> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Five New York City Shows to See Right Now - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/five-new-york-city-shows-to-see-may-20-2025/ - Published: 2025-05-20T22:17:37.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T15:11:49.000Z - Description: From ceramic alligators to Nordic traditions, artists focusing on personal concerns and identity are making some fascinating work. - Author: Lakshmi Rivera Amin - Tags: Art Review, Review, New York, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-large, #Import 2025-11-24 09:41 (2025) The artists we’re highlighting this week have diverse practices, ranging from the earthy, unglazed ceramics of Stanley Rosen to the complex, multicolored tapestries of Kenny Nguyen to the embroidered textile-photographs of Spandita Malik, but all share a desire to express personal preoccupations, personalities, and concerns through their art. Along with these impressive solo shows, a group show at Scandinavia House is a wonderful exploration of Nordic art traditions by artists from the Upper Midwest. And NYU’s MFA students make a solid showing with works focusing on the body. —*Natalie Haddad, Reviews Editor* --- ### The New York University MFA Class of 2025 Thesis Show: Part 2 [**80 WSE**](https://80wse.org/exhibitions/mfa-class-of-2025-thesis-part-2?ref=hyperallergic.com), 80 Washington Square East, Greenwich Village, Manhattan Through May 24 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/05/img_4608.jpg) Lizzy Choi, “Ctenophora” (2025) (photo Daniel Larkin/*Hyperallergic*) "\[The exhibition is\] about coming up with novel ways to think about the bodies we inhabit, the stresses they carry, and what they can and can’t perceive." —*Daniel Larkin* Read the full review [here](https://hyperallergic.com/new-york-university-mfa-students-rethink-the-body/). --- ### Kenny Nguyen: Mother Tongue [**Sundaram Tagore Gallery**](https://www.sundaramtagore.com/exhibitions/kenny-nguyen2?ref=hyperallergic.com), 542 West 26th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan Through May 31 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/05/img_7853.jpg) Kenny Nguyen, "Undecided Title" (2025), hand-cut silk fabric, acrylic paint, canvas, mounted on wall (photo Lisa Yin Zhang/*Hyperallergic*) "Kenny Nguyen’s undulating tapestries feel like a miracle, offering a truly new visual experience through the most analog of means." —*Lisa Yin Zhang* Read the full review [here](https://hyperallergic.com/kenny-nguyen-mother-tongue-sundaram-tagore-allery/). --- ### Stanley Rosen: Alligators & Objects [**Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects**](https://shfap.com/events/alligators-objects/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 208 Forsyth Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan Through May 31 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/05/screenshot-2025-05-15-at-10-14-41_am.png) Stanley Rosen, “untitled” (1990s), stoneware (image courtesy Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects, photo Peter Crabtree) "While the history of ceramics is filled with perfectly modeled, symmetrical pots with flawless surfaces and glazes, Rosen knew that any ideal is ultimately impossible." —*John Yau* Read the full review [here](https://hyperallergic.com/stanley-rosen-love-hate-relationship-with-alligators/). --- ### Spandita Malik: Jālī–Meshes of Resistance [**Robert Mann Gallery**](https://www.robertmann.com/25-spandita-malik-jali-meshes-of-resistance-press-release?ref=hyperallergic.com), 508 West 26th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan Through June 28 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/05/spandita-malik-heena.jpg) Spandita Malik, “Heena” (2025), unique photographic transfer print on khadi fabric, zardozi (photo Lakshmi Rivera Amin/*Hyperallergic*) "Against the grain of a [country](https://www.cnn.com/interactive/asequals/india-rape-crisis-justice-failures-as-equals-intl-cmd/?ref=hyperallergic.com) and world that punishes and denies dignity to survivors, Malik’s show is more than a mere embellishment or reclamation." —*Lakshmi Rivera Amin* Read the full review [here](https://hyperallergic.com/spandita-malik-transforming-sites-of-violence-one-stitch-at-a-time/). --- ### Nordic Echoes – Tradition in Contemporary Art [**Scandinavia House**](https://www.scandinaviahouse.org/exhibitions/nordic-echoes/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 58 Park Avenue, Manhattan Through August 2 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2025/05/6.jpg) Robin Baird Carlson, “Skinnfell, or Skin Blanket” (undated), buffalo hide, wool tapestry (photo Mána Taylor/*Hyperallergic*) "These contemporary interpretations offer a way for artists to acknowledge their roots while building new forms, and each work opens up portals into other lineages." —*Mána Taylor* Read the full review [here](https://hyperallergic.com/the-american-midwest-as-bastion-for-new-nordic-tradition/).