Sanford Biggers, ‘The Gift of Tongues’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on No Comments

Greek mythology associates the Narcissus flower with a youth who was cursed to fall in love with himself,  but it also describes the bloom as one that enticed Persephone to stray from her companions and be abducted by Hades.  Sanford Biggers’ sculpture ‘Narcissus,’ a centerpiece of his current exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, aligns with the later tale for its intriguing patterning and positioning at the end of a hung-fabric corridor that encourages visitors to draw close.  Known for his syncretic approach to artmaking, Biggers here combines a Greco-Roman torso with a head inspired by an African mask against a backdrop drawing on quilt patterns, a rich, intercultural combination that speaks to the complexity of American identity.  (On view in Chelsea through June 13th.)

An African mask on a Greek upper torso, painted with an abstract pattern that aligns with that of a quilt on a background panel.
Sanford Biggers, Narcissus, marble, antique quilt, assorted fabric, mixed media, marble: 18 ½ x 18 x 13 ½; plink 50 3/8 x 21 7/8 x 17 ¾ inches, 2026.

Danielle Mckinney, ‘Forest for the Trees’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on No Comments

Glowing orbs in the form of lamps and chandeliers light Danielle Mckinney’s small, intimate oil paintings at Marianne Boesky Gallery, softly illuminating the private refuges of her imagined female protagonists. Blue eyeshadow or vividly painted red nails pop out against nude (or nearly) bodies of women who distinguish their living spaces through selectively placed accents of lush, bold color.  The green and turquoise tones on this reclining figure’s face mask recall the green strip on the face of Matisse’s famous portrait of his wife, suggesting a fearless woman in charge of her own story, one as confident and rich as the towering abstract artwork behind her. (On view in Chelsea through June 13th).

A woman reclines on a sofa in bathrobe and turban before a large abstract painting.
Danielle Mckinney, Recess, oil on linen, 18 ¼ x 14 inches, 2026.
A woman with her hair in a turban wearing a bathrobe lounges in front of a vase of flowers.
Danielle Mckinney, Recess, oil on linen, 18 ¼ x 14 inches, 2026.

Erwin Wurm, ‘Double Dream’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on No Comments

Chosen with little effort or a lot, our clothing gives an impression of who we are or at least how we see ourselves.  But what would happen if could just send our clothes out into the public realm without us?  Austrian sculptor Erwin Wurm’s ‘Substitutes’ series puts this idea to the test with painted aluminum garments that stand or float in Lehman Maupin Gallery as if inhabited by a living force.  The potential eeriness of the sculptures is offset by their cheerful tones – a hot pink suit, an electric yellow hoody and pants and a towering powder blue dress with tights are more fun than creepy and geared to entertain.  (On view in Chelsea through June 6th).

A sculpture of a pink suit stands in front of an all-yellow outfit behind. Both are unworn but standing.
Erwin Wurm, In the foreground: Waiting Pink Small (Substitutes), aluminum and acrylic paint, 39 3/8 x 5 7/8 x 13 ¾ inches, 2024. In the background: Hoody I (Philosophers), aluminum and paint, 80 ¾ x 24 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches, 2023.

Peter Saul, ‘Peter Saul’s Art History’ at Gladstone Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on No Comments

With her grimacing face and distorted figure, Willem de Kooning’s 1950 ‘Woman I’ is an uneasy presence in modern art history and at present, a recurring one in the Chelsea galleries.  She peers out from behind wide, stylized brushstrokes in a 1981 canvas by Roy Lichtenstein at Gagosian Gallery and shows up in several paintings by 91-year-old surreal-pop painter Peter Saul at Gladstone Gallery.  Here, Saul’s ‘Woman’ rolls her eyes and smirks as she descends a staircase à la Duchamp’s  1912 ‘Nude Descending a Staircase.’  While Duchamp’s version shocked early 20th century art audiences and de Kooning’s presents an uncomfortably unflattering portrayal of a powerful maternal-goddess-sex worker, Saul’s version knowingly plays several roles while entertaining thoughts of her own. (On view in Chelsea through April 18th).

An abstracted cartoon-influenced female figure on a staircase.
Peter Saul, De Kooning’s woman descends the staircase, acrylic on canvas, 55 x 60 inches, 2025.

Michael Heizer, ‘Negative Sculpture’ at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on No Comments

Michael Heizer’s ‘Double Negative,’ an enormous cut into the ground of Mormon Mesa, Nevada and his 1.5-mile-long shaped landscape, ‘City’ are among the most astounding artworks of the mid-20th century and were created far from urban art centers. Though a fraction of the size and located indoors at Gagosian Gallery‘s 21st Street Chelsea space, Heizer’s current installation of the sculptures ‘Convoluted Line A’ and ‘Convoluted Line B’ from 2024 are nonetheless impressively scaled and prompt a rethink of the space of the gallery.  Each is formed of twisting steel earth liners set in a specially constructed concrete floor to create long lines of negative space along which visitors can walk, taking the measure of the piece not just with the eye but with the body. (On view in Cheslea through March 28th).

A sculpture set into the floor in the shape of a twisting line with a few small figures of people walking around it.
Michael Heizer, installation view of ‘Negative Sculpture’ at Gagosian Gallery, March 2026.

Celeste Rapone, ‘Some Weather’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on No Comments

The ‘morning bathers’ in Celeste Rapone’s painting in her solo show at Marianne Boesky Gallery are nothing like the idealized figures suggested by the title.  While a gargantuan bird dominates a bird-bath, a female figure struggles into wakefulness by turning the garden hose on her slumped, semi-clad body.  Inside, a discarded pair of underwear on the floor accents the orange-tones of goldfish in a flower vase, a quote from Henri Matisse’s tranquil still lives.  Despite the order and attempted cheer of the bright-yellow living room interior, Rapone’s main character has some reckoning to do…when she comes around.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 18th).

Celeste Rapone, Morning Bathers, 72 1/8 x 72 inches, oil on canvas, 2025.

Claudette Schreuders, ‘Genesis’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on No Comments

Compact yet full-bodied, unexpressive yet communicating feeling, South African artist Claudette Schreuders’ figurative wooden sculptures have an uncanny presence in her current solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery. Medieval church figures, Baule sculpture and historic wooden representations of people in western dress made for the colonial tourist trade influence the form of Schreuders’ sculpture, but new pieces featuring the artist’s son, husband, dog and herself at work on a sculpture keep the subject matter close to home.  In this sculpture, simply titled ‘Work,’ Schreuders invites us into her studio to witness the process of creation, a sustained intimacy between maker and made.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 1st. Note summer hours.)

Claudette Schreuders, Work, jelutong wood and paint, 36 5/8 x 13 3/8 x 19 ¾ inches, 2025.

Richard Learoyd, ‘A Loathing of Clocks and Mirrors’ at Pace Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Strikingly intimate in their clarity, British photographer Richard Learoyd’s new portrait and still life photographs at Pace Gallery arrest with their beauty and rich color.  Here, however, Learoyd eliminates saturated tones to allow the focus to rest on the texture and minute details of two subjects.  Viewers standing in the gallery corner before these two photos are brought into an unexpected relationship with the thoughtfulness, possibly inflected by melancholy or ire, of the sitters.  Created with his signature room-sized camera obscura, Learoyd himself is not immediately in front of the subjects as he takes the photo, adding to the sense of interiority in the images.  (On view in Chelsea through April 26th).

Richard Learoyd, (left) Untitled Head, multi-layered pigment print and hand-applied gesso on canvas, 59 ½ x 59 ½ inches, 2024; (right) Head 2, multi-layered pigment print and hand-applied gesso on canvas, 59 7/8 x 59 7/8 inches, 2024.

vanessa german, GUMBALL at Kasmin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Two angels visited vanessa german last fall, one sharing a word – Olmec – and the other urging the artist to continue to practice the spiritual in her art.  The resulting series of monumental head sculptures in “GUMBALL – there is absolutely no space between body and soul” at Chelsea’s Kasmin Gallery are extravagantly rich in their ornamentation, masterful in their collage technique and abundant in references to the sacred.  Also a writer, german is as generous with her words as her materials and recounts (@vanessalgerman) not only the visitation that inspired the heads but explains that she has developed her work to include energy-bearing stones, stars, words, numbers and animal forms.  Here, a head with elaborate decoration and a quilted backing bears a long, poetic list of not just of materials but of concepts on the gallery’s checklist, ending in ‘have faith.’  (On view in Chelsea through May 10th).

vanessa german, bring light in through the top of your head, wood, plaster, foam, plaster gauze, sweet kisses, love, gold chain purse, rose quartz butterflies, the sound of horns honking out of the hotel window, cut glass, lucky feet in rose quartz from the window of the eye, have faith. 79 x 51 x 43 inches, 2025.
vanessa german, bring light in through the top of your head, wood, plaster, foam, plaster gauze, sweet kisses, love, gold chain purse, rose quartz butterflies, the sound of horns honking out of the hotel window, cut glass, lucky feet in rose quartz from the window of the eye, have faith. 79 x 51 x 43 inches, 2025.
vanessa german, bring light in through the top of your head, wood, plaster, foam, plaster gauze, sweet kisses, love, gold chain purse, rose quartz butterflies, the sound of horns honking out of the hotel window, cut glass, lucky feet in rose quartz from the window of the eye, have faith. 79 x 51 x 43 inches, 2025.

