Contemporary art inspires. Take your on-line engagement with art to a deeper level on a remote gallery tour. Join Merrily on an hour-long virtual walk through of some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking shows of the moment, seeing and discussing images and video. Tours take place via Zoom. 50% of profits in April go to New York City’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.
The chemical smell of ‘Stockpot’ – a Porta potty on rockers – hits immediately at Nathaniel de Large’s solo show at 247365 on the Lower East Side. This surprising sculpture opens a show inspired by de Large’s time spent camping in a Brooklyn parking lot. Further in, the artist displays a puffer jacket the size of a camper (which serves as a screening room) and freshly poured concrete ‘sidewalks’ into which friends have carved their marks. (On view through March 10th).
Johannes VanDerBeek’s thick aqua-resin paintings at new Lower East Side gallery Marinaro look like highly colored views from under the microscope. Looser than Joan Miro and freer and more abstract than Yves Tanguy, the work still channels Surrealism and early 20th century abstraction. (On view through March 19th).
Though he has focused on the female form in past, pared down representations, a large, pink-hued highlight of John Finneran’s latest solo show at 47 Canal features three kings. Resembling archaic designs and featuring universal geometries, they appear both ancient and contemporary. (On the Lower East Side through April 2nd).
Nestled next to a pile of discarded Christmas trees, a figure resembling early 20th century Dada artist Hugo Ball is partially encased in an icy-blue material in the centerpiece of Joanna Malinowska’s latest solo show at Canada New York. In the past, Malinowska has considered Ball and other iconic artists in relation to non-western art practice; here, he appears to be have collected as part of a beaver dam and paralyzed by a block of ice. (On the Lower East Side through March 12th).
Young Brooklyn-based artist Jordan Kasey channels Picasso’s monumental females, Botero’s swollen figures and a sense of the surreal in her huge paintings, now on view at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. With faces mostly cropped out, ‘Poolside’ foregrounds log-like stacks of limbs belonging to a brand new breed of weighty Titans. (On the Lower East Side through March 12th).
Architect Charles Platt’s glass-wall contemporary designs are a world away from his collage, now on view on the Lower East Side at Freight and Volume Gallery. This pair of overalls, mounted to canvas and titled ‘The Hired Man’ literally turns the notion of work for hire inside out. (Through Feb 26th).
In an eighteen-screen installation set in a warren of cubicles at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, French-Algerian artist Kader Attia explores western vs non-western approaches to mental health in a series of monologues by European and African health professionals. The dehumanizing office environment contrasts the intimacy of each screening space, resulting in an unsettling experience that invites new discoveries. (At Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side location through March 4th).
Using fiber from sheep selectively bred to increase genetic diversity, Channing Hansen creates abstract knit works that derive their patterns from an algorithm that makes use of his own DNA. Complicated back story aside, the artworks entice by evoking the body and the landscapes in vivid color and a wealth of texture. (At CRG Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 25th).
In 1977, James Wines partially buried twenty cars in a strip mall parking lot in Hamden, CT then covered them with asphalt to create an eerie auto graveyard. This maquette for that project, part of a group show at P! gallery on the Lower East Side, conveys a sense of quiet and disbelief upon discovering what looks like remains buried by ash. (Through Feb 26th).
At over eight feet tall, this structure of welded aluminum tubes by Emil Lukas not only dominates Sperone Westwater’s small back gallery, it commandeers our vision. By leading our gaze toward a single point on the wall behind, it melds sculpture with the role of painting and drawing by creating one-point perspective. (On the Lower East Side through Feb 11th).
The huge portal dominating Daniel Heidkamp’s hotel room painting leads us into more than we might expect. From what looks to be one of the Maritime Hotel’s distinctive windows, Heidkamp shuffles the New York skyline and offers glimpses of a ballet rehearsal in a building that only exists in this painting. It feels surprisingly daring to rearrange New York’s built environment and particularly appropriate as construction booms in the city. (At Derek Eller Gallery through Feb 5th).
Roger White’s new oil paintings at Rachel Uffner Gallery approach the wondrous in the everyday – a mirror reflects light, an array of mushrooms grows from a bag – but the artist amps up the drama in this picture of fire on a river. Has there been a chemical spill? Is this a miracle? A sci-fi scene? This small, intriguingly moody canvas asks good questions. (On the Lower East Side through Feb 19th).
Karen Heagle’s sumptuous, gold leaved paintings of scavengers, predators and fallen prey are irresistible, even at their goriest moments. On a solitary drawing, the text ‘The Unwashed Masses’ hints that Heagle’s interests stray beyond the lifecycle of animals to reflect on humanity’s ‘natural’ inclination to violence. (At On Stellar Rays on the Lower East Side through Feb 19th).
Fit for a student or a teacher, this monumental painted shoe not only holds scissors, pens and other school supplies, it’s a history lesson all on its own, from the cave paintings to a digitally rendered portrait in green lines. Titled after Magritte’s Le Modele Rouge (a painting of boots that take on the appearance of bare feet), Henry Gunderson’s update is more practical than surreal, but no less fun to ponder. (At 247365 Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 5th).
