Margot Bergman at Anton Kern Gallery

Chicago-based octogenarian Margot Bergman makes her New York solo debut with highly emotive, expressionist portraits created on canvases found in thrift stores and flea markets and reworked into double portraits. Here, a kindly, elderly face peers out from the forehead of a pouty-lipped blond, perhaps foretelling the younger woman’s future or portraying her internal voice. (At Chelsea’s Anton Kern Gallery through Aug 19th).

Margot Bergman, Wilma Rose, acrylic on found canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 2012.
Margot Bergman, Wilma Rose, acrylic on found canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 2012.

Nancy Shaver at Derek Eller Gallery

Nancy Shaver marshaled work by twenty-four artists to create ‘Quilt,’ a wall collage of Shaver’s own fabric panels and works in other media which spreads out over Derek Eller Gallery’s walls like a kudzu of patterns and pop culture references.   (On the Lower East Side through Aug 19th).

Nancy Shaver, installation view of ‘Quilt’ in ‘Dress the Form’ at Derek Eller Gallery, June 2016.
Nancy Shaver, installation view of ‘Quilt’ in ‘Dress the Form’ at Derek Eller Gallery, June 2016.

Zachari Logan at Julie Saul Gallery

Young Saskatchewan-based artist Zachari Logan asserts a new place in the natural world for the male body in works like ‘Leshy,’ a human figure created from flora and fauna, beautifully rendered in pastels on black paper. (At Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 12th).

Zachari Logan, Leshy 3, pastel on black paper, 57 ½ x 37 ¾ inches, 2015.
Zachari Logan, Leshy 3, pastel on black paper, 57 ½ x 37 ¾ inches, 2015.

Don Nice at Driscoll Babcock Galleries

Realist painter Don Nice pairs soda pop and pop corn in a Warholian consideration of the allure of brightly packaged processed food. These two paintings hang side by side in Nice’s current show at Driscoll Babcock Galleries, as if arranged for our viewing and eating pleasure. (In Chelsea through Aug 12th).

Don Nice, Coke Can and Popcorn, both oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches, 2015.
Don Nice, Coke Can and Popcorn, both oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches, 2015.

Karen Lederer in ‘A Series of Moves’ at Driscoll Babcock Galleries

Karen Lederer’s ‘Hipster Wellness’ is a standout in Driscoll Babcock’s summer group show of painting by young artists who follow new approaches to traditional still life. Bright colors dominate, particularly a glowing bowl of Cheetos, which balances the orange color squares on an art book about Josef Albers. Painted as if seen in digital space, the picture includes Lederer’s own hand, not wielding a brush but as if poised to take a selfie. (In Chelsea through Aug 12th).

Karen Lederer, Hipster Wellness, oil and acrylic on panel, 30 x 40 inches, 2015.
Karen Lederer, Hipster Wellness, oil and acrylic on panel, 30 x 40 inches, 2015.