Sharon Core at Yancey Richardson Gallery

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From a pastry case featuring a banana split crafted from burlap, plaster and paint to a monumental canvas hamburger, Claes Oldenburg’s sculpted foodstuffs are familiar favorite foods made alarming through their size and materials.   Photographer Sharon Core explores the attraction and repulsion of Oldenburg’s ‘60s classics (including the burger and ice cream) to great effect in her show at Chelsea’s Yancey Richardson Gallery by hand-crafting and photographing a selection of Oldenburg dishes using real food.  In contrast to perfectly-presented delectables commonly featured on social media, Core’s edible recreations of Oldenburg’s artworks initially attract, then repulse, questioning just what we want from food these days.  (On view through July 3rd).

Sharon Core, USA Flag, Fragment, archival pigment print, 40 x 50 7/8 inches, 2019.

Todd Gray at David Lewis Gallery

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Coretta Scott King speaks in a photo held by a silent man who himself is superimposed over an elaborate ornamental structure in this photo collage by Todd Gray.  Liberation and the legacy of oppression, particularly of European colonization in Africa and the architectural expressions of wealth it allowed in Europe, come head-to-head in new photo collage by Todd Gray at David Lewis Gallery on the Lower East Side. (On view through June 16th).

Todd Gray, Coretta, two archival pigment prints in artist’s frames and found frames, UV laminate, 51 ½ x 67 x 3 ½ inches, 2019.

Meghann Riepenhoff at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Whether she’s boldly charging into the Pacific Ocean or gingerly stepping into a placid pond to expose a cyanotype, Meghan Riepenhoff continues to generate fascinating and beautiful cameraless images of water.  For this multi-panel work, the artist dipped her prepared photo paper into Utah’s Great Salt Lake, sprinkled on salt from the ground and allowed the work to dry, propped in the sun.  (On view in Chelsea at Yossi Milo Gallery through June 22nd).

Meghann Riepenhoff, Littoral Drift #1170 (Polyptych, Great Salt Lake, UT 08.25.18, Lapping Waves at Shoreline of Antelope Island), six dynamic cyanotypes, approx. 88 x 42 inches, unique, 2018.

Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Amid a mass of vibrant color, a solitary eye peeks out from beneath a pattern that recalls decorative fencing in this photo by Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery. The barrier, created by meticulously making tiny tears in the surface of a photo, deflects our gaze, shielding the subject protectively.  (On view in Chelsea through May 11th).

Paul Anthony Smith, A Sense of Familiar, unique picotage on inkjet print, colored pencil mounted on museum board, 40 x 60 inches, 2018.

Victoria Sambunaris at Yancey Richardson Gallery

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Tankers arrayed like a minimalist piece of land art in this photograph by Victoria Sambunaris turn an otherwise drab landscape near Salt Lake City into study in form and function.  Ringed by a barely visible mountains and spread out under voluminous clouds, the trains in their tight formation dominate the natural world in this image.  (On view at Yancey Richardson Gallery through May 11th).

Victoria Sambunaris, Untitled (Tankers), Salt Lake City, chromogenic print, 40 x 56 inches, 2018.

Isaac Julien at Metro Pictures Gallery

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Based on the life of Frederick Douglass, the most photographed American man of the 19th century, British filmmaker Isaac Julien’s new ten-screen installation ‘Lessons of the Hour’ brings Douglass’ remarkable life and oratory talents into focus at Metro Pictures Gallery.  Here, actors play the role of Douglass and his wife traveling by rail, echoing and contrasting his escape via train as a young man to freedom in New York. (On view in Chelsea through April 13th).

Isaac Julien, The North Star (Lessons of the Hour), glass inkjet paper mounted on aluminum, 63 x 84 inches, 2019.

Fatemeh Baigmoradi in ‘GRACE’ at Laurence Miller Gallery

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Iranian-born artist Fatemeh Baigmoradi’s burnt photographs recall her father’s attempt to avoid arrest by burning his photos of events that tied him to an oppressed political minority after the Islamic Revolution in Iran.  The artist connects the resulting images – characterized by beautiful halos of color – to a Persian painting tradition that painted a glow around the heads of featureless holy figures.  Her installation, seen here in detail, is a standout in Laurence Miller Gallery’s ‘GRACE’ exhibition, a multi-faceted and fascinating exploration of gender, race and identity.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 22nd).

Fatemeh Baigmoradi, installation view of selected works from the series ‘It’s Hard to Kill,’ 2017 at Laurence Miller Gallery, January, 2019.

Andrew Moore, Bottle Corner at Yancey Richardson

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From the decaying elegance of Cuban houses to austere new apartments in Abu Dhabi, Andrew Moore’s photographs signal the passing of time and cycles of decay and renewal.  His latest body of work – on view at Yancey Richardson Gallery in Chelsea – took him to Alabama and Mississippi, where he photographed vestiges of the past like this carefully arranged and artfully neglected collection of bottles in Demopolis, AL.  (On view through Feb 9th).

Andrew Moore, Bottle Corner, Demopolis, AL, archival pigment print, 48 x 40 7/8 inches, 2016.

Lyle Ashton Harris at Salon94

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Lyle Ashton Harris’ new photographic self-portraits continue to posit ambiguous identities while forcing the question of what might be ‘natural’ as he dons masks collected by his uncle in East Africa while posing nude in various outdoor locations in New York and New England.  Here, a tenuously held, chipped colored sheet obscures Harris’ face and upper torso, masking his identity as he stands in front of an anonymous shingled façade.  Africa, art, ritual, the male nude, New England architecture and other references conjoin and collide in one provocative image.  (On view at Salon94 through Dec 21st).

Lyle Ashton Harris, Zamble at Land’s End #2, dye sublimation print on aluminum, 48 x 32 inches, 2018.

Kyle Meyer at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Kyle Meyer’s photodocumentary work with eSwatini’s (formerly Swaziland’s) HIV positive populations parallels a stunningly beautiful personal project shot with members of the country’s gay community and now on view at Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery. After photographing men wrapped in scarves made of vibrant fabrics (chosen together at market), Meyer hand sliced the scarf fabric, weaving it into a photo that both protects the sitter’s identity while declaring his existence.  (On view through Dec 8th).

Kyle Meyer, Unidentified 121, archival pigment print hand woven with wax print fabric, approx. 67 x 44 inches, unique, 2018.

Hew Locke at PPOW Gallery

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Amid glinting filigree and chains, an emaciated figure plays a horn above two skeletons in Hew Locke’s photograph embellished with mixed media.  Underneath is an image of a public sculpture memorializing Peter Stuyvesant, namesake of several New York landmarks and the Dutch governor who saw slavery as an engine to drive New York’s colonial economy.  In his first solo show at PPOW Gallery in Chelsea, Locke alters portraits of public figures to examine how their lives and decisions have extended beyond their sanctioned, public images.  (On view through Nov 10th).

Hew Locke, Stuyvesant, Jersey City, c-type photograph with mixed media, 72 x 48 inches, 2018.