Sandwiched on the wall between two roughly lettered signs reading, ‘The End is Here’ and the enigmatic ‘You Are Pretty Good,’ Jim Torok’s photo-realist renderings of friends and acquaintances like ‘Jennifer’ bring the artist’s thoughts and his community together in the quiet of the gallery. (At Pierogi through Feb 12th).
Young New York painter Anna Glantz enters an odd-dreamlike world in all of her new paintings at 11R, none more so than in ‘Britney’s Season,’ in which we follow a blond figure down a mysterious staircase amid tiny, floating pumpkins and golf tees. (On the Lower East Side through Jan 15th).
A tiny, parched figure gasps for water, a protesting crowd descends to a pool of water and here, an overloaded boat of migrants braves choppy waters in dramatic ring box dioramas by Canadian artist Curtis Talwst Santiago. Seen in Lilliputian scale, Santiago’s characters seem to be at the mercy of the elements and other forces beyond their control as they struggle onward. (At Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through Jan 8th).
In her typically understated manner, Eleanor Ray treats the dramatic Icelandic landscape of Isafjordur as almost secondary to its town’s orderly buildings. Long shadows suggest a day drawing to a close or just beginning yet Ray’s painting argues for the importance of this solitary moment. (At Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects on the Lower East Side through Jan 8th).
Paris-based Belgian photographer Tomas Van Houtryve captured this eerie scene – dominated by long human shadows and strange white grids – by flying a drone over a school in California as kids played below. Bold geometries and stark tonal contrasts make each picture look strange, playing to Van Houtryve’s point that drones are increasingly prevalent, yet we see little of them and what they see. (At Anastasia Photo on the Lower East Side through Dec 31st).
Energized by the inauguration of President Obama in 2008, New York artist-provocateur Rob Pruitt started painting a picture of the president daily, sourcing his images from the news. All paintings completed up to the start of the show are included at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, where this unusual monument to the nation’s leader and to Pruitt’s endurance will be on view through the end of the week. (On the Lower East Side through Dec 18th).
Wave patterns appear to literally rise up from the surface of Ara Peterson’s acrylic-on-wood surfaces. Here, a shifting spectrum of hot and cool colors ripples like the surface of water. (At Derek Eller Gallery through Dec 23rd).
Young Toronto-based painter Vanessa Maltese has a different take on the shoe as object d’art. In a show titled, ‘Company,’ it appears that she has invited guests who have removed their shoes in an empty gallery, then disappeared. In fact, each piece of footware is cast aluminum, painted in oil. Too clean to compare to Van Gogh’s famous paintings of heavily used shoes, these sneakers have some travels yet to complete. (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 22nd).
Veteran painter Susan Rothenberg’s huge red bird is an arresting standout in a solo show stocked with tense paintings of animals in intense, fraught colors. (At Sperone Westwater Gallery through Dec 20th).
Rome-based artist Giacinto Occhionero creates his atmospheric abstractions by applying orbs of spray paint to the back of Plexi, then adding layers of color. Here, he evokes both a moonlit night and a fiery sunset as seen from a terrace. (At Kristen Lorello Gallery through Dec 22nd).
‘My sculptures speak of life…among spirits,’ says Warsaw-based sculptor Roman Stanczak, whose carefully destroyed bedside table at LES Bureau Gallery suggests a particularly haunted mental state. (Through Oct 25th).
Roman Stanczak, From 2nd to 3rd, wooden cupboard, wood chips, 22.75 x 38 x 39.25 inches, 2015.
Parakeets without owners occupy the upper reaches of Louis B James Gallery, while rubble shipped in suitcases from the Syrian/Turkish border is strewn on the floor, creating a situation that prompts meditation on freedom and migration by Austrian born, NY-based artist Martin Roth. (On the Lower East Side through Oct 18th).
Martin Roth, installation view of ‘untitled (debris)’ at Louis B. James Gallery, Oct 2015.
In 1973, the British government handed over the Chagos Islands to the US to use for military operations, claiming that they were uninhabited. Island resident Clement Siatous paints evidence to the contrary in a series of palpably wistful paintings inspired by memories from his childhood. Here, the Nordver removes citizens of Diego Garcia, leaving behind homes, animals and a cultural heritage. (At Simon Preston Gallery on the Lower East Side through Oct 18th. More info at http://newatlantisproject.com/)
Clement Siatous, Dernier Voyage des Chagossiens a bord du Nordvar anrade Diego Garcia, en 1973, acrylic on linen, 26 x 45.75 inches, 2006.
Paris-based Morgane Tschiember uses Tracy Wiliams’ new Lower East Side space to great effect with this handsome installation of compromised, suspended vessels set off by the huge wall painting ‘Falls.’ (Through Nov 1st).
Morgane Tschiember, installation view of ‘Almost a Kiss’ at Tracy Williams Ltd. on the Lower East Side, Sept 2015.
Enter LA artist Samara Golden’s full-gallery installation at Canada on the Lower East Side, and prepare to be jolted from the everyday – the floor under a catwalk is lined with mirrors and furniture fixed to the wall in a gravity-defying display the invites visitors to let loose from their moorings and play ‘what if.’ (Through Oct 25th).
