Sui Park at Sapar Contemporary

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Water worn rocks, amoebas, cells, sea creatures and more come to mind in Sui Park’s exhibition of colorful abstract sculpture at Sapar Contemporary in Tribeca.  Crafting her work from looped cable ties and monofilaments, Park turns mass-produced plastic materials into artworks that, ironically, foster appreciation of the natural world. This installation’s handsome black background color is somewhat misleading; titled ‘Sprinkles,’ Park has explained that she was inspired by dessert sprinkles.  (On view through Nov 27th.)

Sui Park, Sprinkles, cable ties, hand-dyed cable ties, variable size, 2023.

Ugo Rondinone, Bright Light Shining at Gladstone Gallery

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Lightning strikes three times in the same spot at Gladstone Gallery’s high-ceilinged 21st Street space in the form of bronze sculpture by Swiss New Yorker Ugo Rondinone.  Trees scanned, 3-D printed and cast in bronze have been inverted to resemble day glow yellow bolts of light; at the same time, they belong to the terrestrial realm by still clearly resembling trees.  As nature upends our expectations again and again through storms, floods and extreme temperatures, Rondinone questions the natural order.  (On view in Chelsea through Nov 9th.

Ugo Rondinone, installation view of ‘bright light shining’ at Gladstone Gallery, Oct ’23.

Sanford Biggers The Repatriate at Marianne Boesky

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‘Meet me on the Equinox,’ the title of Sanford Biggers’ show at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea deliberately evokes a point of convergence between different places or ideas, appropriate for new work that combines objects from a mix of cultures.  Pieces like this marble, wood and textile sculpture titled The Repatriate, continue Biggers’ interest in combining artifacts with different backgrounds, in this case a mask that is itself a collage of various African masks, a wooden platform inspired by bases of roadside shrines in Asia and beyond, and quilts that recall stories of textiles used to send messages on the Underground Railroad.  As its title suggests, Biggers explains that he was thinking of objects with identities that have been altered by context; as ownership changes, identity continues to evolve.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 14th).

Sanford Biggers, The Repatriate, green marble and antique quilts on custom cedar plinth, 73 x 24 x 24 inches overall, unique within a series, 2023.

Liliana Porter at Bienvenu Steinberg and J

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Tiny figures perform enormous undertakings in delightfully absurd new sculpture and 2-D works by Liliana Porter at Bienvenu, Steinberg and J in Tribeca.  Miniscule men with leaf blowers raise up a storm of swirling forms while a little woman with an even smaller a basket of glitter spreads the shiny material into an expanding field of brightness.  Ruptures in scale and contrasts between the real and represented are the stock in trade of Porter’s six decades of artmaking.  Here, magical scenarios convert mundane acts by individuals into aesthetic gestures for the public. (On view through Oct 14th).

Liliana Porter, Untitled with her, gold glitter and metal figurine, dimensions variable, 2023.

Carlos Motta Collaboration at PPOW Gallery

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Beautifully shot and installed in Tribeca’s PPOW Gallery, Columbian artist Carlos Motta’s ‘Air of Life’ video installation is reached by passing by sculpture crafted by Indigenous Brazilian craftsman Higinio Bautista. This particular collaboration began with Bautista’s retelling of a legend of shamans who transformed into animals to protect the people and land.  He prompted Motta to draw the figures, which Bautista then carved.  Once past the protective deities, gallery visitors take in soaring views of the Amazon while watching Indigenous South American musicians, activists, and community leaders explain their work in a c. 42 minute presentation on a screen and two monitors.  Commissioned for an exhibition related to Indigenous representation now on view at Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia in Bogota, the works in the show give insight into to the lives of those working to protect tradition.  (On view through Oct 7th).

Carlos Motta, installation view of ‘Air of Life’ at PPOW Gallery, Sept 2023. Sculpture in the foreground: Carlos Motta and Higinio Bautista, Shaman Anteater, carved wood, 43 ¼ x 15 ¾ 16 ½ inches.

Jacob Hashimoto at Miles McEnery Gallery

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At first glance, the entrance to Jacob Hashimoto’s installation at Miles McEnery Gallery appears to be blocked by a super abundance of paper and bamboo disks, his signature material.  No one pauses for a moment though, before climbing the gallery stairs and whipping out a phone to photograph the strings of shapes that form a cloud overhead.  Called ‘kites’ by the artist, the forms are heavier than the airborne toys but resemble them in their paper on frame structure, sense of lightness and potential for movement.  Austere in black and white tones that echo the gallery architecture, the installation is restrained yet exuberant, balanced yet dynamic.  (On view through Oct 21st).

Jacob Hashimoto, installation view of ‘The Disappointment Engine,’ at Miles McEnery Gallery, Sept 2023.

Laure Prouvost at Lisson Gallery

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When female octopi guard their eggs, they stop feeding themselves, dying as their babies mature.  Multimedia artist Laure Prouvost’s latest solo show at Lisson Gallery celebrates this selfless participation in the cycle of life and connects it with human nurturing via combined imagery of human breasts and octopus arms.  Huge cephalopod limbs emerge from a layer of sand scattered on the floor, inviting gallery visitors into a tactile underfoot experience while observing suction cups that occasionally resemble breasts or in one case, end in a breast-shaped lamp.  Prouvost’s surreal mix of animal and human bodies foregrounds the importance of touch, feeling and sensuous enjoyment.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 14th).

Laure Prouvost, installation view of ‘Laure Prouvost: Stranded By Your Side,’ at Lisson Gallery, Sept 2023.

Gabriel Chaile on the High Line

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Inspired by pre-Columbian ceramics in his native country of Argentina, Gabriel Chaile’s High Line sculpture ‘The Wind Blows Where it Wishes’ turns a vessel-shape into a living form with a delicate face positioned both front and back on the neck.  Made from steel and adobe, the sculpture recalls ancient handcrafting processes while being protected and animated by an undulating ribbon of dark metal which ends at the front in two small hands holding a tube-like instrument.  Towering yet humble, an object yet miraculously living, Chaile’s enchanting sculpture uniquely engages the park’s visitors.  (On view on the High Line over 24th Street through April ’24).

Gabriel Chaile, The Wind Blows Where it Wishes, adobe and steel, 2023.

Patti Warashina in ‘Funk You, Too’ at the Museum of Art and Design

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University of Washington art professor emerita Patti Warashina created this comical collision in 1971 as a commentary on the way in which male ceramic students were challenged to build kilns while the female students were encouraged to practice decorative techniques.  Now a standout in the Museum of Art and Design’s excellent ‘Funk You, Too,’ exhibition, Warashina’s ‘car kiln’ (in which a ‘car’ or ‘deck’ can be directed into a kiln) pioneers a new variety of kiln, one capable of being magically reshaped by the artwork put into it.   As her red car drives into the kiln (complete with an interior full of flames), the kiln itself morphs into Warashina’s vision.  (On view through Aug 27th).

Patti Warashina, Metamorphosis of a Car Kiln, earthenware, glaze and luster, 1971.

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger in ‘Distribuidx’ at Lisson Gallery

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Inspired by Helio Oiticica’s practice, Lisson Gallery’s lively summer group show ‘Distribuidx’ includes art that sees bodies and spaces as changeable; further, the show’s theme posits that people can be represented by the things around us.  For Mexico-City based artist Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, cars represent the experience of navigating being queer and in this sculptural painting, the contradictions of our relationship to consumption and the planet.  In ‘Hope the Air Conditioning is On While Facing Global Warming (part I),’ a BMW i8 opens its wing-doors to reflect both the flowers blossoming on nearby trees and an inferno of burning buildings beyond the open doors. (On view through Aug 11th).

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Hope the Air Conditioning is On While Facing Global Warming (part I), oil on canvas, overall: 88 x 176 inches, 2017.

Song Dong, Thousand Hands at Pace Gallery

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Well-known in New York for his 2009 installation ‘Waste Not’ at MoMA, in which he displayed all his mother’s 10,000+ accumulated belongings, Chinese avant-garde artist Song Dong morphs discarded objects into intriguing sculpture in his latest work at Pace Gallery.  Using circular forms important in traditional Chinese philosophy, Song created this light sculpture from a discarded object meant to be displayed behind a statue of the Buddha Guanyin; accordingly, the surface is marked a representation of the deity’s one-thousand arms which take on new meaning when viewed from above.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 18th).

Song Dong, Thousand Hands, glass, crystal, lamp, 15 3/4” x 63”, 2022-23.

Markus Linnenbrink at Miles McEnery Gallery

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Stripes run across the walls, down the paintings and around a ball-like sculpture in Markus Linnenbrink’s explosively colorful show at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea. Painted in two days, a dripping horizontal pattern across the gallery wall sets off Linnenbrink’s signature candy-colored works in epoxy resin and leads the eye back into the gallery toward a variety of work created by building up or cutting into layers of solidified epoxy resin.  In the foreground, a ball made from layers of cast resin encases discarded ephemera from everyday life gathered by friends and family of the artist, a happy emblem of experiences accumulated along life’s way. (On view in Chelsea through July 22nd).

Markus Linnenbrink, COLDWORLDGOODMANBITEBACK, epoxy resin, pigments, objects, 36 inches diameter, 2023.

