Helen Pashgian at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

California Light and Space artist Helen Pashgian’s striking acrylic columns are both warm and austere, drawing visitors to Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery in closer to see the mysterious, barely visible shapes within.  Calling them ‘presences,’ Pashgian acknowledges that each distinct body has a character that can be perceived by alert viewers.  (On view through May 24th).

Helen Pashgian, (foreground) Untitled (orange), (background) Untitled (green), formed acrylic with acrylic elements, 2009.

Rona Pondick at Marc Straus Gallery

Rona Pondick’s seductively shiny stainless-steel sculptures, featuring her own head on human/animal hybrid creatures, have been shown worldwide; now, she’s debuting the next step in her career with glowing resin and acrylic sculptures at Marc Straus Gallery on the Lower East Side.  After health problems forced Pondick to give up foundry work, she began encasing her visage in blocks of resin, creating the suggestion that some magic has temporarily paused the complicated processes within each head.  (On view through Dec 16th).

Rona Pondick, Encased Yellow, pigmented resin and acrylic, 10 1/16 x 11 3/8 x 11 ½ inches, 2015-2017.

Barbara Kasten at Bortolami Gallery

Fluorescent acrylic beams contrast Bortolami Gallery’s solid black cast iron columns in an eye-popping show of colorful new work by Barbara Kasten. Like a giant glowing Jenga block pile, the sculpture suggests precariousness and possibility while bridging the viewer’s way to Kasten’s new body of work – studio photos mounted with projecting acrylic forms that blur the boundaries between depicted and actual space. (On view in Tribeca through Oct 21st).

Barbara Kasten, Parallels I, fluorescent acrylic, approx. 32 x 98 x 96 inches, 2017.

Terri Friedman in ‘A Line Can Go Anywhere’ at James Cohan Gallery

Terri Friedman’s multi-part fiber artworks have huge presence; bold colors – from lush green to fiery orange – suggest abstracted strata of the earth and the making process is never far from the surface of a viewer’s consciousness.   (On view at James Cohan Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 14th).

Terri Friedman, Never Odd or Even, wool, acrylic, cotton fibers, 167 x 86 inches, 2016.

Matthew Stone in ‘Post Analog Painting II’ at The Hole

CGI and hand painting merge in Matthew Stone’s uncanny portrait. Part of The Hole Gallery’s ‘Post-Analog Painting II’ show, this image questions to what extent painting is influenced by the digital. (On view on the Lower East Side through May 14th).

Matthew Stone, Two Distinct Internal Voices, digital print and acrylic on linen, 32 x 24 inches, 2017.