A tattoo of Popeye battling a squid inspired the cartoon-themed body art on this pensive pensioner, an invented character by Rodney Graham. Standing on the balcony of his ‘Vancouver Special’ sporting a rebellious rockabilly style, the character – played by Graham – stands out amid the trappings of middle-class culture. (On view at Chelsea’s 303 Gallery through Feb 23rd).
Displayed on a lightbox, Canadian artist Rodney Graham’s staged photographs are enticing, glowing portals into the past. In this unlikely scenario, a jazz drummer from yesteryear uses his kit as a table for a traditional meal of Salisbury Steak. (At 303 Gallery in Chelsea through June 2nd).
Soon after the scandal over tainted drinking water in Flint, Michigan broke in spring 2016, Matthew Brandt visited the beleaguered General Motors town, creating beautiful images using toxic water. Brandt collected river water and used it to wash over and degrade cyan, magenta and yellow sheets bearing an image of the river’s dam. Recombined in a lightbox, a damaged image represents a devastated landscape. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 21st.)
Shrunken and placed in a jar by the evil genius Braniac, the capital city of Superman’s home planet exists but just out of reach. Mike Kelly takes up the theme of past trauma as ever-present influence on the present in an installation of mixed media installations and lightboxes based on drawings of Kandor culled from comics. (At Venus Over Manhattan through January 28th).
Judith Schaechter’s relatively small stained glass work, ‘Botanical Study,’ opens a show of new work that pits the human body against fabulous depictions of nature in all its rich abundance. Here, Schaechter ignores humans entirely, zeroing in on a single drop of rich plant and insect life, amplifying the wonders of the natural world. (In Chelsea at Claire Oliver Gallery, through Oct 22nd).