Robert Indiana, ‘The Source, 1959 – 1969’ at Kasmin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Robert Indiana is known for his iconic LOVE design, first coming to the public eye as MoMA’s 1964 Christmas card and then appearing in the form of painting, sculpture and an extremely popular US Postal Service stamp.  Plagiarized in countless forms from t-shirts to posters (it was unfortunately not copyrighted by Indiana) the graphic tends to overshadow a lifetime of work.  Kasmin Gallery’s current show (in advance of an upcoming exhibition at Pace Gallery) builds appreciation for Indiana’s broader contribution to mid-century art by situating his best-known piece in the context of a decade of his production from 1959 – 1969.  This period (and the show) begins with paintings featuring dramatically pared down forms, including a spherical orb recalling an orange shared on a Manhattan pier by Indiana and Ellsworth Kelly when both lived on Coenties Slip.  Here, Indiana records the shadow of an easel that Kelly gifted him in a painting that is both artwork and conversation between two art practices.  (On view in Chelsea through March 29th).

Robert Indiana, The Gift (Easel), oil on canvas, 40 x 36 inches, 1960.

Todd Gray, ‘While Angels Gaze’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

As a winner of the ’22-’23 Rome Prize, photographer Todd Gray spent six months in Rome absorbing the city’s contrasting ancient and contemporary architecture and translating those time shifts into complex images.  Already known for sculptural, photo-based artwork juxtaposing African landscapes with European architecture built with wealth extracted from its colonies, Gray’s new work at Lehmann Maupin Gallery showcases the extravagant beauty of Rome’s built environment, troubled by symbols of exploitative practice.  Here, a ceiling from an early 19th century Neoclassical villa decorated with cavorting nude figures is punctuated by the mast of a slave ship model in the Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves) museum on Goree Island in Senegal.  An image from the Hubble Scape Telescope acts as portal between the two places, allowing a kind of passage between locations and back in time. (On view through March 22nd).

Todd Gray, Blues Ship (makes me wanna holla), 3 pigment ink prints on Dibond in artist’s frames, 41 x 61 1/8 x 2 ¾ inches, 2024.

Jeff Wall at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Cinematic and uncanny, Jeff Wall’s photos at Gagosian Gallery may present banal or fantastical scenarios (or a combination of both) but each arrests our attention with their careful staging and suggestion of hidden messages.  Often referred to as ‘near documentary’ and inspired by specific works from art history or events Wall has experienced, his photographs encourage viewers to consider how details cue meaning.  The artist has explained that he witnessed the scene in ‘Event,’ pictured here, but he changed the setting and people while still conveying his feelings about what he observed, considering age, class, masculinity, and situational behavior manifest in a single power negotiation. (On view at Gagosian Gallery on 24th Street in Chelsea through Jan 25th).

Jeff Wall, Event, inkjet print, 87 7/8 x 66 5/16 x 2 11/16 inches, 2021.

Zaria Forman at Winston Wachter

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Zaria Forman’s monumental polar landscapes, rendered in intricate detail in pastel, have afforded her national recognition and the chance to work with NASA as an artist.  In her latest solo show at Winston Wachter Gallery in Chelsea, Forman continues to capture the beauty of ice in renderings of an Icelandic glacial lagoon.  Fragments of ice washed ashore and resting on black volcanic sand look like jewels, while bubbles trapped in ice form a dynamic, abstract composition.  Forman’s focus is on the specifics of landscape vs the climate changes impacting it, and her work offers a moment to appreciate the sublime as it presently exists.  (On view in Chelsea through March 30th in SoHo).

Zaria Forman, Fellsfjara, Iceland, No. 5, April 22nd, 2022, soft pastel on paper, 40 x 51 1/8 inches, 2023.
Zaria Forman, (detail) Fellsfjara, Iceland, No. 5, April 22nd, 2022, soft pastel on paper, 40 x 51 1/8 inches, 2023.

Thomas Hirschhorn at Gladstone Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Known for gallery-filling installations made of cardboard and packing tape, Paris-based artist Thomas Hirschhorn marshals these materials to transform Gladstone Gallery’s 21st Street location into a room resembling a destroyed command center or gaming parlor.  Titled ‘Fake it, Fake it – till you Fake it’ the gallery’s huge space houses rows of desks littered with cigarettes and coffee cups cut roughly from polystyrene and cardboard computers (some with smashed screens) featuring war-destroyed buildings from both real places and video games.  Hanging from lengths of packing tape, images of soldiers taken from video games populate the room’s aisles, their faces covered by emojis, which also hang like mobiles from the gallery ceiling.  Hirschhorn’s deliberately low-tech materials contrast the realistic imagery from the video game (seen in this photo on one screen) and disturbingly blur the line between real and fake. (On view in Chelsea through March 2nd).

Thomas Hirschhorn, installation view of ‘Fake it, Fake it – till you Fake it,’ cardboard, prints, tape, polystyrene, aluminum foil, dimensions variable, 2023.

Ugo Rondinone, Bright Light Shining at Gladstone Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Lightning strikes three times in the same spot at Gladstone Gallery’s high-ceilinged 21st Street space in the form of bronze sculpture by Swiss New Yorker Ugo Rondinone.  Trees scanned, 3-D printed and cast in bronze have been inverted to resemble day glow yellow bolts of light; at the same time, they belong to the terrestrial realm by still clearly resembling trees.  As nature upends our expectations again and again through storms, floods and extreme temperatures, Rondinone questions the natural order.  (On view in Chelsea through Nov 9th.

Ugo Rondinone, installation view of ‘bright light shining’ at Gladstone Gallery, Oct ’23.

Enoc Perez at Harper’s Books

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Based on vintage Bacardi rum ads and travel brochures, Puerto Rican artist Enoc Perez’s paintings of his home country at Harper’s Gallery feature pristine beaches, bright blue pools and abundant tropical vegetation.  Created in a painting style akin to printmaking, for which the artist rubs paint onto canvas using an oil coated sheet of paper and a pencil, the details of each supposed paradise are rendered slightly indistinct.  Titled ‘Stockholm Syndrome,’ the paintings revel in an abundance of natural beauty yet withhold a richer appreciation of it, forcing the question of how much of each image is just marketing.  (On view in Chelsea through Nov 11th).

Enoc Perez, View of San Juan, P.R., oil on linen, 2023.

Jay DeFeo at Paula Cooper Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

After completing her iconic 2,000+ lb painting ‘The Rose,’ in 1966, Bay Area artist Jay DeFeo delved into photography, creating the 70 photographs, collages and photocopies now on view at Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea.  Like ‘The Rose,’ DeFeo’s photographs feature complex textures, moody tonal contrasts and nature-related imagery in straight shots of mushrooms on a fallen tree or chemigrams – abstract images created in the darkroom.  Among the representational works, a single resting hand seen from the side or a section of an illuminated lampshade pictured from below against a black background convey stillness while this powerful shot of rushing water embodies nature’s dynamism and power.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 28th).

Jay DeFeo, Untitled, gelatin silver print, 6 x 8 7/8 inches, 1973.

Kang Seok Ho at Tina Kim Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

The short lag times between reading late artist Kang Seok Ho’s paintings at Tina Kim Gallery as abstractions and then understanding them as representations of the human body generates little thrills of discovery.  In this untitled painting, the energy of the bold floral pattern is overwhelming; a second later, two arms to either side resolve vivid leaf-like shapes into the pattern on a skirt, seen from behind.  Abstraction becomes decoration, fine art becomes fashion, and flatness turns into curving form in just seconds while reading this vibrant and monumental painting.  In selected paintings from c. 20 years at Tina Kim, radical cropping (Kang worked from photos he took or found in mass media sources) allowed the artist to zero in on bodies without faces, the better to put the focus on form over identity.  Inspired by Asian landscape painting, Kang connected his contemporary vision of life with histories of rendering the natural world, rooting observations of the now with enduring imagery from the past.  (On view through July 29th in Chelsea).