Mel Frank at Benrubi Gallery

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It’s hard to tell if the hand in this photo by Mel Frank is gathering or stroking a marijuana plant; either way, the photo captures the cannabis cultivation guru and author’s affection for the herb.  From extreme closeup photos to sunny landscapes dominated by weed and its farmers, Frank’s exhibition at Benrubi Gallery, ‘When We Were Criminals,’ offers a visual appreciation of a plant whose reputation continues to evolve.  (On view in Chelsea through Nov 10th).

Mel Frank, Afghani1 Landrace, Sonoma County, CA, archival pigment print, 30 x 20 inches, 1979.

John Chiara Photos at Yossi Milo

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Using a homemade camera positioned in the back of a pickup truck, John Chiara records unique images onto paper prepared as a negative, creating otherworldly photos that challenge our sense of time and place.  Occasionally, a new skyscraper will loom in the background or a streetlight will invade the scene, making it undeniably contemporary, as in this East Village view.  But without storefronts or people, and under a fiery sky, Chiara’s scenes turn Manhattan into a glowing landscape of intrigue. (On view at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 27th).

John Chiara, East 2nd Street at Avenue C, negative chromogenic photograph, approx. 50 x 40 inches, unique, 2018.

African American: Photographs from the 40s & 50s at the Met

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One hundred and fifty studio portraits of unidentified African Americans by unknown photographers now on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art offer a fascinating peek at self-representation in the mid-20th century.  By recently acquiring two major portrait groups represented in the show, the Met announces its intention to build its collection to include images of African Americans.  (On view on the Upper East Side through October 8th).

Installation view of ‘African American: Photographs from the 1940s and 1950s at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2018.

Lisette Model at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

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From the serene to the lively, Bruce Silverstein Gallery’s selection of portrait photos by Lisette Model (seen here), Diane Arbus and Rosalind Fox Solomon turn everyday folks into intriguing characters.  Model’s electric photo of a singer at Café Metropole contrasts a gloved man on the Promenade des Anglais, Nice and the momentary repose of a bather at Coney Island, but all suggest that moments of delicious eccentricity are just around the corner.  (On view in Chelsea through Sept 8th).

Installation view of ‘We Are the Subject’ at Bruce Silverstein Gallery featuring work by Lisette Model from the late ‘30s to the mid ‘40s.

JR at Galerie Perrotin

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French street artist JR is back in town this summer with a show of photography, sculpture and installation that continues his outspoken advocacy for vulnerable populations. In this aerial overview, we see the eyes of Mayra, an undocumented immigrant who arrived in California as a child.  Used as backdrop for a picnic on both sides of the US/Mexican border, the image counters division with unity.  (On view at Galerie Perrotin on the Lower East side through August 17th).

JR, Migrants, Mayra, Picnic across the border, Quadrichromie, Tecate, Mexico – USA, 4-color print on paper, mounted on cotton canvas, wooden frame, ½ offset printing plate, h 92 1/8 x l. 186 5/8 inches, 2018.

Daniel Gordon at Jack Hanley Gallery

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Taking flowers or nature as the theme for a summer group exhibition isn’t particularly original or necessarily avant-garde.  Still, nature’s beauty and uplift as symbol of regeneration is irresistible to audiences and to the curators of ‘A Rose is a Rose is a Rose’ at Jack Hanley Gallery, who apologetically admit that painting flowers is ‘embarrassing.’  This paper sculpture by Daniel Gordon, which recalls still lives throughout art history (think Cezanne and Matisse) and pushes the possibilities of photography as sculpture, suggests that the show’s organizers have nothing to worry about.  (On view on the Lower East Side through August 3rd).

Daniel Gordon, Poppies, Pitcher & Fruits, pigment prints, glue and wire, 41 x 51 x 18 inches, 2018.

Jamal Nxedlana in ‘Summer Open’ at Aperture Gallery

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Jamal Nxedlana’s portrait of South African stylist Bee Diamondhead leaps off the wall in Aperture Gallery’s ‘Summer Open,’ offering a tantalizing glimpse of South Africa’s fashion elite.  (On view in Chelsea through August 16th).

Jamal Nxedlana, Bee Diamondhead, 2017. Installation view in Aperture Summer Open at Aperture Gallery in Chelsea, July 2018. From an editorial feature in Bubblegum Club.

Jana Paleckova at Edward Thorp Gallery

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Self-taught Czech artist Jana Paleckova’s endlessly inventive paintings on original vintage photos reimagine the past in humorous and surreal ways.  The apparent awkwardness of these boys and their wary-looking adult takes on new meaning, given the gormless looking cyclops in their ranks. (On view through August 3rd at Edward Thorp Gallery in Chelsea).

Jana Paleckova, untitled (man, boys and furry cyclops,) oil paint on vintage photograph, 7h x 9w inches, 2017.

Sanle Sory at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Fatoumata shows off a new braided hairstyle in this portrait by Burkina Faso photographer Sanle Sory, whose photo studio attracted the young and fashionable of Bobo-Dioulasso for decades after opening in 1960.  In dozens of images taken from the 60s to the 80s, now on view at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea, Sory captures the lively self-styling of the country’s youth post-independence, calling photography ‘a witness to everything, a kind of proof of life.’ (On view through June 23rd).

Sanle Sory, Fatoumata nouvellement tressee, gelatin silver print, paper : 20 x 16 inches, 1978.

Keyezua, Fortia at Steven Kasher Gallery

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Angolan artist Keyezua’s ‘Fortia’ series (translated as ‘Strength’) features female figures in handmade masks and dramatic red gowns posing in an eroded landscape outside Luanda.  Citing her father’s disability and early death, the artist aims to explore how her own identity developed as a young woman experiencing loss.  (In ‘Refraction:  New Photography of Africa and its Diaspora’ at Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea through June 2nd).

Keyezua, Fortia (1), giclée print on Hanhemuhle paper, printed 2018, 35 ½ x 23 ¾ in, 2017.

Letha Wilson at GRIMM

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A lone palm stands peaceful and unmolested above the collision of man-made material and nature photography that is Letha Wilson’s ‘Steel Face Concrete Bend (Kauai Palm)’ at GRIMM on the Lower East Side.  Inside a steel frame, concrete printed with a landscape photo abuts an actual photographic print as man and nature messily come into contact.  (On view through April 22nd ).

Letha Wilson, Steel Face Concrete Bend (Kauai Palm), unique c-prints, concrete, emulsion transfer, steel frame, 38 x 32 x 1 ½ inches, 2018.

Stan Douglas, Jewels at David Zwirner Gallery

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A faintly reflected man in a white shirt and tie looks on while a hand fondles jewels in the window of a looted shop in photographer Stan Douglas’ careful staging of a hypothetical New York City blackout.  Strangely calm, the scene suggests looting as leisure activity and – given the man’s gaze – as potential romantic encounter.  (On view at David Zwirner Gallery’s 525 West 19th Street location through April 7th).

Stan Douglas, Jewels, digital chromogenic print mounted on Dibond aluminum, 36 x 36 inches, 2017.

