Emilija Skarnulyte at Canal Projects

Lithuanian artist Emilija Skarnulyte pictures herself swimming between the cold, concrete-colored waters of Brazil’s Rio Solimoes and the warmer darkness of the rainforest fed Rio Negro in an absorbingly fantastical video on view at Canal Projects in SoHo/Tribeca through Saturday.  Wearing a mermaid costume and navigating these two water bodies as they meet but before their distinctive colors, temperatures and chemical makeup merge into the Amazon River, Sharknulyte introduces many viewers to a phenomenon so strange (the waters go for 6km before finally mixing) as to seem unreal.  As the artist swims, pink Amazon River dolphins playfully come near, an interaction which adds to the disbelief and amazement, allowing viewers to appreciate a wonderous ecosystem.  In an unfortunate coda, climate change and fires in the Amazon caused this waterway to dry up after filming, killing many of the area’s famous dolphins.  (On view through March 30th).

Emilija Skarnulyte, detail of Aequalia at Canal Projects, March 2024.
Emilija Skarnulyte, installation view of Aequalia at Canal Projects, March 2024.

Frank Stella at Deitch Projects

Five works by octogenarian painter and sculptor Frank Stella fill Jeffrey Deitch’s large SoHo space with looping, colorful segments of fiberglass and aluminum, their scale dominating and delighting visitors in equal measure.  The work here, ‘K.144 Large Version’ is part of a series titled after a musicologist who catalogued 18th century Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas.  To create his complex and vibrant sculpture, Stella starts with computer models which are 3-D printed, developed, constructed by fabricators in the Netherlands and Belgium and finally finished back in the artist’s Hudson Valley studio.  Trucked down to SoHo on double-wide flatbed trucks, the final products make their presence felt.  (On view through April 20th).

Frank Stella, K.144 Large Version, fiberglass on foam core, 197 x 208 x 150 inches, 2014.

Marie Watt at Print Center New York

This tower of blankets embodies the memories of individuals, responding to an open call, who donated them to artist Marie Watt during the pandemic.  Now a highlight of Watt’s retrospective, ‘Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt’ at Print Center New York, the stack is reminiscent of mid-century minimalism but favors warm materials and personal associations over cold, fabricated components.  Watt’s stacks are sometimes accompanied by metal I-beams that reference her fellow Seneca citizens’ work in New York’s steel industry, while her use of textiles refer to Native American practice of gifting blankets at important life events.  Watt’s other signature forms (ladders and looping dream catchers) and nods to cultural figures like Marvin Gaye and Jasper Johns broader her own story, celebrating cultural interconnectedness.

Marie Watt, Blanket Stories: Great Grandmother, Pandemic, Daybreak, reclaimed blankets and cedar, 2021.

 

 

Thomas Woodruff at Vito Schnabel Gallery

As the magnolia start to bloom in New York this week, Thomas Woodruff’s painting of dinosaurs as the Three Graces from Botticelli’s Primavera seems perfectly timed for the season.  One of several paintings in Woodruff’s solo show at Vito Schnabel Gallery that feature dinosaurs, the creatures enjoy their Edenic surroundings apparently unaware of their impending destruction.  Exploding volcanos and incoming meteorites appear in most of the show’s works, announcing an extinction event designed to excite fears about our own fate as the climate changes.  Coming a few years after Woodruff’s retirement from his long-term teaching career at the School of the Visual Arts, the artist explains that his subject matter also alludes to his own aging and suggests that he intends to go out with a bang.  (On view through March 30th).

Thomas Woodruff, The Three Graces, acrylic on canvas, 96 x 78 inches, 2022.

Sarah Ball at Stephen Friedman Gallery

At over eight feet high, British artist Sarah Ball’s portrait of Elliot has stunning presence in Stephen Friedman Gallery’s Tribeca space. Drawn to young individuals whose self-fashioning demonstrates their creativity and defies gender norms, Ball meticulously renders details of face, hair and dress in an appreciation of each subject’s unique identity. (On view in Tribeca through March 23rd).

Sarah Ball, Elliot, oil on linen, 100 3/8 x 80 7/8 inches, 2023.