Friedrich Kunath, ‘Aimless Love’ at Pace Gallery

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Two paintings of airplanes silhouetted by the sun are the first and last images in LA painter Friedrich Kunath’s solo show at Pace Gallery, suggesting a brief layover on an ongoing journey.  In between, romantic, dramatically lit landscapes include a huge breaking wave on a beach, a misty highway running through forest and a country road through fall foliage.  Explaining in a video that his paintings ‘create permission to feel,’ Kunath’s pretty scenes contain short, evocative text quotes from music or other sources that speak to complicated interpersonal relationships.  Behind the large breaking wave, the text ‘If it comes, let it. If it goes, let it.’ appears in purplish clouds on the horizon while here, a double exposure of a sunrise or sunset includes the phrase ‘You told that joke twice.’ (On view in Chelsea through Dec 20th).

A sunrise or sunset over water with two suns.
Friedrich Kunath, You Told That Joke Twice, oil on canvas, 96 x 72 x 1 ½ inches, 2024-2025.
A cloudy sky with text trailing down through the sky reading 'You told that joke twice.'
Friedrich Kunath, (detail) You Told That Joke Twice, oil on canvas, 96 x 72 x 1 ½ inches, 2024-2025.

Robert Longo, ‘The Weight of Hope’ at Pace Gallery

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A decade of monumental charcoal drawings by iconic Pictures Generation artist Robert Longo occupies all four of Pace Gallery’s public exhibition spaces, making the show one of the most impactful of the new fall season.  The notion that behind every picture is another picture is intrinsic to Pictures artists and describes Longo’s practice of sourcing images from the media, repurposing fleeing moments in the news cycle as permanent marker of historic moments.  The current exhibition includes images from Ukraine, fires in California, ISIS-destroyed sculpture at the ancient site of Ninevah and here, ice sheering off icebergs in Newfoundland.  Beautifully crafted in meticulous detail with stunning use of the charcoal medium, each drawing is a powerful reminder of the events shaping the world now. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 25th).

A man takes a photo of a 3-panel charcoal drawing of an iceberg in a gallery.
Robert Longo, Untitled (Iceberg for Greta Thunberg), charcoal on mounted paper, 2020.

Trevor Paglen, ‘Cardinals’ at Pace Gallery

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Secret satellites, cloud formations as analyzed by AI, and known but unidentified objects orbiting in space have been subject matter in artist and geographer Trevor Paglen’s always-illuminating photographic practice.  The images on view in Paglen’s current small exhibition at Pace Gallery emerged from hours in the field but are less geared toward educating the public about classified government activity than foregrounding the believability of images he’s taken over the past 20+ years that include ‘novel aerial phenomena.’ Here, a gorgeous sky near a weapons testing facility in Utah plays host to a strange orb that, we are told, Paglen may or may not know the origin of.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 15th).

Trevor Paglen, Near Dugway Proving Grounds (undated), dye sublimation on aluminum print, 32 x 40 inches, 2024.
Trevor Paglen, (detail) Near Dugway Proving Grounds (undated), dye sublimation on aluminum print, 32 x 40 inches, 2024.

Robert Indiana, ‘The American Dream’ at Pace Gallery

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Robert Indiana’s 2013 Whitney Museum retrospective aimed to look beyond his popular ‘LOVE’ logo to a career that examined the complexities of American life.  In spring of this year, Kasmin Gallery’s focus on the late artist’s early career and Pace Gallery’s current career-spanning show again argue for Indiana’s importance as a Pop artist who probed darker aspects of U.S. history and identity.  At the exhibition entrance, the words ‘USA’ and ‘FUN’ are joined by the word ‘APOGEE,’ which suggests that the first two words represent notions alien to each other.  Elsewhere the words EAT and DIE are provocatively conjoined in one work while another bears the phrase ‘A divorced man has never been the president.’  When Indiana focused instead on numbers, as he does in this series of ten monumental sculptures installed on Pace Gallery’s terrace, the meaning derived from his own personal experience, as he considered each digit as a reference to important events and places in his own life. (On view in Chelsea through Aug 15th).

Robert Indiana, ONE Through ZERO (The Ten Numbers), cor-ten steel on painted aluminum base, conceived 1980, fabricated 2003.

Alicja Kwade, ‘Telos Tales’ at Pace Gallery

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In Alicja Kwade’s sculptural practice, clocks signal not just the movement of time but of organizational systems humans put in place to make sense of the world around us.  Kwade’s 2015-16 installation in Central Park involved a 16’ tall functional clock with a rotating face, and past work on paper employed scatterings of clock hands affixed to paper to record the amount of rainfall over time during a storm.  The artist’s current show at Pace Gallery again incorporates clocks, this time suspended in reflective stainless-steel cylinders and signaling cyclical movement and change.  Nodding to Aristotle’s theory of causes in the exhibition title, ‘Telos Tales,’ Kwade adopts the Greek philosopher’s explanation of change in terms of its causes asking with this piece, ‘Causa Efficiens’ where change comes from.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 15th).

Alicja Kwade, Causa Efficiens, stainless steel, powder coated stainless steel, patinated bronze, clock and sound installation, dimensions variable, unique, 2025.

Richard Learoyd, ‘A Loathing of Clocks and Mirrors’ at Pace Gallery

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Strikingly intimate in their clarity, British photographer Richard Learoyd’s new portrait and still life photographs at Pace Gallery arrest with their beauty and rich color.  Here, however, Learoyd eliminates saturated tones to allow the focus to rest on the texture and minute details of two subjects.  Viewers standing in the gallery corner before these two photos are brought into an unexpected relationship with the thoughtfulness, possibly inflected by melancholy or ire, of the sitters.  Created with his signature room-sized camera obscura, Learoyd himself is not immediately in front of the subjects as he takes the photo, adding to the sense of interiority in the images.  (On view in Chelsea through April 26th).

