David Hammons in Subliminal Horizons at Alexander Gray Associates

David Hammons’ untitled bottles from the mid-80s are a standout in Alexander Gray Associates’ summer group show, which features artists of color who have a relationship to the Hudson River Valley.  Evoking messages cast adrift in bottles or carefully constructed ships in bottles, each curious form invites and eludes easy interpretation.  A white lightning bolt suggests magically captured electricity, a fish somehow survives in a glass enclosure and the zippers from the flies of pants become living insects, a series of transformations that invite wonder.  (On view through Aug 14th).

David Hammons, installation view of untitled bottles from 1985, Alexander Gray Associates.

William King at Derek Eller Gallery

With their squat bodies, long legs and tiny heads, William King’s sculpted caricatures of important men or at least self-important ones are a highlight of Derek Eller Gallery’s current group show. Arms akimbo, each seems to demand to know what’s going on, as if they don’t quite approve of the work of nearby paintings on clothing by Annabeth Marks, Annie Pearlman’s vivid abstractions and Rachel Eulena Williams’ stitched canvases. (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 11th.)

William King, Red and Black, vinyl, aluminum, 73 x 37 x 17 inches, c. 1985.

Keith Haring at Barbara Gladstone Gallery

Keith Haring turned his signature energetic designs into a calligraphic abstraction in this untitled painting on a tarp (seen as a detail) from 1985, now on view at Barbara Gladstone Gallery. (In Chelsea through June 14th).

Keith Haring, detail of ‘Untitled,’ 60 x 60 inches, acrylic on muslin, 1985.