Samara Golden, installation view of ‘A Fall of Corners’ at Canada Gallery, Sept 2015.
San Francisco Mission School artist Alicia McCarthy presents signature grids and more at Jack Hanley on the Lower East Side, including this pulsing lattice, marred (or made perfect?) by a blur of grey paint. (Through Oct 11th).
Alicia McCarthy, Untitled, gouache and spray and latex paint on wood panel, 96 x 96 inches, 2015.
Normally, this tiny art gallery exists on-line only as virtual gallery ‘Water McBeer,’ run by artist Henry Gunderson. On the occasion of Gunderson’s solo show in 247365 Gallery’s main space, it has stepped into the realm of the real to show miniature artwork by an impressive roster of artists including Carol Bove’s caterpillar, recognizable from bigger versions on the High Line. (Through Oct 11th).
‘In Appearance of Order,’ including work by Carol Bove, Ajay Kurian, Nathaniel de Large, and Jessie Stead, Sept 2015.
A faintly suggested head of blond hair and delicate facial features on Ganymede as he is abducted by Zeus – an eagle with a wizened expression – succinctly tell an ancient tale in Kyle Staver’s graphically simple, wonderfully imagined reworking of the Greek myth. (At Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects on the Lower East Side through Oct 11th).
Kyle Staver, Ganymede, oil on canvas, 68 x 58 inches, 2015.
Biomorphic abstraction becomes even more a treat for the eyes under the hand of Rhode Island based artist Bayne Peterson as he morphs materials like plywood died in layers and powdered granite into sensuously curvy sculptures at Lower East Side gallery Kristin Lorello. (Through Nov 1st).
Installation view of Bayne Peterson and Nadia Haji Omar at Kristin Lorello. Foreground: Bayne Peterson, Untitled (Greens, Wood and Stone), dyed plywood, dyed epoxy, powdered granite, resin, 10.5 x 6 x 8 inches.
Titles like ‘Spring Shadow’ or ‘Noon Ashes’ evoke places and moods beyond the everyday in Julia Bland’s show of attractive, fabric-based constructions. Here, ‘Lines from Memory’ suggests a series of portals constructed from an arrangement of dyed textile and lattices. (At On Stellar Rays on the Lower East Side through Oct 25th).
Julia Bland, Lines from Memory, silk, linen, wool, oil paint, and dye, 88 ½ x 83 inches, 2015.
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.
Paintings of jungles, tropical fruit, and monkeys and sculptures of snakes and strange flora make ‘Tiger, Tiger’ at Salon94 Bowery one of the lushest shows open in New York this summer. Yutaka Sone’s folk-art inflected rattan and steel palm in the foreground sets the laid-back tone. (On the Lower East Side through August 21st).
Installation view of Tiger, Tiger at Salon94 Bowery, July 2015. (foreground: Yutaka Sone, Tropical Composition/Traveler’s Palm #1, rattan and steel, 143 x 165 x 24 inches, 2011.
Visit a New York City park in the summer and you’ll find clusters of kids filling water balloons at fountains identical to LA artist Fiona Connor’s handmade replica of a cast concrete water fountain. Connor’s indoor version offers more peaceful and contemplative refreshment, however, on its own in the back room of Lisa Cooley Gallery. (On the Lower East Side through August 21st).
Fiona Connor, On What Remains (fountain), concrete, EPS foam, antique brass hardware, plumbing supplies, steel, ply, paint and coatings, car battery, Jabsco pump, potable water, 36 x 24 x 36 inches, 2015.
Belgian artist Patrick Van Caeckenbergh’s meticulous drawings resemble photographs but record trees embellished by his imagination into wondrous monstrosities. (At Lehmann Maupin Gallery on the Lower East Side through August 21st).
Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Drawing of Old Trees during wintry days 2007-2014, pencil and paint on paper, 21.06 x 30.79 inches, 2007 – 2014.
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.
In the still of Simon Preston Gallery, Paris-based artist Pepo Salazar stretches a slim yet commandeering text reading ‘noise’ from wall to wall, forcing visitors to step gingerly through an artwork inspired by heavy metal music fonts. (On the Lower East Side through August 8th.)
Pepo Salazar, Noise, steel, 843 x 331 x 10.16 cm, 2008-2015.
A stolen sign from Gagosian Gallery’s Berlin location excites speculation on how artist Marc Bijl came by it and why. Gagosian Gallery’s polished reputation is at odds with the scrappy silver-taped board on which its sign now rests, suggesting a reversal of fortunes for this abducted fragment. (At Marc Straus Gallery through July 31st).
Marc Bijl, Collateral Image, stolen Gagosian Berlin sign, found poster, tape, acrylic on board, 43 x 60 ¼ inches, 2006.
The wreckage of international consumer culture continues to inspire sculptures by Italian artists Bertozzi & Casoni, now on view at Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side. Here, storks nest in stick and tin can nests atop a dismal pillar of old tires and old drums. (Through July 31st).