Richard Learoyd, (left) Untitled Head, multi-layered pigment print and hand-applied gesso on canvas, 59 ½ x 59 ½ inches, 2024; (right) Head 2, multi-layered pigment print and hand-applied gesso on canvas, 59 7/8 x 59 7/8 inches, 2024.

Irwin/Bell: The ‘60s at 125 Newbury

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Though based in Los Angeles, the mid-century Light and Space movement is well represented in New York galleries, a happy circumstance aided by Pace Gallery’s long-term relationships with key artists.  ‘Irwin/Bell: The ‘60s’ at Pace’s Tribeca offshoot, ‘125 Newbury,’ presents work by Larry Bell and Robert Irwin that revisits their early shows in New York, including the premier of Irwin’s aluminum disc paintings in 1968.  Installed in a back gallery with a bench inviting visitors to sit and contemplate, this untitled piece from 1967 presents a circular aluminum form that exists materially but appears to be composed entirely of light and shadow.  (On view in Tribeca through Jan 11th).

Robert Irwin, Untitled, sprayed lacquer on aluminum disc, 62” diameter, 1967.
Robert Irwin, Untitled, sprayed lacquer on aluminum disc, 62” diameter, 1967.

Irving Penn, ‘Kinship’ at Pace Gallery

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Pace Gallery’s current exhibition of Irving Penn’s photographs from the ‘40s to 2000, curated by supremely image-savvy artist Hank Willis Thomas, is compact but impactful, featuring juxtapositions of photos with often radically different subject matter that nevertheless have some affinity. A 1947 studio portrait of New Yorker cartoonists poised on a scaffold hangs near a photo of a careful arrangement of blocks, immediately conveying careful arrangement and balance rather than humor or play.  Around the corner, two models in Issey Miyake echo the form of a neighboring image of two weathered cigarette butts, a parallel that crashes together the fashionable and the discarded.  Hung on gallery walls constructed to recall the temporary structures Penn used as sets, photos are positioned near each other but on different walls, similar yet different.  Here, tangled members of a wrestling family appear opposite an arrangement of seafood, both shot in 1948, demonstrating the ‘visual muscle memory’ that Willis Thomas argues ties together Penn’s 70-year career.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 21st).

(left) Irving Penn, Dusek Brothers (1 of 3), vintage gelatin silver print, 7 11/16 x 9 5/8, image, ed of 41, New York, 1948. (right) Irving Penn, Bouillabaisse, chromogenic print, 24 x 20 inches, images, ed of 7, Barcelona, 1948.
Installation view. Irving Penn, ‘Kinship’ at Pace Gallery, Dec ’24.

Joel Shapiro at Pace Gallery

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Perhaps best known for abstracted sculptures that resemble human figures in motion, Joel Shapiro has, in the past decade, memorably suspended forms in the air in explosive installations.  Once again situated on the gallery floor, Shapiro’s new work at Pace Gallery is no less dynamic.  ‘Splay,’ (foreground) resembles an energetically sprawling figure, another piece abstracts an ocean wave, and the show’s central sculpture ‘ARK,’ projects colorful forms outward from a mass that appears to stand on the gallery floor on tiptoes.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 26th).

Joel Shapiro, installation view of ‘Out of the Blue,’ Pace Gallery, 510 West 25th Street, Sept 2024.

Tara Donovan, Stratagems at Pace Gallery

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Millions of 3×5 index cards stacked into shapes like termite-mounds and Styrofoam cups clustered on the ceiling to form a giant cloud are among Tara Donovan’s most memorable past installations, serving to make her the master of the accumulated-object-turned-artwork.  For her current show on the 7th floor of Pace Gallery’s Chelsea headquarters, Donovan turns mountains of CD-ROM disks into elegant towers that echo the skyscrapers of Hudson Yards out the window.  Attractive and – as always – begging the question of how the artist and her team had the patience to construct such labor-intensive structures, the new work’s recycled sensibility turns trash into treasure.  (On view through Aug 16th).

Installation view of ‘Stratagems’ at Pace Gallery, July 2024.

Adam Pendleton at Pace Gallery

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Like his installation ‘Who is Queen?’ in MoMA’s towering atrium in 2021, Adam Pendleton’s current solo exhibition at Pace Gallery, titled ‘An Abstraction,’ immerses visitors in a structured installation of dynamic forms.  Describing this show’s arrangement itself as an artistic decision, Pendleton designed a series of elegant, black triangular walls to support his abstractions, causing viewers to find their own paths – and interpretive experiences – through the gallery. Drawing on his ongoing elaboration on his concept of ‘Black Dada,’ for which he has assembled a reader, Pendleton’s work engages the early 20th century Dada art movement’s attempted avoidance of rational thought while considering the relationship of Blackness to European avant-garde practice.  ‘An Abstraction’ foregrounds the physical experience of the viewer, offering vantage points from which to consider his language of abstraction and how we process meaning in the moment.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 16th).

Adam Pendleton, installation view of ‘An Abstraction’ at Pace Gallery.

Glenn Kaino, Michael at Pace Gallery

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Known for working in media including performance, film and theater, LA artist Glenn Kaino turns to portrait painting, small-scale sculpture of adapted samurai helmets and Japanese punch embroidery for his first major solo show at Pace Gallery.  Fresh on the heels of a soon-to-close exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum in LA for which he recreated his grandfather’s small East LA market, Kaino continues to probe his heritage as a Japanese American.  The show’s portraits aim to keep a record of community in the form of paintings of Kaino’s friends, musicians and people he meets.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 24th).

