The Gulf War, AIDS crisis, Savings and Loan collapse and more inspired Chicago Imagist artist Roger Brown’s paintings from the 80s and early ‘90s, including ‘Landscape with Dollar Sign,’ in which a huge dollar sign materializes from the clouds over two tiny human figures like a doomsday omen. (At DC Moore Gallery through July 31st).
Roger Brown, Landscape with Dollar Sign, oil on canvas, 48 x 72 inches, 1991.
French artist Antoine Catala contributed a standout piece to the New Museum’s Triennial last spring by commissioning an ad agency to work on a campaign to promote empathy in an info-saturated age. With similar humor, the man absorbed in his cell phone here is not only acting distant but has the word stitched onto his body in happy, puffy letters. (At Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery through July 31st.)
Antoine Catala, Feel Images (Distant), digital photograph on suede fabric, cotton, wood, batting, 72 x 48 x 5 ¼ inches, 2015.
Known for graphite-on-paper drawings of trees, Massachusetts-based artist Sandra Allen creates an almost abstract, immensely powerful image from the trunk of a tree in ‘Ballast’ from 2009. (At Danese Corey through July 31st).
Sandra Allen, Ballast, graphite on paper, 11 x 18.5 feet, 2009.
Whether they’re painted subject matter on the shelves of a particularly cluttered design shop, or sculptures in the round, Paul Wackers’ ceramic forms revel in the possibilities of color and form. (At Chelsea’s Morgan Lehman Gallery through July 18th).
Paul Wackers, Untitled, low fire clay, glaze, under glaze, 13 ¾ x 14 x 12 ½ inches, 2015 (foreground). Nachtwinkel (Night Shop), acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 72 54 inches, 2015 (background).
On the occasion of Sally Mann’s memoir, ‘Hold Still,’ Edwynn Houk Gallery is exhibiting a selection of work by the artist best known for photos of her children. In this picture from 2004, Mann veils our view of her daughter Virginia, whose beauty is nonetheless apparent. (In the 57th Street area through July 10th).
Sally Mann, Virginia #36, gelatin silver enlargement print with varnish, 50 x 40 inches, 2004.
