The harsh realities of our world are softened by the steadfast gifts of nature, and August in Upstate New York brings its annual plentitude with art to match. As sunflowers rule the land this month, solo shows and group exhibitions around the region bring warmth and glee. Daniel Giordano presents a red-hued site-specific installation at the experimental Green Lodge in Chatham. Dynamic gallery shows in Kingston include paintings and sculptures by Jeanette Fintz and Monika Zarzeczna, respectively, both showing at 68 Prince Street Gallery; and Brandon Thomas Brown tells the story of ancestry through collaged photographs at Pinkwater Gallery. Exquisite mixed-media works by Ken Ragsdale at Front Room Gallery in Hudson will charm you, and Lynne Tobin’s line studies at Cross Contemporary Art Projects in Stone Ridge are cool and conceptual. Check out stoic paintings of the United States by Little Walt Dog at Ruffed Grouse Gallery in Narrowsburg and experience the vibrant energy of a group show at Gallery 495 in Catskill. With mighty August as our guiding light, let us enjoy these fleeting days of summer and an abundance of art this month!Daniel Giordano: I Knew Your Father When He Had CojonesThe Green Lodge, 80 Center Street, Chatham, New YorkThrough August 17Daniel Giordano, “Study For Chronos XIV (Jupiter Optimus Maximus)” (2025), acrylic polymer emulsion, bubbles, cellophane, char, debris, fabric, fans, hardware, industrial bubble machine, insulated jumpsuit, natural light, opossum, packing foam, pigment, and more (photo by Owen Barensfeld, courtesy the Green Lodge)Born and raised in Newburgh, New York, multi-media artist Daniel Giordano experiments with a broad range of atypical media to create eccentric sculptures and assemblages that defy categorization, with captions that read like epic poems. With recent solo shows at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts and the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, New York, Giordano is on a steady course toward ever-greater stardom. His site-specific installation, “I Knew Your Father When He Had Cojones” (2025), is as wild as it gets: He has burned the walls from the ceiling down, adding drawings on the windows and puffy fabrics on the floor, inviting viewers into his immersive fiery lair. Launched during Upstate Art Weekend with a special experimental live sound performance by the 181 Collective (an artist group based in Oregon and North Carolina), this show is a radiant vision of Giordano’s riotous art practice.Jeanette Fintz and Monika Zarzeczna: Elusive Thresholds 68 Prince Street Gallery, 68 Prince Street, Kingston, New YorkThrough August 17Jeanette Fintz, “Transit Adagio” (2022), acrylic on canvas (photo courtesy 68 Prince Street Gallery)68 Prince Street Gallery presents two sensational abstract solo exhibitions at once in Elusive Thresholds. Work by Jeanette Fintz includes large-scale paintings that appear to groove and grapple with a quasi-architectural geometric language of endless possibilities, including vibrant works such as “Transit Adagio” (2022) and “Elusive Threshold” (2024). Monika Zarzeczna presents small wood sculptures arranged together on the wall and painted with bright acrylic colors that give them a capricious edge, and works such as “Chance is it?” (2025) and “Or Determined” (2025) are both layered and spacious, giving the impression of an open-ended narrative that we can arrange and re-arrange in our minds. Invoke & ImbibeWomensWork.Art, 12 Vassar Street, Poughkeepsie, New YorkThrough August 24Maria Krasnopolsky, “Veiled Emilia” (2024), oil on canvas (photo courtesy WomensWork.Art)A female-run gallery and platform for underrepresented creatives, WomensWork.Art in Poughkeepsie presents the juried exhibition Invoke & Imbibe, featuring works by 26 female and non-binary artists active in the Hudson Valley and beyond as selected by guest curator Jaime Ransome. With a desire to celebrate “unapologetic female energy,” as stated in the press release, Maria Krasnopolsky’s “Veiled Emilia” (2024) depicts a naked woman covered in a ghostlike veil as her hand gestures toward us. “One Without Shame” (2023) by Lauren Hollick features yet another naked woman, this time in the fetal position, lying flat on a cozy bed of natural moss and little white mushrooms. Evelyn Gardiner’s “To Consume A Butterfly” (2024) is a sultry oil painting that includes Latin text; in it, two women attempt to eat glorious butterflies in a natural setting as they try to escape. etheReality from breath to air, and backAnn Street Gallery, 104 Ann Street, Newburgh, New YorkThrough August 31Linda Stillman, “Daily Skies” (2011), acrylic on paper panels (photo courtesy Ann Street Gallery)A watery blue tone surfaces throughout various mixed-media works in the group show etheReality from breath to air, and back, which embodies the celestial. Curated by gallery director Alison McNulty, works such as “Enter Through Smoke” (2023) by Mollie McKinley radiate a mystical energy; made of carved and charred salt and blown glass, it is both organic and otherworldly. Linda Stillman’s “Daily Skies” (2011), a series of paper panels, appears to hum harmoniously with diverse shades of cobalt in a geometric pattern, while Amy Talluto’s clay sculpture “Multi-head (Spill Vase)” (2022) is a form that simultaneously resembles a fleshy human and something never before seen.Ken Ragsdale: SymphonyFront Room Gallery, 205 Warren Street, Hudson, New YorkThrough August 31Ken Ragsdale, “Symphony #1 2nd Movement Evening ‘The Tractor Tire’” (2025), ink, watercolor, gouache, and archival inkjet print, photograph of handmade paper structures on laser etched paper (photo courtesy Front Room Gallery)Among the most impressive