Glenn Kaino, Michael, oil on canvas, 61 x 49 x 3 inches, 2023.

Mika Tajima at Pace Gallery

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Known for turning sound into image, Mika Tajima has gathered aural data from brain activity and turned it into visual information in her latest ‘textile paintings,’ now on view at Pace Gallery.  Produced by an experimental textile lab in the Netherlands, the monumental artworks juxtapose minute readings with expansive artworks, a nod to an individual human’s relative insignificance in the face of geological time and in relation to big data. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 24th).

Mika Tajima, Negative Entropy (Deep Brain Stimulation, Yellow, Full Width, Exa), cotton, polyester, nylon, and wood, 135 x 204 3/8 x 2 ¾ inches, 2024.

Song Dong, Thousand Hands at Pace Gallery

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Well-known in New York for his 2009 installation ‘Waste Not’ at MoMA, in which he displayed all his mother’s 10,000+ accumulated belongings, Chinese avant-garde artist Song Dong morphs discarded objects into intriguing sculpture in his latest work at Pace Gallery.  Using circular forms important in traditional Chinese philosophy, Song created this light sculpture from a discarded object meant to be displayed behind a statue of the Buddha Guanyin; accordingly, the surface is marked a representation of the deity’s one-thousand arms which take on new meaning when viewed from above.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 18th).

Song Dong, Thousand Hands, glass, crystal, lamp, 15 3/4” x 63”, 2022-23.

Matthew Day Jackson at Pace Gallery

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You’ve never seen Yellowstone National Park the way Matthew Day Jackson pictures it in otherworldly new hybrid collages of laser cut metal, wood and plastic at Pace Gallery.  Though the title of this piece, ‘Geyser (after Moran),’ alludes to Thomas Moran’s 19th century watercolor paintings of an erupting spout, Jackson’s version adds multiple, huge planets in the background while emphasizing the desolation of the landscape – even the trees lean away from the explosive force of a rigid plume of escaping water and steam.  Gallery visitors will notice an earthy smell in the air – the artist commissioned ArtOlifaction Lab to create an olfactory experience, asking the scent-makers to imagine that they were aliens who returned home to recreate the sights and smells of the planet.  Through the absence of humans, nebula-like swirls in the sky and toxic colors on land, Jackson posits a post-apocalyptic sci-fi scenario that both entrances and horrifies.  (On view through July 1st in Chelsea).

Matthew Day Jackson, Geyser (after Moran), wood, acrylic paint, urethane plastic, fiberglass, UV pigment, lead, stainless steel frame, 81 ¼ x 57 ¼ x 2 inches, 2023.

Leo Villareal, Digital Sculptures at Pace Gallery

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Can you capture the feeling of a sunset and make it last?  New media artist Leo Villareal has explained that his latest ‘digital sculptures’ – LED lights and electronics behind acrylic panels – at Chelsea’s Pace Gallery, have a similar effect to watching natural phenomena.  Titled ‘Interstellar’ and inspired by images from space, including photos from the James Webb Telescope, the new wall-mounted works manifest in a range of palettes, from calming blue/greens to blazing yellow/orange tones.  Powered by custom coding, the imagery constantly morphs, enticing viewers to linger.  (On view through April 29th).

Leo Villareal, installation view of ‘Interstellar’ at Pace Gallery, April 2023.

RaMell Ross & William Christenberry at Pace Gallery

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After moving to Hale County, Alabama several years ago, writer, filmmaker, photographer and professor RaMell Ross has become known for creating contemplative portraits of the area’s Black residents in film and photography.  A selection of these images are a highlight of Pace Gallery’s dual show (curated by Ross) of Ross’s own work alongside artwork by the late photographer William Christenberry.  In this show, Ross’ focus is on place as much as people; inspired by Christenberry’s use of red-toned Alabama earth, Ross employs the material in flag boxes and picture frames and photographs dirt manipulated by man and machine.  Titled ‘Typeface,’ this piece suggests that earth can be used as a language or means of communication as it is developed to tell a new story.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 25th).

RaMell Ross, Typeface, pigment print mounted to Dibond, 59 x 73 ¾, 2021.

David Hockney, iPad Paintings at Pace

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Cloudy skies do little to dampen the luminosity of this iPad drawing by David Hockney, now on view in a solo show of the artist’s new work at Pace Gallery.  Created with the help of six iPads, this garden landscape scene is both disjointed – two different elevations combine at center, rain cloud patterns repeat – and harmonious thanks to continuous views of the flat, yellow-toned foreground.  Made lively by shifting clouds and rings spreading on the water, the scene’s combination of perspectives and vivid colors turns an otherwise mundane garden scene into a delight for the senses.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 25th).

David Hockney, 10th – 22nd June 2021, Water Lilies in the Pond with Pots of Flowers, six iPad paintings comprising a single work, printed on two sheets of paper, mounted on Dibond, 82 ½ x 78 ½ inches, 2021.

Kohei Nawa at Pace Gallery

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Pixels and biological cells are the focus of Japanese artist Kohei Nawa’s ‘PixCell’ artworks at Pace Gallery, sculptures that invite viewers to consider the relationship between the natural and artificial.  In this sculpture of a baby deer, the surface is rendered in spheres of various sizes, as if distorted by being viewed through a lens.  Transparent and appearing to rise up from the surface of the animal, the cells speak to the title of the show, ‘Aether,’ by giving the deer an ephemeral quality that belies its physical weight and form.  (On view through Oct 22nd).