Fred Eversley at David Kordansky Gallery

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After a serious car crash in the mid-60s prompted a career shift from aerospace engineering to fine art, West coast Light and Space artist Fred Eversley applied his knowledge of materials to the creation of tinted cast sculptures like those now on view at David Kordansky Gallery in Chelsea.  As a kid in his father’s basement lab, Eversley recreated Galileo’s experiments in making parabolic shapes; as an artist, he describes his work as reflecting forms of energy and light.  Eminently enjoyable, Eversley explains that his sculptures are “made for spectators to amuse themselves by discovering all of the infinite combinations of internal reflections, refractions, color changes and other optical phenomena that one can perceive within an individual piece of sculpture.”  (On view through June 10th).

Fred Eversley, installation view of ‘Cylindrical Lenses’ at David Kordansky Gallery, May 2023.

Mark Handforth at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Known for adopting materials that resemble urban infrastructure (streetlamps, signage) and manipulating them with apparently Herculean effort into whimsical sculpture, Mark Handforth scales down the size but delivers on delight in a show of new work at Luhring Augustine Gallery in Tribeca.  Tall burnt matchstick sculptures and deliciously candy-colored aluminum columns accompany ‘Harlequin Star,’ a sculpture that appears to be a guardrail casually folded into a star shape with a neon accent.  Handforth has commented on the recurring stars in his work, identifying the shape as something “so recognizable that [it] cease[s] to exist.”  Though its ubiquity may make it mundane, Handforth harnesses unexpected materials and light to make this star a standout.  (On view through July 28th).

Mark Handforth, Harlequin Star, aluminum, prismatic foils and LED light, 80 x 68 x 28 inches, 2023.

Yayoi Kusama Sculpture at David Zwirner Gallery

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Giant steel flowers, undulating yellow and black polka dot pumpkins and a selection of over thirty vibrantly patterned paintings by Yayoi Kusama at David Zwirner Gallery deliver the delight and pleasure expected of the iconic Japanese artist’s work.  The daughter of plant nursery owners, nature has always played a role in Kusama’s over 60-year career; via flowers and plants, Kusama’s latest New York show presents a message of love for life, even as select painting titles allude to dark times and the difficulties of family life.  Three steel sculptures titled ‘I Spend Each Day Embracing Flowers’ is a natural background for selfies, enlisting gallery-goers in spreading Kusama’s upbeat message.  (On view in Chelsea through July 21st).

Yayoi Kusama, I Spend Each Day Embracing Flowers (foreground), stainless steel and urethane paint, 98 x 111 x 106 inches, 2023.

Daniel Gordon at Kasmin Gallery

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Unlike classic Dutch still life, Daniel Gordon’s ‘Philodendron with Sardines and Lobster’ at Kasmin Gallery lacks the typical superabundance of a table piled high with fruit, meats and other delicacies, allowing for a more focused appreciation of the artist’s detailed, hands-on production of each item on display. After finding or taking a photograph of each object he intends to depict, Gordon prints images of the object, cutting and gluing them over forms that are placed into an arrangement of similarly crafted objects and then photographed to produce the final image.   Because they’ve originated in photographic images, lobster, fish, plant and vase on the one hand look believable as a flat image and yet are obviously 3-D renderings.  The space of the image is temporarily unclear, the medium blurred, creating pleasurable moments of uncertainty. (On view through June 3rd).

Daniel Gordon, Philodendron with Sardines and Lobster, pigment print with UV lamination, 49 7/8 x 40 inches, 2023.

Josefina Concha at Praxis Gallery

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Chilean artist Josefina Concha’s textile-based sculptures, now on view at Chelsea’s Praxis Gallery, are immediately intriguing for their color, form and technique as well as their playful engagement with art history.  Situated front and center in the gallery is a table covered with undulating fabric, an update on Judy Chicago’s famous Dinner Party installation with a new guest list that includes Concha’s expressive, sewn paintings of Alice Neel, Velasquez and Francis Bacon installed over the table.  Elsewhere, a vibrantly colored, minimal panel pays homage to Agnes Martin while these two clustered organic forms recall the open blooms of Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings. (On view through June 2nd).

Josefina Concha, Skin Foundations, sewing on canvas, 70 7/8 x 65 3/8 inches, 2023.

Kelly Akashi at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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Kelly Akashi’s poetic assemblages of sculpture in glass, stone, bronze and rammed earth at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery heighten awareness of her materials and processes while juxtaposing human concepts of time with comparatively vast measures of time on earth and in the universe. Here, the glass sphere titled ‘Cosmic Axis,’ brings to mind the axis around which the earth rotates while also alluding to the connection between heavenly and terrestrial realms.  Surrounded by photos of distant nebula taken by telescopes, the sculpture feels especially present in the space of the gallery, its delicacy contrasted by a large concrete pedestal and enhanced by cherry blossoms on top that extend into the space of the sphere. (On view in Chelsea through June 10th).

Kelly Akashi, Cosmic Axis, Flame-worked borosilicate on rotating cast concrete pedestal, 77 x 22 x 22 inches, 2022-23.

Kennedy Yanko at Deitch Projects

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A quote from John Cage at the entrance to Kennedy Yanko’s show at Deitch Projects declares that silence doesn’t exist; even if nothing at all can be heard, the sounds of the body’s systems functioning will advance themselves.  Yanko’s new sculptures likewise assert the aesthetic potential of humble materials: dried sheets of paint and found metal.  In their contrast between smooth and rough surfaces and complementary colors like the green and purple, sculptures like ‘An Ode to Hugs’ (pictured here) are driven by Yanko’s intuitive method and for her, the ‘livingness of her medium.’ (On view in SoHo through April 22nd).

Kennedy Yanko, An Ode to Hugs, paint skin, metal, 97 x 94 x 42.5 inches, 2023

Rose B. Simpson at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Because they’re hollow, ceramic artist Rose B. Simpson’s sculptures “hold space,” she explained in a recent interview with Vogue.  She went on to say, “I often think about the space inside as holding intention; I want them to go out and do work in the world and be vessels for that intention I’m putting out there.” Three large vessel-like sculptures in Simpson’s current exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery are a powerful presence, marked by signs that relate to specific meaningful ideas for the artist, representative of her internal thought processes and development.  Titled ‘The Road Less Traveled,’ Simpson’s show introduces this already very successful artist to New York audiences as a maker who follows her own way.  (On view in Chelsea through April 8th).

Rose B. Simpson, (foreground) Vital Organ: Stomach, clay, twine, grout, 91”, 2022, (background) Reclamation IV, clay, steel, lava and bone beads, leather, grout, 88 x 15 x 13 inches, 2022.

Minerva Cuevas at Kurimanzutto

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‘In Gods we Trust,’ is the provocative title of Minerva Cuevas’ new exhibition at Chelsea’s Kurimanzutto Gallery, a show featuring sculptures of pre-Hispanic deities and vintage magazine ads promoting powerful multi-national oil companies.  Here, a priest of Tlazolteotl, an Aztec deity associated with lust and excess, sits on the pages of financial newspapers, an oil-like substance applied to his mouth and dripped on his arms.  The interrelation of power and oil (a substance also used by pre-Hispanic cultures) also appears in the artist’s huge and damning wall mural featuring nature-inspired corporate logos of companies that have helped bring about climate crisis.  (On view in Chelsea through April 15th).

Minerva Cuevas, Tlazolteotl Priest, foamular, acrylic paint and financial newspapers, ’22 – ‘23

Saif Azzuz at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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After traversing a mini-maze of metal barricades decorated with sharply cut outlines of foliage, visitors to Saif Azzuz’s installation in Tribeca at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery reach a painting of an idyllic scene representing downtown Manhattan prior to European arrival.  Inspired by his Yurok family’s connection to the land in California, Azzuz considers how access to and use of the land has shifted over time around what’s now Collect Pond Park, once downtown’s major source of drinking water and now an area occupied by Manhattan’s vast court buildings and jail.  (On view through March 25th).

Saif Azzuz, installation view of ‘Says Who,’ featuring (back wall) Under the willow tree (let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitter), acrylic on canvas, 96 x 160, 2022.

Hew Locke, The Relic at PPOW Gallery

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Two ships appear to float in the center of PPOW’s Tribeca gallery space, their tattered sails and apparition-like figures on the cabins and crates suggesting that they’ve floated in from another place and time.  The sense of disorientation is key to Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke’s consideration of Guyana’s colonial past and its future as the country experiences an oil boom.  The dilapidated house on the deck of this ship is echoed in photographs on the wall of Guyanese houses that have seen better days; Locke adds acrylic renderings of water inundating the lower levels as a warning that human aspirations can be washed away by greater forces.  (On view in Tribeca through April 1st).

Hew Locke, The Relic, wood and mixed media, 88 5/8 x 98 3/8 x 24 ¾ inches, 2022.

Tania Perez Cordova at Tina Kim Gallery

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Titled ‘Precipitation,’ Tania Perez Cordova’s new body of work at Tina Kim Gallery manifests a rain shower in the gallery, thin gold-plated chains representing drops of water.  Falling from ceiling to floor through holes pierced in the leaves of artificial plants, the chains form straight lines that contrast the elegant curve of stems and leaves, creating a tension akin to a bow or the strings of a harp.  As visitors advance through the gallery, the number of chains increases to suggest a more intense downpour, inviting viewers to follow their instinct in interpreting and appreciating Perez Cordova’s poetic practice.  (On view in Chelsea through March 25th).

Tania Perez Cordova, Philodendron Stenolobum (70% chance of rain), iron, epoxy clay, plastic, acrylic, gold plated brass chain, patterns of leaf damage, ’22.
Tania Perez Cordova, (detail) Philodendron Stenolobum (70% chance of rain), iron, epoxy clay, plastic, acrylic, gold plated brass chain, patterns of leaf damage, ’22.