Bertozzi & Casoni, Composizione n. 12 (Cicogne), glazed ceramic, 137 ¾ x 63 x 60 5/8 inches, 2008.
For his first show in the US, Oslo-based artist Eirik Saether suggests strange, hybrid identities with furry cast feet and hand-stitched skirt. (At 47 Canal on the LES through July 31st.)
Eirik Saether, Staplass (Throat infection), printed silk and textile acrylic on fleece blanket; steel cast polyurethane, fur, dog collar, steel chain, polyester, printed denim, 2015.
Ceramic artists Amy Bessone and Matthias Merkel Hess meet in Salon94 Freemans for a two-person show juxtaposing her female torsos, shaped as empty vessels (maybe vases?), and his containers derived from everyday items like paint buckets and wastebaskets. Bessone’s containers pick up on the long association between vessels and the female body in art history, and provocatively change Hess’s work by their proximity. (On the Lower East Side through August 21st).
Installation view of Torsos and Buckets, featuring work by Amy Bessone and Matthias Merkel Hess, July 2015.
Given that Marlborough Gallery’s first show in its Lower East Side space was themed on pizza, an exhibition titled ‘Marlborough Lights’ had to happen sooner or later. Here, Josh Smith’s jack o’ lantern basketball lights the way back to Sadie Laska’s magically glowing, alien-like creature and Oscar Tuazon’s blocky, street-light-like lamp. (Through Aug 1st).
Josh Smith, Illuminated Jackal Lantern Basketball, ceramic, wooden stool, light bulb, socket and wire, ceramic: 8 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 2015.
How do you make a show that’s the ‘antithesis of a white male abstract painting show?’ With inclusiveness and anti-status quo intentions, artist and curator Mae Fatto has hung work by female (and male) artists who push the idea of what abstract art should be – from Wilder Alison’s banner-like work hanging from the rafters to Annabeth Marks’ soft-shaped intense blue canvas to Ana Cardoso’s acrylic and digital print panels stretching up the gallery walls. (At Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through July 31st).
Installation view of ‘Old Truths and New Lies’ at Rachel Uffner Gallery, July 2015.
An overturned boat on an inverted ocean, a neon shape grouped with three dried tobacco leaves and nests made by pet finches are three standout works in Marianne Boesky Gallery’s summer group show ‘Ordering Nature,’ organized by Kelly Woods. Whether they’re seen as collaborations with or manipulations of nature, the show’s ephemeral artworks tread lightly on the natural world, evoking wonder. (On the Lower East Side through July 31st).
Installation view of ‘Ordering Nature’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery’s 20 Clinton Street address on the Lower East Side, July 2015.
Wall mounted sculptures made of cast marble dust by Hudson, NY artist Conor Backman at James Fuentes Gallery feature faux-lichen, suggesting salvaged architectural fragments with hints of possible historical significance. (On the Lower East Side through July 24th).
Conor Backman, installation view at James Fuentes Gallery, July 2015 (foreground: Monday and Sunday, marble dust, resin, cast aquaresin, 2015).
Inspired by his own experiences and memories, New York-based Japanese artist Atsushi Kaga displays over 100 paintings and sculptures in his current show at Jack Hanley Gallery featuring his alter ego, an adventuresome bunny. The creature’s cute quips are engaging, as is his friendship with the bear, though a sad sense of isolation pervades. (On the Lower East Side through July 31st.)
Atsushi Kaga, Like this?, acrylic on board, 15 x 19 cm, 2014.
After a stand-out show featuring paintings of sporty girls at Kerry Schuss Gallery last fall, Jane Corrigan is back on the Lower East Side with three large canvases at Feuer/Mesler. It’s hard to tell if the ragtag subject of ‘Gatherer’ is eyeballing us or her scattered carrots with a wild look; either way, the effect is disarming. (Through July 31st.)
Jane Corrigan, Gatherer, oil on canvas, 70 x 50 inches, 2015.
New York artist Richard Dupont inaugurates Tracy Williams Ltd‘s new Lower East Side location with sculptures and drawings of distorted bodies that recall both digital effects and fun-house mirrors. (Through July 29th).
Richard Dupont, Lauren, Marylene 1, bronze (polished), 30 x 17.5 x 8 inches, 2014-15.
In the spirit of Sherry Levine’s iconic rephotographing of Walker Evans 1930s photos, Lisa Ruyter’s latest paintings reproduce photos from the Farm Security Administration’s archive of images shot during the Great Depression. In Ruyter’s words the images are, ‘a record of what was already being lost to Americans even as it was being constructed, an American dream of self-determination, independence and freedom.’ (At Eleven Rivington through July 3rd).
Lisa Ruyter, Russell Lee: Mother and child of agricultural day laborers family encamped near Spiro. Sequoyah County Oklahoma, acrylic on canvas, 78.74 x 39.37 inches, 2014.
Faux fur pom poms and cute stuffed penguins move in response to gallery visitors, creating rough portraits in Israeli-American artist Daniel Rozin’s solo show at Bitforms on the Lower East Side. (Through July 1st).
