Jayson Musson at Salon94 Bowery

Brooklyn-based artist Jayson Musson’s tongue-in-cheek recreation of ‘modern’ art from the comic strip Nancy for his show at Salon94 on the Lower East Side is perfectly timed to recent market interest in abstract painting. Playfully forcing the question of how we create value in art, the show amuses and provokes in equal measure. (Through June 20th).

Jayson Musson, installation view of ‘Exhibit of Abstract Art,’ Salon94 Bowery, May 2014.

Scott Reeder at Lisa Cooley Gallery

By spray painting over and removing pasta shapes on canvas, Scott Reeder creates tongue-in-cheek paintings that resemble austere abstraction, or in the case of this painting (seen in detail) a constellation composed of alphabet soup letters.  (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 22nd.)  

Scott Reeder, detail from ‘Untitled (Pasta Painting),’ oil and enamel on canvas, 96 x 108 inches, 2013.

Eileen Quinlan at Miguel Abreu Gallery

For Brooklyn-based artist Eileen Quinlan, photography is not about passive recording.  In a series of 24 images pinned directly to the wall, she degrades the surface of her negatives by both allowing the developing process to go awry and scratching with steel wool to create abstractions that emphasize the medium as a process. (At Miguel Abreu Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 8th).  

Eileen Quinlan, installation view of ‘Curtains’ at Miguel Abreu Gallery, Nov 2013.

Terry Adkins at Salon 94 Bowery & Freemans

Known for making artwork relating to lesser-known facts about historically important figures, Brooklyn & Philadelphia artist Terry Adkins turns his sights to George Washington Carver & Yves Klein in his Lower East Side show.  Using apple pickers to refer to Carver’s efforts to move away from the ubiquity of cotton, and blown glass to recall Yves Klein’s fiery, transformative performances, Adkins invites us to read meaning into his subtly reworked histories.   (At Salon94 Bowery and Salon 94 Freemans on the Lower East Side through Jan 11th).

Terry Adkins, installation view of Nenuphar at Salon94 Bowery, November, 2013.  Sculpture in foreground: Terry Adkins, Harvest Montgomery, blown glass, apple picker, fiberglass and aluminum pole, 2013.

Martin Klimas at Foley Gallery

Like British YouTube phenomena The Slow Mo Guys, German artist Martin Klimas recognizes the power of slowing down a dramatic event to stimulate our curiosity.  Both have recently captured paint flying up from the surface of a speaker (the subject of Klimas’ show at Foley Gallery).  But selections from Klimas’ previous body of work – depicting smashing figurines, on view in the back room – steal the show by adding the suggestion of accident and the happy intervention of chance.  (At Foley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Nov 3rd).  

Martin Klimas, Untitled (Pink and Green), pigment print, 2006.