Barkley L. Hendricks at Jack Shainman Gallery

Known for his portraits of stylish Black people painted from the ‘60s onward, Barkley L. Hendricks’ lesser-known body of work merging minimalism and basketball is now on view at Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery.  Between attending the Pennsylvania Academy of Art and Yale, Hendricks worked for the Philadelphia Department of Recreation as an artist with access to the courts and games that inspired pieces like ‘Two!’  Though the ball is in motion here, a sense of stillness pervades, as if the artist is savoring a moment in a game.  Though circular and rectangular forms dominate and bring to mind hard-edge abstraction, Hendricks evokes the flat stillness of a momentous scene in an early Renaissance painting.  (On view in Chelsea through April 30th).

Barkley L. Hendricks, Two!, oil on linen, 44” diameter, 1966-67.

Sherrill Roland at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

After serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, now-exonerated artist Sherrill Roland makes artwork that reflects on the physical limits and daily realities of prison life.  At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, his geometric sculptures trace the outline of a cinder-block cell wall and lightboxes present text of letters written to family.  Here, two acrylic glass cubes-within-cubes recall the basketball tournament Roland helped organize while incarcerated and include a hoop and three bags inside one cube containing commissary items as awards for tournament winners.  Recalling Damien Hirst’s freestanding steel and glass vitrines, Roland’s less heavy-seeming cubes bear greater psychological weight, conveying personal suffering caused by confinement. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 5th. Masks and social distancing required.)

Sherrill Roland, Home and Away, acrylic glass, steel, primer, basketball, basketball rim, basketball net, three plastic bags with commissary goods, two cubes: 97 ½ x 97 ½ x 97 ½ inches, 2021 – 22.

Jonas Woods at Anton Kern Gallery

Jonas Woods’ monumental painting of late basketball player Dwayne Schintzius offers a tragic figure for contemplation. After a promising start in college basketball, health problems thwarted Schintzius’ career before he died due to complications of leukemia in his early 40s. At over seven feet tall, with a mullet hairstyle as renowned as his sports skills, Schintzius was a particular type of American hero; Woods prompts us to ask what kind with his over nine-feet-tall canvas. (At Chelsea’s Anton Kern Gallery through Oct 22nd).

Jonas Woods, Dwayne Schintzius, oil and acrylic on canvas, 110 x 82 inches, 2016.
Jonas Woods, Dwayne Schintzius, oil and acrylic on canvas, 110 x 82 inches, 2016.

Devin Troy Strother at Marlborough Chelsea

It could be the outer space carpet or the thickly painted pastel-colored smiley face on this painting, but it’s hard to be sober in young LA artist Devin Troy Strothers’ latest solo show at Marlborough Chelsea. Here, basketball literally becomes an art form as little players in mid-dunk decorate the eyes and smile of this goofily-grinning abstract painting. (Through Feb 14th).

Devin Troy Strother, Devin Troy Strother x Rob Pruitt x Cory Arcangel x Walead Beshty x A Sad Face x 10 Michael Jordans, ink jet, air brush, acrylic, oil varnish, painted paper on birch panel, 84 x 60 x 2 inches, 2014.