Daniel Rozin, Pom Pom Mirror, 928 faux fur pom poms, 464 motors, control electronics, video camera, custom software, microcontroller, wooden armature, 48 x 48 x 18 inches, 2015.
Clashing juxtapositions of patterns and color, a doubled figure (or tripled if you include the shadow), flatten shapes and simplified figures quote canonical 20th century artists from Magritte to Picasso, suggesting we look to the past to see the present in this surreal scenario by Chicago artist Jonathan Gardner. (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery through June 28th).
Jonathan Gardner, The Shadow, oil on linen, 36 x 22 inches, 2015.
What do your windows say about you? London-based artist Caragh Thuring’s new paintings were inspired by the window displays of Dutch homes she photographed, which she sees as self-portraiture and a unique portal between public and private spaces. (At Simon Preston Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 21st).
Caragh Thuring, Sharp Sand, oil, gesso, pigment, graphite on linen, 84 x 60 inches, 2015.
Huge whispering heads with combined features of several people tower over visitors to Tony Oursler’s latest solo show at Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side space. Inspired by his wariness of facial recognition technology, Oursler creates hybrid faces composed not of a unified whole but of identifiable parts ready to be stored as info in a database. (Through June 14th).
Tony Oursler, CV (15), wood, LCD screens, inkjet print, sound, performed by Jason Scott Henderson and Joanna Smolenski, 106 x 71.5 x 30.5 inches, 2015.
Photos taken just last year on a road trip between Zurich and Tehran are the subject of Tehran born, Zurich-based artist Shirana Shahbazi’s solo show at LES gallery On Stellar Rays, but her printing technique (two-color lithography) and age-old scenery create timeless, captivating scenes. (Through June 14th).
Shirana Shahbazi, Wuste, two-color lithography on Zerkall Butten paper, 20 ¼ x 26 inches, 2014.
It’s not unusual to see second hand clothing as an art material in New York galleries, but no one quite turns it into the unique sculptural and painting surface that LA-based Japanese artist Aiko Hachisuka does. Here, in her installation on the Lower East Side at Eleven Rivington, columns covered in printed fabrics make dramatics statements from close and far. (Through May 17th).
Aiko Hachisuka, installation view at Eleven Rivington, April 2015.
Saying her art practice is about ‘mistranslating the history of ancient objects,’ Brooklyn-based sculptor Sarah Peters ‘misinterprets’ Akkadian rulers, Greek busts and more with stunning results in several bronze heads at LES gallery Eleven Rivington. (Through May 17th).
Sarah Peters, Portrait of a Bearded Man with Triangular Base, bronze, 17.5 x 7 x 13 inches, 2015.
Mariah Dekkenga’s vibrantly colored untitled abstraction is a standout in The Hole’s ‘post-analogue’ painting group show on the LES. Developed in Adobe Illustrator and transferred to canvas by hand, Dekkenga’s paintings feature obviously hand-applied thick paint as well as blurs and gradients that suggest the digital. (Through May 24th).
Mariah Dekkenga, Untitled (6), oil and acrylic on linen, 32 x 64 inches, 2015.
Washington DC-based artist Jonathan Monaghan’s ‘Pavilion’ births giant contemporary Faberge eggs with surfaces composed of luxury goods and upholstery, demonstrating how money begets money. (At Bitforms on the LES through May 3rd).
Jonathan Monaghan, The Pavilion, animated HD film, 3 min, seamless loop, 2014.
Inspired by ceramic traditions from Islamic Fritware to Wedgewood figurines, New York artist Francesca DiMattio irreverently combines them all in towering ceramics that recall totemic human figures. (At Salon94 Bowery on the Lower East Side through May 7th).
Francesca DiMattio, (foreground) Fetish Sculpture, glaze on porcelain and stoneware, 87 x 20 x 20 inches, 2015. (background) Chandelabra II, glaze and luster on porcelain and stoneware, epoxy, steel frame, 120 x 96 x 96 inches, 2015.
One day while cleaning, artist Pieter Schoolwerth exclaimed in frustration, ‘This vacuum sucks!’ This unintended truism launched the idea for a show – can a vacuum do anything other than suck? Schoolwerth’s paintings and installation at Miguel Abreu Gallery show humans sucked into another dimension, speaking from the void and holding a vacuum hose like a mic. (Through May 3rd).
Pieter Schoolwerth, installation view of ‘Your Vacuum Blows, which Sucks,’ at Miguel Abreu Gallery, March 2015.
For creepy, nothing quiet matches young French artist Renaud Jerez’s bug-eyed, chicken-footed, PVC skeleton at James Fuentes Gallery on the Lower East Side. Similar sculptures in the New Museum’s Triennial, cobbled together and slightly burnt characters, suggest post-apocalyptic survivors. (Through April 26th).
Renaud Jerez, TJS 1, burnt PVC pipe, aluminum, cotton, string, satellite cable, web cams, duct tape, plastic tubing, polyester and denim clothing with rubber feet, 79 x 29.5 x 32 inches, unique, 2015.
