Bjorn Friborg at HB381 Gallery

In defiance of the material’s apparent fragility, Danish glassmaker Bjorn Friborg appears to blast through glass spheres, creating portals that allow us to peer through solid forms at Tribeca’s HB381 Gallery.  A metaphor for ‘exposing and revealing the inner self,’ these apertures are created by adding hot material to blown glass and allowing for melting and further color changes with the application of flame.  (On view through Aug 18th).

Bjorn Friborg, Implosion, hand-blown glass, 21.25” h x 17” dia, 2023.

Peter Linde Busk at Derek Eller Gallery

Whether she is Venus, Sister Ray (a Velvet Underground character), or Penthesilea, the Amazonian Queen, Danish artist Peter Linde Busk’s recurring female character has a jittery, incomplete quality owing to her construction from cast-off and fragmentary materials. Here, Smalti, natural stones, ceramics and more compose a faceless, imperfect creature. (At Derek Eller Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 19th).

Peter Linde Busk, Sister Ray, Smalti, natural stones, fired and glazed ceramics, lithographic stones, glass, plaster, grout, artist oak frame, 94.5 x 59 x 2.75 inches, 2016.
Peter Linde Busk, Sister Ray, Smalti, natural stones, fired and glazed ceramics, lithographic stones, glass, plaster, grout, artist oak frame, 94.5 x 59 x 2.75 inches, 2016.

Jacob Aue Sobol at Yossi Milo Gallery

Gritty doesn’t begin to describe Danish artist Jacob Aue Sobol’s photographs taken along the Trans-Siberian Railway, now on view at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea. This man’s face and the wall behind him are marked with use; the alarmed person in the line drawing begs the question of the man’s psychological state. (Through Aug 28th).

Jacob Aue Sobol, from the series Arrivals and Departures, Untitled #16, gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 inches, 2012.

Nina Beier at Metro Pictures

Strange objects – a fish, emu egg shells, pills – in resin fill super-sized glasses scattered on the floor of Danish artist Nina Beier’s New York solo debut at Metro Pictures. In the foreground, a snake curls around a ruler, an enigmatic image inspired by stock photo images that suggests a nasty surprise for the incautious drinker. (Through May 23rd).

Nina Beier, Plunge, snake, ruler, resin, martini glass, 24 ¼ x 13 1/8 x 13 1/8 inches, 2015.

Joachim Koester at Greene Naftali

Brooklyn-based Danish artist Joachim Koester channels the wild west in a distinctly avant-garde way in his absorbing video installation, The Place of Dead Roads, in which dancers dressed as grubby gunslingers move around an eerie boarded-up space as if locked in a tense shootout, all without weapons or an obvious enemy. (At Chelsea’s GreenNaftali through Feb 14th).

Joachim Koester, The Place of Dead Roads, HD video installation, color, sound, 33:30 min, 2013.