Artists and Galleries Navigate Post-Election Mood in New York and Beyond

In the days before the US presidential election, several painting exhibitions were viewed in New York. Giorgio Morandi – Time Suspended II featured around sixty works from 1913 to 1964, traveling from Galleria Mattia De Luca in Rome to a Lenox Hill pop-up. Gagosian’s Upper East Side location presented The Street, including Peter Doig’s Night Playground (1997–98). CABIN, formerly Berlin-based, organized Scotopia in Lower Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood, displaying contemporary paintings alongside a tenth-century Indian sandstone relief and a Matisse pencil drawing. Suyi Xu’s oil on linen depicted an abstracted interior. After the election, gallery owners Patrick Bova and Lucas Regazzi, who moved their gallery april april from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh, noted a despondent crowd at their group exhibition Muffler. In Chicago, Jack Schneider’s gallery Prairie opened Justin Chance’s solo show Dominion. Kelsie Conley in Knoxville described a weighty mood but expressed hope while installing Audrey Gair’s solo show Rind at Bad Water gallery. Ralph Lemon’s Tell it anyway (2024) was performed at MoMA PS1, featuring Okwui Okpokwasili and April Matthis. The piece included recitations, brick-throwing, and songs about travel and dislocation. The article reflects on art’s role amid political uncertainty and regional differences in the US art scene.