Liu Wei’s three sculptures of fortress-like cities made of carved books, are high on towers of bedrock that appear to be splitting apart, suggesting both destruction and crystalline growth. (At Lehmann Maupin on the Lower East Side through April 18th).
Liu Wei, Library II-II, books, wood, iron, and hardware, 2013.
Laura Lancaster was inspired to paint from old photos in which she couldn’t tell herself apart from her twin sister. For her debut show in New York, the Newcastle, England-based artist culled images from found home movie reels, pictures that are still energized by uncertainty. (At Sargent’s Daughters on the Lower East Side through April 19th).
Laura Lancaster, untitled, oil on board, 51 x 90 inches, 2015.
Stockholm-based artist Anton Alvarez has turned Salon94’s Freeman Alley space into his studio this month to construct new works using his ‘thread wrapping machine.’ Pictured here with an assistant, Alvarez (rear) guides an object into the machine’s opening, allowing glue coated thread (each a different color) to wrap around and create a pattern. (Through May 9th – see Salon94.com for a schedule of Alvarez’s studio hours).
Anton Alvarez, installation view of ‘Wrapsody,’ at Salon94 Freemans, April 2015.
A selection of small sculptures made by kinetic installation artist Jon Kessler and given as gifts over the years to family and friends, now presented at Salon94 Freemans, is a change of pace but no less zany than the artist’s major works. (On the Lower East Side through March 28th).
Jon Kessler, Keeper of the Key, mixed media, 13 x 8.5 x 5 inches, 2013.
Using colorful corrugated thermoplastic, British artist Matthew Darbyshire has recreated often-seen items in Airbnb listings, making an otherwise unlikely connection between Michelangelo’s David and an old industrial radiator. (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 29th).
Matthew Darbyshire, CAPTCHA No. 24- David (foreground), multi-wall polycarbonate, silicone and steel armature, 78.7 x 31.5 x 23.5 inches, 2015.
California artist Marlon Mullen reduces the world to blocks of color and general forms, conveying the gist of his source material – ads and images in art magazines – in striking simplicity. (At JTT Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 15th).
Marlon Mullen, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches, 2012.
For his biggest New York solo show to date at Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side, fashion designer turned artist Helmut Lang continues to work with industrially shredded garments from his archive, which were accidently destroyed by fire. Strange creatures, birch trees and industrial processes come to mind in these mediated organic forms. (Through Feb 21st).
Helmut Lang, installation view of Untitled sculptures in resin, pigment and mixed media, 2010-2013 or 2012–2013.
Pulling source images from the web, young Brooklyn artist Nolan Simon copies them to canvas, framing each one with painted, trompe l’oeil masking tape like an analogue version of open windows on a computer screen. While the technique doesn’t radically update collage, Simon has an eye for intriguingly odd juxtapositions. (At 47 Canal on the Lower East Side through Feb 15th).
Nolan Simon, Commonwealth, oil and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches.
Brooklyn-based artist KATSU is known for semi-abstract paintings created by drone; here at The Hole, a cluster of ceramic drone sculptures periodically disappears in a cloud of vape-generated smoke. (On the Lower East Side through Feb 22nd).
KATSU, Ceramic drone swarm, ceramic stoneware, 15 x 15 x 3 inches, 2014-2015.
This tranquil domestic interior is too cute, with its matching mugs by the fire, two dogs, two laptops and beautiful beach view. But the scene might not be as cozy as it looks – Ann Toebbe’s latest painted, handcut paper collages depict domestic interiors from friends’ and family members’ past marriages. (At Monya Rowe Gallery on the LES through Feb 22nd).
Ann Toebbe, Remarried, gouache, acrylic and cut paper on panel, 16 x 20 inches, 2015.
Over one hundred dental casts of the same smile create a grid in this slightly creepy, subtly funny 3-D painting by Massachusetts-based painter Lucy Kim at Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side. With cartoon-like swirls of red curls and sesame seeds connoting freckles, this character – with her super abundance of toothy grins – charms and repulses at the same time. (Through Feb 15th).
Lucy Kim, detail of Tomorrow, Tomorrow (Leeza Smiles), oil paint, acrylic paint, urethane resin, polyurethane glue on dibond panel, 36 x 45 inches, 2014.
Behind a pleasantly printed pastel sheet strung across one corner of the gallery, a quirky little donut-bodied character by young British artist Jonathan Baldock instructs (according to the title) ‘How to Open Your Third Eye.’ (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on the LES through Feb 8th).
Jonathan Baldock, Screen with Peep-holes, muslin, acrylic, thread, 105 ½ x 141 ½ inches, 2014. And Jonathan Baldock, How to Open Your Third Eye, felt, wadding, silk thread, ceramic polymer, 23 ½ x 12 x 6 inches, 2015.
Man-made objects and nature come together in surprising ways in this sculpture by New York artist Sarah Braman, as a cube recalling modernist architecture perches atop a massive tree stump (nature sacrificed?). A table and houseplant complete this pretty assemblage which points to the domestic realm as a place where nature is potted for pleasure and convenience. (At Jack Hanley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 8th).
Sarah Braman, Underthunk, welded steel, color gels, glass, tree stump, house plant, aluminum, 65 x 35 x 70in, 2014.
