Gauri Gill at James Cohan Gallery

Since 2015, New Delhi-based artist Gauri Gill has worked with indigenous communities and craftsmen in the Indian state of Maharashtra to create arresting photographs of masked people in everyday situations.  In recent work at James Cohan Gallery’s new Tribeca location, Gill continues to be inspired by the masks worn in annual, entire-community performances of religious rituals but has commissioned secular versions that deviate from the normal look and use of such masks.  Collaborating with the individuals in the photos, Gill devises uncanny scenarios that momentarily bridge fictional and real worlds.   (On view at 52 Walker, 2nd floor through Nov 13th.  Masks required.)

Gauri Gill, detail of Untitled (64) from Acts of Appearance, archival pigment print, 60 x 40 inches, 2015 – ongoing.

Ranjani Shettar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Southern Indian sculptor Ranjani Shettar’s concern for threatened rural Indian ecosystems informed her dramatic mezzanine installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ‘Seven ponds and a few raindrops.’  Crafted from organic muslin and bound to a welded and molded steel base with tamarind paste, the piece’s floating organic shapes conjure 3-D scientific models, intricate plant life or alien life.  (On view on the Upper East Side through Sept 16th).

Ranjani Shettar, detail installation view of ‘Seven ponds and a few raindrops’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2018.

Sohei Nishino at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

Sohei Nishino’s charmingly idiosyncratic maps of cities around the world track the Japanese globetrotter’s exploration of metropolitan architecture and populations. Each bricolage results from hundreds of images shot at various vantage points around a given city. In this detail from Nishino’s New Delhi diorama map, the crowds and traffic encroach on the India Gate war memorial, though it retains a space and aura of its own. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through March 4th).

Sohei Nishino, Diorama Map New Delhi, light jet print on Kodak Endura, 70.87 x 79.53 inches, 2013.
Sohei Nishino, Diorama Map New Delhi, light jet print on Kodak Endura, 70.87 x 79.53 inches, 2013.

Anish Kapoor at Barbara Gladstone Gallery

Anish Kapoor’s monumental sculpture ‘She Wolf’ appears to be tipping over under its own weight, or deliberately leaning to the gallery floor from its marble pedestal. Given the title, giant quasi-oval shapes suggest teats, though a covering of soil over the structure’s rocky forms ties it to the earth, creating a kind of living geology. (At Barbara Gladstone Gallery’s 21st Street location through June 11th).

Anish Kapoor, She Wolf, resin, earth and marble, 107 x 355 x 209 inches, 2016.
Anish Kapoor, She Wolf, resin, earth and marble, 107 x 355 x 209 inches, 2016.

Vibha Galhotra at Jack Shainman Gallery

High pollution levels in India’s Yamuna River have inspired New-Delhi based artist Vibha Galhotra to gather water samples and statements from locals, which are included in her latest solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery. Here, the toxic-looking material that appears to ooze down from an unknown source is composed of ghungroos, the bells worn in traditional Indian dance, making a connection to the compromised environment and the female body. (In Chelsea through Dec 5th).

Vibha Galhotra, Flow, nickel coated ghungroos, fabric, polyurethane coat, 129 x 93 ¼ x 112 ½ inches, 2015.