Studio Job at R & Company

Too large even for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, this hanging sculpture by Dutch design company Studio Job at R & Company in Tribeca pushes the scale of ornament to the max.  Inspired by the car that designer Job Smeets of Studio Job and his partner Rebecca Sharkey drove across the United States in 2019, the hanging bronze Cadillac Eldorado is one of several sculptures, including a huge light in the form of an Elvis jumpsuit and a breathtakingly dynamic Statue of Liberty set of drawers, that delight as they turn American pop icons into useful design objects. (On view through Jan 27th).

Eldorado, polished, hand-painted bronze, hand-formed glass, and silver and gold leaf, edition of 5 + 2 Aps and prototype, 2020-2022.

‘Ghana boy’ tunic in ‘The Clamor of Ornament’ at the Drawing Center

Featuring multicolor embroidery and emblems from urban life, ‘Ghana boy’ tunics like this one currently on view at the Drawing Center were worn by Malian workers who’d migrated to Ghana’s coastal cities.  The garments might depict tools of a trade (e.g. a barber’s scissors), fashionable clothing or vehicles (motorbikes to airplanes) and speak to the experience of the wearer.  On view in the Drawing Center’s wide-ranging design exhibition ‘The Clamor of Ornament:  Exchange, Power and Joy from the 15th century to the present,’ this tunic demonstrates self-fashioning between cultures.  (On view in SoHo through Sept 18th).

“Ghana Boy” style tunic (back), unknown artist, Mali, cotton cloth with multicolor embroidery, c. 1960s-70s.
“Ghana Boy” style tunic, unknown artist, Mali, cotton cloth with multicolor embroidery, c. 1960s-70s.

Bea Scaccia at JDJ Gallery

Hair, clothing and jewelry were of utmost importance in the small town where Italian artist Bea Scaccia grew up.  Now a New Yorker and long-since escaped from the cultural norms of her youth, the artist is showing painted assemblages at Tribeca’s JDJ Gallery of items – wigs, gloves and ornaments – that allow individuals to role-play through dress.  Titled, ‘A belief in physio-gnomic principles,’ this grouping of ringlets and puffs of fur hints at a figure without revealing one, mock-suggesting that accoutrements make the person. (On view through May 27th).

Bea Scaccia, A belief in physio-gnomic principles, acrylic on canvas, 42 x 42 inches, 2022.

Tauba Auerbach at Paula Cooper Gallery




Certain ornamental patterns – waves, helices – appear across cultures, perhaps pointing to fundamental structures of our universe. New York artist Tauba Auerbach delves into these forms in a display of sculptures with rotating shapes titled ‘Altar/Engine.’ Like a display of sacred objects or an explosion diagram of an engine, these 3D printed shapes relate to twisting wave forms inscribed in the paintings behind. (At Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallerythrough Feb 13th).

Tauba Auerbach, Altar/Engine (foreground), 3D printed nylon and plastic, an array of several dozen parts ranging from 18 x 18 x 10 inches, 2015.


Frank Stella at the Whitney Museum




Frank Stella’s huge Wooden Star I sits under the stars on the Whitney Museum’s outdoor terrace; in league with a red and white Empire State Building behind, it’s like a giant Christmas ornament for the city. Tiny, 3-D printed versions by the artist are available for sale in the museum’s gift shop. (Through Feb 7th).

 Frank Stella, installation view of Wooden Star I, 2014, at the Whitney Museum, Dec 2015.