Nigel Cooke at pacegallery.com

After presenting paintings of lone figures at Pace Gallery’s new 25th Street headquarters in February of this year (a highlight of which is pictured here), British painter Nigel Cooke is back at pacegallery.com with new characters made while working in isolation.  Working at night has created an even more solitary environment for the artist from which he’s tried to capture how ‘perceptions are always changing when things are uncertain.’  Collectively titled ‘Midnights,’ each new work carries titles like ‘Shore,’ ‘Waiting’ or ‘Islands,’ that speak to the idea of a figure looking out to sea. (On view at pacegallery.com through June 2nd).

Nigel Cooke, Actaeon, oil and acrylic on linen, 88 9/16 x 64 9/16 inches, 2019.

William King at Derek Eller Gallery

With their squat bodies, long legs and tiny heads, William King’s sculpted caricatures of important men or at least self-important ones are a highlight of Derek Eller Gallery’s current group show. Arms akimbo, each seems to demand to know what’s going on, as if they don’t quite approve of the work of nearby paintings on clothing by Annabeth Marks, Annie Pearlman’s vivid abstractions and Rachel Eulena Williams’ stitched canvases. (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 11th.)

William King, Red and Black, vinyl, aluminum, 73 x 37 x 17 inches, c. 1985.

Pieter Schoolwerth at Miguel Abreu Gallery

How do you make representational painting in the digital age, when bodies no longer have to be near each other to interact? Pieter Schoolwerth ponders this in a multi-step process that involves photographing figures and shadows, drawing them, altering them in the computer, creating them in foam core or wood and printing and painting on canvas. The resulting images are convincingly attractive but unsatisfying – in this enigmatic relief sculpture depicting a student center, various figures are together but don’t connect. (At Miguel Abreu Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 28th).

Pieter Schoolwerth, Model for “Student Center,” enamel on wood, 54 3/8 x 47 ¼ x 7 ½ inches, 2017.

 

Vanessa German at Pavel Zoubok Gallery

Pittsburgh-based artist Vanessa German assembles a stunningly arrayed army of folk characters for her current show at Chelsea’s Pavel Zoubok Gallery. The figure in the foreground holds a lantern aloft as if to metaphorically light the way forward; a mother with an astounding headdress of ceramic devotional sculpture holds her limp child to the right; a figure at back speaks for social justice by holding up a stop sign. (Through Nov 30th).

Vanessa German, installation view of ‘I Am Armed.  I Am an Army’ at Pavel Zoubok Gallery.  Foreground:  ‘no admittance apply at office,’ mixed-media assemblage, 73 x 30 x 16 inches, 2016.
Vanessa German, installation view of ‘I Am Armed. I Am an Army’ at Pavel Zoubok Gallery. Foreground: ‘no admittance apply at office,’ mixed-media assemblage, 73 x 30 x 16 inches, 2016.

Denise Kupferschmidt at 11 Rivington

One wall is not enough for Denise Kupferschmidt’s abstracted human figures at Eleven Rivington. On the gallery floor, two feet and a head lie like scattered afterthoughts while solid figures run along the wall as if rendered in an extra bold font. The effect is strong yet comic, drawing us into Kupferschmidt’s imagined population. (On the Lower East Side through Oct 18th).

Installation view of wall mural and sculpture by Denise Kupferschmidt at Eleven Rivington Gallery, Sept 2015.