Kohei Nawa, PixCell-Bambi #24 (Aurora), mixed media (glass beads, resin, Taxidermy, aluminum plate), 26 1/8 x 25 9/16 x 25 9/16 inches, 2021.

Beatriz Milhazes at Pace Gallery

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Made recently but rendered antique-looking by strategically distressed paint, Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes’ paintings at Pace Gallery exist to celebrate the histories and abundant possibilities of design.  Scrolling stems, chains of periwinkles and clusters of Klimt-like gold circles in this painting join colorful wave forms and triangular patterns in creating strong horizontals, broken by large leaf-like forms at the center of the canvas.  Does nature compete with design?  A merger of organic and geometric shapes in the vertical strip at the center of this painting suggests a harmonious and dynamic relationship between the two.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 29th).

Beatriz Milhazes, Azulão, acrylic on linen, 75 inches × 63 inches, 2021 – 22.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at Pace Gallery

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In the middle of Chelsea’s bustling Pace Gallery, it comes as a surprise to hear your own heartbeat filling the cavernous room housing Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive installation ‘Pulse Topology.’  Placing your hand under one of three small monitor suspended from the ceiling not only broadcasts the sound of your heartbeat but translates it into flashing lights in one of thousands of lightbulbs suspended in an undulating pattern from the ceiling.  Though essential to life, we often take our beating hearts for granted; making them the focus of an artwork not only flips interior functions to the exterior, it speaks to something visitors have in common.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 22nd).

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Pulse Topology, 2021, 3,000 LED filament lightbulbs, DMX controllers, custom-made photoplethysmography sensors, computers, covers any area between 1,000 and 5,000 square feet.

John Gerrard at Pace Gallery

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John Gerrard’s 18’ tall installation at Pace Gallery, picturing a flag-shaped gas flare rising from the South Pacific Ocean near Tonga, speaks to climate crises on a massive scale.  The artwork is based on photos of the ocean taken by artist and activist Uili Lousi, but quickly departs from fixed images, using game engines to generate always-changing, non-time-based simulations.  The show’s other pieces – a portrait of the last passenger pigeon in the world and a huge traffic jam in LA – question where our consumption of resources is taking us.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 12th).

John Gerrard, Flare (Oceania), simulation, installation dimensions variable, 2022.

Glenn Kaino at Pace Gallery

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Just as this fifty-foot-long sculpture by Glenn Kaino at Pace Gallery multiplies and extends Olympic gold winner Tommie Smith’s raised fist on the podium at the 1968 Olympics, the athlete’s gesture for social justice continues to impact protest in and beyond the sports world. The installation – Kaino’s first at Pace Gallery – comes on the heels of his ‘Pass the Baton’ NFT project, through which digital renderings of a baton used by Smith in record-breaking races have been sold to raise funds for activist organizations.  The piece is on view through Saturday, but if you don’t catch it at Pace Gallery, an earlier, larger sculpture from the Bridge series will go on view next year in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection in Washington DC.  (On view through June 11th in Chelsea).

Glenn Kaino, installation view of Bridge (Raise Your Voice in Silence) at Pace Gallery, June 2022.

Peter Alexander at Pace Gallery

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After an over two-decade hiatus from sculpture-making, late west coast Light and Space artist Peter Alexander came back strong, creating cast forms that appear to glow.  Pace Gallery’s current show of these works from ’11 to ’20 features this eighteen-foot-long installation of urethane strips.  Varying in width and color, the parallel pieces create an irregular rhythm that excites the senses.  (On view through March 19th).

Peter Alexander, Heard it Through the Grapevine, urethane, 77 x 18’ 1” overall installed, 2019.

Elmgreen and Dragset at Pace Gallery

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Titled ‘The Painter, Fig. 1,’ this lacquered bronze sculpture by Berlin-based duo Elmgreen and Dragset appears to be offered as an illustration of an artist in action and is prominently displayed in the window of Pace Gallery’s Chelsea building.  In the adjoining gallery, other sculptures hint at themes of regret, loneliness and the will to dominate; nearby, this artist responds.  It’s unclear if he’s laying down black paint or scraping off white paint to reveal the darkness beneath; either way, he appears to be putting a dramatic end to his monochrome existence.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 18th).

Elmgreen and Dragset, The Painter, Fig. 1, bronze, lacquer, linen, paint, 98 7/16 x 100 3/8 x 23 5/8 inches, 2021.

Tara Donovan, Sphere at Pace Gallery

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Masses of everyday objects (pencils, cups, index cards) transform into wondrous landscapes, creatures and more in Tara Donovan’s labor-intensive sculptural practice, but her latest show at Pace Gallery elicits awe at purely abstract forms.  Black drinking straws by the thousands create subtle patterned surfaces in the main gallery while manipulated wire screens dipped in ink demonstrate the endless possibilities of transformation on a grid.  The show’s centerpiece is the most interactive, causing visitors to circle around a sphere composed of slim plastic cylinders in an attempt to reconcile how light can make hard plastic appear soft and fuzzy.  (On view at Pace Gallery through March 6th).

Tara Donovan, Sphere, PETG, 6’ x 6’ x 6’, 2020.