Jeffrey Milstein at Benrubi Gallery

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Peering down from chartered planes and helicopters, photographer Jeffrey Milstein sees the world from an ordering distance. Here, a container ship moves ahead with tugs in its wake.  Like Milstein’s aerial photos of cities and transportation networks, his nautical views turn monumental manmade objects into a creative play of color and form.  (On view at Benrubi Gallery through March 17th).

Jeffrey Milstein, Container Ship and Tugs 2, archival pigment print, 52 ½ x 70 inches, 2017.

Marjan Teeuwen at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

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Working with materials salvaged from destroyed buildings, Dutch artist Marjan Teeuwen creates abstract arrangements of forms that suggest paintings.  Here, she worked in an abandoned school in Johannesburg, South Africa during a 2015 residency to create an installation that speaks to a key theme – the inevitability of destruction and but also the hope of renewal.  (On view through April 14th at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in Chelsea.)

Marjan Teeuwen, Archive Johannesburg, archival pigment print, 38 x 43 inches, 2015.

Li Wei at Galerie Richard

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Li Wei flies through the air and walks on water in photos at Galerie Richard that appear to document gravity defying feats and even common sense.  Using mirrors (here, this technique is obvious), cranes and wires, the Beijing-based artist gives himself superpowers that other artists can only dream of.  (On view on the Lower East Side through March 11th).

Li Wei, Mirror, Hong Kong, c-print mounted on plexiglass, 176 x 176 cm, 2006.

Martin Klimas, Polarization 10998 at Foley Gallery

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By passing polarized light through scrolled and bunched transparent films, German artist Martin Klimas creates an enticing abstraction in an array of tones and colors. (On view at Foley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 18th).

Martin Klimas, Polarization 10998, 24 x 18.5 inches, archival pigment print, 2016.

Robin Rhode Photographs at Lehmann Maupin

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In a sequence of six photos by South African artist Robin Rhode, an acrobatic mathematician contorts his body to project a ‘Lute of Pythagoras,’ a series of pentagrams locked together in pleasing mathematical proportion. At the gallery entrance, Rhode quotes Swiss architect and urban planner Le Corbusier’s assertion that humanity attempts to save itself from chaos through geometry. Rhode’s efforts to better humanity by joining art and geometry feel poignantly quixotic. (On view at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 24th).

Robin Rhode, one of six panels in Meditation on the Lute of Pythagoras, 6 parts, each 21.5 x 28.58 x 1.5 inches, c-print, 2017.

Scott Alario at Kristen Lorello Gallery

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Art can be playful but doesn’t often involve play; Scott Alario’s images of an alien invasion – enacted with his young son – result in photos like this arresting image of a Star Wars limited edition cereal box used as avatar and shield. (On view at Kristen Lorello Gallery on the Lower East Side through Jan 27th).

Scott Alario, The Sugar Awakens, dye sublimation print, 32 x 24 inches, 2007.

Luca Campigotto at Laurence Miller Gallery

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Italian photographer Luca Campigotto’s cityscapes are bold and bright, though they’re shot after dark. Humans don’t feature much in the images yet our presence is felt through ubiquitous lights left on for safety, decoration, advertising and nighttime living. Here, Hong Kong glows with the intensity of over seven million lives being led and lit below. (On view at Laurence Miller Gallery through Feb 24th).

Luca Campigotto, Hong Kong, 55 x 73 ¾ inches, pure pigment print, 2016.

Wang Ningde at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

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Wang Ningde’s ‘Form of Light’ images, currently on view at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea, appear to be photos but fool the eye. From straight on, thin strips of photographic film disappear and visitors see only the projection of images underneath, arranged via projection software to synch with the gallery’s light sources. (On view through Feb 17th).

Wang Ningde, Thicket No. 4, transparency film, acrylic, honeycomb aluminum board, 78 x 54 ½ inches, 2017.

Stephen Shore at 303 Gallery

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The Museum of Modern Art’s current retrospective of Stephen Shore’s photography lauds his ‘poetics of the ordinary.’ Shot in Montana, though not obviously linked to a particular location, this composition at 303 Gallery encourages viewers to find aesthetic interest in unexpected times and places. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 17th).

Stephen Shore, installation view of Three Forks, Montana, August 6, 2017, pigment print, 64 x 48 inches, printed 2017.

Gordon Parks at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Granted access to Nation of Islam leadership and communities in 1963, Life photographer Gordon Parks shot remarkable images including this portrait of women’s leader Ethel Sharrieff. Now on view at Jack Shainman Gallery’s 24th Street location, the arresting show overviews selections from Parks’ lesser-known yet powerful series. (On view through Feb 10th).

Gordon Parks, Ethel Sharrieff, Chicago, Illinois, gelatin silver print, 20 x 16 inches, 1963.

Michael Eastman at Edwynn Houk Gallery

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Known for photographing opulent buildings from Italy to Havana, Michael Eastman’s latest series focuses on century-old neoclassical interiors in Buenos Aires. This slightly less extravagant but no less gorgeous college stairwell is the picture of tranquility in cool, blue and green-toned tile. That it is without students suggests timing or an oblique reference to something more sinister in Argentina’s past. (On view at Edwynn Houk Gallery in midtown through Jan 20th).

Michael Eastman, Colegio Passage, Buenos Aires, chromogenic print, 48 x 60 inches, 2017.

Cai Dongdong at Klein Sun Gallery

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Known for making alterations to documentary photography in work that questions both history and how we consume photography, Cai Dongdong reframes a shot of guerrillas on Lake Honghu at Klein Sun Gallery. Armed fighters contrast the lake’s tranquil beauty in a spot that saw conflict during China’s civil war. (On view in Chelsea through Jan 6th).

Cai Dongdong, The Guerrilla on Honghu Lake, gelatin silver print, wood, 63 x 55 1/8 x 14 9/16 inches, 2017.

Sage Sohier at Foley Gallery

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Photographer Sage Sohier looks ambushed by her former-model mother and her sister, who make Sohier up with gusto in this family portrait. Our sympathy is tempered by mom’s and sis’s smiles, but as Sohier stages beauty treatments and time at home in her mother’s company, viewers are prompted to consider the role of beauty and appearances in Sohier’s life and our own. (On view at Foley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Jan 7th).

Sage Sohier, Mum and Laine making me up, Washington D.C., archival pigment print, 28h x 33.75w, 2004.

Andrea Grutzner at Julie Saul Gallery

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Andrea Grutzner turns framed excerpts from the built environment into surprising and colorful abstractions; here, in six images from her Tanztee series, amid wildly patterned clothes, Grutzner builds a structure from the arms and hands of dancers at a tea dance in rural Germany. (On view at Julie Saul Gallery through Feb 3rd).

Andrea Grutzner, Tanztee #3, 6, 15, 4, 8, and 1, chromogenic print, 17 ½ x 23 ½ inches, 2012-15.

Richard Avedon at Pace Gallery

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Commissioned by Harper’s Bazaar in 1961, Richard Avedon photographed over thirty weddings at New York City’s Town Hall, recording hopeful beginnings. These images became the opening photos in his 1964 collaboration with James Baldwin, ‘Nothing Personal,’ a photographic portrait of the USA in which joy gives way to darker social realities. Now on view at Pace Gallery, the series is stunningly relevant to contemporary life. (On view at Pace Gallery’s 24th Street location through Jan 13th).