exhibitions in Upstate New York this month is an exhibition by Ken Ragsdale, where the Twilight Zone meets theatrical movie set mock-ups in a mesmerizing suite of 12 elegant paintings. Each title begins with “Symphony #1” (all works 2025), and a mysterious story unfolds from there: In “Symphony #1 2nd Movement Evening ‘The Tractor Tire,’” we come upon a defunct tractor backlit against a cerulean night with thin white drawings of spinning gears occupying the sky. The other works follow a similar pattern: enigmatic worlds below with mathematical constellation-like drawings above. In “Symphony #1 1st Movement Afternoon ‘The Slide,’” a children’s playground full of empty slides appears to be at the threshold of another galaxy, while “Symphony #1 2nd Movement Morning ‘The Tent Trailer’” takes us into a trailer park environment but leaves us guessing as to where we are and what got us there. Ancestry: The Photography of Brandon Thomas BrownPinkwater Gallery, 237 Fair Street, Kingston, New YorkThrough September 2Brandon Thomas Brown, “Operation” (2024), photography collage (photo courtesy Pinkwater Gallery)Exploring the rich intersection between beauty and Black identity, photographer Brandon Thomas Brown is a master at capturing human complexity with candor and care. Ancestry brings together recent works that employ collage techniques and portraiture to express depth of character while hinting at personal wounds. “Operation” (2024) features a younger woman’s face cut apart and dissected to reveal an older woman at work under her skin against a deep pink background, while “No Time for Black Tears” (2025) is a portrait of a pensive man who leans forward, the hazy blue-hued lighting revealing the scars on his face. Set against a similar indigo backdrop, “Untitled [Dakaibo]” (2025) features a bare-chested man turning away, his stoic pose suggesting an intimate moment of personal reckoning. Adam Linn: FascinatorTurley Gallery, 609 Warren Street, Floor 2, Hudson, New YorkThrough September 7Adam Linn, “Fixations” (2025), colored pencil, acrylic gouache, watercolor, and UV varnish on paper mounted panel (courtesy Turley Gallery)Turley Gallery typically presents at least two exhibitions at once, and this time around Adam Linn: Fascinator is one of three terrific shows (a visit there this month also gives you the chance to see magical glittery collaged works by Vickie Pierre and a theatrical site-specific installation by Sara Stern). Combining a graphic edge with a masterful command of colored pencil, gouache, and watercolor, Linn’s paintings feel like Pop-inspired industrial animation. “Fixations” (2025) is a vigorous yellow scene piqued by two opposing screwheads; meanwhile, one feels seduced by the sumptuous glowing pink machine of “Metalmouth” (2025), while the gears of “Rainbow Elixir” (2025) appear to melt into pure electrical magnificence.Lynne Tobin | Line Studies DrawingsCross Contemporary Art Projects, North River Electric House, Stone Ridge, New YorkThrough September 13Lynne Tobin, “Line Drama” (2023), ink on paper (courtesy the artist)Lynne Tobin knows that the simple line is the ultimate muse. Her solo show is a celebration of the indomitable black line: going here, going there, going everywhere as guided by Tobin’s careful directions and discoveries. In “Threads #7” (2023), layers of them (one on top of the other) give the impression of woven fabric, while “Line Drama” (2018) is a long vertical drawing of five frantic black lines that start on the wall and run down to the floor in a beautiful and messy calligraphic jumble. In “Untitled” (2017), a meditative wave coming in from the right fades out into broken streaks of black stardust to the left. Little Walt Dog: Crossing AmericaRuffed Grouse Gallery, 144 Main Street, Narrowsburg, New YorkThrough September 21Little Walt Dog aka L.W.D., “Crossing America #12” (2025), oil on canvas, (courtesy the Ruffed Grouse Gallery)Taking inspiration from the diverse culture of his native Los Angeles and influential social moments such as the Watts Rebellion of 1965, a series of uprisings in response to violent confrontations between White law enforcement and Black civilians, Little Walt Dog (L.W.D.) paints with a brave spirit. His solo exhibition Crossing America features stark oil paintings (all works 2025) that offer barren and blunt visions of an empty United States occupied by lone cars. In “Crossing America #12,” a yellow vehicle approaches a black bridge against a bare background, while in “Crossing America #8,” two cars drift along a white road. In “Crossing America #15,” that same yellowish car from the overpass disappears into a bluish haze without a horizon as the headlights lead both the car and the road into a deserted mist.In This Here Place, We FleshGallery 495, 495 Main Street, Catskill, New YorkThrough October 4Nkechi Ebubedike, “Woman on Stakes II” (2025) (photo by Otto Ohle, courtesy the artist and Gallery 495)Figuration plays a central role in the group exhibition In This Here Place, We Flesh. Curated by Maty Sall, three artists explore modes of humanity and the physical-meets-metaphysical in dynamically expressive works. “Between Thoughts” (2022) by Shiri Mordechay is an oversized watercolor work in which dolls, creatures, monsters, and swinging lightbulbs meet in a maelstrom of morphing forms. Aineki Traverso’s “Sub Specie Aeterni” (2025) is a row of works on paper with mystical abstract shapes and human eyes that extends down the wall, while Nkechi Ebubedike’s “Fragmented Figure II” (2025) combines dismembered parts of a figure, including legs and half a face, within an abstract architectural environs reminiscent of de Chirico, resulting in a lyrical vision of flesh within and without a place.