Though William Bailey’s serene still life arrangements share subject matter with Giorgio Morandi’s paintings of bottles, jars and vases, their contours are perfectly complete and clear, achieving comparative gravity and a sense of permanence. Still, Bailey’s objects embody a sense of apartness that makes them captivating. (At Betty Cunningham Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 11th).
Andy Warhol, Kids on Swings, tempera on board, 31 x 26 7/8 inches, 1946.
To celebrate the publication of Rackstraw Downes’ writings since 1983, Betty Cunningham Gallery has curated an exhibition of his work, including this typically ordinary landscape made remarkable by whizzing wires and rising radio towers that strain to burst out of the frame. (In Chelsea through May 3rd).
Rackstraw Downes, At the Confluence of Two Ditches Bordering a Field with Four Radio Towers, oil on canvas, 46 x 48 inches, 1995. (Collection of Louis-Dreyfus Family).
Before you get to the giant inflated and conjoined rear ends, you have to pass under ‘Carnivaleyes’, a pair of 3 x 4 ½ foot wide peepers made from latex, fabric and rope by Nancy Davidson. Slightly risqué with their net-stocking-like lids, they seem a little vexed with their oddball neighbors in Davidson’s solo show at Chelsea’s Betty Cunningham Gallery. (Through October 6th). Check out Davidson’s odd bodies on her website.
