Karl Haendel at Mitchell-Innes and Nash

To what ends will you go for personal improvement? Karl Haendel’s huge, meticulous pencil drawings document a push for personal perfection and accompanying sense of self-worth by yoga practitioners; elsewhere, he draws apes balanced on what look like pieces of modern art. ‘Where does it all start and stop?’ his gorgeously rendered artworks seem to ask. (At Chelsea’s Mitchell-Innes and Nash through Dec 5th).

 Karl Haendel, Radcliffe, pencil on paper with shaped frame, 67 ½ x 89 ½ inches, 2015.

Li Liao at Klein Sun Gallery

Visitors who stray too far into Klein Sun Gallery get more
than they bargained for with Chinese video and performance artist Li Liao’s
performance piece, ‘Attacking the Boxer from Behind is Forbidden.’  Each afternoon, a boxer occupies half of the
gallery, sparring with anyone who gets close and giving visitors the chance to
consider how they’ll react to an unexpected situation that defies conventional
gallery behavior. (In Chelsea through Nov 14th).

 Li Liao, performance view of ‘Attacking the Boxer From
Behind is Forbidden’ at Klein Sun Gallery, October 2015.

Joan Linder at Mixed Greens

Joan Linder revisits the 1970s Love Canal toxic dumping scandal with a labor-intensive exhibition at Mixed Greens of meticulous drawings depicting the borders of the Buffalo landfill site as well as renderings of documents related to environmental degradation. In the gallery’s back room, notebooks stretching along every wall picture fences that keep the public way from ruined land, raising the question of what’s lurking here and elsewhere. (In Chelsea through Nov 14th).

Joan Linder, Hooker 102nd Street Book, ink on moleskin notebook, 5 books, 5 ½ x 3 ½ inches when closed; 5 ½ x 105 inches when opened, 2013.

Svenja Deininger at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Shape and color are subject matter for Viennese artist Svenja Deininger, who jettisons the latter in this untitled painting to create a play of surfaces and edges. (At Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery through Nov 14th).

Svenja Deininger, Untitled, oil on canvas, 80 ¼ x 52 inches framed, 2015.

Christopher Adams at Garvey Simon Art Access

Christopher Adams’ ceramic plants appear at once fragile and
robust; the material of their thin, scrolling leaves suggests something
breakable, the vigorous growth at center hints at expansive potential.  Garvey Simon Art Access in Chelsea is overrun
with variations on the plant in a range of glazes and finishes, making for a provocative
merger of biology and decoration. 
(Through Nov 7th).

Christopher Adams, from the ‘Primordial Garden’ series,
2015.