Richard Avedon, Wedding of Mr and Mrs Joseph Sacca, City Hall, New York City, May 6, 1961, vintage gelatin silver print, image: 16 x 15 ¾ inches.

Ruby Rumie at Nohra Haime Gallery

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When Columbian artist Ruby Rumie chanced to meet Cartagena street vendor Dominga Torres Tehran, she commenced a series of strikingly beautiful portraits now on view at Nohra Haime Gallery in Chelsea. Titled ‘Weaving Streets,’ the show celebrates the communities of women who sell fish, fruit and other foods on the streets. Wearing understated white dresses, the women’s unique identities and natural beauty are the focus of this remarkable body of work. (On view in Chelsea through Jan 6th).

Ruby Rumie, installation view of ‘Weaving Streets’ at Nohra Haime Gallery, Dec 2017.

Susan Wides at Kim Foster Gallery

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Susan Wides’ innovative use of a tilt shift lens allows her to choose which plane in a landscape she’ll bring into sharp focus and what she’ll allow to blur. The resulting compositions are a charming reintroduction to the natural world, appearing abstract until our eyes can pick out the details, here, of flowers in the foreground and falling water beyond. (On view in Chelsea at Kim Foster Gallery through Dec 22nd).

Susan Wides, September 3, 2016_12:49:45, dye sublimation on aluminum, 60 x 40 inches.

Debi Cornwall at Steven Kasher Gallery

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Photographer Debi Cornwall’s goal in visiting the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay three times in ’14-’15 was to draw the public into looking at the camp again. Ironically, in some of the most effecting photos in her resulting series, her subjects look away. Men who were detained for years, in many cases with out ever having charges filed, refuse another interrogation – this time by viewers. (At Chelsea’s Steven Kasher Gallery through Dec 23rd. )

Debi Cornwall, Mourad, French Algerian, Lyon, France, 26 x 30 inches, archival pigment print, printed 2017.

Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Sam’s Town at James Cohan

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A tiny, sideways glance from a woman playing the slots in Vegas red flags an internal conflict in Alison Elizabeth Taylor’s absorbing mixed media image at James Cohan Gallery. Constructed using marquetry and collaged photos, the materials themselves speak to a nature/culture divide made more acute by the way the outside world is visible through the casino walls and the subject wears animal patterned (and likely synthetic) clothes. (At James Cohan Gallery’s Lower East Side space through Dec 22nd).

Alison Elizabeth Taylor, detail of Sam’s Town, marquetry hybrid, 47 x 59 inches, 2016.

Zanele Muholi at Yancey Richardson Gallery

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Zanele Muholi’s towering self-portrait dramatically dominates her ‘Hail, the Dark Lioness’ photo series at Yancey Richardson Gallery, challenging viewers to reconcile the South African artist-activist’s ‘exotic’ characters with political realities in Africa and the US. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 9th).

Zanele Muholi, Ntozabantu VI, Parktown, site-specific photographic mural, 2016.

Florian Maier-Aichen at 303 Gallery

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For years, Florian Maier-Aichen stayed dedicated to analogue approaches to photography; his latest digital images – created with Photoshop’s Lasso tool – have the joyful energy of a new convert. (On view at 303 Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 22nd).

Florian Maier-Aichen, Untitled (Lasso Painting #3), inkjet print, 90 ½ x 68 1/8 inches, 2016.

Paolo Ventura at Edwynn Houk Gallery

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Three isolated bathers search for shells in a nature scene that melds sky and water, melancholy and peace by Paolo Ventura at Edwynn Houk Gallery. Ventura’s new hand painted, collaged photos evoke stage sets that question time and place. (On view in the 57th Street area through Nov 11th).

Paolo Ventura, La Cercatrice di Conchiglie, hand-painted photographs with collage, 30 panels, 8 x 11 1/8 inches each, 2017.

Paul Bulteel at Anastasia Photo

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Belgian photographer Paul Bulteel spent a career focusing on energy and sustainable practice; lately, he’s expanded on his professional experience with ‘Waste Not,’ a photo series shot at European waste recycling facilities. Bulteel’s eye for color and composition make materials intriguingly strange (this pile of mixed metals suggests hair) while demonstrating what efforts go on to recycle and reuse. (At Anastasia Photo on the Lower East Side through Nov 22nd).

Paul Bulteel, “Tinned copper wire, typically used in electrical motors. The different metals (copper, nickel, lead, and tin) are separated in a pyro-metallurgical process. Lead and tin are further separated using vacuum technology.”

Matthew Pillsbury at Benrubi Gallery

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Using his signature long exposure technique, Matthew Pillsbury turns his lens for his latest show, ‘Sanctuary’ at Benrubi Gallery, on basic rights – assembly and expression – that are often taken for granted. Here, a participant pauses in front of Matthew Chavez’s ‘Subway Therapy’ project, which provided pens and post-its for New Yorkers to express their thoughts after the 2016 presidential election. (On view in Chelsea through Nov 22nd).

Matthew Pillsbury, Subway Therapy 2, Union Square, New York City, Dec 3, 2016, 50 x 60 inches, 2016.

Barbara Kasten, Parallels I at Bortolami Gallery

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Fluorescent acrylic beams contrast Bortolami Gallery’s solid black cast iron columns in an eye-popping show of colorful new work by Barbara Kasten. Like a giant glowing Jenga block pile, the sculpture suggests precariousness and possibility while bridging the viewer’s way to Kasten’s new body of work – studio photos mounted with projecting acrylic forms that blur the boundaries between depicted and actual space. (On view in Tribeca through Oct 21st).

Barbara Kasten, Parallels I, fluorescent acrylic, approx. 32 x 98 x 96 inches, 2017.

Olivia Locher at Steven Kasher Gallery

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“In Delaware, it is illegal to consume perfume.” This law and other seemingly dated statutes meant to address particular situations are the subject of Olivia Locher’s entertaining solo show ‘I Fought the Law’ at Chelsea’s Steven Kasher Gallery. Locher’s staged ‘crimes’ highlight odd ordinances in the 50 states, making for memorable images that question what else is on the books. (On view through Oct 21st).

Olivia Locher, I Fought the Law (Delaware), archival pigment print, 2016, printed 2017, 16 x 20 inches.

Sze Tsung Nicolas Leong at Danziger Gallery

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Since 2001, Sze Tsung Nicolas Leong has photographed horizon lines around the world from a tantalizing distance, hanging his images so that the Kenyan countryside abuts a view of Toledo, Spain, for example.   In this detail, the wind whips tourists on a landscape so barren they look like actors on a stage-set. (On view at Danziger Gallery, in collaboration with Yossi Milo Gallery, on the Lower East Side through Oct 28th.)

Sze Tsung Nicolas Leong, detail of Al-Jizah (Giza) II, 24 x 44 inches, 2007.