 

Robin Rhode, Die Strandloper – Man at Lehmann Maupin

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A man with skin composed of overlapping shells arranges his hands on a wall in Lehmann Maupin Gallery’s front room as if to peer into the vibrantly colored picture before him – a mural depicting a block of flats.  ‘Die Strandloper – Man’ or ‘The Beachwalker – Man,’ an installation by South African artist Robin Rhode, is titled after a term used to refer to one of South Africa’s oldest people groups, the Khoisan, who have lived along southwest Africa’s coasts and whose lifestyles have been under threat for centuries by European settlement and now climate change.  Resembling the streamlined forms of hotels from the game Monopoly, the structures in their non-natural colors are a sharp contrast to the figures’ close physical relationship with the natural world. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 11th).

Robin Rhode, Die Strandloper – Man (The Beachwalker – Man) and Die Strandloper – Boy (The Beachwalker – Boy), both are glass fiber reinforced plastic and shells, ’22 and Block of Flats (Wall Painting), acrylic paint, dimensions variable, ‘23

Deborah Butterfield at Marlborough Gallery

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Though told as a student that horses weren’t ‘serious’ subjects for contemporary art, Deborah Butterfield persevered to become renowned for sensitive and powerful sculptures of horses created in materials from salvaged metal to sea plastics.  Best-known are her bronze pieces that still appear to be made of the wood from which they were cast, an enticing illusion.  In a show of new work at Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery, Butterfield sourced wood from near her home/working horse ranch in Montana and property in Hawaii to create towering horses like this one titled ‘Sweetgrass,’ which, though its assembled form is light like a sketch created in wood, has a powerful presence in keeping with its weighty bronze manufacture.  (On view through Jan 14th).

Deborah Butterfield, Sweetgrass, cast bronze, unique, 90 x 108 x 33 inches, 2021 – 22.

Hew Locke’s Facade Commission ‘Gilt’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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As museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art continue to address accusations of improperly acquired artifacts, the museum’s façade commission of Hew Locke’s ‘Gilt’ is both appropriate and daringly self-critical.  Locke explains that his cast fiberglass sculptures, gilt to resemble valuable artworks, are a pun on ‘guilt’ and a prompt to consider how the objects in the museum have been gathered to satisfy our pleasure.  While a creature at the base of the vessel literally devours it, eyes at the top look on in witness and a figure inspired by an 8th century BCE ivory in the Met’s permanent collection ironically brings tribute to the Assyrian Empire.  (On view on the Met’s façade through May 30th, 2023).

Hew Locke, ‘Trophy 2’ in installation view of the Façade Commission ‘Gilt’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, fiberglass, stainless steel, gilding and oil-based paint, Dec 2022.

Tau Lewis at 52 Walker

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Six monumental heads tower over visitors to Tau Lewis’ installation of totemic sculptures at 52 Walker in Tribeca, offering a conduit to encounter the divine.  Calling Lewis’ new pieces a ‘new mythology’ and a ‘corporeal arena for those who move between temporal and heavenly realms,’ the gallery presents itself as stage for interaction inspired by Yoruban mask dramas in which masks are worn and spiritually activated.  Too large for actual movement, the heads convey a powerful solidity while textures and colors created from Lewis’ use of salvaged textiles nevertheless suggest imminent movement and liveliness.  (On view in Tribeca through Jan 7th.  Note holiday closures this week.)

Tau Lewis, Homonoia, steel, enamel paint, acrylic paint and finisher, repurposed leather and suede, organic cotton twill, and coated nylon thread, 88 ½ x 68 x 26 ¼ inches, 2022.

Carolyn Salas at The Hole NYC

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A pair of long white legs tiptoe toward a hanging curtain on the right side of Carolyn Salas’ laser-cut aluminum sculpture ‘Gone’ at The Hole as if making a quick and quiet exit.  Behind, assorted disembodied heads, legs and vases suggest a crowded domestic environment from which our protagonist is slipping away to find her own space.  (On view in Tribeca through Dec 31st).

Carolyn Salas, Gone, 2022, powder-coated aluminum 3/8?, 102 x 144 inches.

Alicja Kwade, Stella Sella at 303 Gallery

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Gravity is an unnamed but ever-present material in Alicja Kwade’s symbolically (and literally) weighty sculptures.  On view in her current exhibition at 303 Gallery in Chelsea, a rocking chair cast in bronze is partially enveloped by stone and positioned in an enclosure made of glass bricks meant to represent the artist’s personal living space. Around the enclosure are mobiles titled ‘Heavy Skies’ that distribute the weight of various stones, a contrast to the lightness normally associated with such balanced arrangements.  Precarity meets inertia in the contrast between fragile glass and heavy stone, creating a tension that comes from wondering what change is to come.  (On view through Dec 17th).

Alicja Kwade, Stella Sella, bronze, stones, 38 5/8 x 19.69 x 39.76 inches, 2022.

Betty Woodman at David Kordansky Gallery

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“I do like extravagance, so if I’m going to err, I usually err in that direction,” Betty Woodman once said in a recorded interview as she explained the processes behind her exuberant ceramic sculpture.  David Kordansky Gallery’s current show of Woodman’s work from the ‘90s demonstrates the artist’s unconventional take on painting, ceramics and sculpture, including this lively piece, ‘Sala da Pranzo.’  Elaborate handles create a striking silhouette and call attention to the space beyond the conventional cylinder, a vessel that could hold flowers but better acts as a surface for painting.  Among the abundant patterns are foliate shapes and scrolls against an orange background, recalling Greek motifs, and large circles that suggest stylized neolithic pottery designs. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 17th).

Betty Woodman, Sala da Pranzo, glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer and paint, 25 ¼ x 32 x 10 inches, 1995.

Anya Kielar in ‘Somatic Markings’ at Kasmin Gallery

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How do individuals, particularly women, live up to the roles society offers them and how do they shape those identities? Fluidity between these two positions is at the heart of Kasmin Gallery’s new group show Somatic Markings, a selection of work by seven artists whose unconventional depictions of the human body invite rejection of binaries.  Here, Anya Kielar’s shadow box sculpture ‘The Actress’ features a figure soliloquizing before a disembodied eye.  Inspired by Greek and Roman relief painting and shallow medieval carving among other sources, the title figure is cramped by her surroundings and depicted in such willowy forms that she appears infinitely capable of adaptation and change. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 23rd).

Anya Kielar, The Actress, paint, linen fabric, foam, aqua resin, wood and plexiglass, 40 ¼ x 30 ½ x 8 inches, 2020.

Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens at Jane Lombard Gallery

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From toddler fight clubs to flat earth theories, colorful sculptures by Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens at Jane Lombard Gallery symbolize rumors and conspiracies of the 21st century with seriousness tempered by humor.  The purple head in the foreground of this installation view represents the notion that climate activist Greta Thunberg is actually an actor in thrall to nefarious powers.  Other pieces suggest that the US government can control the weather or that patterns of holes in ripped jeans have been used to communicate secret messages. Lighthearted in appearance but representing harmful misunderstandings, the installation emphasizes the absurdity and ubiquity of widespread falsehoods.  (On view in Tribeca through Dec 17th).

Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens, installation view of ‘Alternative Facts of the 21st Century,’ at Jane Lombard Gallery, Nov 2022.

Do Ho Suh at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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Historic monuments are a hot topic today, but Do Ho Suh’s engagement with public sculpture goes back decades, questioning what and who we memorialize.  Over twenty years ago, he crafted a large pedestal, empty on top but supported by scores of tiny sculptures of people holding up the base, suggesting that it takes the efforts of many to elevate select individuals.  Now, the new sculpture ‘Inverted Pedestal,’ the first piece to greet visitors to his exhibition at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, offers a pedestal that appears to have swallowed the figure meant to be honored.  Created from extruded plastic material, the piece’s transparent mesh surface allows visitors to see a figure, not displayed in glory but suspended upside down and hidden.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 29th.)

Do Ho Suh, Inverted Monument, PETg, stainless steel, 98.43 x 79.72 x 79.72 inches, 2022.

Vanessa German at Kasmin Gallery

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Both ‘blue jeans’ and ‘the blues’ are listed as materials in Vanessa German’s towering sculpture ‘Sad Rapper,’ the title piece of her current solo show at Chelsea’s Kasmin Gallery.  Not only a visual artist but a poet and performer, German creates descriptions of her assembled sculptures that double as poetic reflections on the thought processes behind the work.  Dressed in blue and standing on a platform of red and white stripes, this figure represents a less easily recognized ‘American’ character, one covered in prayer bundles but laden with society’s expectations. (On view through Oct 22nd).

Vanessa German, Sad Rapper, wood, tar, 75 pounds of old blue jeans, the blues, sorrow, cuz in 1983 rappers could be bad but could not be sad— or gay, holiness, salt, a groan, tears, African blue and white cloth, love, meanness, the way that it feels to need to cry but not be able to cry— for an exceptionally long time, convinced of muscle instead of tenderness, grief, yarn, twine, loneliness, old blue bed sheets, heartbreak and lying about it, canvas, prayer beads, shame, black pigment, delusion, love, love, love, you gonna be ok ni$$a, you ain’t alone homie, it’s ok, just go’on ahead and be broken for a little while, shit~ life is hard sometimes, red and white paint, foam, ptsd, glue, plaster, heat, 78 x 48 x 40 inches, 2022.

