Mossy Stream between Rocks, 2026
Joana Schneider
Galerie Sept
Kyoto 83, 2026
David Quinn
&Gallery
In this monthly roundup, we spotlight five stellar exhibitions at small and rising galleries.
Making Space: American Women Artists and the Century of Change
Lincoln Glenn, New York
Through Aug. 22
Woman Recumbent, 1980
Sally Michel Avery
Lincoln Glenn
This compelling summer show at New York’s Lincoln Glenn stars 25 trailblazing American women artists of the 20th century. Featuring both well-known artists such as Louise Nevelson and Lee Bontecou, as well as lesser-known artists such as Sonia Gechtoff and Nell Blaine, “Making Space” is the gallery’s third annual summer exhibition centered on the works of women artists, in which the young gallery proves its talent for rediscovery. One gem of the show is Sally Michel Avery’s Woman Recumbent (1980), a female nude made in elegantly delineated passages of pure color. Born in 1902, Sally Avery worked professionally as an illustrator, though she painted throughout her life. She was married to the American artist Milton Avery for nearly 40 years, until his death in 1965. The two were collaborators and profoundly influential to one another, together defining a unique style of modernist figuration. It’s one of several surprises in the exhibition.
Ruoyu Gong
“Le Premier Homme: After the Long Way Around, the Journey Begins”
Migrant Bird Space, Berlin
July 18–Aug. 18
Mountain Spirit, 2026
Ruoyu Gong (龚若愚)
Migrant Bird Space
Sentenced to Freedom, 2026
Ruoyu Gong (龚若愚)
Migrant Bird Space
In New York–based artist Ruoyu Gong’s rapturous paintings, abstracted flame-like licks of paint appear alongside detailed depictions of chimerical beasts. These fantastical scenes seem, at first glance, like contemporary Last Judgment scenes. Yet, rather than depictions of the end times, Gong’s paintings embody the chaos of creation. In the painting Mountain Spirit (2026), the hunched figure of a man seems to look down at his own reflection, a moment of introspection amid the primordial forces surrounding him.
The exhibition’s title, “Le Premier Homme,” takes its name from Albert Camus’s unfinished final novel, a fictionalized retelling of his childhood in Algeria. The paintings in the show do not draw from the plot of the novel specifically, but rather the spirit of honest reflection on the origins of an individual’s outlook on life.
Gong earned a certificate of Advanced Painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, followed by his BFA in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2023. He is currently pursuing an MFA in painting from New York Academy of Art.
Lee Hyun Joung Lee and Joana Schneider
“Failles”
Galerie Sept, Brussels
Through Aug. 30
Les Failles , 2026
Hyun Joung Lee
Galerie Sept
Swampberry, 2025
Joana Schneider
Galerie Sept
The word “failles” in French has multiple meanings, ranging from geographical fault lines to personal flaws. In this two-artist show, Korean artist Lee Hyun Joung and German artist Joana Schneider both explore the idea of material rupture and repetition through their distinct practices. Hyun Joung works with hanji paper and a black ink called muk to create meditative drawings filled with rhythmic lines. These works merge traditional Korean aesthetics with contemporary abstraction. Schneider, meanwhile, works with maritime rope to weave together large-scale sculptures that call to mind organic forms, from oyster beds to cellular organisms. Both artists work through accumulative processes of repetitive gestures that become a testament to time and artistic labor.
Claire B. Cotts
“Unfolding”
Nüart Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Through July 11
little tower (balancing), 2028
Claire B Cotts
Nüart Gallery
opaline, 2026
Claire B Cotts
Nüart Gallery
California artist Claire B. Cotts paints layered compositions with recurring geometric motifs such as repeating reed-like forms and curved, cushiony rounded shapes. The artist’s process includes both structure and intuitive markmaking as she paints, scrapes, draws, and revises her works as she goes. This process imparts a tactile depth to the paintings, whose surfaces at times resemble fabric swatches or passages of painted folk furniture. The artist, who received her MFA from the University of California, Berkeley, finds inspiration in more abstracted observations of the natural world, however, such as patterns of breath or lights and shadows at play in a body of water.
David Quinn
“Kyoto”
&Gallery, Edinburgh
Through July 29
Kyoto 94, 2026
David Quinn
&Gallery
Kyoto 96, 2026
David Quinn
&Gallery
Irish artist David Quinn is best-known for his intimately scaled, serene abstractions inspired by book design, musical notation, and signwriting. The artist’s newest works are shaped by his time spent in Japan and the ancient Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which refers to an appreciation of flawed beauty. With patterns painted faintly in tranquil hues of blues, greens, grays, and whites, the paintings can feel reminiscent of a sun-bleached paperback. There is something poetic about these compositions, which Quinn likens to visual haikus.
