Karyn Olivier at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Shirt sleeves, pant legs, scarves and other clothing fragments peek out intriguingly from between layers of red brick at the entrance to Karyn Olivier’s current solo show at Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.  On the reverse side of this floor to ceiling wall, the rest of each garment hangs in a mass collage of color and pattern Titled ‘Fortified,’ the piece suggests a barrier erected and made strong by the people.  (On view in Chelsea through July 30th).

Karyn Olivier, Fortified, bricks, used clothing and steel, 144 x 240 x 30 inches, 2018-2020.

Women’s History Museum at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

Designers Amanda McGowan and Mattie Rivkah Barringer, who create garments under the name Women’s History Museum, explore a barely-there aesthetic partly inspired by their experience of tiny, ‘almost unintelligible’ Instagram images of clothing.  Though this outfit looks like it may be worn by a fashion-conscious desert island cast-away, the mannequin’s position before a faux-cottage suggests a whimsical escapee from a fairy-tale.  (On view at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise on the Lower East Side through February 25th).

Installation view of ‘Women’s History Museum’ (Amanda McGowan and Mattie Rivkah Barringer) at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, Feb 2018.

Cheryl Donegan in ‘Alan Shields Project’ at Van Doren Waxter

Late artist Alan Shields was no stranger to the sewing machine or to using canvas to construct colorful abstractions. In an homage exhibition that makes connections between Shields’ work and that of younger colleagues, Cheryl Donegan’s track suits manipulate clothing prints, which are then printed onto new garments, complicating the path from idea to product. (On view at Van Doren Waxter on the Lower East Side through Feb 24th).

Cheryl Donegan, Extra Layer Tracksuits (Peacock) and (Squares), Size S, nylon material with poly trim, made in cooperation with Print All Over Me, (order from paom.com), 2016/17.

Eva Lake at Frosch & Portmann

Eva Lake’s small collages at Lower East Side gallery Frosh & Portman elegantly remix Egyptian and 20th century fashions in a strangely congruous merger of the ancient and modern. (On view through July 16th).

Eva Lake, My Egypt, no 22, collage 13.25 x 9.5 inches, 2017.

Thornton Dial at Marianne Boesky Gallery

A ghostly face and a walking figure arise out of a tangle of clothing in Thornton Dial’s energetic 2007 work ‘Winter Jackets.’ The late self-taught artist returns to political themes in this show – the first since his passing in January. Here, we ponder the movement of a solitary (uniformed?) individual who strides forward with purpose. (At Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea through June 18th).

Thornton Dial, Winter Jackets, clothing, enamel and spray paint on canvas on wood, 80 x 66 x 2 inches, 2007.
Thornton Dial, Winter Jackets, clothing, enamel and spray paint on canvas on wood, 80 x 66 x 2 inches, 2007.