The fifth edition of Upstate Art Weekend (UAW, 18-21 July) has returned to the rolling hills of New York State’s northernmost regions this summer, promising a visual smorgasbord for locals and tourists alike. A connective event spanning ten counties in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley, this year’s iteration boasts 145 participants—a long ways up from the 23 it had when the event first launched in 2020.
Founded by the curator, fair director and Stoneleaf Retreat artist residency co-founder Helen Toomer, UAW marries institutional participation from mainstays like Dia Beacon and Olana State Historic Site with a wide variety of programming at various galleries, nonprofits and art centres throughout the region. One-off shows and pop-ups abound, from a floating choral experience by Audra Wolowiec to a six-vignette solo performance by Maiko Kikuchi at KinoSaito—a nonprofit in a former Catholic school in Verplanck.
UAW also coincides with the inaugural edition of Zero Art Fair, an artist-founded free expo in Elizaville that allows visitors to take home an available work per day under an innovative five-year ownership contract model.
Accessible from New York City by car or train, UAW offers a sprawling cross-section of established and emerging talent across a wide variety of genres. Here are four highlights of the weekend’s offerings:
The Campus
This spacious art compound inhabiting a 78,000-sq.-ft former school building in Claverack is the collaborative result of six New York City gallery mainstays—Bortolami, James Cohan, Kaufmann Repetto, Anton Kern, Andrew Kreps and Kurimanzutto. Its inaugural 80-plus-artist show, curated by Timo Kappeller, combines new, historical and site-specific works from artists like Diane Simpson, Roy Lichtenstein and David Shrigley to dazzling effect, lending an expansive sense of pomp to the once indie UAW experience.
KuBe Art Center
Kunsthalle Beacon, or KuBe, another repurposed school in the idyllic Hudson Valley, spans experimental art spaces, offices, studios and the satellite location of New York City’s Ethan Cohen Gallery, which is presenting the exhibition Out of Africa: Seminal Works of Contemporary Africa and Its Diaspora (until 28 September). Featuring the works of 11 contemporary artists with roots in Africa, the show encompasses a wide variety of experiences and insights often unseen by US audiences. Out of Africa coincides with open-studio events in downtown Beacon and across the river at Atlas Studios, a converted former factory building.
Storm King Art Center
The 500-acre sculpture park in New Windsor is currently home to Girl Group, a monumental six-piece commission by the renowned ceramicist Arlene Shechet. These fierce, enormous slabs of saturated color measure up to 30 ft long and use intricate welding techniques and swooping, dramatic curvature to interrupt their pastoral surroundings and cut through the sombre pomp of the park’s post-minimalist milieu. On 20 July, a dance performance, choreographed by Annie-B Parson, will take place in tandem with the commission. In an interview with The New York Times, Schecht said of her sculptures, “I’m looking for awe, but not just awe. I’m looking for joy.”
Magazzino Italian Art
This private museum in Cold Spring with a focus on Arte Povera has recently added a new wing, the Robert Olnick Pavilion. It is currently home to a show of Murano glass by Carlo Scarpa, the legendary architect and designer, alongside an expansive survey of paintings and video works by the artist and musician Mario Schifano, spanning resonant monochrome abstractions to wily, layered figural works.