Kang Seok Ho, Untitled, oil on canvas, 92 ½ x 80 ¾ inches, 2005.

Markus Linnenbrink at Miles McEnery Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Stripes run across the walls, down the paintings and around a ball-like sculpture in Markus Linnenbrink’s explosively colorful show at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea. Painted in two days, a dripping horizontal pattern across the gallery wall sets off Linnenbrink’s signature candy-colored works in epoxy resin and leads the eye back into the gallery toward a variety of work created by building up or cutting into layers of solidified epoxy resin.  In the foreground, a ball made from layers of cast resin encases discarded ephemera from everyday life gathered by friends and family of the artist, a happy emblem of experiences accumulated along life’s way. (On view in Chelsea through July 22nd).

Markus Linnenbrink, COLDWORLDGOODMANBITEBACK, epoxy resin, pigments, objects, 36 inches diameter, 2023.

Chryssa at the Dia Foundation

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

When she arrived in New York from Athens, young Greek artist Chryssa was so taken by Times Square that she was inspired to create assemblages from neon and signage that capture the color and excitement of street life.  Stocked with loans from MoMA, the Walker Art Center and other major museums, the artist’s first show in the US since the 80s, now at the Dia Foundation in Chelsea, makes a strong case for her importance to New York’s downtown art scene in the 60s and 70s. Resembling a combination of street signs and printing plates for mass publication, Chryssa’s Americanoom suggests or actually includes words (‘zoom,’ ‘run,’ ‘new,’ and ‘café’) that give voice to a bustling city. (On view through July 23rd).

Chryssa, Americanoom, aluminum, steel, stainless steel and neon, 1963.

Rose B. Simpson at Jack Shainman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Because they’re hollow, ceramic artist Rose B. Simpson’s sculptures “hold space,” she explained in a recent interview with Vogue.  She went on to say, “I often think about the space inside as holding intention; I want them to go out and do work in the world and be vessels for that intention I’m putting out there.” Three large vessel-like sculptures in Simpson’s current exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery are a powerful presence, marked by signs that relate to specific meaningful ideas for the artist, representative of her internal thought processes and development.  Titled ‘The Road Less Traveled,’ Simpson’s show introduces this already very successful artist to New York audiences as a maker who follows her own way.  (On view in Chelsea through April 8th).

Rose B. Simpson, (foreground) Vital Organ: Stomach, clay, twine, grout, 91”, 2022, (background) Reclamation IV, clay, steel, lava and bone beads, leather, grout, 88 x 15 x 13 inches, 2022.

Minerva Cuevas at Kurimanzutto

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

‘In Gods we Trust,’ is the provocative title of Minerva Cuevas’ new exhibition at Chelsea’s Kurimanzutto Gallery, a show featuring sculptures of pre-Hispanic deities and vintage magazine ads promoting powerful multi-national oil companies.  Here, a priest of Tlazolteotl, an Aztec deity associated with lust and excess, sits on the pages of financial newspapers, an oil-like substance applied to his mouth and dripped on his arms.  The interrelation of power and oil (a substance also used by pre-Hispanic cultures) also appears in the artist’s huge and damning wall mural featuring nature-inspired corporate logos of companies that have helped bring about climate crisis.  (On view in Chelsea through April 15th).

Minerva Cuevas, Tlazolteotl Priest, foamular, acrylic paint and financial newspapers, ’22 – ‘23

Nicole Eisenman at Print Center New York

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Known as a painter, Nicole Eisenman’s forays into sculpture over the past few years have earned her accolades in gallery shows and the 2019 Whitney Biennial; now, her decade-long experimentation with printmaking is the subject of an informative and visually gratifying show at the Print Center New York.  Emphasizing process and creativity, a series of eight prints made during stages of the creation of the 2012 etching ‘Watermark’ illustrate her progress.  Here in the final version, Eisenman brings us into the intimacy of her family home, complete with her mother, father and her two children who read books at center.  We see the scene through Eisenman’s eyes as she eats from a bowl and looks out over a room alive with unspoken thoughts.  (On view through May 13th).

Nicole Eisenman, Watermark, etching and aquatint, ed of 25, printed and published by Harlan & Weaver, New York, 2012.

Tania Perez Cordova at Tina Kim Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Titled ‘Precipitation,’ Tania Perez Cordova’s new body of work at Tina Kim Gallery manifests a rain shower in the gallery, thin gold-plated chains representing drops of water.  Falling from ceiling to floor through holes pierced in the leaves of artificial plants, the chains form straight lines that contrast the elegant curve of stems and leaves, creating a tension akin to a bow or the strings of a harp.  As visitors advance through the gallery, the number of chains increases to suggest a more intense downpour, inviting viewers to follow their instinct in interpreting and appreciating Perez Cordova’s poetic practice.  (On view in Chelsea through March 25th).

Tania Perez Cordova, Philodendron Stenolobum (70% chance of rain), iron, epoxy clay, plastic, acrylic, gold plated brass chain, patterns of leaf damage, ’22.
Tania Perez Cordova, (detail) Philodendron Stenolobum (70% chance of rain), iron, epoxy clay, plastic, acrylic, gold plated brass chain, patterns of leaf damage, ’22.

 

Joan Mitchell at David Zwirner Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

David Zwirner Gallery’s current exhibition of work from museum and private collections by Joan Mitchell celebrates the late second generation abstract expressionist painter’s ability to suggest emotive landscapes through unique consideration of figure-ground relationships and bold color choices.  ‘Before, Again I’ from 1985 includes both orange tones that dominated her paintings in the early 80s and the cooler colors that evolved as a result of health challenges later in the decade.  Both palettes point to the inspiration she found in her gardens in Vetheuil, a town once home to Impressionist painter Claude Monet.  (On view through Dec 17th).

Joan Mitchell, Before, Again I, oil on canvas, 109 ½ x 78 inches, 1985.

Anselm Kiefer, Danae at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Gagosian Gallery’s enormous Chelsea space seems made to accommodate the monumental scale and theme of Anselm Kiefer’s latest paintings, which address contemporary migration via reference to Greek mythology and the Biblical exodus.  The title of this over 43’ long painting, ‘Danae,’ refers to the Greek myth of Zeus manifesting as a shower of gold to visit the imprisoned Danae, a liaison which resulted in the birth of their son, Perseus.  Here, a cloud of gold hovers above the cavernous hangar of Berlin’s now-closed Tempelhof Airport, a space that has been used to house refugees, as if to rain blessing on the imperiled populations that have taken refuge there. (On view through Dec 23rd).

Anselm Kiefer, Danae, emulsion, acrylic, oil, shellac, gold leaf, coal, metal and wires on canvas, 149 5/8 x 523 5/8 inches, 2016 – 2021.

Yashua Klos at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Curious to know what African cultures were part of his ancestry, New York artist Yashua Klos took a DNA test that unexpectedly ended up reconnecting him with his large Detroit-based family.  New work now on view at Sikkema Jenkins Gallery includes a handsomely presented row of masks that merge a welding mask – symbol of Detroit’s automobile industry and part of his own family’s history – with various masks influenced by African examples.  Klos considers each a symbol of ‘invocation and protection’ and torches the exterior as a transformational act akin to activating the mask’s power.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 3rd).

Yashua Klos, Dan Protection Power Welding Mask, stained and charred wood, 13 ¼ x 10 ¾ x 11 1/8 inches, 2021.

Jeffrey Meris in ‘Eyes of the Skin’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Growing plants became a refuge of sorts for New York based artist Jeffrey Meris during the early pandemic and the summer of 2020.  While caring for his growing collection of greenery, Meris delighted in how easily spider plants regenerate but at the same time compared the plant’s form to a firework. Making a connection to the unrest in 2020, Meris constructed armatures like this one in Lehmann Maupin’s summer group show ‘Eyes of the Skin,’ curated by Teresita Fernandez.  Referencing an explosion with the shape of the aluminum frame and bullets in the form of the plants’ ceramic pots, Meris’ message is nevertheless one of self-care and healing through nature.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 12th).

Jeffrey Meris, Catch a Stick of Fire, aluminum, hardware, lightbulbs, sockets, ceramics, spider-leaf plants, water, light, oxygen, dimensions variable, 2021.

Julie Curtiss at the FLAG Art Foundation

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Julie Curtiss does strange things with hair.  In past work, she’s covered faces, legs, animals and food with layers of wavy locks, making her subjects both repellant and slightly sinister.   Here, in a piece at the FLAG Art Foundation’s summer group exhibition, a straightforward hairstyle – middle part with straight bangs – signals menace.  Titled ‘Fangs,’ this hairdo is less scary than Medusa’s but might give a new acquaintance pause.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 12th).