Sam Gilliam at Pace Gallery

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On a recent visit to Basel, Switzerland, iconic Color Field painter Sam Gilliam was struck by how a recent influx of African immigrants has changed the city’s demographics.  Gilliam began pondering architectural forms from the African continent; a variety of pyramidal forms and circular buildings (e.g. Great Zimbabwe) come to mind on entering his arrangement of beautifully toned wood and aluminum sculptures at Pace Gallery.  Resting on wheels, the pieces have the potential to be moved (though not by gallery visitors) – an improvisation like a musical composition. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 19th. Masks and social distancing are required).

Sam Gilliam, installation view of Existed Existing at Pace Gallery, Nov 2020.

Tara Donovan in ‘Material Matters’ at pacegallery.com

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Whether she’s transforming plastic cups into glacial landscapes or Styrofoam into clouds, Tara Donovan has a knack for turning masses of everyday materials into wondrous installations.  In this June ’14 image from New York Art Tour’s archives, index cards become termite mounds or stalagmites at Pace Gallery.  The gallery’s current on-line group exhibition, ‘Material Matters,’ features a delightful artwork by Donovan crafted from Slinkys that appear to have massed together and come to life.  (On view through April 21st).

Tara Donovan, Untitled, styrene index cards, metal, wood, paint and glue, 12’ 5 1/2” x 22’ 4” x 22’ 11 1/2”, 2014.

Fred Wilson Installation at Pace Gallery

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Fred Wilson continues to consider African diasporic populations of the Mediterranean in a selection of recent work commissioned for the 15th Istanbul Biennial, currently on view at Pace Gallery in Chelsea.  Uncharacteristically dark-toned Iznik tile walls include the text ‘Black is Beautiful’ and ‘Mother Africa’ in elaborate Arabic script while chandeliers combine black Murano glass from Venice with metal elements that evoke Ottoman design.  Wilson’s installation merges diverse traditions with dramatic flair and elegance, suggesting complexity in the histories his art investigates. (On view through August 17th).

Fred Wilson, installation view at Pace Gallery, July 2018.

Maya Lin at Pace Gallery

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As the Zambezi River spills out across the landscape on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia at Victoria Falls, so spreads a glass-marble replica by Maya Lin across the walls, floor and ceiling of Pace Gallery. Reflections of light through the glass give the ‘water’ a sparkling quality that argues for the preciousness of one of earth’s most value resources. (On view on 25th Street in Chelsea through Oct 7th).

Maya Lin, From One into Many and Back Into One, glass marbles and adhesive, 13’ x 28’ x 1,” 2017.

Richard Misrach and Guillermo Galindo at Pace Gallery

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After years of traveling to the U.S./Mexico border, photographer Richard Misrach and experimental composer Guillermo Galindo joined forces to create sobering images and sculpture inspired by struggles of migrants determined to overcome the border’s many obstacles. This installation view of their exhibition at Pace Gallery in Chelsea features an instrument made by Galindo of items recovered from the region and Misrach’s photos of tires drug behind border patrol vehicles to make a path in which footprints can be detected. (On view through August 18th.)

Installation view of ‘Border Cantos’ by Richard Misrach and Guillermo Galindo at Pace Gallery, June 2017.

Tara Donovan, Composition (Cards) at Pace Gallery

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Known for her masterful use of repeated materials, New York artist Tara Donovan has been busy lately with styrene cards, intuitively stacking the plastic slips in patterns that hint at the natural world, digital patterns and more.  (At Pace Gallery’s 24th Street location through March 18th).

Tara Donvan, Composition (Cards), styrene cards and glue, 22 ¼ x 22 ¼ x 4 inches, 2017.

Adrian Ghenie at Pace Gallery

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‘Rest During The Flight Into Egypt’ broaches the subject of migration in Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie’s latest solo show at Pace Gallery in Chelsea. Here, two kids wait on a railroad track in front of a heaving, blood-red landscape wearing masks that disguise their faces but not the damage inflicted upon them. (On view through Feb 18th).

Adrian Ghenie, Rest During the Flight Into Egypt, oil on canvas, 7’ 10 ½ inches x 9’ 6 ¼ inches x 2 inches, 2016.
Adrian Ghenie, Rest During the Flight Into Egypt, oil on canvas, 7’ 10 ½ inches x 9’ 6 ¼ inches x 2 inches, 2016.

James Siena at Pace Gallery

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James Siena continues to produce mesmerizing patterned images with his latest show of drawings at Pace Gallery. However, instead of repeating an initial mark that establishes a rule system, Siena’s new work glories in interlocking patterns that boggle the mind with their detail and their complex consideration of space. (At Pace Gallery’s 25th Street location through Feb 11th).

James Siena, Manifold X, ink and watercolor on paper, 11 5/8 x 9 ¼ inches, 2015.
James Siena, Manifold X, ink and watercolor on paper, 11 5/8 x 9 ¼ inches, 2015.

‘Blackness in Abstraction’ at Pace Gallery

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From a 1962 painted black rectangle by Sol LeWitt to a series of canvases hung from the ceiling by Oscar Murillo, Pace Gallery’s ‘Blackness in Abstraction’ discusses varieties of blackness, touching on race, the life of the spirit and simplicity of form. (On 25th Street in Chelsea through Aug 19th).

Installation view of ‘Blackness in Abstraction’ at Pace Gallery, June, 2016.
Installation view of ‘Blackness in Abstraction’ at Pace Gallery, June, 2016.

James Turrell, Juke Green at Pace Gallery

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From this single-projection light work from 1968 now on view at Pace Gallery to his stunning transformation of the Guggenheim Rotunda into a light installation in 2013 James Turrell suggest that light can manifest in physical form. Juke Green – glowing an emerald green that suffuses the room with color – conjures a giant gem or a portal into another world. (At Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location.)

