Gehard Demetz at Jack Shainman Gallery

A devotional sculpture of Mary melds with the body of an anonymous girl in this provocative sculpture by northern Italian artist Gehard Demetz. Though each figure looks fragmented, the merger seems neither violent nor ecstatic (along the lines of Bernini’s Saint Teresa.) Instead, the girl is absorbed by the inner life shared with the saint. (At Jack Shainman Gallery through June 3rd).

Gehard Demetz, Miraculous Breath, lindenwood, 52 ½ x 12 1/8 x 14 inches, 2016.

Mernet Larsen in ‘Let’s Get Figurative’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

Mernet Larsen’s eerie nativity scene is a standout in Nicelle Beauchene Gallery’s mini-survey of current trends in figurative painting. Though the figures’ boxy shapes recall the Cubism-mocking ‘Cubies’ cartoons from a century ago, flashes of oddness (in the position of the angels’ feet, a spill on Mary’s lap) punctuate an already charged atmosphere. (On the Lower East Side through Nov 15th).

Mernet Larsen, Nativity, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 74 x 31.5 inches, 2005.