Artist Alakananda Mukerji likens herself to a river, one whose wellspring lies in her native India, but whose course winds through England, Greece and New York. So it's appropriate that she loves to paint in watercolor, exploiting what she calls the medium's "free-flowing quality" with vigorous strokes and strong tones, as in "Horse Motion 2" (right, 2009-2010), part of New Work, her solo exhibit.

» Blue Mountain Gallery, 530 W. 25th St., 646.486.4730, thru Feb. 25

Some collectors crave jewelry with a designer name. Others, whose ranks have included Andy Warhol and Jackie Onassis, like their baubles to be of anonymous pedigree, such as the items in the Adornment exhibit at Tambaran, a gallery specializing in tribal art. Spanning the globe (from Africa to China) and the centuries (from 600 AD to the 1950s), the boldly hued pieces are exotic (prayer boxes, ritualistic masks), but also make contemporary fashion statements. For example, a Turkmenistan carnelian-studded cuff (left) wouldn't be out of place on the catwalk during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

» Tambaran, 5 E. 82nd St., 212.570.0655, thru Mar. 31

Armed with an MFA in painting from Yale University, William T. Williams burst like a colorful comet on the midcentury New York art scene: His first solo show in 1971 sold out. In those early works, he recalls, "my intent was to overload the viewers' senses with so much information that they couldn't retain how they entered the painting or how they moved through it." Now, one of that legendary exhibit's dizzying creations, "Eastern Star" (right, 1971), is Williams' first work to come to auction, along with other pieces of African-American fine art.

» Swann Auction Galleries, 104 E. 25th St., 212.254.4710, Feb. 11, 13-16 (exhibit), Feb. 16 (sale)