Lisa Oppenheim, Remnant (After Moholy) at Tanya Bonakdar

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Lewis Hine’s early 20th century photos of young women employed in Boston’s textile mills – which aimed to show the deleterious effects of their labor on their bodies – accompany images like this magnification of a textile fragment in Lisa Oppenheim’s latest show at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. By zeroing in on this fragment of fabric, Oppenheim aims to reduce the distance created in industrial production between bodies and the products of their labor. (In Chelsea through Oct 21st).

Lisa Oppenheim, Remnant (After Moholy), c-print, 27 7/8 x 33 inches, 2017.

Trevor Paglen, Machine Readable Hito at Metro Pictures

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Photographer Trevor Paglen’s past images of surveillance culture (NSA data centers, drone images) zeroed in on info and images gathered by the authorities. For his latest show at Metro Pictures, Paglen turns his attention to pictures analyzed via artificial intelligence. In this detail of a wall of photos, the artist Hito Steyerl posed for hundreds of portraits that were analyzed by facial-analysis algorithms, turning age, emotional state, gender and more into a set of numbers.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 21st).

Trevor Paglen, Machine Readable Hito, adhesive wall material, 193 x 55 1/8 inches, 2017.

Nathalie Boutte at Yossi Milo Gallery

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French artist Nathalie Boutte captures the allure of the unknown past in her collage recreations of 19th century daguerreotypes and historical photos. Here, Boutte remakes Seydou Keita’s well-known 1958 portrait of a hip young Malian man using strips of paper covered with varying amounts of text. The effect (seen here in detail) is to blur Keita’s sharply clear image, suggesting that the passage of time diminishes the potential to see the subject clearly. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 21st).

Nathalie Boutte, (detail of) Jeune homme a la fleur rouge, collage of Japanese paper, ink, 29 3/8 x 18 inches, unique, 2016.

I Do, I Do at Ricco Maresca Gallery

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A display of one hundred wedding photos from various photo studios in Wisconsin in the late 1800s at Ricco Maresca Gallery is a fascinating look into past dress and conventions. While most couples stare stoically ahead, betraying no hint of happiness, this groom and bride – decked out in abundant flowers – charm with their hesitant smiles. (On view in Chelsea through Sept 19th).

One of a collection of 100 unique vintage gelatin silver and albumen cabinet cards, all from various towns and cities in Wisconsin, approx. 6 x 4.5 inches, ca 1875 – 1895.

Laura Larson in ‘Citings/Sightings’ at Lennon, Weinberg, Inc.

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Spirit photographs from the 19th century and paranormal events from the more recent past have inspired Brooklyn-based photographer Laura Larson. In an image titled ‘Ecstasy,’ we’re tantalized by what might be going on behind the subject’s turned back in this strangely clinical, classroom-like environment. (At Chelsea’s Lennon, Weinberg, Inc through Sept 16th).

Laura Larson, Ecstasy, 30 x 44 inches, archival inkjet print, 2016.Laura Larson in ‘Citings/Sightings’ at Lennon, Weinberg, Inc.

Dionisio Gonzalez at Galerie Richard

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Spanish photographer Dionisio Gonzelez ignites the imagination with ideas for redeveloping New York’s skyline, were money no object. Instead of envisioning skyscrapers, Gonzalez proposes connected rooftop parks and walkways that create green space for all. Here, transit routes converge near Central Park on Fifth Ave. (On the Lower East Side at Galerie Richard through August 27th).

Dionisio Gonzalez, Dialectical Landscape 7, 40 x 40 inches, digital printing on cotton paper mounted on dibond and framed in white, 2017.

 

Myoung Ho Lee at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Studio portraits and landscape photography merge in Myoung Ho Lee’s series of trees in Mongolia and Korea, set against a white canvas backdrop. Lee digitally removes ropes and assistants, suggesting a less mediated encounter with a solitary and wonderful product of nature. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 25th).

Myoung Ho Lee, Tree…#9, archival inkjet print, 15 ¾ x 22 1/8 inches (image), 2017.

Samuel Gratacap in ‘Notions of Home’ at Yancey Richardson Gallery

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Shot at Choucha, a Tunisian transit camp that has been a temporary home to hundreds of thousands of refugees, Samuel Gratacap’s stark image of cobbled-together UN tents speaks to the innovation and desperation of camp inhabitants. (At Yancey Richardson Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 25th).

Samuel Gratacap, Empire, refugee camp of Choucha (Tunisia, 2012 – 14), archival pigment print, 22 3/8 x 23 inches.

Harold Feinstein in ‘I Scream, You Scream’ at Robert Mann Gallery

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Robert Mann Gallery’s ice-cream themed summer group show runs the gamut from glossy commercial images of fake ice cream to this gritty 1950s shot by Harold Feinstein of New York urchins enjoying a treat while Christ appears to ‘let the little children come to him’ in the background. (In ‘I Scream, You Scream’ at Robert Mann Gallery through August 18th).

Harold Feinstein, Storefront Christ and Children, NYC, silver print, 14 x 11 inches, 1951.

Richard Misrach and Guillermo Galindo at Pace Gallery

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After years of traveling to the U.S./Mexico border, photographer Richard Misrach and experimental composer Guillermo Galindo joined forces to create sobering images and sculpture inspired by struggles of migrants determined to overcome the border’s many obstacles. This installation view of their exhibition at Pace Gallery in Chelsea features an instrument made by Galindo of items recovered from the region and Misrach’s photos of tires drug behind border patrol vehicles to make a path in which footprints can be detected. (On view through August 18th.)

Installation view of ‘Border Cantos’ by Richard Misrach and Guillermo Galindo at Pace Gallery, June 2017.

Tyler Haughey in ‘At A Languorous Pace’ at Sears Peyton Gallery

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Rife with appealing contradictions, Tyler Haughey’s photo of a New Jersey coastal motel is attractive for its saturated colors and modernist angularity but not as a model of contemporary hotel design.   Devoid of people and sometimes pictured out of season, the motels in Haughey’s series ‘Ebb Tide’ both evoke nostalgia and picture an on-going culture. (In ‘At a Languorous Pace’ at Sears Peyton Gallery in Chelsea, through August 11th).

Tyler Haughey, Gold Crest Resort Motel, archival pigment print, 32 x 40 inches, 2016.

Teju Cole at Steven Kasher Gallery

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Globe-trotting photographer and writer Teju Cole’s new book ‘Blind Spot’ explores perception through shots including this grid of curtained balconies in Beirut, an image that suggests diversity packed into a small space. Alongside is a text in which Cole bemoans a lost roll of film while acknowledging that his original viewing experience is what he most values. (On view at Steven Kasher Gallery through August 11th).

Teju Cole, view of pages 162-3 in ‘Blind Spot,’ published in June ’17 by Random House.

Ji Zhou at Klein Sun Gallery

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In his photo collages of cityscapes, shot at different times of day from the same vantage point, Bejing-based artist Ji Zhou creates a harmonious view from fragments. (At Klein Sun Gallery in Chelsea through August 3rd).

Ji Zhou, (detail of) Building 2, archival pigment print, 47 ¼ x 92 1/8 inches, 2017.