Masaomi Yasunaga at Lisson Gallery

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Arranged on a long, low mound of gravel, Masaomi Yasunaga’s stone-infused ceramics at Lisson Gallery look as if they’ve been excavated from an ancient site.  Allowing glaze, granite, slip and unrefined porcelain to fuse together in unexpected ways in his kiln, the Japanese sculptor invents a surface for his unconventional pieces that suggests natural forms built up over time.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 15th).

Masaomi Yasunaga, Vessel fused with stone I, glaze, colored slip, granite, kaolin and silver leaf, 52 3/8 x 36 5/8 x 12 5/8 inches, 2022.

Will Ryman at Chart Gallery

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Not many gallery exhibitions are outright funny, but Will Ryman’s latest sculpture at Chart Gallery is bound to have visitors chuckling.  Chock-full of eccentric New York characters crafted roughly in what looks like clay (actually resin), the show includes a platform-shoe wearing senior citizen perched on an NYPD barrier and a couple of noodle-slurping Goths on a subway seat.  Here, in a piece initially conceived of at the time of the sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2008, an exterminator scatters a crowd of mini businessmen.  (On view in Tribeca through Oct 22nd).

Will Ryman, The Exterminator, wood, resin, mesh, paint, screws, hose, plastic, 65 x 105 ½ x 159 ½ inches, ’08 – ’22.

Kate Clark at 542 West 24th Street

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Recent high-profile court cases have argued for basic human rights to be applied to animals while at the same time, many people exist with a remarkable remove from nature.  Kate Clark’s skillfully rendered hybrid human/animal characters question the nature of the relationship between humans and animals by existing as both and neither.  Confronting audiences with preternatural calm, Clark’s figures suggest an otherworldly intelligence and recall wise fictional characters from the worlds of entertainment and mythology.  (On view at 542 West 24th Street through Sept 28th).

Kate Clark, Twins, pronghorn hide and horns, blesbok antelope hide and horns, foam, clay, thread, pins, rubber eyes, H 34” x W 27” x D12”, 2021.

Hank Willis Thomas, Nexus at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Race is “at the nexus of so many social currents and tensions,” wrote a Daily Beast reporter while engaging a 2015 exhibition by Hank Willis Thomas.  Yet Thomas’ polished stainless steel sculpture Nexus (in the foreground of this photo), now on view in his solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery, models colorblind mutual aid in the form of two individuals grasping hands.  Elsewhere, a bronze sculpture of two clasped hands in different colored patinas titled ‘Loving,’ celebrates a mixed-race marriage while the show’s largest piece, ‘Embrace’ depicts Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King’s arms enfolding each other.  A neon piece spelling out Thomas’ oft repeated phrase (honoring his murdered cousin’s last words) ‘Love Over Rules’ reinforces the artist’s message.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 29th).

Hank Willis Thomas, Nexus (in detail in the foreground), polished stainless steel, 96 inches tall, 2022.

Jeffrey Meris in ‘Eyes of the Skin’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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Growing plants became a refuge of sorts for New York based artist Jeffrey Meris during the early pandemic and the summer of 2020.  While caring for his growing collection of greenery, Meris delighted in how easily spider plants regenerate but at the same time compared the plant’s form to a firework. Making a connection to the unrest in 2020, Meris constructed armatures like this one in Lehmann Maupin’s summer group show ‘Eyes of the Skin,’ curated by Teresita Fernandez.  Referencing an explosion with the shape of the aluminum frame and bullets in the form of the plants’ ceramic pots, Meris’ message is nevertheless one of self-care and healing through nature.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 12th).

Jeffrey Meris, Catch a Stick of Fire, aluminum, hardware, lightbulbs, sockets, ceramics, spider-leaf plants, water, light, oxygen, dimensions variable, 2021.

Mattias Sellden at Friedman Benda Gallery

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Swedish designer Mattias Sellden’s eureka moment, when he settled on his signature use of minimally processed planks of wood to create dynamic furniture items, came from a simple aversion to altering a piece of wood he admired.  Calling the creations now on view at Friedman Benda his ‘little wooden friends,’ Sellden allows his audience to find use-value in the constructions or simply enjoy them as they are.  (On view through August 12th).

Mattias Sellden, Sunset Giraffe, curly birch, birch, varnish, pigment, 50.5 x 23.5 x 17.75 inches, 2021.

‘Chroma’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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See Greek and Roman sculpture like never before in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new show ‘Chroma,’ which presents reconstructions of ancient sculpture in vivid tones based on traces of original pigment.  Using tools like multispectral photography, German professor Dr V. Brinkmann and Dr U. Koch-Brinkmann of the Liebieghaus sculpture collection in Frankfurt, Germany reveal how ancient Mediterranean cultures favored vibrant color.  Join me on a Met Museum highlights tour to see these works and more.  (On view through March 26th, 2023).

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Reconstruction of a marble statue of a woman wrapping herself in a mantle (so-called Small Herculaneum Woman). Marble stucco on plaster cast, natural pigments in egg tempera, gold foil, 2019.

Kathleen Ryan in ‘Fruiting Bodies’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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Tanya Bonakdar Gallery’s summer group show ‘Fruiting Bodies,’ curated by Sam Rauch, the gallery’s Director of Commissions and Special Projects, showcases art projects that focus on food, from beer to fungi.  Here, Kathleen Ryan uses nearly two dozen semi-precious stones to construct a rotting lemon.  Known for creating interest in what appear to be everyday objects through dramatic shifts in scale (memorably, a necklace composed of bowling balls at Arsenal Gallery), here Ryan also creates tension between alluring materials and repellent decay.  (On view in Chelsea through July 29th).

Kathleen Ryan, Bad Lemon (Eclipse), aventurine, serpentine, ruby in zoisite, amethyst, labradorite, hematite, carnelian, tiger eye, brecciated jasper, tektite, citrine, agate, sesame jasper, snowflake obsidian, amazonite, quartz, smoky quartz, pyrite, moonstone, lava rock, onyx marble, marble, glass, steel pins on coated polystyrene, 16 x 18 x 16 inches, 2020.

Agnieszka Kurant in ‘No Forms’ at the Hill Art Foundation

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In the words of one curator, conceptually oriented artist Agnieszka Kurant “makes the fictional actual.”  Whether it’s commissioning authors to write books referred to in works of fiction or creating maps of mythical places, Kurant investigates what she calls ‘phantom capital,’ or value waiting to be realized.  In this sculpture titled ‘Air Rights 2’ in the Hill Art Foundation’s summer group show in Chelsea, the artist finds a parallel in the real estate concept of air rights, the potential useable space above a property. Here, a constructed rock hovers over a pedestal as if by magic; held in place by electromagnets, the ordinary appears to be extraordinary. (On view through July 15th).

Agnieszka Kurant, Air Rights 2, powdered stone, foam, wood, electromagnets, custom pedestal, base: 59 ¼ x 9 x 9 inches, 2015.

Nam June Paik at Gagosian Gallery

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20th century new media pioneer Nam June Paik integrated nature and technology in iconic artworks like his TV Garden (monitors set amid live plants) and robots that mimic the human figure.  One of the robots is a standout in Gagosian Gallery’s current two-part exhibition of multi-media work from Paik’s career.  Composed of radios – mass produced, found objects that spread information and culture globally – Paik’s late career robot sculptures don’t move, rather their bodies feature movement via circular inset monitors.  Excited by the merger of technology, art and music and the advance of technology into daily life, Paik used TV sets like canvases and constructed cellos from stacked monitors.  Both on display in the current show testifying to the artist’s hopeful and creative vision.  (On view in Chelsea through July 22nd and at Gagosian’s uptown from July 19th – Aug 26th).

Nam June Paik, Bakelite Robot, single-channel video, LCD color monitors, electric lights, media player and permanent oil marker, 49 ½ x 58 x 7 inches, 2002.

Clementine Keith-Roach at PPOW Gallery

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Clementine Keith-Roach’s sculptures at PPOW Gallery combine found vessels with casts of her own body to explore her experience of motherhood.  During her first pregnancy, the artist felt as if she was a ‘labouring vessel’ and made the connection literal by joining carefully painted limbs to used and worn ceramics.  Paired with her husband Christopher Page’s paintings depicting mirrors with no reflection and cloud-filled windows, the exhibition explores interiority in both the physical and psychological realms.  (On view through July 1st in Tribeca).

Clementine Keith-Roach, Lost Object, terracotta vessel, jesmonite, paint, 22 ½ x 21 ¼ x 17 ¾ inches, 2022.

Alex Israel at Greene Naftali Gallery

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Known for huge paintings of sunsets, giant sculptures of dark sunglasses and other emblems of life in Los Angeles, Alex Israel continues to channel the allure of Hollywood and its environs with wave paintings and a fantasy street scene sculpture at Greene Naftali Gallery.  Titled ‘Sunset Coast Drive,’ the 44-foot-long strip of fictional and real buildings includes Israel’s own studio at one end and his favorite burger place at the other.  In the foreground of this photo, Israel revives a mural he painted on a building in Venice, CA before it was painted over.  The rest of the gallery is dominated by vividly colored acrylic on fiberglass panels depicting crashing waves inspired by Hokusai and surfing logos.  Their bright colors are alluring, but abstracted to the point of resembling reaching hands, the waves may be less innocuous than they first seem.  (On view in Chelsea through June 25th).

Alex Israel, Sunset Coast Drive (detail), 26 x 528 x 43 inches, 2022.
Alex Israel, Waves, acrylic on fiberglass, 99 x 99 inches, 2022.

