Stefana McClure in ‘Hand in Hand’ at Bienvenu Steinberg & Partner

Irish artist Stefana McClure’s ‘Protest Stones’ are a clever twist to the theme of ‘Hand in Hand,’ a group exhibition at gallerist Josee Beinvenu’s and curator, advisor and publisher Michael Steinberg’s new Tribeca gallery, Bienvenu Steinberg & Partner.  Featuring artwork that relates in some way to the human hand, the show brings together work by over 30 artists in a variety of media.  Alluding the violence in Northern Ireland during her upbringing, McClure’s stones are for throwing.  Covered in battered text from American poet Adrienne Rich’s text ‘What Kind of Times Are These,’ the words question how we treat each other and who is paying attention.  (On view through Oct 30th).

Stefana McClure, Protest Stones: What Kind of Times Are These: a poem by Adrienne Rich, poetry-wrapped stones, waxed twine, cut nail, 18h x 8w x 4d inches, 2021.

Tuan Andrew Nguyen at jamescohan.com

The centerpiece of Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s current on-line show at James Cohan Gallery is  ‘The Boat People,’ a video about a heroic group of survivor children who’ve become the last humans alive.  They parade through their lonely world carrying wooden artifacts (sculpture hand crafted in Bataan, Philippines) that speak to war and migration pre-apocalypse.  The Bodhisattva Guanyin reappears throughout the exhibition (here making a benevolent gesture), repeatedly orienting the narrative toward compassion.  In a must-see video, Nguyen explains that the dark, burned areas on the wood point to fire as ‘a strong metaphor for freedom and liberation, both spiritual and political.’ (On view through May 3rd).

Tuan Andrew Nguyen, The Offering Of A Sentient Cry (detail – right hand only), hand-carved gmelina wood, 26.5 x 15.5 x 9 inches, 2019.

Clive Smith at Marc Straus Gallery

Once so abundant in the U.S. that their flocks sounded like thunder as they darkened the sky, passenger pigeons were hunted to extinction by the early 20th century. The final survivor, Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo over one hundred years ago, but inspired New York-based British realist painter Clive Smith’s painting of a commemorative plate, now on view at Marc Straus Gallery on the Lower East Side. Titled ‘Beak, Claw, Hand, Brush,’ this and other works in Smith’s series equate the labor of beak and hand, soberly suggesting that our own future may go the way of the passenger pigeon. (On view through Feb 9th).

Clive Smith, Beak, Claw, Hand, Brush, (1.9.1914), oil on linen, 54 x 71 inches, 2017.

Matt Bollinger at Zurcher Gallery

A heavy, fascinating stillness pervades Matt Bollinger’s paintings and animation at Zurcher Gallery on the Lower East Side, extending even to this sculpture of a hand ashing a cigarette. The hand (crafted in resin and foam with painted highlights) looks like it’s been extracted from a painting, miraculously appearing in 3-D form before us. (On view through Dec 21st).

Matt Bollinger, Ash, resin, foam, wood and acrylic, 11 x 12 x 12 inches, 2017.

Ellen Macdonald at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

London-based painter Ellen Macdonald snaps her audience to attention by juxtaposing abstraction and figuration in this painting of a hand and a neighboring abstract work composed of looping lines on a vivid orange background. (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side through August 14th).

Ellen Macdonald, Untitled (U include the, wall between and you), oil on linen, 24 x 18 inches, 2015.