David Benjamin Sherry at Salon94 Bowery

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Working blind in the dark room, David Benjamin Sherry exposes cardboard templates, acetates printed with patterns, his own body and that of his dog, Wizard to light sensitive paper. The vibrantly colored results don’t bear a recognizable likeness of the artist, but they feel intensely personal nonetheless. (At Salon94 Bowery on the Lower East Side through July 27th).

David Benjamin Sherry, detail of Metamorphosis (Self-portrait with Wizard), 150C40M0Y, unique color darkroom photogram, 72.25 x 29.75 inches (image, no frame), 2017.

Isca Greenfield-Sanders at Ameringer McEnergy Yohe

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Vintage color slides are the basis for Isca Greenfield-Sanders’ light infused beach scenes. Impossibly bright, they document a day by the water and suggest sunny memories. (At Ameringer McEnery Yohe in Chelsea through July 1st).

Isca Greenfield-Sanders, Beach (Detail), mixed media oil on canvas, 63 x 63 inches, 2107.

Fons Iannelli at Steven Kasher Gallery

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After serving in the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit during WWII, Fons Iannelli returned to the States to establish a successful career photographing for McCall’s, Life, Fortune and other magazines. Alongside striking images of naval life, and later photos of efficient housewives shot for commercial purposes, Iannelli’s scenes from his 1946 Kentucky Coal Miner series, now on view at Chelsea’s Steven Kasher Gallery reveal the difficult circumstances of family life in the mining community. (On view through August 11th).

Fons Iannelli, Boy Smoking Cigarette (from the Kentucky Coal Miner series), Harlan County, KY, vintage gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1946, 10 ½ h x 10 ¼ w, 1946.

Rodney Graham, Dinner Break (Salisbury Steak) at 303

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Displayed on a lightbox, Canadian artist Rodney Graham’s staged photographs are enticing, glowing portals into the past. In this unlikely scenario, a jazz drummer from yesteryear uses his kit as a table for a traditional meal of Salisbury Steak. (At 303 Gallery in Chelsea through June 2nd).

Rodney Graham, Dinner Break (Salisbury Steak), printed aluminum lightbox with transmounted chromogenic transparency, 44 5/8 x 34 5/8 x 7 inches, 2017.

Jim Campbell Projections at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

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New media artist Jim Campbell is known for deliberately low-res projections of crowds and individuals in movement. The focus of his current solo show at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery – images and video from January’s Women’s March in DC – is serendipitous subject matter for the artist. In this layering of still images on a lightbox, many people (and metaphorically, points of view) come together to suggest a mass action. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through June 17th).

Jim Campbell, Untitled, c-print, Plexiglas, light box, 32 x 48 x 5 inches, 2017.

Martha Cooper at Steven Kasher Gallery

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Chelsea’s skyline – dotted with construction cranes – is a constant reminder of how much the neighborhood and city is transforming; for an even more eye-popping view of how much the city has changed, visit legendary street photographer Martha Cooper’s photos at Steven Kasher Gallery from the 80s. Here, Cooper captures a two-car painting by Duster Lizzie that demonstrates how transgressive ambition changed the landscape of New York. (At Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea through June 3rd).

Martha Cooper, Two Whole Cars in Straight Letters and Wild Style by Duster Lizzie, Bronx, NY, 1982, archival pigment print, 30 x 40 inches, printed 2017.

Todd Webb at The Curator

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After WWII, Todd Webb moved to New York City and took to the streets, enthusiastically documenting the eccentricities of the everyday – from quirky storefronts to colorful characters. (On view in Chelsea at The Curator Gallery through May 20th).

Todd Webb, Lower Manhattan, The Battery (Peanut Man), archival pigment print, 30 x 40 inches, 1945.

Margeaux Walter at Winston Wachter Gallery

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Life revolves around interior décor in Margeaux Walter’s photos at Winston Wachter Gallery in Chelsea. Matching hair colors, clothing and food to the floor tiles, Walter asks if lifestyle dictates design or vice-versa. (On view through May 13th).

Margeaux Walter, Patchwork, c-print, 40 x 40 inches, 2015.

Ori Gersht, Floating Bridge at CRG Gallery

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A landscape is never just a beautiful view in Ori Gersht’s photographs. A past series pictured tranquil scenes not far from a former concentration camp; the more recent ‘Floating World’ images – shot in Kyoto’s formal gardens – play up the multi-layered meanings of meticulously planned spaces like this one by combining reflected and inverted images. (At CRG Gallery on the Lower East Side through May 21st).

Ori Gersht, Floating Bridge, archival ink print, 47 ¾ x 47 ¾ inches, 2016.

Robert Frank at Danziger Gallery

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Robert Frank’s iconic photo series ‘The Americans’ presented a complicated and unheroic picture of the country in 1955. At Danziger Gallery on the Lower East Side, 81 contact sheets (from among thousands) allow viewers to see the shots before and after those selected for publication. Here, a baby in ‘Café-Beaufort, South Carolina’ is not as alone as she appears. (On view through April 8th).

Robert Frank, Contact Sheet #21, 20 x 16 inch lithographic print, From “The Americans. 81 Contact Sheets.”

Vik Muniz, Buttons (L) at Sikkema Jenkins

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Some buttons are photographed, some are real; the fun is picking out which is which. For his recent body of work, Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz creates such skilled illusions that what might be a gimmick in the hands of others instead prompts real pleasure in physically interacting with artwork up close and in person. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through April 1st).

Vik Muniz, Buttons (L), Handmade, mixed media, framed: 73.375 x 49.5 inches, one of a kind, 2016.

Roe Ethridge, Apples, Almonds, American Spirit at Andrew Kreps

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In Roe Ethridge’s tableau, juicy red apples are more of the poisonous, Snow White variety than the kind used to make all-American apple pie. Coupled with scattered cancer sticks and the words ‘American Spirit’ – a nod to two iconic photos titled ‘Spiritual America’ that criticized aspects of US culture –Ethridge’s assortment of objects is less innocuous than it first seems. (At Andrew Kreps Gallery in Chelsea through April 8th.)

Roe Ethridge, Apples, Almonds, American Spirit, dye sublimation print on aluminum, 49 ½ x 33 inches, 2017.

Michael Joo at Carolina Nitsch Project Room

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Many have pondered ‘the wages of sin,’ but few in quite the way that Michael Joo does in his Seven Sins series. Joo records the number of calories expended in pursuing anger, lust, pride and more, stamping the numbers on baking trays like these stacked floor to ceiling in Carolina Nitsch Project Room. Screen prints of the trays resemble historic photographs and ghostly traces of appetites indulged. (In Chelsea through April 1st).

Michael Joo, installation view of ‘Seven Sins,’ at Carolina Nitsch Project Room, February, 2017.

Cig Harvey in ‘Birds of a Feather’ at Robert Mann Gallery

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While traveling near St Petersburg, Russia, photographer Cig Harvey found herself surrounded by goldfinches, and she captured this beautifully composed evocation of freedom. The photo is a highlight of the creatively curated, obliquely political group show ‘Birds of a Feather, ‘ at Chelsea’s Robert Mann Gallery. (Through March 18th).