Julie Curtiss, Fangs, airbrushed acrylic and gouache on paper, 12 x 9 inches, 2020.

John Gerrard at Pace Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

John Gerrard’s 18’ tall installation at Pace Gallery, picturing a flag-shaped gas flare rising from the South Pacific Ocean near Tonga, speaks to climate crises on a massive scale.  The artwork is based on photos of the ocean taken by artist and activist Uili Lousi, but quickly departs from fixed images, using game engines to generate always-changing, non-time-based simulations.  The show’s other pieces – a portrait of the last passenger pigeon in the world and a huge traffic jam in LA – question where our consumption of resources is taking us.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 12th).

John Gerrard, Flare (Oceania), simulation, installation dimensions variable, 2022.

Eva LeWitt at Luhring Augustine Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Using silicone and metal beads, sculptor Eva LeWitt creates a series of hanging spheres in Luhring Augustine’s Chelsea space that shape-shift as light passes through them.  The artist has explained that for her, spheres are ‘a beginning and an end…a period, a punctuation.’  Hung in a ring around the middle of the gallery at varying lengths, they seem gathered as if for conversation or play.  (On view in Chelsea through April 30th).

Eva LeWitt, installation view at Luhring Augustine Gallery, March 2022.

Peter Alexander at Pace Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

After an over two-decade hiatus from sculpture-making, late west coast Light and Space artist Peter Alexander came back strong, creating cast forms that appear to glow.  Pace Gallery’s current show of these works from ’11 to ’20 features this eighteen-foot-long installation of urethane strips.  Varying in width and color, the parallel pieces create an irregular rhythm that excites the senses.  (On view through March 19th).

Peter Alexander, Heard it Through the Grapevine, urethane, 77 x 18’ 1” overall installed, 2019.

Mary Lum at Yancey Richardson Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Long walks through New York, Paris and London yield source material for Mary Lum’s complex photo and paint collages, now on view at Yancey Richardson Gallery in Chelsea.  Titled 11th Avenue, this piece features slices of urban architecture and facades that dynamically multiply the grid.  At center, Lum seamlessly turns a photo of metal piping into a flattened piece of paper that in turn guides our eye up and over a grey wall – all moves that keep our sense of space shifting in an engaging way.  (On view through Feb 26th).

Mary Lum, 11th Avenue, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil, and photo collage on paper, 11 ¼ x 14 7/8 inches, 2021.

Rachel Rose at Gladstone Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Rachel Rose’s recent sculptures at Gladstone Gallery juxtapose blown glass and large rocks or, in this case, a wood burl shaped like an egg, to contrast two vastly different natural materials and represent a ‘moment of radical shift.’ The show’s centerpiece, a film titled ‘Enclosure,’ also considers a rupture that continues to impact relations between humanity and nature today. Via the fictional story of a band of thieves who set out to defraud English rural communities of their land, Rose examines how, from the 17th century onward, the Enclosure Acts in England allowed consolidation of large tracts of land, taking them out of collective ownership and putting them into the hands of powerful interests. (On view on 21st Street in Chelsea through Feb 26th).

Rachel Rose, Burl Egg, burl egg and blown glass, 2021.

William J. O’Brien in ‘A Thought Sublime’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Inspired by unschooled art and experimentation, artist and School of the Art Institute of Chicago ceramics professor William J. O’Brien presents a cluster of 42 ceramic spheres celebrating nonconformity and variety in Marianne Boesky Gallery’s summer group show.  Titled ‘Earth, Water, Fire, Wind & Space, Pt. 1,’ the installation is literally grounded yet aims to take the mind beyond the everyday.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 6th).

William J. O’Brien, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space, Pt. 1, ceramic, dimensions variable, 42 ceramics, 2021.

Guido van der Werve at Luhring Augustine, Monitor & GRIMM Galleries

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

One of Dutch artist Guido van der Werve’s best known performances involved walking just 16 yards in front of an ice breaking ship in the Baltic sea, an example of the physical punishment and risk he’s willing to endure for his art.  Now for a new on-line exhibition, Luhring Augustine Gallery, GRIMM Gallery and Monitor Gallery are teaming up to present still photographs from the artist’s mind-bending 2012 performance ‘Nummer Veertien, home,’ for which he swam, biked and ran 1,200 miles across Europe.  Van der Werve’s journey began at the location of Chopin’s interred heart (Warsaw) and ended at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris where the rest of the composer’s body is buried.  In Paris, the artist delivered a small container of soil from outside Chopin’s childhood home, connecting the two places and creating a profound link between his own history and that of his favorite composer.  (On view through June 19th).

Guido Van Der Werve, Nummer acht, Everything is going to be alright, 16mm to HD, 10 minutes, 10 seconds, 2007.

Erwin Wurm at Tang Contemporary Art

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Beijing gallery Tang Contemporary Art recently reopened (after closing in January to prevent the spread of COVID-19) with a showcase of work by artists represented by Konig Galerie in Berlin.  The exhibition includes Austrian artist Erwin Wurm’s deliberately absurd ‘abstract sculpture’ (formed from variously sized cast bronze frankfurters) which brings to mind recent work at New York’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery which involved food treated as an object rather than something to eat.  Made entirely of concrete, this sculpture is a permanent version of Wurm’s One Minute Sculptures, in which participants interact with everyday objects. (Photo from New York Art Tours’ archive, Jan ’20).

Erwin Wurm, One Minute forever (hands/fruits), concrete, 15.35 x 7.87 x 5.91 inches, 2019.

Tara Donovan in ‘Material Matters’ at pacegallery.com

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Whether she’s transforming plastic cups into glacial landscapes or Styrofoam into clouds, Tara Donovan has a knack for turning masses of everyday materials into wondrous installations.  In this June ’14 image from New York Art Tour’s archives, index cards become termite mounds or stalagmites at Pace Gallery.  The gallery’s current on-line group exhibition, ‘Material Matters,’ features a delightful artwork by Donovan crafted from Slinkys that appear to have massed together and come to life.  (On view through April 21st).

Tara Donovan, Untitled, styrene index cards, metal, wood, paint and glue, 12’ 5 1/2” x 22’ 4” x 22’ 11 1/2”, 2014.

New York Art Tours Goes Remote!

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Contemporary art inspires.  Take your on-line engagement with art to a deeper level on a remote gallery tour.  Join Merrily on an hour-long virtual walk through of some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking shows of the moment, seeing and discussing images and video.   Tours take place via Zoom. 50% of profits in April go to New York City’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.

‘Taking Stock of Power’ at the Walther Collection

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

After encountering a box of photos of the Berlin Wall taken by East German border guards in the mid-60s shortly after the wall was erected, photographer Arwed Messmer and writer Annett Groschner turned their research toward the topography of the 140km long structure, resulting in the sobering images now on view at Chelsea’s Walther Collection.  Thirty years after the fall of the Wall, the photos speak to a failed effort at social control.  This grid of ladders left behind in successful escape attempts, are an uplifting element in a show that otherwise expresses the grim realities of the wall. (On view through April 25th).

Detail from ‘Ladders,’ selection from 20 archival pigment prints, 1966/2016.

Hans Haacke, Helmsboro County at Paula Cooper

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

If you can’t get to politically-oriented artist Hans Haacke’s New Museum retrospective before it closes on Jan 26th, check out his huge pack of Marlboros in Paula Cooper Gallery’s tiny 21st St vitrine-like space, a sculpture about the relationships between art, politics and commerce.  Made in 1990, the piece highlights cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris Company’s contradictory support both for the arts and for North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, who was famously critical of government support for the arts.  Each five-foot long cigarette features a copy of the constitution (the company offered to supply a copy to anyone who asked), while the packaging bears the statement that the company’s ‘fundamental interest in the arts is self-interest.’  (On view through Jan 25th).

Hans Haacke, Helmsboro County, silkscreen prints and photographs on wood, cardboard and paper, 30 ½ x 80 x 47 ½ inches, 1990.

Laurel Sparks at Cheim & Read Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

‘Geomantria,’ the title of Lauren Sparks’ show last spring Kate Werble Gallery succinctly introduces the concept of geometry as magic in the Brooklyn painter’s canvases.  In this grid of nine works – part of a three-person group exhibition of abstract painting at Chelsea’s Cheim & Read Gallery, curated by Jack Pierson – Sparks plots out six points with relationships that shift according to the ash, papier mache, glitter, yarn and other materials she applies to woven strips of canvas.  (On view through August 30th).

