Chicago Imagist Karl Wirsum’s gender ambiguous, robotic characters are an odd mix of human and alien, bionic and freighted by imperfect human bodies. This character – a standout in Derek Eller Gallery’s showcase of 50 years of Wirsum’s drawing – has proportions calculated to puzzle and amaze, from tiny eyes and little apple core mouth that contrast a complex and angular nose to broad shoulders that set off a pair of small feet. (On view on the Lower East Side through Nov 10th).
Three children forge ahead into the unknown on a boat made of braiding hair packaging in this oil-based relief collage on canvas by Yale MFA candidate Kathia St Hilaire. A standout in Derek Eller Gallery’s current group show, St Hilaire’s image features kids venturing forth under a blazing sun to navigate their own identities and paths in life. (On view on the Lower East Side through July 3rd).
Nancy Shaver marshaled work by twenty-four artists to create ‘Quilt,’ a wall collage of Shaver’s own fabric panels and works in other media which spreads out over Derek Eller Gallery’s walls like a kudzu of patterns and pop culture references. (On the Lower East Side through Aug 19th).
Ajay Kurian’s torture machine for Minions slowly pokes into a plastic toy version of this cheery embodiment of evil, a thought-provoking gesture both absurd and sinister. (At Chelsea’s Derek Eller Gallery through August 21st).
Ajay Kurian, What Should We Do with Our Brains?, toy, steel, Plexiglas, linear actuator, arduino board, magic-sculpt, 14.5 x 14 x 24 inches, 2015.
Is digital technology making physical bodies less important? LA artist Peter Harkawik addresses this very contemporary concern with a sculpture that is both a musical instrument and a paean to the human body. Colors on the armature reference brands (like Home Depot orange) while a carefully rendered hand, ear, scrunched bottle and more signal the human touch. (At Derek Eller Gallery through July 10th).
Peter Harkawik, (detail of ) Everything But (Klondike Blue/Pepto Bismol Pink, UPS Brown, Pluot Purple/Home Depot Orange, Risperdal Green/Tiffany Blue, Post-It Note Yellow/Wiffle Ball Yellow, T-Mobile Pink/John Deere Green, Aquafresh Blue, Tiffany Blue), mechanically polished cast stainless steel, electropolished cast stainless steel, 316 stainless steel, 308 stainless steel, carbon steel, Imron fleet paint, SAE F-55 felt, hardware, rubber mallet, 68 x 60 x 16 inches, 2015.
