The 25 Best Art Exhibits of 2012 (So Far)

At the end of 2011, we conceded that people still love blockbuster exhibitions. We'd seen McQueen take over the Met and Maurizio Cattelan invade the Guggenheim. 2012, thus far, has been slightly more subdued, though the notion of the blockbuster still drives us to visit museums—notably to view Keith Haring at the Brooklyn Museum (and a total left field entry that took our number one spot).

The first half of 2012 has also allowed for considerable reflection. Thanks to major art shows (Frieze's New York debut in May at the head of the class) and a series of biennial and triennial exhibitions, we've been thinking about the current state of contemporary art.

Finally, street art hasn't left our hearts. Art in the Streets was unquestionably massive. 2012 sees smaller affairs, which are nonetheless ambitious and perhaps even more powerful in their attempts to push conversation about the place of graffiti in art history.

These are the exhibitions that have excited us so far in 2012.

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Location: Known Gallery

Dates: May 5 - May 19, 2012

Break Night Lovers ran at Known Gallery at the same time as RIME and KC's joint exhibition. In some respects, Dabs Myla's work functioned as comic relief. Viewed singularly, the show successfully sold the world of one of street art's most engaging duos. In a year that also found an Os Gemeos exhibition in LA (at PRISM), and a series of other tag team efforts, Dabs Myla's quirky, animated world stands. Most importantly, their vision also reminds just how fun we can have with art.

Location: The Jewish Museum

Dates: March 9 - July 29, 2012

Hate it or love them, Kehinde Wiley's projects have great cultural punch. Exhibiting Kehinde Wiley / The World Stage: Israel at The Jewish Museum gave the artist's newest series added heft. With backdrops influences by papercuts and textiles in the museum collection, the color of the portraits popped in the subdued gallery setting. A video documenting Wiley's own trip to Israel also functioned to share his creative process—the simplicity of the production contrasts with the depth of the ideas.

Location: Circuit 12 Contemporary

Dates: March 31 - May 2, 2012

How did a small group show in Dallas creep on to this list? For one, it featured Complex favorite Patrick Martinez. Moreover, the show dealt with pertinent themes of space, time, technology, and their social applications in everyday life. Bold colors and powerful geometric shapes fuel all presented artists, turning the group show into a successful balancing of different voices addressing similar ideas.

Location: Pace Prints

Dates: May 5 - July 6, 2012

In April, Shepard Fairey got busy at Pace Prints. Literally. He took residence in the Pace Editions Studio, blasting out material for one of his largest scale gallery shows to date. Shepard Fairey: Harmony & Discord featured screenprints, hand-painted multiples, and embossed and relief prints. Most importantly, it gave fans an opportunity to sink right into his world.

Location: The Hole

Dates: April 28 - May 26, 2012

For his first solo show in NYC, Holton Rower went big. 19 massive "pour paintings" filled The Hole and the spontaneous look of each thrilled at every moment. Sometimes thinking "this is f'ing cool" is all we want from art. Rower achieves that. He also made us think about the legacy of psychedelic art and abstraction.

Location: The Havana Biennial

Dates: May 13, 2012

Two Complex favorites came together as one at The Havana Biennial, giving new strength to one of the greatest street art projects of all-time. JR's Wrinkles of the City focuses on candid shots of locals. Jose Parla is famed for his calligraphic abstract paintings. Together, they produced some of the most progressive and immediately impactful street art of the year.

Location: Above Second Gallery

Dates: April 10 - May 17, 2012

MEGGS has been all over the world this year. We saw him in Hawaii, he's currently working in San Francisco, and in-between he hit Hong Kong. While there, MEGGS killed it on the streets and showed at Above Second Gallery. The show was about self-reflection (and titled after a tattoo on the artist's chest) exploring the diverse influences of Hong Kong on MEGGS' trademark style.

Location: LACMA

Dates: January 29, 2012 - May 6, 2012

Louise Bourgeois, Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Lee Miller, Kay Sage, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varo in one show? Yes. Artistically, that should be enough to sway any viewer. Intellectually, the connecting themes bring to light the various ways surrealism took hold in the feminist movement.

Location: Philadelphia Museum Of Art

Dates: January 14 - April 22, 2012

Self-taught artist Zoe Strauss founded the Philadelphia Public Art Project in 1995 with the express purpose of bringing art to nontraditional venues. She's succeeded in an aim to create an epic narrative that reflects the beauty and struggle of everyday life." So, what happens when her work drops into an institution? Zoe Strauss: Ten Years was the first critical examination of her annual exhibition staged under I-95 in South Philadelphia. Poignant images and a (sometimes) troubling portrait of contemporary America gave this exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum Of Art and ably brought an outsider into the inside fray.

Location: Anno Domini Gallery

Dates: May 4 - present

Few people have pushed art historical questions about graffiti as far as Poesia. The Bay Area legend continued his graffutirst thrust with this exhibition, expertly mixing his own signature abstract style with tradition Italian figure painting. Creating conversation on-and-off canvas is the aim and the result. In short, "More Force Than Judgement" has been the most intriguing graffiti exhibition thus far in 2012.