Laurel Sparks, paintings from ‘STANZA’ and ‘TERCET.’ Materials include: acrylic, poured gesso, paper mache, ash, cut holes, collage, glitter and yarn on woven canvas strips, each 24 x 24 inches, 2018.

Carina Lopez Winschel at Praxis Art

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Argentinian artist Carina Lopez Winschel turns the abundance of nature into material for abstraction in paintings that explode with form and color at Praxis Art in Chelsea.  (On view through Aug 31st).

Carina Lopez Winschel, Untitled III – Heartscapes Series, acrylic on canvas, 38 1/8 x 38 1/8 inches, 2018

Kensuke Koike in ‘Interventions’ at Yancey Richardson Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

A peaceful beach scene turns into a jittery fly-eye view of the seaside at the hand of Japanese artist Kensuke Koike, who alters vintage postcards and photos by slicing and rearranging the images in strips.  (On view in ‘Interventions’ at Yancey Richardson Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 24th).

Kensuke Koike, Big Beach, altered postcards, 8 1/8 x 11 1/8 inches overall, 2016.

Nicholas Hlobo at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

In South African artist Nicholas Hlobo’s cut canvas artworks, ribbons refer to the feminine while leather points to the masculine.  In this detail of a larger work, the ribbons and the canvas they hold together defy gender assignment in curves and openings that evoke the body and geography.  (On view in Chelsea at Lehmann Maupin Gallery through August 24th).

Nicholas Hlobo, detail of Intlantsana, ribbon on canvas, 47.24 x 70.87 inches, 2017.

Richard Mosse at Jack Shainman Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Richard Mosse pictures European refugee camps like you’ve never seen them in monumental new photos taken with a military grade telephoto camera. Normally used for combat and border surveillance, the camera detects thermal radiation, turning individuals into ghost-like presences. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 20th Street location in Chelsea through March 11th).

Richard Mosse, (detail of) Idomeni Camp, Greece, digital c-print on metallic paper, 40 x 120 inches, 2016.

Uta Barth at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Inspired by the light in her adopted home-city of LA and by the still life arrangements of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, Uta Barth employs everyday glassware as lenses. Transparent objects in various shapes, colors and combinations shift light to harness the properties of nature in service of art. (At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Chelsea through March 11th).

Uta Barth, In the Light and Shadow of Morandi (17.03), face mounted, raised, shaped, Archival Pigment print in artist’s frame, 48 ¾ x 52 ¾ inches, 2017.

Elliott Hundley, Until the End at Andrea Rosen

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

A woman calmly looks out from a storm of activity in this detail from a new collage by Elliott Hundley at Andrea Rosen Gallery, suggesting that she is uniquely adapted to life in an environment of overload.   Countless masks, eyes and assorted circular shapes – from lotus slices to flowers – are equal parts portal to another world and big brother. (In Chelsea through March 11th).

Elliott Hundley, (detail of )Until the end, paper, oil, pins, glass, lotus, plastic, foam and linen over panel, 96 ½ x 80 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, 2017.

Jaume Plensa, Silence at Galerie Lelong

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Jaume Plensa’s latest exhibition at Galerie Lelong continues his investigation of portraiture, featuring several of his signature, elongated heads with closed eyes that suggest unseen inner lives. In Chelsea, they are arranged on wooden beams and are joined by spectral faces on the wall that transform the gallery into a contemplative space. (On view through March 11th).

Jaume Plensa, Silence, melis wood, variable dimensions, 2016.

Elise Ansel at Danese Corey Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Comparing Elise Ansel’s remake of Northern Renaissance master Hugo van der Goes’ Portinari altarpiece with the original isn’t the point. Ansel distills the main characters from the 15th century Adoration and enlivens them with a dynamic quality that doesn’t exist in the still and measured quality of the original, positing that color, not extreme detail carries the emotion of the scene. (At Danese Corey Gallery through March 11th).

Elise Ansel, Portinari Triptych, oil on linen, 60 x 144 (overall), 2016.

Vija Celmins at Matthew Marks Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

One stone is real, the other is a replica. Vija Celmins entices viewers to ponder which one came from the earth and which from the artist’s hand in this pairing at Matthew Marks Gallery’s 22nd Street space in Chelsea. In other works, Celmins turns her hand to the skies and the seas with meticulous realist paintings that celebrate the creative powers of the artist. (On view through April 15th).

Vija Celmins, Two Stones, one found stone and one made stone: bronze and alkyd oil, 2 ¼ x 8 x 5 ½ inches, 1977/2014-16.

Yoan Capote, Isla (Tierra Prometida) at Jack Shainman

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Green Caribbean waters turn menacing under steely grey skies, their currents outlined in rows of fishhooks in this meditation on isolation by Cuban artist Yoan Capote. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 24th Street location in Chelsea through March 11th).

Yoan Capote, detail of Isla (Tierra Prometida), oil, nails, and fish hooks on linen mounted on panel, 75 3/16 x 115 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches, 2016.

Rudolf Bauer at Leila Heller Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Leila Heller Gallery compliments the Guggenheim’s current ‘Visionaries’ exhibition with a show featuring artworks by early 20th century ‘non-objective’ painters, including mature works by German avant-gardist Rudolf Bauer. Though this painting from the ‘30s brings to mind a planet on the left and the built environment to the right, Bauer’s focus was art as expression of the spirit. (In Chelsea through March 4th).

Rudolf Bauer, Green Form, oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 66 7/8 inches, 1936.
Rudolf Bauer, Green Form, oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 66 7/8 inches, 1936.

Warren MacKenzie at Driscoll Babcock Galleries

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Minnesota-based nonagenarian ceramic artist Warren MacKenzie means for his creations to be used. A selection of work at Driscoll Babcock Galleries, including this attractive arrangement of cups and bowls, holds out the idea of living with beautiful things. (In Chelsea through Feb 25th).

Warren MacKenzie, installation view of ‘A Master’s Hand’ at Driscoll Babcock Galleries, Jan 2017.
Warren MacKenzie, installation view of ‘A Master’s Hand’ at Driscoll Babcock Galleries, Jan 2017.

Rafael Gomezbarros in ‘Naturalia’ at Paul Kasmin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Paul Kasmin Gallery and Sotheby’s Gallery team up this month to bring the vanitas still life and memento mori up to date in an impressive exhibition of Dutch genre painting and contemporary art touching on the theme of life’s brevity. Columbian artist Rafael Gomezbarros’ smarm of ants – constructed with cast human skulls – opens the show with a bang. (At Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea through March 4th).

Foreground: Rafael Gomezbarros, Casa Tomada (Taken House), five parts: resin, fiber glass, screen cotton, ropes, wood, sand and Cerrejon coal, each 37 3/8 x 17 ¾ inches x 6 ¼ inches, 2016.
Foreground: Rafael Gomezbarros, Casa Tomada (Taken House), five parts: resin, fiber glass, screen cotton, ropes, wood, sand and Cerrejon coal, each 37 3/8 x 17 ¾ inches x 6 ¼ inches, 2016.

Katharina Grosse at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

From the depths of Katharina Grosse’s huge abstractions, shapes materialize and invite interpretation. The Berlin-based artist describes her new works as “portals to a small room, where all the color has been crammed into a tiny space.” Peering into these openings is an intense optical experience. (At Gagosian Gallery’s 24th Street Chelsea location through March 11th).

Katharina Grosse, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 117 11/16 x 79 ½ inches, 2016.
Katharina Grosse, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 117 11/16 x 79 ½ inches, 2016.

Kay Kurt at Albertz Benda

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Collectors might metaphorically salivate after coveted artworks, but the feeling turns literal in sight of Kay Kurt’s intense, realist renderings of candy. At six feet high and eleven feet long, this assortment of hard candies brings to mind the flavors of childhood while treating each piece as its own perfectly formed sculptural object. (At Albertz Benda in Chelsea through Feb 16th).

Kay Kurt, Hallelujah, oil on linen, 72 x 132 inches, 1995-2016.
Kay Kurt, Hallelujah, oil on linen, 72 x 132 inches, 1995-2016.

Matt Johnson Sculpture at 303 Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

The text on this box – ‘Enjoy your delicious moments!’ – is supposed to be an encouragement to appreciate pizza, but it’s also a good way to describe the feeling of realizing that this realistic food box is actually a meticulously crafted, hand painted wooden sculpture by trompe l’oeil master Matt Johnson. (At 303 Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 25th).

Matt Johnson, Untitled (Small Pizza Box), carved wood and paint, 17 ½ x 14 ½ x 7 inches, 2016.
Matt Johnson, Untitled (Small Pizza Box), carved wood and paint, 17 ½ x 14 ½ x 7 inches, 2016.