Glenn Kaino at Pace Gallery

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Just as this fifty-foot-long sculpture by Glenn Kaino at Pace Gallery multiplies and extends Olympic gold winner Tommie Smith’s raised fist on the podium at the 1968 Olympics, the athlete’s gesture for social justice continues to impact protest in and beyond the sports world. The installation – Kaino’s first at Pace Gallery – comes on the heels of his ‘Pass the Baton’ NFT project, through which digital renderings of a baton used by Smith in record-breaking races have been sold to raise funds for activist organizations.  The piece is on view through Saturday, but if you don’t catch it at Pace Gallery, an earlier, larger sculpture from the Bridge series will go on view next year in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection in Washington DC.  (On view through June 11th in Chelsea).

Glenn Kaino, installation view of Bridge (Raise Your Voice in Silence) at Pace Gallery, June 2022.

Scooter LaForge at Theodore Art

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Dozens of brightly colored creatures, cobbled-together from everyday objects and other found materials by Scooter LaForge form a fun menagerie at Theodore Art in Tribeca.  Those featuring LaForge’s expressive faces, familiar from his expressionist painting practice, are immediately engaging with their lively aura and quirky expressions.  LaForge tells AM New York that making them brought him joy, a feeling that he extends to his audience.  (On view through June 18th).

Scooter LaForge, Red Dog, mixed media, 14 x 8 x 6 inches.

Didi Rojas at Launch F18

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Young Brooklyn-based sculptor Didi Rojas makes portraits in the form of ceramic shoes, titling her current show at Launch F18 ‘Felt Cute, Might Delete Later’ after the selfie meme.  This sneaker is titled ‘I really don’t think I’m like other girls but whatever, you’ll believe what you want to believe,’ suggesting a speaker’s bid for independence and doubt that (s)he’ll be taken seriously.  In past work – yellow platform crocs or bright red high-heeled boots – Rojas has seduced us with standout fashions; here, more muted colors and everyday styles speak to identities we put on every day. (On view in Tribeca through June 11th).

Didi Rojas, installation view of ‘Felt Cute, Might Delete Later,’ Launch F18 Gallery, May 2022 featuring “I really don’t think I’m like other girls but whatever, you’ll believe what you want to believe,” ceramic, 11 x 4.5 x 5.5 in, 2021-2022.

Nari Ward, Shoelaces at Lehmann Maupin

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Shining copper panels shaped like the squares of a sidewalk, marked with outlines of candles and other items left by mourners on a street memorial are beautiful reminders of the terrible cost of the pandemic and of racially-motivated violence in Nari Ward’s latest solo show at Lehman Maupin Gallery.  Downstairs, four text-based works in one of his signature materials – hanging shoelaces – cite songs, poetry and the Emancipation Proclamation.  ‘What’s Going On,’ references Marvin Gaye’s 1971 song, inspired by US involvement in Vietnam and the civil unrest in Watts.  In the past, Ward has collected shoelaces from museum visitors to make word-based installations, establishing an association with the personal that brings the text closer to home.  (On view in Chelsea through June 4th).

Nari Ward, What’s Going On, shoelaces, 78 x 81.5 x 1 inch, 2022.

Alex Anderson at Deli Gallery

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Roses float through the air in Alex Anderson’s wall-mounted earthenware sculpture at Deli Gallery, evoking a romantic daydream. But whimsy turns to horror as it becomes apparent that the flowers are being severed from their stems by flying needle-like forms, resulting in tiny spurts of blood that suggest human, not plant anatomy.  Presented on a mirror-like form (other shapes resemble serving platters and emoji hearts), in which we should expect to see our reflection, the piece prompts self-examination. Set against blue skies and wispy clouds, the piece warns of vulnerability in the virtual realm.  (On view in Tribeca through May 7th).

Alex Anderson, Stratospheric Destruction of Romance, earthenware, glaze, gold luster, 21 x 17 x 2 inches, 2022.

Rosa Barba at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Rosa Barba’s ‘Language Infinity Sphere,’ a form created from old letterpress blocks now on view at Luhring Augustine’s Tribeca space, speaks with its circular form to the ongoing output of these blocks over the years. Other text-related work in the show includes handwritten words on a filmstrip that rotates around a lightbox cube and a 35mm film depicting images and text from the Library of Congress’ massive campus, the largest media archive in the world.  Language appears in unexpected forms in this show, even as marks on the landscape in a film showing disposal sites for radioactive material in the western U.S.  (On view through May 21st).

Rosa Barba, Language Infinity Sphere, lead letters on steel, unique, diameter 18 1/8 inches, 2018.

Veronica Ryan at Paula Cooper Gallery

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In her solo show at Paula Cooper Gallery, Monserrat-born, England-based artist Veronica Ryan engages themes of global movement and trade with humble materials including fruits, seeds and other organic matter.  Ryan has pointed out that familiar foods bring people together to share meals and memories; she has also incorporated materials like ash from the Soufrière Hills volcano, which has covered the town in which she was born.  Pleasure and trauma also meet in this pile of stoneware cocoa beans, a product that brings happiness to many, sometimes at the expense of enslaved workers. (On view in Chelsea through May 28th).

Veronica Ryan, Cocoa Passion in Tandem, ceramic stoneware, pigment, volcanic ash, jute rug, overall: height variable x 70 7/8 x 70 7/8 inches, 2021.

Margarita Cabrera in Group Exhibition at Jane Lombard

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The artists in ‘say the dream was real and the wall imaginary,’ Jane Lombard Gallery’s excellent group exhibition organized by curator and critic Joseph R. Wolin, deftly negotiate cultural boundaries in contexts that vary from imaginary cities to remote villages.  Margarita Cabrera’s cacti are a standout; known for her ongoing collaborations with immigrants in the Southwestern U.S., Cabrera creates plants crafted from border patrol uniforms and invites Mexican migrants to embroider them with emblems that communicate personal histories.  Featuring designs including an American flag, stick figure portraits of family members, a church building and more, the sculptures communicate shared values and dreams.  (On view through April 23rd in Tribeca).

Margarita Cabrera and collaborators, Space in Between – Nopal #5, border patrol uniform fabric, copper wire, thread and terra cotta pot, 50 x 51 x 49 inches, 2016.

Michael Heizer Installation at Gagosian

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What carries the idea of rocks as artwork?  ‘Massive weight,’ replies Michael Heizer in a gallery statement announcing his current exhibition of new stone and steel sculpture at Chelsea’s Gagosian Gallery.  Sheer size, heaviness, and a certain kind of audacity in relocating huge pieces of nature blasted out of place and trucked into art-related settings are the hallmark of Heizer’s practice.  In the recent sculpture, rocks seem to almost perch on thick planes of rusted steel in geometric shapes, setting up a dynamic interplay between manmade and natural forms that suggests both symbiosis and antagonistic struggle. (On view on 21st Street through April 16th).

Michael Heizer, installation view of Rock/Steel at Gagosian Gallery, March 2022.

Claudette Schreuders, Accomplice at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Known for medium-sized, uncannily still wooden figures, South African sculptor Claudette Schreuders explores the notion of doubling with new work at Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery.  In response to the experience of social isolation over the last two years, Schreuders has been picturing the self as constant presence and company.  Titled Accomplice, this piece considers how a lack of communication can lead to polarization and extreme thinking; however, at the same time, the hand gestures were inspired by a tender moment in a 14th century medieval church sculpture of Christ’s mother Mary greeting her relative, Elizabeth.  (On view through April 2nd).

Claudette Schreuders, Accomplice, Jelutong wood, enamel and oil paint, 27 ¾ x 20 x 11 inches, 2021.

Peter Alexander at Pace Gallery

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After an over two-decade hiatus from sculpture-making, late west coast Light and Space artist Peter Alexander came back strong, creating cast forms that appear to glow.  Pace Gallery’s current show of these works from ’11 to ’20 features this eighteen-foot-long installation of urethane strips.  Varying in width and color, the parallel pieces create an irregular rhythm that excites the senses.  (On view through March 19th).

Peter Alexander, Heard it Through the Grapevine, urethane, 77 x 18’ 1” overall installed, 2019.

Keith Tyson at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

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To say that British artist Keith Tyson’s art practice is expansive is something of an understatement; for decades, his painting and sculpture have aimed to show the connectedness of all things.  Drawing from thousands of paintings created over more than twenty years, grids of images now on view at Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Chelsea suggest links between neural networks, the vastness and changeability of space, mathematical concepts and much more.  Here, meteorites embedded in stainless steel prompted Tyson’s mind-boggling question in a recent catalogue essay: “What were the odds at some point in the distant past, when these chunks of matter were on their particular trajectories through outer space, that they would all end up together here in this piece of work?”  (On view in Chelsea through April 2nd).

Field of Heaven, stainless steel, meteorites, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 inches, 2016.

Rachel Rose at Gladstone Gallery

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Rachel Rose’s recent sculptures at Gladstone Gallery juxtapose blown glass and large rocks or, in this case, a wood burl shaped like an egg, to contrast two vastly different natural materials and represent a ‘moment of radical shift.’ The show’s centerpiece, a film titled ‘Enclosure,’ also considers a rupture that continues to impact relations between humanity and nature today. Via the fictional story of a band of thieves who set out to defraud English rural communities of their land, Rose examines how, from the 17th century onward, the Enclosure Acts in England allowed consolidation of large tracts of land, taking them out of collective ownership and putting them into the hands of powerful interests. (On view on 21st Street in Chelsea through Feb 26th).

Rachel Rose, Burl Egg, burl egg and blown glass, 2021.