Greer Patterson’s new tropical landscape paintings at Marlborough Gallery were inspired by scenes from his Hawaiian shirts; the pool with two remote-controlled boats installed in the basement also uses materials at hand to create pleasant place. It’s not the Central Park boat pond, but on a cold January day, it’s nice to dream. (At Marlborough Gallery, Broome Street, through Feb 15th).
Greer Patterson, Partners in Crime, round metal frame pool with remote controlled boats, 30 x 144 x 144 inches, 2014.
In the past, British artist Anya Gallaccio has left red gerbera flowers to rot, covered walls with chocolate and placed a 32-ton block of ice to melt in a disused pump station, all as part of an art practice based on experimentation and manipulation of natural materials. In these stone pieces, she considers longer spaces of time – the effect of heat and pressure on minerals over the millenia. (At Lehman Maupin Gallery on the LES through Feb 15th.)
Anya Gallaccio, installation view at Lehman Maupin Gallery, (foreground) Lay my head, lavignes (stripes), mount ashen, texas cream, black granite and green chirt, 51 x 56 x 48 inches, 2014.
A 70s style motorcycle merges with a camouflage carpet in front of a geometric patterned wall in Tyson Reeder’s ‘Chopper,’ one of several new canvases that look like a teenager’s careful drawing of an object or place that’s desirable but out of reach. (At Canada on the Lower East Side through Feb 15th).
Tyson Reeder, Chopper, mixed media on paper on canvas, 52 x 71 inches, 2014.
How to create a universal art? Pennsylvania-based artist Hilary Berseth drew seven faces contorted by common human emotions (surprise and fear seen here) on the inside of five Platonic solids, shapes that Plato felt were key to constructing all around us. Slowly spinning in the gallery, the shapes intensify each emotion and invite a viewer to compare each to his/her own emotional state. (At Lower East Side gallery 11 Rivington through Jan 17th).
Hilary Berseth, Installation view at 11 Rivington, December 2014.
At the beginning of his workday, British-born, Trinidad-based artist Chris Ofili experiments with watercolor and pencil drawings of his ‘Afromuses,’ imagined male and female characters that create a varied repertoire of inspirational characters. Seen here at Ofili’s New Museum exhibition, a selection of over 80 pieces showcases his quirky yet regal characters. (Through Jan 25th).
Chris Ofili, installation view of ‘Afromuses,’ at the New Museum, watercolor and pencil on paper, 1995-2005.
Young Danish artist Alexander Tovborg painted one abstracted image of a dinosaur, turned it to the wall and from memory painted the next, creating this row of images that rely on memory and depict now extinct – yet gorgeously colored – creatures. (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 21st).
Alexander Tovborg, Eternal Feminine (I), felt, pastel crayon, acrylic and imitated gold leaf on wood panel, 48 x 36 inches, 2014.
Known for his computer-created virtual photos, New York artist Takeshi Murata’s latest solo show at Salon 94 Bowery includes this quirky character, whose dripped frame and the appearance of stickers suggest the touch of a human hand but whose red smiley face is all about mechanical distortion. (On the Lower East Side through Dec 21st).
Takeshi Murata, Jogger (Red), pigment print mounted to plexi with powdercoated unibody aluminum frame, 40 x 44 x 2 inches, 2014.
Glitzy sequins compete with more down-to-earth hand woven hemp fabric in a sculpture by San Francisco artist Josh Faught titled ‘Greg’ after a past romantic attachment. The clock suggests that time ran out on this relationship while a spilled drink and two tins of cookies (all food made of plastic) implies the unexpected upset of something delicious. (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 21st).
Josh Faught, Greg, hand woven and crocheted hemp (hand dyed in colors to match the 2013/2014 color forecast, Indigo, gold spray paint, sequin trim, silk, wool, giant clothes pin, spill (resin) with Cathy mug, chocolate chip cookies (plastic), and tin of butter cookies (plastic and metal) on Cedar support, 76 x 74 x 12 inches, 2014.
Known for cheeky stop-motion animations made by photographing thickly textured paintings, Brooklyn artist Yui Kugimiya settles into a vividly colored, thickly painted non-moving images for her current show at Marlborough Gallery’s LES location. Painted as she looked out of her studio window at the East River, their Fauve color and style offers an intensely personal view of the city and here, its geese. (Through Dec 21st).
Yui Kugimiya, Geese on East River – One – 2, oil on canvas, 16 x 16 inches, 2014.
By dividing Ramiken Crucible’s small Lower East Side space into narrow compartments littered with dingy Pepsi cans and wall mounted urethane furniture casts, LA artist Kaari Upson creates a claustrophobic habitat that’s grungy while also strangely tidy. A puffy urethane door and doorstop at the entrance recall the harmless oddness of Claes Oldenburg sculpture. (At Ramiken Crucible through Dec 14th).
Kaari Upson, Untitled, aluminum, 200 aluminum cans, 2014 (foreground). Kaari Upson, Door Stop, urethane, pigment and cement, 2014 (background).