Mark Dion in ‘We Need to Talk’ at Petzel Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Petzel Gallery’s current must-see show, ‘We Need to Talk,’ is a tour de force of heart-felt political statement, from a video shot at Standing Rock to a neon sign reading, ‘What if Women Ruled the World?’ In between, Mark Dion’s 1991 ‘FBI Tool Bag of Dirty Tricks’ is a standout that’s turning into a classic. (In Chelsea through Feb 11th).

Mark Dion, F.B.I. Tool Bag of Dirty Tricks, fabric bag, nine tools covered in liquid rubber with enamel, extra item: plunger, 1991.
Mark Dion, F.B.I. Tool Bag of Dirty Tricks, fabric bag, nine tools covered in liquid rubber with enamel, extra item: plunger, 1991.

Lee Bul, Souterrain at Lehmann Maupin

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

The mirrored, cave-like entrance to Lee Bul’s latest solo show at Lehmann Maupin Gallery dazzles. Once inside, however, the ceiling height diminishes rapidly and visitors emerge into the main gallery at an uncomfortable crouch. Failed promises are a recurring theme in Lee Bul’s oeuvre; here she sends a strong message from the beginning of the exhibition. (Through Feb 11th).

Lee Bul, Souterrain, plywood on wooden frame, acrylic mirror, acrylic paint, LED lighting and electronic wiring, 107.87 x 141.73 x 188.98 inches, 2012/16
Lee Bul, Souterrain, plywood on wooden frame, acrylic mirror, acrylic paint, LED lighting and electronic wiring, 107.87 x 141.73 x 188.98 inches, 2012/16

Gladys Nilsson, Not Easily Pared at Garth Greenan

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

In the early 90s, an LA Times critic commented on the ‘silly sort of dignity’ possessed by the eccentric characters in Gladys Nilsson’s large watercolors. The phrase perfectly characterizes these figures from the ‘80s, whose exaggerated physical characteristics and twisting bodies are equal parts grotesque and intriguing. (At Garth Greenan Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 18th).

Gladys Nilsson, Not Easily Pared, watercolor on paper, 40 x 60 inches, 1987.
Gladys Nilsson, Not Easily Pared, watercolor on paper, 40 x 60 inches, 1987.

Lino Lago in ‘Flat Earth Conspiracy’ at George Adams Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Spanish artist Lino Lago’s recent ‘Reality (Show)’ series jumbles art and artifacts from pop culture and art history together on the flat surface of a canvas. This shaped artwork in the form of a chair, part of the same series, allows collectors to make their own groupings. (At George Adams Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 11th.)

Lino Lago, Point of View, oil on wood, 14 x 10 ½ x 1 inches, 2016.
Lino Lago, Point of View, oil on wood, 14 x 10 ½ x 1 inches, 2016.

James Siena at Pace Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

James Siena continues to produce mesmerizing patterned images with his latest show of drawings at Pace Gallery. However, instead of repeating an initial mark that establishes a rule system, Siena’s new work glories in interlocking patterns that boggle the mind with their detail and their complex consideration of space. (At Pace Gallery’s 25th Street location through Feb 11th).

James Siena, Manifold X, ink and watercolor on paper, 11 5/8 x 9 ¼ inches, 2015.
James Siena, Manifold X, ink and watercolor on paper, 11 5/8 x 9 ¼ inches, 2015.

Hannah van Bart at Marianne Boesky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Despite her assertive pose, Dutch painter Hannah van Bart’s enigmatic young lady appears to literally blend into the background as a shape-shifting wall the color of her dress manifests over her chest. (At Marianne Boesky Gallery through Feb 4th.)

Hannah van Bart, Untitled, oil on linen, 39 3/8 x 25 5/8 inches, 2016.
Hannah van Bart, Untitled, oil on linen, 39 3/8 x 25 5/8 inches, 2016.

Michele Grabner at James Cohan Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Handmade blankets rendered in bronze and boldly colored paintings based on the blankets’ patterns orient Michele Grabner’s latest body of work toward the domestic, the personal and the tactile. Each blanket’s form looks ghostly, harkening back to the bodies that used it to stay warm. As 2-D images on the wall, the cozy factor is replaced by a reference to the grid, the ubiquitous underlying principle to much mid-20th century art. Grabner suggests that context is key. (At James Cohan Gallery’s Chelsea location, through Jan 28th).

Michele Grabner, Untitled, bronze, 43 ½ x 20 x 12 ½ inches, unique, 2016. Background painting: Untitled, oil on burlap and canvas, 86 ½ x 120 inches, 2016.
Michele Grabner, Untitled, bronze, 43 ½ x 20 x 12 ½ inches, unique, 2016. Background painting: Untitled, oil on burlap and canvas, 86 ½ x 120 inches, 2016.

Samuel Levi Jones at Galerie Lelong

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Using the covers of old encyclopedias, law books and African American reference books, Samuel Levi Jones makes collages on canvas that question what changes as time passes. Jones employs books as symbols of obsolescence to further represent how the ideas expressed therein can also run their course. (At Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong through Jan 28th).

Samuel Levi Jones, 101, deconstructed encyclopedias, law books and African American reference books on canvas, 49 x 60 inches, 2016.
Samuel Levi Jones, 101, deconstructed encyclopedias, law books and African American reference books on canvas, 49 x 60 inches, 2016.

Sopheap Pich, Rang Phnom Flower at Tyler Rollins Fine Art

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Silhouetted against natural light, the translucent petals of a blossoming flower from the cannonball tree contrast tightly shut pods in the foreground, but each indulges our pleasure in organic forms. Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich’s largest flowering plant sculpture to date sprawls across Tyler Rollins Gallery’s floor in Chelsea, recalling trees planted near Buddhist temples. Though they resemble the sal tree associated with Buddha’s birth, the plants arrived in Southeast Asia from the Americas via Sri Lanka, a reminder of complicated histories. (Through Feb 4th).

Sopheap Pich, Rang Phnom Flower, bamboo, rattan, metal wire, plywood, steel, metal bolts, 325 x 180 x 65 inches, 2015.
Sopheap Pich, Rang Phnom Flower, bamboo, rattan, metal wire, plywood, steel, metal bolts, 325 x 180 x 65 inches, 2015.

Charles Long at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

The human body meets cold hard metal in LA sculptor Charles Long’s eerie new sculptures that pair geometric forms covered in flesh-like platinum silicon rubber with mirror polished stainless steel forms. Here, RealSenseSapient2 includes the appearance of moles, veins and wrinkles, suggesting a quasi-human futuristic living being. (At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery through Feb 4th).

Charles Long, RealSenseSapient2, platinum silicon with pigment, stainless steel and pedestal, sculpture (without pedestal): 20 x 14 x 13 inches, 2016.
Charles Long, RealSenseSapient2, platinum silicon with pigment, stainless steel and pedestal, sculpture (without pedestal): 20 x 14 x 13 inches, 2016.

Titus Kaphar, Destiny IV at Jack Shainman

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

After typing ‘Destiny’ (the name of an incarcerated woman he’d met long ago) into a prison database, Titus Kaphar began painting portraits of women with this name in layered works that elide their faces and stories. (At Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 28th).

Titus Kaphar, Destiny IV, 60 x 48 inches, oil on canvas, 2016.
Titus Kaphar, Destiny IV, 60 x 48 inches, oil on canvas, 2016.

Liz Glynn Scupture at Paula Cooper Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Dramatic and monumental, Rodin’s 1890s sculpture of Balzac is a figure set apart. LA sculptor Liz Glynn changed the character’s remote quality during a 2-day performance/workshop at LACMA, during which she cast several of the museum’s Rodin bronzes and recombined them to striking effect. Here, a face from Rodin’s Burghers of Calais joins Balzac’s in a dual portrait that suggests strong emotion. (At Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery through Feb 11th).

Liz Glynn, (detail) Untitled (after Balzac, with Burgher), bronze, 2014.
Liz Glynn, (detail) Untitled (after Balzac, with Burgher), bronze, 2014.

Davina Semo Sculpture at Marlborough Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

While a single glove evokes Michael Jackson in the glitter of stage lights, this lone accessory – a stainless steel mesh glove encased in concrete – conveys something sinister. Semo’s other minimalist sculptures co-opt possible residue of violence, including chains, broken glass and shell casings as art materials, asking how fine art and conflict connect. (At Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 14th).