ASMA at Deli Gallery

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In Greek mythology, Narcissus broke hearts and in turn had his own heart broken by falling in love with his reflection in a pool of water.  Related imagery appears throughout Mexico City-based duo ASMA’s current show at Deli Gallery in Tribeca, along with a sculpture of the flower that Narcissus was said to have turned into upon his death.  Working in a variety of materials including platinum silicon and cast bronze, the artists ponder this posthumous transformative act, considering life between fixed states.  Here, a wall-mounted bronze bust of a male torso skews upward and to the side, as if being tugged out of conventional space and time.  (On view through Feb 19th).

ASMA, It seeks, is sought, it burns and it is burnt, cast bronze, 27 ½ x 24 ½ x 2 inches, 2021.

New video featuring Maria Nepomuceno at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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If you enjoyed my recent post featuring Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno’s vibrant abstract sculpture, see more of this gorgeous exhibition in the video below.  With her repeated curving, organic forms, Nepomuceno aims to represent movement into our own inner depths as well as an expansion into the infinite.

Sherrill Roland at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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After serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, now-exonerated artist Sherrill Roland makes artwork that reflects on the physical limits and daily realities of prison life.  At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, his geometric sculptures trace the outline of a cinder-block cell wall and lightboxes present text of letters written to family.  Here, two acrylic glass cubes-within-cubes recall the basketball tournament Roland helped organize while incarcerated and include a hoop and three bags inside one cube containing commissary items as awards for tournament winners.  Recalling Damien Hirst’s freestanding steel and glass vitrines, Roland’s less heavy-seeming cubes bear greater psychological weight, conveying personal suffering caused by confinement. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 5th. Masks and social distancing required.)

Sherrill Roland, Home and Away, acrylic glass, steel, primer, basketball, basketball rim, basketball net, three plastic bags with commissary goods, two cubes: 97 ½ x 97 ½ x 97 ½ inches, 2021 – 22.

Maria Nepomuceno, Enchanted Wheel at Sikkema Jenkins

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Titled ‘Roda das encantadas,’ or ‘Enchanted Wheel,’ Maria Nepomuceno’s new solo exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins & Co delights the eye with the Brazilian artist’s signature spiraling forms crafted from straw, beads and resin.  Intended to represent a movement into our own inner depths as well as an expansion into the infinite, this assemblage of circular forms also makes more concrete allusions to the body in breast-like ceramic elements and a recurring umbilical cord reference.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 12th.  Masks and proof of vaccination are required.)

Maria Nepomuceno, Untitled, beads, ceramic, resin, 39 3/8 x 23 5/8 x 11 ¾ inches, 2021.

Brie Ruais at Albertz Benda Gallery

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Brie Ruais’s signature approach to art involves manipulating a 130 lb pile (equivalent to the artist’s weight) of clay into flat rings of ceramic sculpture textured with finger and footprints.  Here, she varies her usual circular form with this knot-shaped piece in her current show at Albertz Benda Gallery.  The artist has called her work ‘Earth Art that takes place in the studio;’ in this sculpture, the relationship between the body and landscape speaks to interconnectedness.  (On view in Chelsea through Jan 22nd.)

Brie Ruais, Intertwining, 130lbs times two (Thief Knot), glazed and pigmented stoneware, hardware, 62 x 124 x 6 inches, 2021.

Faig Ahmad at Sapar Contemporary

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Titled ‘Pyr,’ Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed’s current solo exhibition at Sapar Contemporary in Tribeca refers to the Greek word for fire, a term for a Sufi spiritual guide and the name of his country, ‘a Land Protected by Holy Fire.’  The standout works – three carpet sculptures that appear to melt with heat or rise like a flame – are each titled after a historically important Azerbaijani thinker.  Here, the piece ‘Yahya Bakuvi’ refers to the 15th century philosopher and scientist and features muted colors and restricted geometries that allude to self-control.  (On view through Jan 6th. Note holiday hours and closures.)

Faig Ahmed, Yahya Bakuvi, handmade wool carpet, 125 5/8 x 51 1/8 inches, 2021.

John Pai in ‘The Unseen Professors’ at Tina Kim Gallery

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Dense and complex, this piece by octogenarian sculptor John Pai, now on view in a show of work by three 20th century Asian-American sculptors at Chelsea’s Tina Kim Gallery, evokes a scientific or mathematical model in flux.  Piece by piece, Pai welded short steel rods together in a hands-on practice he likened to drawing.  Reflecting subconscious activity and taking inspiration from music, science, architecture and more, Pai’s dynamic constructions elicit wonder at complex structures in our own thought processes and the world around us.  (On view through January 29th. Note holiday hours and closures.)

John Pai, Slice of Wave to Go, welded steel, 23.5 x 32 x 30.5 inches, 1980.

Studio DRIFT at The Shed

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Amsterdam-based design duo Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn, aka Studio DRIFT, create objects of wonder that range from lights created with dandelion seeds to mysteriously floating concrete blocks.  Both are on view in their current exhibition at The Shed in Hudson Yards through the end of the week, offering the chance to marvel at objects that pair nature and technology.  Here, ‘Fragile Future,’ is a sculpture/lamp that has been created by hand gluing dandelion seeds to LED lights, a juxtaposition of natural and the man-made materials that encourages appreciation of the beauty and possibility of nature’s designs.  (On view through Dec 18th.)

DRIFT, Fragile Future, Dandelions, LED lights, phosphor bronze, printed circuit board, 2007-21.

Ken Price, Pluto Bowl at Matthew Marks Gallery

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If images of factories, billowing smokestacks and oil-slicked water sound alien to traditional ceramic decoration, the title of Ken Price’s mid-90s series, ‘Plutoware,’ at Matthew Marks Gallery plays along.  Intended to be a pun on the word pollution, the iconic sculptor’s scenes of environmental damage set up a fundamental contrast between intimately scaled and beautifully colored plates, bowls and vessels and depictions of giant manufacturing and co-generation plants.  Though Price’s work would seem to project despair, his wife, Happy Price explains an alternative point of view, saying, ‘When you look at the Pluto Ware some people only see pollution, darkness, and grim and then other people—like myself—see a kind of strange dark beauty.’  (On view through Dec 18th in Chelsea).

Ken Price, Pluto Bowl (Green Sludge), glazed ceramic, 2 ½ x 7 ¼ x 7 ¼ inches, 1995.

Arthur Simms at Martos Gallery

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Known for sculptures made of materials wrapped in hemp rope, Arthur Simms makes a departure in this ’96 piece by encasing two bicycles in wire, allowing us to see the license plates, central structure and bucket-like portable toilet on this tricked out super vehicle.   On view in Simm’s select 30-year retrospective at Martos Gallery, this sculpture and other wrapped works were inspired by carts used by homeless New Yorkers as well as the carts used by market vendors in Simm’s home country of Jamaica.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Dec 23rd).

Arthur Simms, Bicycle, bicycles, wire, wood, bottles, plastic, metal and objects, 67 x 93 x 30 inches, 1996.

Robert Gober at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Drawings of barred windows contrast sculptural tableau depicting open windows in Robert Gober’s new work at Matthew Marks Gallery’s 22nd Street location. While the bars suggest imprisonment, a series of wooden windows offer varying degrees of access into personal space resembling – to judge by the weathered sash and can of lithium grease in this version – an aging farmhouse.  Titled ‘Help Me,’ the piece suggests urgent need as it offers objects that stand in for the house’s inhabitants and possibly allude to the body.  Despite the pretty hand-painted designs on a lively curtain that appears to catch the breeze, uncertainty, sentiment, nostalgia and even delight at Gober’s meticulously hand-crafted objects combine to leave a feeling of thought-provoking unease.  (On view through Dec 23rd).

Robert Gober, Help Me, pewter, glass, synthetic plastic polymer, epoxy putty, acrylic paint, wood, cotton, epoxy resin, 30 ¼ x 30 3/8 x 18 ¾ inches, 2018 – 2021.

Ruth Asawa Drawings & Sculpture at David Zwirner

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From pattern drawings based on wicker chairs to meticulous renderings of blossoming plants, Ruth Asawa’s artistic practice focused on remarkable elements of everyday life in addition to the hanging wire sculptures for which she is best known.  David Zwirner Gallery’s current exhibition of the late artist’s drawings and sculpture, which includes these ceramic casts of friends and visitors to her home, aims to reveal her integration of art and life inspired by her avant-garde background, busy household and active community. (On view through Dec 18th on 20th Street in Chelsea).

Ruth Asawa, detail installation view of Untitled (LC.014, Collection of Bisque-Fired life Masks from Ruth Asawa’s Home), ceramic, bisque-fired clay, approx. each 7 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ inches, c. 1967-1995.

Jaume Plensa, LUCIA (nest) at Galerie Lelong

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With eyes closed to suggest inner reflection and heads elongated to convey a sense of spirituality, Jaume Plensa’s contemplative sculptural figures express peace in public places worldwide.  In his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong, Plensa presents heads that only partly emerge from the alabaster rock from which they are carved.  Collectively titled ‘Nest,’ the new work represents Plensa’s feeling that the brain is like a nest, where dreams are born.  (On view through Dec 23rd).

Jaume Plensa, LUCIA (nest), alabaster, 57.5 x 40.1 x 20.5 inches, 2021.

Helen Pashgian Sculptures at Lehmann Maupin

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Visitors to Light and Space artist Helen Pashgian’s show of new work at Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery are invited to sit on benches to appreciate disk-shaped sculptures that appear to hover over pedestals in the gallery, while other pieces require movement to be appreciated. The second scenario applies with this untitled cast epoxy with formed acrylic sphere, which reveals or conceals bands of color as the visitor moves before it.  Designed to reveal how perception of a single object or phenomenon can shift, Pashgian’s invites viewers to delight in the nuances of seeing.  (On view through Jan 8th).

