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New York is hosting a remarkable range of sculpture exhibitions this fall, offering visitors everything from 15th-century Sienese bronzes to contemporary works made from recycled automobile tires. Several of these shows coincide with Art Week NYC, a citywide festival co-organized by ARTnews, Art in America, and Artforum, running from November 11 to 14. Together, the exhibitions reflect how broadly the definition of sculpture has expanded over recent decades.
Landmark Solo and Survey Shows
At Andrew Edlin Gallery, “Beverly Buchanan: Ruination and Regeneration” brings renewed attention to the work of Beverly Buchanan (1940–2015). Curated by Aurélie Bernard Wortsman, the show runs November 6 through December 19 at 392 Broadway. It includes Buchanan’s 1970s abstract paintings alongside her distinctive handcrafted shack sculptures, inspired by vernacular architecture of the American South. Also featured are cast-concrete works placed in outdoor settings, including her 1981 memorial at a Georgia marshland site of an 1803 slave rebellion. Wortsman told ARTnews that memorials like this one “resist the idea of monument as something fixed or permanent, instead engaging with the passage of time, displacement, and transformation.”
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Paula Cooper Gallery presents “Claes Oldenburg: Six Themes,” revisiting a 1975 traveling survey of the Pop artist’s recurring subjects. The exhibition runs November 5 through December 19 at 534 West 21st Street. Works on view range from a four-foot-high stuffed canvas clothespin to an 18-inch cast aluminum cigarette butt, demonstrating Oldenburg’s (1929–2022) lifelong habit of transforming everyday objects across wildly different scales and materials.
Meanwhile, Karma opens “Thaddeus Mosley, Early Works (1954–1968)” on November 13 at 38 White Street. Mosley, the Pittsburgh-based sculptor who died in March at age 99, gained wider recognition after his inclusion in the 2018 Carnegie International. This exhibition focuses on his earlier wooden sculptures, paintings, and collages, tracing his shift away from representation and his deep engagement with African art. “Without West Africa,” Mosley once said, “there would be no Cubism.”
Historical and Institutional Highlights
The Frick Collection presents “Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500,” on view through January 18, 2027, at 1 East 70th Street. The show features approximately 40 bronzes — nearly all surviving works from the period that can travel — by artists including Vecchietta, Francesco di Giorgio, and Donatello. The exhibition picks up Siena’s story a century after the Black Death of 1348 devastated the city and halted its earlier flowering as a center of religious painting.
At MoMA, “Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio” runs through February 27, 2027, at 11 West 53rd Street. The show brings together MoMA’s own Brancusi holdings with sculptures from the Centre Pompidou’s Atelier Brancusi reconstruction. In total, more than 150 sculptures appear alongside works on paper, photographs, and archival material.
Emerging and Mid-Career Voices
At Yossi Milo, Egyptian-American sculptor Ibrahim Said presents “Shaping Time,” on view through January 9, 2027, at 245 Tenth Avenue. Said hand-carves clay vessels drawing on ancient Egyptian, Coptic, and Islamic traditions. The show coincides with the conclusion of his 18-month residency through the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vacheron Constantin Artisan Residency program, which gave him sustained access to the Met’s collection.
Also on view, Chakaia Booker’s “Unpacked” at David Nolan, running November 6 through December 19 at 74 Leonard Street, showcases sculptures made from used automobile tires alongside collages, photographs, and a tapestry. In addition, Charlie Engelman’s “Prop Pile Bloom” at Pietro Alexander, running November 5 through January 7, 2027, at 59 Wooster Street, features new sculptures in flocked foam, cast aluminum, and 500-year-old redwood, referencing California’s natural and industrial history.