James Turrell, Juke Green, Corner Light Projection, 1968.
James Turrell, Juke Green, Corner Light Projection, 1968.

Richard Tuttle, Titel 3 at Pace Gallery

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Richard Tuttle celebrates fifty years of art making with a show of work from his last 26 New York solo shows. ‘Titel 3’ from 1978 typifies Tuttle’s sometimes ephemeral arrangements; a washy drip of brown watercolor on the wall interacts with a crisp, green arch of paper, creating a succinct contrast between chance and deliberate gestures. (At Pace Gallery’s 25th Street location through June 11th)

Richard Tuttle, Titel 3, watercolor and paper, 7 11/16 x 9 7/8 inches, 1978.
Richard Tuttle, Titel 3, watercolor and paper, 7 11/16 x 9 7/8 inches, 1978.

David Hockney, The Yosemite Suite at Pace

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Can the grandeur of the Yosemite landscape be captured on a small screen? David Hockney gives it a good shot, to luminous effect in his printed iPad drawings, now on view at Pace Gallery’s 25th Street location in Chelsea. (Through June 18th).

David Hockney, “Untitled No. 15” from “The Yosemite Suite,” iPad drawing printed on paper, 37 x 28,” 2010.
David Hockney, “Untitled No. 15” from “The Yosemite Suite,” iPad drawing printed on paper, 37 x 28,” 2010.

Tim Hawkinson Sculpture at Pace Gallery

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Tim Hawkinson offers visitors to Pace Gallery the chance to snoop through his medicine cabinet, in the process giving us the time around the globe with what’s actually a world clock in disguise. The unassuming bathroom fixture includes a bandage representing the time in Los Angeles and a soap pump acting as a clock for Tokyo. The biggest delight is New York’s timepiece – a lotion bottle with a cap that rotates as an hour hand and a drip of lotion (plastic) that acts as the minute hand. (At Chelsea’s Pace Gallery through April 23rd).

Tim Hawinson, World Clock, medicine cabinet, ace bandage, lotion bottle, prescription medicine bottle, dental floss, deodorant, toothbrushes, plastic cup, pump soap bottle, nail clipper and clock motors, 25 ½ x 16 x 21 inches, 2012.
Tim Hawkinson, World Clock, medicine cabinet, ace bandage, lotion bottle, prescription medicine bottle, dental floss, deodorant, toothbrushes, plastic cup, pump soap bottle, nail clipper and clock motors, 25 ½ x 16 x 21 inches, 2012.

Irving Penn at Pace Gallery

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From the 1940s onward, the fashion world embraced the elegance of iconic photographer Irving Penn’s highly visible commercial work, but it sometimes took longer for his personal projects to gain traction. In the iPhone era, his investigation of the wonderful in the banal seems prescient, especially in this particularly charming shot of an eerily face-like wad of chewing gum found on the city street. (At Chelsea’s Pace Gallery through March 5th).

Underfoot XXXIII, New York, gelatin silver print, image 19 1/8 x 18 ¾ inches, 2000.
Underfoot XXXIII, New York, gelatin silver print, image 19 1/8 x 18 ¾ inches, 2000.

Zhang Huan at Pace Gallery

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At 122 feet long, Shanghai-based artist Zhang Huan’s epic painting of Mao surrounded by hundreds of government members and followers forcefully demonstrates the Chinese leader’s power just a short while before the Cultural Revolution began. Created in ash gathered from Buddhist temples, a material Zhang identifies with ‘collective longings, wishes of the people,’ the piece demonstrates the continued sway of history on contemporary life and politics. (At Chelsea’ Pace Gallery through Dec 12th).

 Zhang Huan, June 15, 1964, ash on linen, 9’ 5/16 x 122 ‘ 11/16”, 2013.

Nigel Cooke at Pace Gallery

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British artist Nigel Cooke has signed on with a new gallery and stepped back from the abstract style of his last New York solo show in 2012, but his typically dark, psychedelic undertones remain. The common point of his latest body of work is a cast of mysterious, otherworldly characters like this spotlit ‘blind philosopher’ who sees beyond the glowing lamplight and burning bush surrounding him. (At Pace Gallery’s 510 West 25th Street location through Oct 24th). Nigel Cooke, detail of Blind Philosopher, oil on linen backed with sailcloth, 250cm x 190 cm, 2015.


Chuck Close Self Portraits at Pace Gallery

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For his latest show at Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location, Chuck Close continues to replicate mechanical processes by hand in huge self-portraits painted square by square in thin washes of red, blue or yellow paint. (Through Oct 17th).

Chuck Close, Self-Portrait IV, oil on canvas, 96 x 84 inches, 2014-15 (right) and Self-Portrait III, oil on canvas, 101 5/8 x 84 inches, 2014 (to the left).

Lee Ufan at Pace Gallery

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Lee Ufan continues his decades-long practice of bringing basic natural and man-made materials into new relationships with the viewer with his latest work at Chelsea’s Pace Gallery. Here (foreground), a piece subtitled ‘the cane of titan’ draws mythical Greek giants into the mix, proposing that we’ve stumbled upon an astonishing yet casually placed artifact. (Through June 27th).

Lee Ufan, Relatum – the cane of titan, steel and stone, 2015.

Lucas Samaras at Pace Gallery

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Conceived of in 1966 and only realized in 2007, Lucas Samaras’ ‘Doorway’ reverses Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored interiors by putting mirrors on the exterior to reflect visitors and surroundings. At Pace Gallery, these include banks of photos from the artist’s life and a frieze of self-portraits in which Samaras in a flowing white beard and long hair resembles Rip Van Winkle or, after 40 years of using himself as subject matter, god of the selfie. (Through June 27th).

