Fields at Storm King Art Center in New York's Hudson Valley Ellsworth Kellys' Color Panels for a Large Wall II (1978) at the Parrish Art Museum Raven Halfmoon with her glazed stoneware sculptures, now on view at Ballroom Marfa © M A R K D I S U V E R O , C O U R T E S Y O F T H E A R T I S T A N D S PAC E T I M E C . C . ; C O U R T E S Y O F S TO R M K I N G A R T C E N T E R ; © E L L S W O R T H K E L LY FO U N DAT I O N , C O U R T E S Y PA R R I S H A R T M U S E U M ; P H OTO BY K E S E F S TAT H I O U , C O U R T E S Y O F S A LO N 9 4 A N D B A L L R O O M M A R FA