Helen Pashgian, Untitled, cast epoxy with formed acrylic elements, 7 inches diameter, 2020.

John Chamberlain at Gagosian Gallery

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At over nine feet tall and titled TAMBOURINEFRAPPE, this 2010 sculpture by John Chamberlain at Gagosian Gallery pulses with the percussive rhythms and energy.  Vertical lengths of steel placed parallel to each other create a base like a fluted classical column or pleated dress while diagonal strips of metal raise the eye up to a crown of shiny steel decorated with colorful curving lines.  Featuring work from the ‘50s to the ‘00s, this exhibition demonstrates Chamberlain’s expressive manipulation of his material. (On view on 21st Street in Chelsea through Dec 11th.  Masks and vaccination proof required).

John Chamberlain, TAMBOURINEFRAPPE, painted and chrome-plated steel, 116 ¾ x 90 x 86 ½ inches, 2010.

Ruby Sky Stiler, Blue Bathers at Nicelle Beauchene

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Portraiture is about decoding the identity of a sitter and the relationship between sitter and artist.  Ruby Sky Stiler’s figure group at the entrance to her current solo show at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery flummoxes familiar, easy-to-read relationships as it positions a petite, female artist as the active member of this assembly.  Pared down to silhouettes of spare geometric forms, including a single circular shape that identifies the artist as a woman, the nude figures recall yet crucially differ from Cezanne’s, Renoir’s or Matisse’s bathers and myriad scenes of male artists in their studios with nude female subjects.  (On view in Tribeca through Oct 30th.  Masks required.)

Ruby Sky Stiler, Blue Bathers, Baltic birch plywood, paint and hardware, 78 x 155 x 3 inches, 2021.

Martine Syms at Bridget Donahue

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Martine Syms fans expect a stream-of-conscious outpouring of text and image (as in her recent diaristic book, ‘Shame Space’) and her latest solo at Bridget Donahue will not disappoint.  Videos housed in custom, laser-cut cardboard boxes covered in fragments of commercial imagery or even inserted into a corner of a hanging dry cleaning bag run counter to typical sleek gallery video presentations.  Positioned in front of one video wall, this chair titled ‘Bonnet Core’ sports frilly lace at the edges, abundant text and a high heeled pink boot next to one chair leg.  Accompanied by a press release written by Alissa Bennett detailing enthusiastic engagement with an auction of Janet Jackson’s belongings earlier this year, the show speaks to our deeply personal yet shared experience of pop culture.  (On view through Sept 25th on the Lower East Side).

Martine Syms, Bonnet Core, cotton, rhinestones, metal, paint, lace, polyester, thread, 39 3/8 x 18 1/8 x 25 ¾ inches, 2021.

Alice Hope in No W Here at Ricco/Maresca Gallery

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Prior to the pandemic, artists Alice Hope, Bastienne Schmidt and Toni Ross decided to make artwork in response to one object at the Met; improbably, they each focused on a navigational chart from the Marshall Islands.  Known for creating abstract sculpture and installation composed of repeated objects, Hope’s contribution to the three artists’ current joint exhibition at Ricco/Maresca Gallery includes this accumulation of ball chains.  A kind of counterpoint to navigating social space through distancing, theses crowded forms resemble natural fibers but are made from mass produced keychains.  (On view in Chelsea through Sept 11th).

Alice Hope, untitled, Ball chain, anodized door screen, 20 x 45 inches, 2020.

Melvin Edwards at City Hall Park

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Known for semi-abstract and often small-scale sculpture including the ‘Lynch Fragments’ series recently on view at the New Museum, Melvin Edwards takes over the south entrance to City Hall Park via Public Art Fund with this large-scale sculpture depicting broken chains.  Titled ‘Brighter Days’ the exhibition’s curving minimal forms enhances the attractiveness of the message displayed – freedom from bondage.  (On view through Nov 28th).

Melvin Edwards, ‘Song of the Broken Chains’ in installation view of ‘Brighter Days’ at City Hall Park, summer 2021.

Alice Aycock in ‘Wild At Heart’ at Marlborough Gallery

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Alice Aycock’s sizeable ‘Wavy Enneper’ sculpture in Marlborough Gallery’s summer group show is tantalizingly familiar, resembling an underwater organism or a fungus. However, its enticingly curving, dynamic form was actually inspired by a diagram of a self-intersecting surface introduced by 19th century German mathematician Alfred Enneper. (On view in Chelsea through Sept 11th).

Alice Aycock, Wavy Enneper, fiberglass, aluminum and acrylic, ed of 3 + 1AP, 84 x 116 3/8 x 102 inches, 2011.

Marepe in ‘Tales of Manhattan’ at Anton Kern Gallery

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Brazilian artist Marepe’s socially conscious practice thrives on contrasts between city and country, rich and poor, etc.; each of these five assemblages in Anton Kern Gallery’s 25-year anniversary show is collectively titled ‘caipira’ or ‘bumpkins’ and features a prominent heart drawn in pastel.  Set up like pins waiting to be bowled down, these unsuspecting folk appear to be especially vulnerable.  (On view at 16 East 55th Street through Aug 20th).

Marepe, Coracao, Caipira, clay pots, pastel, straw, 32 ¼ x 41 3/8 inches (5 pieces together), 2019.

Karyn Olivier at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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Shirt sleeves, pant legs, scarves and other clothing fragments peek out intriguingly from between layers of red brick at the entrance to Karyn Olivier’s current solo show at Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.  On the reverse side of this floor to ceiling wall, the rest of each garment hangs in a mass collage of color and pattern Titled ‘Fortified,’ the piece suggests a barrier erected and made strong by the people.  (On view in Chelsea through July 30th).

Karyn Olivier, Fortified, bricks, used clothing and steel, 144 x 240 x 30 inches, 2018-2020.

Ricardo Brey in ‘Re: Bicycling’ at Susan Inglett Gallery

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Susan Inglett Gallery’s excellent summer group exhibition, co-curated by David Platzker of Specific Object and Alex Ostroy of the cycling apparel brand Ostroy, celebrates the bike as revolutionary object.  From a late 19th century French poster depicting a woman in long dress enjoying the freedom of the road to Rodney Graham’s bike-powered, rotating psychedelic collage, the exhibition extols the power of the bike to take people in new directions.  Here, Ricardo Brey’s standout mixed media sculpture ‘Joy,’ connects bikes to heavenly paths and celestial orbits.  (On view through July 23rd).

celestial orbits. (On view through July 23rd).
Ricardo Brey, Joy, mixed media, 14 3/16 x 25 ¼ x 31 ½ inches, 2018.

Leslie Wayne Solo Show at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Leslie Wayne’s paintings give pleasure through deception; her signature technique is to use paint as a sculptural medium, fooling the eye with dried paint crafted in three dimensions.  Wayne’s latest solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery presents paintings that appear to be objects in her studio or windows that do or do not offer a view.  On closer inspection, each is carefully crafted to resemble a well-used tool, now worse for wear.  Constructed over the past year, each artwork speaks to brokenness close to home.  (On view in Chelsea through July 2nd.)

Leslie Wayne, Broken, Busted, Fractured, Fragmented, Shattered, Smashed, Kaput, oil, enamel, and acrylic on wood, aluminum and cotton cloth, 44 x 48 x 9 inches, 2020.

Lynda Benglis at Pace Gallery

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Freestanding and stretching energetically out into the gallery, Lynda Benglis’ new cast-bronze sculptures at Pace Gallery pulse with life.  Inspired by knotted forms that connect to time spent crocheting with her grandmother, but with evocative titles like ‘Black Widow’ or ‘Striking Cobra,’ the sculptures invite viewers close while impressing with their power.  (On view in Chelsea through July 2nd.  Masks and social distancing required).

Lynda Benglis, Power Tower, white tombasil bronze, 89 x 64 x 72 inches, 2019.

Yin Xiuzhen at Pace Gallery

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Based in Beijing but frequently traveling to exhibit her artwork, Yin Xiuzhen was inspired to turn suitcases into ceiling-mounted mini-cities now on view at Pace Gallery in Chelsea.  Working with second-hand clothing from the city she’s depicting, she has constructed small-scale versions of urban landscapes and architecture from around the world.  Both deeply personal  – made from a material that expresses many individuals’ personal tastes and circumstances – and representing architecture ‘owned’ by an entire city of citizens, Yin Xiuzhen connects individual and collective experience in a global framework.  (On view through June 26th. Masks and social distancing required.)

Yin Xiuzhen, detail from the installation ‘Along the Way’ at Pace Gallery, May/June 2021.

Pedro Reyes, Tlali at Lisson Gallery

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Striking in her streamlined beauty, ‘Tlali’ greets visitors to Chelsea’s Lisson Gallery, where Mexico City based artist Pedro Reyes’ latest solo show draws inspiration from pre-Columbian aesthetics.  Translated as ‘earth,’ Tlali has been created in volcanic stone, a material that Reyes links not just to the land but to sustenance (as it is used to create mortar and pestles).  In this photo, behind Tlali, a scribe represents the preservation of knowledge while an abstract tower of reddish tezontle stone was inspired by temple supports resembling Toltec warriors. (On view through June 18th.  Masks and social distancing required.)

Pedro Reyes, Tlali, volcanic stone, 32 ¼ x 26 ¾ x 39 ¼ inches, 2020.