Davina Semo, SHE LOOKED THROUGH HIS THINGS, CAREFUL TO LEAVE EACH AS IT HAD BEEN, pigmented, reinforced concrete; mica, stainless steel mesh glove, 9 x 6 x 1 7/8 inches, 2016.
Davina Semo, SHE LOOKED THROUGH HIS THINGS, CAREFUL TO LEAVE EACH AS IT HAD BEEN, pigmented, reinforced concrete; mica, stainless steel mesh glove, 9 x 6 x 1 7/8 inches, 2016.

Hai-Hsin Huang in ‘Ref-er-enced’ at Danese Corey Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Phones, cameras and iPads outnumber art objects in Hai-Hsin Huang’s mash-up of Metropolitan Museum of Art treasures, ogled by visitors jockeying for snapshots and selfies. In this detail, a massive, 2,300 year old marble column from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis fails to attract much attention, begging the question of a museum’s purpose in today’s photo obsessed culture. (At Danese Corey Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 4th).

Hai-Hsin Huang, (detail) The MET #1, pencil on paper, 53 x 117 inches, 2014.
Hai-Hsin Huang, (detail) The MET #1, pencil on paper, 53 x 117 inches, 2014.

Edie Nadelhaft at Lyons Wier Gallery

by Merrily KerrFeatures & Commissions, Hottest Show, Inside ViewPosted on Comments are Disabled

Motorcycle road trips all over the U.S. inspire New Yorker Edie Nadelhaft’s new paintings framed by vintage BMW mirror housings. Nadelhaft opts to travel on local roads for a more characterful portrait of the landscape. Looking back through the bike mirrors reveals what is receding in American culture, as evidenced by this classic car and a non-chain restaurant. (At Lyons Wier Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 28th).

Edie Nadelhaft, Mindy’s (Modena, IL), oil on panel, vintage BMW mirror housing, 4.25 inches diameter, 2017.
Edie Nadelhaft, Mindy’s (Modena, IL), oil on panel, vintage BMW mirror housing, 4.25 inches diameter, 2017.

Judith Simonian in ‘Regrouping’ at Edward Thorp Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

New York painter Judith Simonian charts a course through the mist on a curiously empty, fabulously colored ferry in this standout painting in the group exhibition ‘Regrouping’ at Edward Thorp Gallery’s new Chelsea location. It’s unclear what the immediate future holds on Simonian’s vessel, but the journey looks amazing. (On view through Jan 28th).

Judith Simonian, Ferry Boat, acrylic on canvas, 58 x 72 inches, 2016.
Judith Simonian, Ferry Boat, acrylic on canvas, 58 x 72 inches, 2016.

Anthony Caro at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Mid-20th century American minimalist sculptors rebelled against the relationship of parts in Anthony Caro’s abstract sculptures; later in life, Caro was the one to break out, introducing Perspex into his sculptures when he was in his mid-80s. Here, a thick sheet of clear Perspex turns two pieces of rusted steel into characters in an untold story –a customer and a bank teller, or a prisoner and her visitor? (At Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery in Chelsea on the Upper East Side through Feb 4th).

Anthony Caro, Sackbut, steel and clear Perspex, steel rusted and waxed, 48 x 70 x 46 inches, 2011/2012.
Anthony Caro, Sackbut, steel and clear Perspex, steel rusted and waxed, 48 x 70 x 46 inches, 2011/2012.

Philip Guston at Hauser & Wirth

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

In 1971 and 1975, Philip Guston created a powerful series of drawings as protest to then-president Richard Nixon’s policies, in particular his decision to visit China after years of anti-Communist rhetoric. Now on view at Hauser & Wirth’s new Chelsea location, this drawing shows the former president scrapping with his advisor Henry Kissinger at his Florida retreat as an empty speech bubble rises with the clouds. (At Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Chelsea through January 14th).

Philip Guston, from the show ‘Laughter in the Dark, Drawings from 1971 & 1975,’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, through Jan 28th, 2017.
Philip Guston, from the show ‘Laughter in the Dark, Drawings from 1971 & 1975,’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, through Jan 28th, 2017.

Zaha Hadid at Leila Heller Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

While architect Zaha Hadid’s firm worked on the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Hadid created a collection of related furnishings, including this stunningly sleek desk, currently on view with a selection of Hadid’s other design projects at Chelsea’s Leila Heller Gallery. How could your career fail to take flight, seated behind this desk? (On view through January 21st).

Zaha Hadid, Seoul Desk, fiberglass with high gloss lacquer paint finish, 49.2 x 166.14 x 28.35 inches, 2008.
Zaha Hadid, Seoul Desk, fiberglass with high gloss lacquer paint finish, 49.2 x 166.14 x 28.35 inches, 2008.

Matthew Brandt Prints at Yossi Milo Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Soon after the scandal over tainted drinking water in Flint, Michigan broke in spring 2016, Matthew Brandt visited the beleaguered General Motors town, creating beautiful images using toxic water. Brandt collected river water and used it to wash over and degrade cyan, magenta and yellow sheets bearing an image of the river’s dam. Recombined in a lightbox, a damaged image represents a devastated landscape. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 21st.)

Matthew Brandt, From the series Waterfalls, Stepping Stone Falls 8 C3M1Y1, multi-layered Duraclear prints processed with Flint River, Michigan water in LED lightbox frame, 20 x 14 inches, unique, 2016.
Matthew Brandt, From the series Waterfalls, Stepping Stone Falls 8 C3M1Y1, multi-layered Duraclear prints processed with Flint River, Michigan water in LED lightbox frame, 20 x 14 inches, unique, 2016.

Kacper Kowalski at The Curator

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Several years ago, Polish photographer Kacper Kowalski turned his back on his career in architecture and began a new pursuit taking photographs from a paraglider or a gyrocopter at around 500 feet above the central European landscape. This beautiful observation of nature’s seasonal transformations is part of a series documenting the onset and experience of winter from above. (At The Curator in Chelsea, through Dec 17th).

Kacper Kowalski, Seasons/Autumn #29, archival pigment print, 27 x 41 inches, 2015.
Kacper Kowalski, Seasons/Autumn #29, archival pigment print, 27 x 41 inches, 2015.

Katharina Wulff at Greene Naftali Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

German painter Katharina Wulff depicts the dusty byways of her adopted city of Marrakech in paintings that harness the strong sun to illuminate bodies and the landscape. Inside the peeling façade of this gym, bodybuilders strive for perfection while feral dogs rove outside.  (At Greene Naftali Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 23rd).

Katharina Wulff, Untitled, tempera on canvas, 15 3/8 x 11 3/8 inches, 2016.
Katharina Wulff, Untitled, tempera on canvas, 15 3/8 x 11 3/8 inches, 2016.

Edward Burtynsky, Salinas #2 at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

This stunning aerial view of irrigation systems in Cadiz, Spain is part of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s Water series, which examines human use of the planet’s most valuable resource, specifically as it is harnessed for aquaculture. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 23rd).

Edward Burtynsky, Salinas #2, Cadiz, Spain, chromogenic color print, 2013.
Edward Burtynsky, Salinas #2, Cadiz, Spain, chromogenic color print, 2013.

Annie Leibovitz at the former Bayview Correctional Facility

by Merrily KerrFeatures & Commissions, Hottest Show, Inside ViewPosted on Comments are Disabled

98 year old mathematician, physicist and NASA scientist Katherine Johnson strikes a regal pose in a photograph by Annie Leibovitz, who has relaunched her ‘Women’ series, highlighting the achievements of remarkable women. Images from Leibovitz’s the series are currently on view in the gym at Chelsea’s former women’s prison, offering an uplifting vision of women’s many roles in society. (Sponsored by UBS, hosted by the NoVo Foundation and Lela Goren Group on view through Dec 11th).

Installation view of ‘Women’ at the 550 West 20th Street, the former Bayview Correctional Facility and future home of the NoVo Foundation, Dec 2016.
Installation view of ‘Women’ at the 550 West 20th Street, the former Bayview Correctional Facility and future home of the NoVo Foundation, Dec 2016.

Yvonne Jacquette at DC Moore Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

New Yorker painter Yvonne Jacquette fell in love with the aerial view while on commercial flights, eventually chartering her own aircraft to make art from the sky. After a trip to Hong Kong in the early 90s, she incorporated various views of Hong Kong harbor into this piece, including a floating restaurant, speeding cars and reflections of neon on the water. (At DC Moore Gallery through Dec 17th).

Yvonne Jacquette, Hong Kong Harbor with Floating Restaurant V, oil on canvas, 64 ¼ x 91 ½ inches, 1992-93.
Yvonne Jacquette, Hong Kong Harbor with Floating Restaurant V, oil on canvas, 64 ¼ x 91 ½ inches, 1992-93.