Known for distorting photographic images with liquids, Sara Greenberger Rafferty pushes the idea further in her latest solo show at Rachel Uffner Gallery by layering prints, acrylic and Plexi in images that juxtapose youth and decay. Here, a blurry image of a young woman (hung as if lurking or hiding in the stairwell) recedes behind a skeletal figure. (On the Lower East Side through Dec 21st.)
Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Untitled, acrylic polymer and inkjet print on acetate on Plexiglas and hardware, irregular size: 164.5 x 60.3 x 1.3cm, 2014.
Lily Ludlow’s angular abstractions at first look like x-rays of Cubist paintings, but her deliberately indistinct canvases (actually sanded down) gradually materialize into charged interactions between nude or semi-clothed characters. (At Canada on the Lower East Side through Dec 14th).
Lily Ludlow, The Knifers, acrylic, pencil, graphite, chalk on canvas, 2014.
Using the same skywiper virus that damaged Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, New York artist James Hoff creates gorgeous abstract images that hover between abstraction and representation, hinting at below-the-surface activities. (At Callicoon Fine Arts on the Lower East Side.)
James Hoff, Skywiper No. 3, chromaluxe transfer on aluminum, 20 x 16 inches, 2014.
A selection of 365 dust jackets mounted to linen supports by Brooklyn-based Brazilian artist Valeska Soares at Eleven Rivington muses on the passing of time. Not only do the titles refer to temporality, but dated fonts and designs act as a measure of change over a few decades. (On the Lower East Side through Nov 23rd).
Valeska Soares, installation view of ‘Any Moment Now,’ at Eleven Rivington, 195 Chrystie Street, November 2014.
IT professor and artist E.M. Saniga explains that his professional focus – mathematical model building – and his passion for painting are not so dissimilar, both involving abstracting reality in inventive ways. Saniga’s recent series at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects was inspired by objects unearthed in an 18th century Quaker home and items from museum collections and the imagination. (On the Lower East Side through Nov 16th)
E.M. Saniga, ‘Early Shoes and Quaker Moths,’ oil on panel, 2012-2014.
Using maps of the night sky as background, New York artist Jessica Rankin adds phrases and words from her own thoughts and found texts in a fragmented, poetic mediation on cosmic forces and personal experience. (At Salon94 Freemans through Dec 21st).
Jessica Rankin, The Ancient Seat of Indescribable You, graphite, ink and collage on paper, 42 x 42 inches, 2014.
Now based in Toronto, ‘80s downtown art influencer Alan Belcher makes a New York comeback at Marlborough Gallery this month with work including this ceramic plaque of a .jpg file kept tantalizingly closed. (On the Lower East Side through Nov 16th).
Alan Belcher, ____.jpg, glazed ceramic plaque, 10 x 7 ½ x 1 ½ inches, 2014.
As a founder of the post-war European ‘Zero’ Group, Heinz Mack explored the effects of light and various reflective materials in an attempt to take his art back to an experimental stage, or conceptual ground zero. Here, a ‘light relief’ sends the eye shooting around a surface of raised patterns as the light conditions and reflections in the gallery define the viewing experience. (At Sperone Westwater Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 13th).
Licht-Relief (Pyramide), aluminum and wood, 29 1/8 x 34 x 2 5/8 inches, 2004.
Trained in dance, Brooklyn-based artist Jennifer Paige Cohen translates her experience with bodies in movement into lively sculptures made with colorful plaster-cast garments that echo arrangements of body parts. (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side through Nov 9th).
Jennifer Paige Cohen, Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures), sweater, plaster, stucco, 2013.
Anxious greyhounds greet visitors to Elizabeth Jaeger’s debut solo show at LES gallery Jack Hanley, setting an oddly expectant mood. Though the space is too large and bright to convey much angst, Jaeger’s weirdly proportioned animals are winningly lively. (Through Nov 9th).
Elizabeth Jaeger, installation view of ‘Six-Thirty’ at Jack Hanley Gallery, October 2014. (Includes ‘Yet to be Titled (Dog),’ ceramic, hydrocal, loose graphite, house paint/latex paint, leather, brass.)
Danish artist Rose Eken lovingly recreates an imagined punk rock venue cum anthropological display with her ‘Remain in Light’ installation at The Hole. Here, she’s arranged cigarette lighters, butts, matches, beer bottles, amps and many, many more artifacts handmade from paperclay in what the gallery calls, ‘…a personalized memorial to NYC’s dwindling lawless zones and the mayhem they contained.’ (Through Nov 2nd).
Rose Eken, installation view of ‘Remain in Light’ at The Hole, Oct, 2014.
Black, yellow, red and white rectangles in Sadie Benning’s ‘Julie’s Rug’ painting suggest a national flag but the title refers to artist, activist and Group Material co-founder Julie Ault. Part of Benning’s solo show ‘Patterns’ at Callicoon Fine Arts on the Lower East Side, the handmade forms zing with energy and import. (Through Oct 26th).
Sadie Benning, Julie’s Rug, medite, aqua resin, casein and acrylic, 60 5/8 x 70 3/8 inches, 2014.