Natalie Frank at Salon94

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Tiny at just 8 x 8 inches, this underpainted and glazed ceramic sculpture has a powerful presence in Natalie Frank’s solo exhibition at Salon94’s Lower East Side location.  ‘Woman, Bride,’ is one of many female figures depicted in paper pulp paintings or ceramic sculpture who appears to know her own mind and is prepared to use it.  Whether Frank is partnering with Ballet Austin on a performance, illustrating books with her expressive paintings, or crafting sculpture, the dynamism and daring of her imagined characters stands out.  (On view on the Lower East Side through May 22nd.)

Natalie Frank, Woman, Bride, glazed ceramic, 8 x 8 x 1 inches, 2021.

Ugo Rondinone at Gladstone Gallery

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Like his colossal humanoids made of rough-hewn blocks of stone at Rockefeller Center in 2013 or his colorful rock stacks located outside of Las Vegas, Ugo Rondinone’s towering sculptures at Gladstone Gallery offer a transformative experience.  Titled ‘nuns + monks,’ the three figures are scaled up bronze versions of stones broken in ways that resemble figures in voluminous ecclesiastical garments.  Rondinone explains that nuns and monks exist as ‘vessel and beacon, human body and mystical source,’ and therefore represent the possibility of new metaphorical interpretation. (On view in Chelsea through June 18th.  Masks and social distancing are required.)

Ugo Rondinone, Installation view of ‘nuns + monks’ at Gladstone Gallery, May 2021.

Wangechi Mutu at Gladstone Gallery

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Twelve feet in diameter and commanding Gladstone Gallery’s entire front room, Wangechi Mutu’s bronze ‘Mama Ray’ is a force to be reckoned with.  Rising up on her wing-like fins to meet visitors, this regal aquatic creature is only head-high but radiates power.  Mutu’s bronze sculptures, which include four created for the Met Museum’s prestigious façade commission in 2019, introduce new mythologies devised, the artist explains, to picture new heroes, courage, beauty and love. (On view through June 19th. Masks and social distancing are required.)

Wangechi Mutu, detail of Mama Ray, bronze, 65 x 192 x 144 inches, 2020.

Josiah McElheny at James Cohan Gallery

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Josiah McElheny’s current show of blown glass sculpture at James Cohan Gallery’s Lower East Side location was inspired by a set of references as complex as his mirrored environments but dazzles even without the background info.  Prompted by a library imagined by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, McElheny creates vessels intended to house various forms of knowledge.  In this sculpture, McElheny explains that oblong shapes embody the idea of atoms in motion and the planet on its elliptical orbit.  Though we don’t literally see a library of knowledge relating to elliptical motion, each sculpture inspires wonder at the possibilities of what we may have not yet considered.  (On view on the Lower East Side through June 12th. Masks and social distancing are required).

Josiah McElheny, From the Library of Elliptical Motion, Hand-blown, cut, polished, and mirrored glass; low-iron mirror and two-way mirror; electric light; walnut frame, 24 1/4 x 28 x 20 1/2 in, 2021.

Carol Bove, Chimes at Midnight at David Zwirner

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Crushed tubular steel in an electric orange color provocatively juxtaposes and compliments salvaged sheets of rolled steel in Carol Bove’s dramatic sculptural installation at David Zwirner Gallery.  Titled ‘Chimes at Midnight’ after a 1965 Orson Wells film in which two characters speak of mortality, the sculptures’ industrial materials summons the past while soft, malleable-looking orange segments speak to a future in formation.  In its reckoning between past and present, the sculptures continue Bove’s engagement with history in her current sculptural commission on the façade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  (On view at David Zwirner Gallery).

Carol Bove, installation view of Chimes at Midnight at David Zwirner Gallery

‘Claes & Coosje: A Duet’ at Pace Gallery

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Right after the giant fork holding spaghetti and a meatball, the monumental sculpture ‘Dropped Bouquet’ is an immediate draw in Pace Gallery’s new show of collaborative work by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen from the 80s onward.  Surrounded by lighthearted works evoking music (including canvas violas, lutes and a trumpet) and flying neckties and pieces of pie, the flowers elicit delight with their cheery color and disorienting scale.  (On view in Chelsea through May 1st.  Masks, social distancing and appointments are required.)

Oldenburg/van Bruggen, Dropped Bouquet, painted aluminum, 12’ 3” x 9’ 3” x 14’ 10”, 2021.

Karon Davis at Deitch Projects

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In her impressive New York solo show debut, Karon Davis transforms Deitch Projects’ cavernous SoHo space into the 1969 Chicago courtroom in which Bobby Seale stood trial bound and gagged.  Before a plaster cast of the Black Panther leader, a towering bench houses a replica of Judge Julius Hoffman, who Davis describes in the trial as ‘brutal and monstrous.’  Here, on the gallery’s elevated platform, a row of jurors looks on impassively, isolated in red and blue cases that disengage them with the scene unfolding before them.  (On view in SoHo through April 24th).

Karon Davis, Jury Member #3, plaster bandages, plaster, glass-eyes, steel, acrylic, plywood, white paint, 70 x 22 x 22 inches.

Red Grooms, Walking the Dogs at Marlborough Gallery

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Is Red Grooms a ‘zany genius’ or ‘so much kitsch?’  The New York Times pondered the question in a 2018 profile of the New York-based creator of ‘sculpto-picto-ramas’ – sculptures of New Yorkers and their habitats.  Now, visitors to Marlborough Gallery’s exhibition of Grooms’ work from ’74 to the present have the opportunity to consider anew Grooms’ affectionately eccentric characters, such as this dog-walker from 1981.  (On view in Chelsea through May 8th).

Red Grooms, Walking the Dogs, painted canvas, papier-mache and metal chain on wood support, 36 ¾ x 20 x 22 ½ inches, 1981.

Niki de Saint Phalle at Salon94

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Titled ‘Joy Revolution,’ Salon94’s exhibition of late French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle’s painting, sculpture and work on paper celebrates color, pleasure and play.  Just inside Salon94’s stunning new 89th Street location, a 17,500 square foot former mansion built by philanthropist Archer Huntington, two lions originally intended as garden decoration greet visitors.  Intended to entice kids to climb them, they serve here as guardians and greeters.  (On view through April 24th).

Niki de Saint Phalle, Guardian Lions, polyurethane foam, resin, steel armature, ceramic tiles, glass, tumbled stone, and fused millefiori glass inserts, 88 x 132 x 112 inches, 2000.

.DRIFT in ‘Group Presentation’ at Pace Gallery

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It’s not unusual to consider where and how our everyday consumer goods were manufactured, but Amsterdam-based design team Studio Drift goes deeper.  Via their ‘Materialism’ project – samples of which are now on view in Pace Gallery’s current tech-friendly group show – Drift practices a kind of reverse engineering by breaking down light bulbs, cell phones and water bottles, as well as historic weapons and this bicycle, into component parts which are then displayed as pleasingly tidy arrangements of colorful cubes.  Guessing what each piece represents is an engaging game that ultimately prompts viewers to question how much we know about the goods we consume.  (On view on 25th Street in Chelsea through April 24th).

.DRIFT, Bicycle, rubber, polyurethane, steel, aluminum, lacquer paint, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polyoxymethylene (POM), gel, stainless steel, polycarbonate, brass, magnet and glass fiber sculpture: 7 7/8 x 31 ¼ x 13 3/16 inches, 2019.

Sharif Bey at Albertz Benda

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Created during quarantine but using faces and feet crafted 20 years ago, Sharif Bey’s small but forceful Boilermaker sculptures layer references to the artist’s personal history as a maker and art history. Formed from a vessel fired with nails and shards to resemble a nkisi nkondi power figure, ‘Boilermaker: Fidel’ references a working-class beer cocktail and Bey’s father’s job as a Pittsburgh boilermaker.  The artist identifies the central focus of his work as an investigation of how power manifests; his hybrid sculptures encourage complex understandings of power and influence.  (On view at Albertz Benda Gallery in Chelsea through March 27th. Masks and social distancing required).

Sharif Bey, Boilermaker: Fidel, earthenware and mixed media, 15 x 10 x 9 inches, 2021.

Malia Jensen at Cristin Tierney Gallery

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Malia Jensen explores the idea of getting closer to nature in a literal way by placing sculpture resembling body parts into remote Oregon landscapes.  In 2019, the artist carved a hand, foot, head, breast and a stack of donuts (representing the stomach) from livestock salt licks and positioned them and several motion-triggered cameras in places where they’d be altered over time by animals and weather.  A year later, she collected the sculptures and cast them in glass, creating artworks now on view at Cristin Tierney Gallery that demonstrate ‘beauty in our vulnerability.’ (On view on the Lower East Side through April 3rd. Masks and social distancing are required.)

Malia Jensen, Foot, kiln-cast glass, etching ink, white oak, reclaimed fir, 8 x 13 ½ x 11 ½ inches, 2020.

Abdullah M. I. Syed at Aicon Gallery

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A glowing globe of hand-stitched prayer caps headlines ‘Nurun ‘ala Nur (Light Upon Light)’, Australian artist Abdullah M. I. Syed’s current show at Aicon Gallery.  Positioned over a water-like, reflective blue surface, the light sculpture imitates a full moon, associating the sublime beauty of a celestial body with personal and group devotion.  (On view through March 6th).

Abdullah M. I. Syed, Nurun ‘ala Nur (Light Upon Light), Hand-stitched white crochet taqiyah (skullcaps), LED light, Perspex dome and mirror, Dimensions variable, 2015.