An Informative Guide to Spring Art Excursions Outside New York City

My favorite thing to do in New York City is leave it. I’m kidding, I’m kidding, but there’s nothing wrong with a little break, especially to explore the beautiful exhibitions below. They’re just a short trip from the city — and just as the weather’s beginning to hint at warmth.

Many of these shows offer alternate visions, not just from the concrete crush of New York City but from our dimension entirely. See, for instance, Liz Nielsen’s abstract photographs at Connecticut’s Hartford Art School Galleries — she dubs them “interdimensional timelines.” Or Piero Manzoni’s entirely white and furry room, on view in a major exhibition at Magazzino in Cold Spring.

Also Upstate, three artists at Utopia in Kingston commune with the world beyond perception, offering a way out of the overwhelm that seems to be the defining feature of our time. Who knows? A trip to Beacon to sink into those serene paintings by Agnes Martin might be just what the soul needs.

—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor

### Spirit in the Flesh

[**Utopia**](https://www.utopiaupstate.com/spirit-in-the-flesh?ref=hyperallergic.com), 35 North Front Street, Kingston, New York
March 7–28

What are we to do in times of extreme overwhelm? Perhaps we try to embrace moments of beauty as they come. At Utopia, three artists — Courtney Puckett, Ben Pederson, and Saul Chernick — come together to show sculptures, paintings, and works on paper that are playful, curious, and joyful in their engagement with a world beyond perception, what they call the “Source.”

### Interdimensional Timelines: Liz Nielsen

[**Hartford Art School Galleries**](https://www.hartford.edu/academics/schools-colleges/art/galleries/current-season-exhibits.aspx?ref=hyperallergic.com), 200 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut
March 5–April 11

Liz Nielsen calls her photographic works “light paintings.” These records of carefully timed exposures yield lush terrains of blues, greens, and yellows, achieved through a process that requires her to work in the dark. Timed with her post as a distinguished chair in the University of Hartford’s Photography Department, her recent works feel like transportive postcards from another dimension.

### Piero Manzoni: Total Space

[**Magazzino Italian Art**](https://www.magazzino.art/visit/exhibitions/piero-manzoni-total-space?ref=hyperallergic.com), 2700 Route 9, Cold Spring, New York
Through April 13

Despite his brief life, postwar artist Piero Manzoni has been credited with altering the very definition of art through his satirical approach to the avant-garde. Accompanying several works from his famous *Achromes* (1957–58) series are two experiential rooms, conceptualized by the artist yet only realized posthumously, multiple displays of Manzoni’s writings, archival materials, and a replica of “Base Magica (Magical Base)” (1961), a simple plinth that invites visitors to become artworks themselves.

### E.E. Kono: Conversant

[**Wassaic Project at Troutbeck**](https://www.wassaicproject.org/exhibitions/e-e-kono-conversant?ref=hyperallergic.com), 515 Leedsville Road, Amenia, New York
Through April 19

E. E. Kono’s vibrant silverpoint and egg tempera paintings will transport you to whimsical realms where legend, art history, and the natural world coalesce. For this show, the artist was inspired by the natural and man-made landscape of Troutbeck, and in particular the enchanting clematis blossoms that climb its walled garden.

### Lines of Influence: Artists Teaching Artists

[**Heckscher Museum of Art**](https://www.heckscher.org/exhibitions/lines-of-influence-artists-teaching-artists/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 2 Prime Avenue, Huntington, New York
March 29–May 3

Amid an art world that still prizes the “lone genius” myth, this show reminds us of the power of mentors and teachers. Structured as a genealogical tree of students and educators, such as Elaine de Kooning and Josef Albers, *Lines of Influence* traces the collaboration and exchange at the heart of so many artists’ practices across history.

### Modern Women/Modern Vision

[**Hudson River Museum**](https://www.hrm.org/exhibitions/modern-women-modern-vision/?ref=hyperallergic.com), 511 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers, New York
Through May 10

This touring exhibition features works by over 50 trailblazing women working in