Lucas Samaras, installation view, Pace Gallery, May 2015.

Tim Hawkinson in ‘Eureka’ at Pace Gallery

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Art and science perform a beautiful dance in Tim Hawkinson’s ‘Gimbled Klein Basket,’ a rotating bamboo lattice depicting a Klein bottle, a single sided object with no boundaries invented by 19th century mathematician Felix Klein. (At Pace Gallery’s 510 West 25th Street location through June 27th).

Tim Hawkinson, Gimbled Klein Basket, bamboo, motor, pulley, drive belt, 9’ 2” x 11’ 8” x 4’ 6,” 2007.

Robert Whitman at Pace Gallery

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Iconic early performance artist Robert Whitman adapts the idea of the ‘talkie’ film to visual art in his latest series, ‘Soundies,’ for which he presents an image and an accompanying sound. The show is great fun, but would anyone want to live with a dripping tap, even as art? (At Pace Gallery’s 57th Street location through May 2nd).

Robert Whitman, Dripping Faucet, color photo, mp3 sound element, wall label, 2015.

Thomas Nozkowski, Oil Painting at Pace

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Endlessly inventive abstract painter Thomas Nozkowski’s new show of work at Pace Gallery’s 510 West 25th Street space was partly inspired by walks he’s taken upstate. This untitled oil painting could reference a frozen puddle or light seen through a configuration of rocks…the artist leaves it up to us. (Through April 25th).

Thomas Nozkowski, Untitled (9-46), oil on linen on panel, 22” x 28,” 2014.

James Sienna at Pace Gallery

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Known for intricate drawings and paintings organized by patterns and rules he devises for himself, New York artist James Sienna crosses over into sculpture for his latest show at Pace Gallery. Though he’s made 3-D work for decades, it’s his debut sculptural exhibition and includes objects of wonder and beauty, like this cherry wood configuration that scales up models made with toothpicks and grape stems. (At 508 West 25th Street through April 25th)

James Sienna, Just Read the Instructions, cherry wood, 47 3/4” x 68 1/2” x 59 3/4,” unique, 2013.

Mao Yan at Pace Gallery

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The first U.S. solo show of acclaimed Chinese portraitist Mao Yan opens with this young man, Xiao Dai, staring up and out at us from a smoky grey environment with a confident look and defensive posture. Mao’s models are usually drawn from his circle of family and friends, but could this figure’s cautious gaze be a stand in for Mao’s own feelings on his debut? (At Pace Gallery’s 534 W. 25th Street location through April 4th).

Mao Yan, Xiao Dai, oil on canvas, 51 3/16 – 35 7/16,” 2013 – 2014.

Isamu Noguchi at Pace Gallery

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Isamu Noguchi’s red ‘Octetra’ sculpture from 1968 is a standout for color alone in Pace Gallery’s current exhibition of the 20th century modernist’s sculpture. Designed for a playground, it was inspired by Noguchi’s regard for his friend Buckminster Fuller’s notion of the tetrahedron as the primary building block of nature. (At Pace Gallery’s 508-510 West 25th Street location through March 21st).

Isamu Noguchi, Octetra, cement, paint, 8’ 7 ½ inches x 9’ 10” x 8’ 7,” 1968.

Louise Nevelson at Pace Gallery

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Iconic 20th century sculptor Louise Nevelson famously maintained that the color black – in which she painted many of her assemblages – “…is the most aristocratic color of all. You can be quiet and it contains the whole thing.” This untitled piece from near the end of her life goes beyond black, mixing the blue of a mass produced dustpan with homier wood tones and an industrial roller, combining items from home life and beyond. (At Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location through Feb 28th).

Louise Nevelson, Untitled, broom, dustpan, metal, paint and wood on board, 63” x 48” x 7 ¾’, 1985.

David Hockney, The Potted Palm at Pace Gallery

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British Pop art icon David Hockney has said that there’s drama whenever more than one person appears in a picture, but his recent ‘photographic drawing’ seen here is less about human interaction than experimentation with perspective. Working in his LA studio, Hockney photographed friends, studio assistants and furniture (as well as his own paintings in the background) to create an intriguing, uncanny image composed of multiple different perspectives enhanced by digitally drawn-in shadows. (At Chelsea’s Pace Gallery through Jan 10th).

David Hockney, The Potted Palm, photographic drawing shown on a 55 inch Sony Ultra HD screen, 48 5/8” x 29 1/4’” x 2 5/8”, 2014.

Wang Guangle at Pace Gallery

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Inspired by the Fujianese practice of adding an annual coat of lacquer to your coffin in old age, Beijing-based painter Wang Guangle adds layers of paint to his ‘Coffin Paint’ canvases to signify the passage of time. (At Pace Gallery, 510 West 25th Street, through Nov 1st).

Wang Guangle, (detail) Coffin Paint 140404, acrylic on canvas, 2014.

Fred Wilson at Pace Gallery

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Fred Wilson seems to bait his viewers by draining his show at Pace Gallery of color, presenting two austere bronzes in black and white, monochromatic flags from African and African diasporic countries, and more. The oversimplified dichotomy between black and white clashes with the variety of cultures represented by the sculpture and flags, encouraging a more nuanced engagement with racial difference. (In Chelsea through October 18th).

Fred Wilson, The Mete of the Muse, bronze with black patina and bronze with white paint, 2006.