Cig Harvey, Goldfinch, St Petersburg, Russia, dye sublimation print on aluminum, 28 x 28 inches, 2014.

Richard Mosse at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Richard Mosse pictures European refugee camps like you’ve never seen them in monumental new photos taken with a military grade telephoto camera. Normally used for combat and border surveillance, the camera detects thermal radiation, turning individuals into ghost-like presences. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 20th Street location in Chelsea through March 11th).

Richard Mosse, (detail of) Idomeni Camp, Greece, digital c-print on metallic paper, 40 x 120 inches, 2016.

Uta Barth at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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Inspired by the light in her adopted home-city of LA and by the still life arrangements of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, Uta Barth employs everyday glassware as lenses. Transparent objects in various shapes, colors and combinations shift light to harness the properties of nature in service of art. (At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Chelsea through March 11th).

Uta Barth, In the Light and Shadow of Morandi (17.03), face mounted, raised, shaped, Archival Pigment print in artist’s frame, 48 ¾ x 52 ¾ inches, 2017.

Pieter Hugo, Portrait #9 at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Are children born in Rwanda after the genocide freer, having not had their lives disrupted by that violence? How will their understanding of history impact their lives? South African photographer Pieter Hugo asked these questions while also questioning the post-Apartheid legacy of his own children and their generation in a series of photos at Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery. Here, the landscape and its histories act as backdrop to a portrait of a self-possessed young person. (On view through March 4th).

Pieter Hugo, Portrait #9, Rwanda, digital C-Print, 47 ¼ inches x 63 inches, 2015.

Sohei Nishino at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

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Sohei Nishino’s charmingly idiosyncratic maps of cities around the world track the Japanese globetrotter’s exploration of metropolitan architecture and populations. Each bricolage results from hundreds of images shot at various vantage points around a given city. In this detail from Nishino’s New Delhi diorama map, the crowds and traffic encroach on the India Gate war memorial, though it retains a space and aura of its own. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through March 4th).

Sohei Nishino, Diorama Map New Delhi, light jet print on Kodak Endura, 70.87 x 79.53 inches, 2013.
Sohei Nishino, Diorama Map New Delhi, light jet print on Kodak Endura, 70.87 x 79.53 inches, 2013.

Peter Coolidge at Peter Blum Gallery

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Peter Coolidge’s photos of coal seams in Germany’s industrial Ruhr region glint seductively, appealing to some as abstract compositions formed by nature. Yet not far from the surface is the understanding of coal’s powerful role in pollution and climate change, turning this coalface sinister. (At Peter Blum Gallery on 57th Street through Feb 4th).

Peter Coolidge, Coal Seam, Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel #5, pigment inkjet print, 57 x 50 inches, 2013.
Peter Coolidge, Coal Seam, Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel #5, pigment inkjet print, 57 x 50 inches, 2013.

Matthew Brandt Prints at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Soon after the scandal over tainted drinking water in Flint, Michigan broke in spring 2016, Matthew Brandt visited the beleaguered General Motors town, creating beautiful images using toxic water. Brandt collected river water and used it to wash over and degrade cyan, magenta and yellow sheets bearing an image of the river’s dam. Recombined in a lightbox, a damaged image represents a devastated landscape. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 21st.)

Matthew Brandt, From the series Waterfalls, Stepping Stone Falls 8 C3M1Y1, multi-layered Duraclear prints processed with Flint River, Michigan water in LED lightbox frame, 20 x 14 inches, unique, 2016.
Matthew Brandt, From the series Waterfalls, Stepping Stone Falls 8 C3M1Y1, multi-layered Duraclear prints processed with Flint River, Michigan water in LED lightbox frame, 20 x 14 inches, unique, 2016.

Tomas Van Houtryve at Anastasia Photo

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Paris-based Belgian photographer Tomas Van Houtryve captured this eerie scene – dominated by long human shadows and strange white grids – by flying a drone over a school in California as kids played below. Bold geometries and stark tonal contrasts make each picture look strange, playing to Van Houtryve’s point that drones are increasingly prevalent, yet we see little of them and what they see. (At Anastasia Photo on the Lower East Side through Dec 31st).

Tomas Van Houtryve, Schoolyard, gelatin silver print on Baryta paper, 26 x 40 inches, 2013.
Tomas Van Houtryve, Schoolyard, gelatin silver print on Baryta paper, 26 x 40 inches, 2013.

Neal Slavin at Laurence Miller Gallery

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For over 40 years, Neal Slavin’s photos of groups – from Hari Krishnas in the Union Square subway to burlesque performers in Philadelphia – explore the dynamics of individuals drawn together for a purpose. Here, a group of Santas who worked at Bingo and Buddies in Silver Spring, MD offer a meditation on sameness and difference. (At Laurence Miller Gallery on 57th Street through Dec 23rd).

Neal Slavin, Bingo and Buddies Santa Clauses, Silver Spring, MD, 19 x 24 inch digital chromogenic print, 1987.
Neal Slavin, Bingo and Buddies Santa Clauses, Silver Spring, MD, 19 x 24 inch digital chromogenic print, 1987.

Augustus Sherman at Steven Kasher Gallery

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An Ellis Island clerk from 1892 to 1925, Augustus Sherman was uniquely positioned to document immigration in all its diversity. Among his photographic portraits of Scottish boys in kilts and Romanian shepherds, this shot of a Russian German family is a standout as each family member stoically waits first for the camera and later, for a new life in North Dakota. (At Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 23rd).

Augustus Sherman, Jakob Mittelstadt and Family, Russian German, ex SS ‘Pretoria.’ Admitted to go to Kullen, ND, May 9, 1905, vintage gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1905, 4 ¾ x 6 ½ inches, typed inscription “German family.”
Augustus Sherman, Jakob Mittelstadt and Family, Russian German, ex SS ‘Pretoria.’ Admitted to go to Kullen, ND, May 9, 1905, vintage gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1905, 4 ¾ x 6 ½ inches, typed inscription “German family.”

Kacper Kowalski at The Curator

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Several years ago, Polish photographer Kacper Kowalski turned his back on his career in architecture and began a new pursuit taking photographs from a paraglider or a gyrocopter at around 500 feet above the central European landscape. This beautiful observation of nature’s seasonal transformations is part of a series documenting the onset and experience of winter from above. (At The Curator in Chelsea, through Dec 17th).

Kacper Kowalski, Seasons/Autumn #29, archival pigment print, 27 x 41 inches, 2015.
Kacper Kowalski, Seasons/Autumn #29, archival pigment print, 27 x 41 inches, 2015.

Edward Burtynsky, Salinas #2 at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

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This stunning aerial view of irrigation systems in Cadiz, Spain is part of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s Water series, which examines human use of the planet’s most valuable resource, specifically as it is harnessed for aquaculture. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 23rd).

Edward Burtynsky, Salinas #2, Cadiz, Spain, chromogenic color print, 2013.
Edward Burtynsky, Salinas #2, Cadiz, Spain, chromogenic color print, 2013.