Siah Armajani at Alexander Gray Associates

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Iranian American artist Siah Armajani pays homage to New York School poet Frank O’Hara in this sculptural concept for a tomb. The table is a resting spot for a coffin and a gathering place for a collection of free-spirited chairs that merge with the table and resist sitting still. (At Alexander Gray Gallery through Dec 17th).

Siah Armajani, Tomb for Frank O’Hara, painted wood, 54 x 103 x 65 inches, 2016.
Siah Armajani, Tomb for Frank O’Hara, painted wood, 54 x 103 x 65 inches, 2016.

Carol Bove at David Zwirner Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Scrap metal, vividly colored steel tubing and shiny, black cylindrical disks compete for attention in Carol Bove’s ‘Polka Dots,’ now on view at Chelsea’s David Zwirner Gallery. Here, the show’s titular sculpture brings to mind the powerful forces required to bend steel while reveling in a burst of yellow and the smooth perfection of black ‘polka dots.’  (On view through Dec 17th).

Carol Bove, Polka Dots, found steel, stainless steel, and urethane paint, 91 x 81 x 87 inches, 2016.
Carol Bove, Polka Dots, found steel, stainless steel, and urethane paint, 91 x 81 x 87 inches, 2016.

 

Matthias Bitzer at Marianne Boesky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Berlin-based artist Matthias Bitzer’s paintings, mixed media works and sculptures at Marianne Boesky Gallery are uniquely difficult to categorize. Constructed from concrete, wood, glass and more (and those are just the 2-D, wall mounted works), elegantly minimalist artworks take the eye on an adventure of materials. (In Chelsea through Dec 17th).

Matthias Bitzer, installation view of ‘A Different Sort of Gravity,’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery through Dec 17th.
Matthias Bitzer, installation view of ‘A Different Sort of Gravity,’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery through Dec 17th.

Andrew Lenaghan at George Adams Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Brooklyn artist Andrew Lenaghan rewilds the High Line in this tiny painting of massive buildings, as seen from the elevated park. Dereliction and new development are Lenaghan’s themes; how they seem to merge is his intriguing angle. (At George Adams Gallery through November 30th).

Andrew Lenaghan, A Better High Line, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches, 2016.
Andrew Lenaghan, A Better High Line, acrylic on paper, 5 x 7 inches, 2016.

Wolfgang Tillmans at David Zwirner Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

Digital technology allows us to picture everything in amazing detail, so how do you choose your subject matter as a professional photographer? Wolfgang Tillmans answers this question by continuing to zero in on the exceptional and mundane, picturing his day-to-day world (portraits of friends, laundry piles) and international travels in prints both tiny and monumental in a characteristic salon-style hanging which seems to evoke the randomness of life. (At David Zwirner Gallery through Oct 24th).

Wolfgang Tillmans, installation view of ‘New York Installation PCR’ at David Zwirner Gallery, September, 2015.

Julie Schenkelberg, Swan Song at Asya Geisberg Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

From the heart of the Rust Belt to the heart of Chelsea, scenic designer turned fine artist Julie Schenkelberg has transplanted an installation begun in a disused church basement to Asya Geisberg Gallery. Furniture, dishware, wedding dresses and more combine to create a monument to memory and decay. (In Chelsea through Oct 24th).

Julie Schenkelberg, Swan Song, reclained lath, wood, marble, iron, paper, vintage furniture, dishware, figurines, natural debris, crushed reclaimed metal, light fixtures, vintage wedding dresses, bathtub, wallpaper, plaster, paint, dimensions variable, 2015.

Pinaree Sanpitak at Tyler Rollins Fine Art

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

Inspired by ma-lai flower garlands used in Thai ceremonies, Pinaree Sanpitak continues her interest in artwork related to the female body and experience with this installation of fabric that drains the color from the toile ‘flowers,’ leaving pure forms behind. (At Tyler Rollins Fine Art in Chelsea through Oct 24th).

Pinaree Sanpitak, ‘Ma-Lai: mentally secured,’ toile, 15 pieces, dimensions variable, 2014 – 15.

Sara Cwynar in ‘Continuous Surfaces’ at Andrea Rosen Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

Sara Cwynar’s photo of stacked images of Nefertiti comes at a moment when it’s possible to see images of the ancient Egyptian queen at both the Brooklyn Museum and another Chelsea gallery, reinforcing the idea that much of what we’re seeing in daily life is an oft repeated referent to a distant original. The words ‘ERROR: ioerror’ appear scattered throughout suggesting a corrupting effect to so much mediation. (At Chelsea’s Andrea Rosen Gallery through Oct 24th)

Sara Cwynar, 432 Photographs of Nefertiti, collaged UV coated archival pigment prints mounted to Plexiglas and Dibond, 54 x 43 x 7/8 inches, 2015.

Simon Schubert at Foley Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

Edgar Allan Poe’s stern face dominates one very dark wall of graphite drawings by German artist Simon Schubert at the Lower East Side’s Foley Gallery; on the other, a series of white paper ‘drawings’ are folded to create the lines that picture a staircase with a ghostly figure. The sense of a benign, ghostly presence is palpable. (Through Oct 18th).

Simon Schubert, Untitled (Stairs with Figure), 39.5 x 27.5 inches, 2015.

William Villalongo at Susan Inglett Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

‘You Matter,’ reads a sign in the window of William Villalongo’s current solo show at Susan Inglett Gallery, recalling the refrain from recent protests against police aggression. Inside, the Brooklyn-based artist presents the seasons as skeletons cloaked in glittering black female bodies and dominating lush landscapes – characters at peace and one with nature. (In Chelsea through Oct 17th).

William Villalongo, (detail from) Spring, acrylic, paper and velvet flocking on wood panel, 72 x 36 inches, 2015.

Keltie Ferris at Mitchell-Innes and Nash

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

Brooklyn-based painter Keltie Ferris is known for abstract paintings that recall the city grid, so you’d think she’d relish LA’s road systems on her recent residency there. Instead, she turns her eye skyward in pieces like ‘oRiOn,’ a canvas that hints at a celestial hunter, outlined in vivid color and decorated in a shower of shooting stars. (At Chelsea’s Mitchell-Innes and Nash through Oct 17th).

Keltie Ferris, oRiOn, acrylic and oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches, 2015.

Chuck Close Self Portraits at Pace Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

For his latest show at Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location, Chuck Close continues to replicate mechanical processes by hand in huge self-portraits painted square by square in thin washes of red, blue or yellow paint. (Through Oct 17th).

Chuck Close, Self-Portrait IV, oil on canvas, 96 x 84 inches, 2014-15 (right) and Self-Portrait III, oil on canvas, 101 5/8 x 84 inches, 2014 (to the left).

McArthur Binion at Galerie Lelong

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

Using copies of his birth certificate, pages from his address books and these photos, Chicago-based artist McArthur Binion creates a deeply personal abstract modernism. (At Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong through Oct 17th).

McArthur Binion, MAB: 1971: I, oil paint stick and paper on board, 15 x 15 inches, 2015.

Will Ryman at Paul Kasmin Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

Will Ryman has arranged thousands of paint brushes into soft wavy walls and planted huge metal flower sculptures on the Park Avenue malls, so the political subtext beneath his recent sculpture ‘The Situation Room’ at Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery comes as something of a surprise. Wanting to respond to the famous photos of the Obama administration watching the SEAL raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in 2011, Ryman recreated the scene in coal dust covered sculptures that appear suspended in time as if preserved by a fossil fuel-related Pompeiian disaster. (Through Oct 17th).

Will Ryman, The Situation Room, coal, fiberglass, wood, fabric, epoxy, 132 x 163 x 78 inches, 2014.

Teppei Kaneuji at Jane Lombard Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

Originally inspired by a coffee stain on paper, Kyoto-based artist Teppei Kaneuji elaborated on this Dagwood-esque sandwich to the point of amusing absurdity. Here he combines pieces of wood and plastic food in a mix of ‘natural’ and ‘fake’ that conveys the fun of stacking blocks and the specter of excess calorie consumption. (At Jane Lombard Gallery through Oct 17th).

Teppei Kaneuji, Muddy Stream from a Mug (Sandwich), coffee, paper, wood, plastic objects, urethane resin, 19 ½ x 12 x 10 inches, 2015.

Terry Haggerty, Double Back at Sikkema Jenkins

by Merrily KerrDon't MissPosted on Comments are Disabled

British artist Terry Haggerty takes his illusion-based painting a step further in his solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co by literally projecting his signature undulating ribbons toward the viewer. The normally wall-hugging panels are painted on aluminum supports and appear as if they can’t quite be tamed. (Through Oct 17th).

Terry Haggerty, Double Back, acrylic on aluminum, 81.125 x 36 x 17.75 inches, 2015.