Location: Acquavella Galleries

Dates: May 11 - June 9, 2012

Eighty works. That's a lot, right? But, when combined to form the most comprehensive survey of Lucian Freud's drawings to ever hit US soil, one can't complain. The exhibition, at Acquavella Galleries, followed a well received retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery in London and gave us a rare opportunity to digest the British treasures process through intimate landscapes, portraits, and studies.

Location: The Suzanne Geiss Company

Dates: March 8 - April 21, 2012

Suzanne Geiss Company opened to the public in March, sharing sculptures made from found materials by the late, great RAMMELLZEE. Known for performance art and graffiti, the artist played fluidly with letters and symbols. This exhibition was a thrilling reminder of just how good he was at it all.

Location: HVCCA

Dates: September 18 2011 - July 22, 2012

Between 1981 and 1991, some properly significant artists emerged in a prosperous art market. Among them are names you know, like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, and others that should ring a bell. Circa 1986 won us over not as a retrospective of a time, but as a strong selection of key objects from key collectors. As such, items important to owner (regardless of art historical significance or auction price) played a part… allowing us entry into a distinct moment in New York's art world.

Location: Triennale Design Museum

Dates: April 14, 2012 - February 24, 2013

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Location: The Studio Museum In Harlem

Dates: November 10, 2011 - July 22, 2012

The Studio Museum In Harlem is one of NYC's hidden secrets. Who, What, Wear: Selections from the Permanent Collection achieves the obvious in highlighting some of the brilliant artworks the institution holds. Moreover, it vividly depicts ideas of beauty and style throughout America and the Caribbean. You've got two weeks to check it if you haven't hit 125th Street recently.

Location: SFMOMA

Dates:March 31 - July 29, 2012

We love Parra. So naturally, we were very excited that the odd Dutchman was given a museum show. He killed it with an expansive mural. SFMOMA won big by bringing Post-pop onto the second floor landing.

Location: Palais de Tokyo

Dates: April 20 - August 26, 2012

Staggering in size. Brilliant in its spatial layout. Tremendous in diversity of art. La Triennale, Intense Proximity is the 3rd edition of the contemporary art triennial formerly known as La Force de l'art. Its all about questions of national narrative in a global art world (or, at least close to that), though the range of material makes simple viewing just as exciting as brainy questioning.

Location: Joshua Liner Gallery

Dates: May 24 - June 23, 2012

We love Evan Hecox (yup, we named him one of the 100 Most Influential Artists Of The Complex Decade). In Dark Island, recreated memories of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn for his Dark Island. The exhibition was a tour-de-force of the artist's signature style and an ode to places we also hold dear.

Location: Team Gallery

Dates: May 2 - June 3, 2012

Famed contemporary photographer and all-around badass Ryan McGinley opened two shows at both Team Gallery locations in NYC, one titled "Animals" and the other "Grids." At times humorous and at other times gross, "Animals" continued McGinley's studies of the body in all its imperfection and centrality. "Grids" featured photos in large-scale tiling with natural, unedited lighting from colored concert lights. Both were huge successes.

Location: The Metropolitan Museum

Dates: Opened on January 16, 2012

We've waited along time for the opening of the new American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and when January 16th came we were not disappointed. The wealth of material on view, presented thematically, requires more than a single visit. And, perhaps, that is the point. American art viewed in all its glory should be a regular thing.

Location: Whitney Museum Of American Art

Dates: March 1 - May 27, 2012

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Location: Museum Of Art And Design

Dates: February 7 - August 12, 2012

Art made from dust? WTF!? Yeah, you'd be forgiven for thinking that. Swept Away succeeds in selling the odd material as an artistic force. The installations by folks like Zhang Huan, James Croak, and Kim Abeles prove that impossibly beautiful things can be formed from the most unusual sources.

Location: Brooklyn Museum

Dates: March 16 - July 8, 2012

Blockbusters are hit or miss. Sure, they drive us in droves to big institutions, but often we leave without any true reaction to the work on view. Keith Haring: 1978-1982 was different. We left with new appreciation for Haring and his pioneering efforts, as well as new perspective on our own contemporary street art scene.

Location: High Museum Of Art Atlanta

Dates: February 18 - July 29, 2012

We could say a lot about KAWS: DOWN TIME, a brilliant exploration of Brian Donneley's paintings curated by the High Museum's Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Michael Rooks. However, we'll just refer you to rapper Pill's review. He loved it as much as we did.

Location: Park Avenue Armory

Dates: May 16 - June 17, 2012

Fun. Fun. Fun. And, some introspection thrown in. Tom Sachs turned the cavernous Park Avenue Armory into a lo-fi space odyssey. It was a triumph of obsession and gloriously wacky. If you missed it, you missed out.