Annie Leibovitz at the former Bayview Correctional Facility

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98 year old mathematician, physicist and NASA scientist Katherine Johnson strikes a regal pose in a photograph by Annie Leibovitz, who has relaunched her ‘Women’ series, highlighting the achievements of remarkable women. Images from Leibovitz’s the series are currently on view in the gym at Chelsea’s former women’s prison, offering an uplifting vision of women’s many roles in society. (Sponsored by UBS, hosted by the NoVo Foundation and Lela Goren Group on view through Dec 11th).

Installation view of ‘Women’ at the 550 West 20th Street, the former Bayview Correctional Facility and future home of the NoVo Foundation, Dec 2016.
Installation view of ‘Women’ at the 550 West 20th Street, the former Bayview Correctional Facility and future home of the NoVo Foundation, Dec 2016.

William Eggleston at David Zwirner Gallery

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It’s easy to recognize this scene by legendary photographer William Eggleston, without even knowing where it was shot. Typically Eggleston, its bright, saturated colors and subject matter featuring an everyday American landscape and vernacular architecture are deeply familiar. (At David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 17th).

William Eggleston, Untitled, pigment print, 64 7/8 x 45 x 2 ¼ inches, c. 1983-1986.
William Eggleston, Untitled, pigment print, 64 7/8 x 45 x 2 ¼ inches, c. 1983-1986.

Michele Abeles at 47 Canal

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Though Michele Abeles’ photos look like appropriated commercial images, they are the artist’s own, transferred to a tablet prepared with various liquids and rephotographed. The resulting multi-layered effect blends oddness, familiarity and accident. (At 47 Canal through Dec 18th).

Michele Abeles, 5567, archival pigment print, 42 x 29.5 inches, ed of 5, 2016.
Michele Abeles, 5567, archival pigment print, 42 x 29.5 inches, ed of 5, 2016.

Sally Gall at Julie Saul Gallery

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Sally Gall’s gorgeous, boldly colored photos bring to mind flowers, sea creatures and fungi; in fact, the billowing organic shapes are laundry items, photographed from under a drying line. The show wonderfully affirms the beauty in the everyday. (At Julie Saul Gallery through Oct 22nd)

Sally Gall, Red Poppy, pigment print, 33 x 50 inches, 2014.
Sally Gall, Red Poppy, pigment print, 33 x 50 inches, 2014.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy at the Guggenheim

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Hungarian avant-garde artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy used camera-less photography to create experimental pictures like this one, for which he put his own face and glasses against light-sensitive paper in the darkroom and made multiple exposures to create this ghostly image. (At the Guggenheim in ‘Moholy-Nagy: Future Present’ through Sept 7th).

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Photogram (Moonface), (Self-Portrait in Profile), gelatin silver print (enlarged from a photogram), 1926, printed 1935.
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Photogram (Moonface), (Self-Portrait in Profile), gelatin silver print (enlarged from a photogram), 1926, printed 1935.

Nathalia Edenmont at Nancy Hoffman Gallery

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Sweden-based artist Nathalia Edenmont is both collector and artist – using rare butterfly wings she acquires at fairs in Singapore and Paris, she creates labor-intensive collages that uniquely comment on nature’s beauty. (At Chelsea’s Nancy Hoffman Gallery through Sept 1st.)

Nathalia Edenmont, Vortex, collage of butterfly wings, 14 ¼ x 13 inches, 2011.
Nathalia Edenmont, Vortex, collage of butterfly wings, 14 ¼ x 13 inches, 2011.

Hiroshi Watanabe at Benrubi Gallery

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We are like characters in a disaster movie, writes photographer Hiroshi Watanabe – though terrible events loom, we carry on with life as usual. Here, snow-covered persimmons make for a beautiful image but one that warns of a fast-arriving, harsher season. (At Chelsea’s Benrubi Gallery through Aug 26th).

Hiroshi Watanabe, The Day the Dam Collapses 25 (Persimmons), archival pigment print, 9 x 9 inches, 2009.
Hiroshi Watanabe, The Day the Dam Collapses 25 (Persimmons), archival pigment print, 9 x 9 inches, 2009.

Roger Steffens & The Family Acid at Benrubi Gallery

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Wild abandon meets danger in this 1974 photo by counterculture photographer Roger Steffens, though what appears to be a fatal leap is an illusion – the young woman landed safely on the ledge directly beneath her. Under the titled ‘The Family Acid,’ Steffens’ photos chronicle the lives of his friends and family as they embody the changing mores of an era. (At Benrubi Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 26th).

The Family Acid, Roger Steffens, Big Sur Plunge (Clare’s Leap), March, 1974, edition of 8, archival pigment print, 24 x 20 inches.
The Family Acid, Roger Steffens, Big Sur Plunge (Clare’s Leap), March, 1974, edition of 8, archival pigment print, 24 x 20 inches.

Paul Outerbridge at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Influential for his photographs of consumer culture items isolated and made strange, as well as his laborious tri-color Carbo printing technique, Paul Outerbridge is currently celebrated at Bruce Silverstein with a retrospective including this intensely colored cinematic homage to spring. (At Bruce Silverstein Gallery in Chelsea through Sept 17th).

Paul Outerbridge, First Robin of Spring, Carbo print, 14 3/8 x 10 5/8 inches, 1938, printed c. 1938.
Paul Outerbridge, First Robin of Spring, Carbo print, 14 3/8 x 10 5/8 inches, 1938, printed c. 1938.

RongRong and inri at Chambers Fine Art

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

To make work for the 2012 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, photographers RongRong and inri packed up their family and moved from Beijing to rural Japan, creating timeless, ethereal black and white scenes shot in a 200-year-old house. (At Chambers Fine Art in Chelsea through Aug 20th).

RongRong and inri, Tsumari Story No 11-4, silver gelatin print, 46 ¾ x 58 ¼ inches, 2014.
RongRong and inri, Tsumari Story No 11-4, silver gelatin print, 46 ¾ x 58 ¼ inches, 2014.

Simen Johan Sea Lions at Yossi Milo

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Simen Johan’s stunning image of sea lions (seen here in detail) has the creatures rising to the right in a digitally manipulated crescendo of activity. The composition and atmospheric background recalls Gericault’s famously dramatic 19th century shipwreck scene, ‘The Raft of the Medusa,’ though it is animals that embody intense emotion. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 10th).

 

Simen Johan, Untitled #188, digital C-Print, 71 x 94 ¼, 2015.
Simen Johan, Untitled #188, digital C-Print, 71 x 94 ¼, 2015.

Sandro Miller at Yancey Richardson Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Under the direction of photographer Sandro Miller, actor John Malkovich plays a series of unexpected roles in a recent body of work at Chelsea’s Yancey Richardson Gallery. As Warhol’s Marilyn, Arthur Sasse’s Albert Einstein and here, Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Malkovich’s face makes some of art history’s most iconic images eerily unfamiliar. (Through July 8th).

Sandro Miller, Dorothea Lange/Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936), archival pigment print, 12 x 9 inches, 2014.
Sandro Miller, Dorothea Lange/Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936), archival pigment print, 12 x 9 inches, 2014.