Paul Graham at Pace Gallery

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New York-based British photographer Paul Graham mixes and scatters photos of rainbows shot in Ireland, pawn shops and images of his young partner asleep on the walls his latest solo show at Pace Gallery in a somewhat obvious but nevertheless beautiful mediation on finding your luck. (At Pace Gallery’s 510 West 25th Street location through Oct 4).

Paul Graham, installation view of ‘Does Yellow Run Forever?’ at Pace Gallery’s 510 West 25th Street location, Sept, 2014.

David Hockney at Pace Gallery

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New media takes a turn for the traditional in David Hockney’s new series at Pace Gallery, for which his iPad drawings are displayed as prints. Still, the Brit art icon’s colors remain vibrant, transforming the English countryside with fantastical, south-of-France brightness. (At Pace’s 508 West 25th Street space in Chelsea through Nov 1st).

David Hockney, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) – 5 May, 2011, iPad drawing printed on paper, 55” x 41 ½”

Hiroshi Sugimoto at Pace Gallery

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Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs of natural history dioramas – ongoing since the 70s – challenge viewers to find the line between real and represented. They also point out how the museum’s role in displaying these animals has changed in the face of habitat loss and endangerment. (On view at Pace Gallery through June 28th).

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Polar Bear, gelatin silver print, 47 x 58 3/4”, 1976.

Tara Donovan at Pace Gallery

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Tara Donovan does it again with two new sculptures at Chelsea’s Pace Gallery created in her signature style – multiplying an everyday object by millions to create a wondrous installation. Here, index cards suggest fairy chimneys or termite mounds to astonishing effect. (Through June 28th).

Tara Donovan, Untitled, styrene index cards, metal, wood, paint and glue, 12’ 5 1/2” x 22’ 4” x 22’ 11 1/2”, 2014.

Robert Mangold at Pace Gallery

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Minimalist icon Robert Mangold continues to explore ways of painting around a void in this recent ring painting, which moves the eye around by juxtaposing an angular side and curved side while suggesting hula-hoop-like movement with an off-center white line. (At Pace Gallery’s 510 West 25th Street location through May 3rd).

Robert Mangold, Compound Ring II Variant (White Line), 2012.

Kiki Smith at Pace Gallery

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Titled ‘Wonder,’ New York artist Kiki Smith’s latest solo show at Pace Gallery includes a magnified sculpture of hoarfrost (along with a rabbit), jacquard tapestries of a nude in a tree and soaring eagles all of which posit nature as a source of astonishment and pleasure. (In Chelsea at Pace’s 510 West 25th St location through March 29th).

Kiki Smith, installation view of ‘Wonder,’ in foreground, ‘Hoarfrost with Rabbit,’ stainless steel, 2014, at Pace Gallery, March 2014.

Richard Tuttle at Pace Gallery

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Iconic abstract sculptor Richard Tuttle has turned his focus to textiles in his exhibition at Pace Gallery’s 57th Street location, a prelude to his October 2014 commission for the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.  Here, a seemingly casually placed brown fabric at center sets off the texture and color of a branch at bottom while a colorful pattern of material roughly wrapped around a life-ring-like shape draws the eye in.  (Through March 15th).  

Richard Tuttle, Looking for the Map 10, fabric, branch, paint and plastic, 39” x 24” x 10 1/2,” 2013 – 14.

Tara Donovan in ‘Grounded’ at Pace Gallery

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Tara Donovan’s ‘Colony’ is a standout in Pace Gallery’s group exhibition, ‘Grounded,’ which gives the floor to artwork created to be displayed on the ground.  Donovan’s signature premise – an accumulation of ordinary small things makes an excellent big thing – is now art-making orthodoxy, but no one does it quite like Donovan.  (At Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location through Feb 22nd.)  

Tara Donovan, Colony, pencils, 2004.

Raqib Shaw at Pace Gallery

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London-based artist Raqib Shaw turns the martyrdom of Sebastian into high drama in this painting of the saint bound with flowering vines and besieged by a cloud of beastly cherubs.  Even the blood-red poppies are as threatening as they are beautiful.  (At Pace Gallery through Jan 11th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Raqib Shaw, St Sebastian of the Poppies, oil, acrylic, glitter and rhinestones on Birch wood, 60,” 2011-12.

Ilya Kabakov at Pace Gallery

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Highly celebrated, Ukraine born, Long Island-based painter Ilya Kabakov departs from the collage style of his other paintings in this recent work titled ‘The Window into my Past,’ in which a history painting not only dominates the wall but the minds of these young students.  (At Pace Gallery on 57th Street through Dec 21st).  

Ilya Kabakov, The Window into my Past, oil on canvas, 2012.

Zhang Huan Paintings at Pace Gallery

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In a radical departure from his monochromatic paintings created by teams of assistants from ash collected from Buddhist temples, Shanghai-based artist Zhang Huan has created a series of oil paintings from his own hand of skulls meant to represent Tibetan Death masks.  Titled ‘Poppy Fields,’ they at first resemble abstract swirls of bright color, which materialize into slightly cartoonish skulls on closer inspection. (At Pace Gallery, 534 West 25th Street, through Oct 26th).  

Zhang Huan, detail from the ‘Poppy Field’ series, oil on linen, 2011.

Yoshitomo Nara at Pace Gallery

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Japanese art star Yoshitomo Nara is back in New York with his trademark young, female characters, but they’ve matured and become decidedly less cute in his first show with Pace Gallery.  This five and a half foot tall bronze sculpture has distorted features but a benevolent expression, suggesting she’s more supreme being than pouty kid. (Through June 29th).  

Yoshitomo Nara, Setsuko the Cat, bronze, 2012.

Tim Hawkinson at Pace Gallery

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Each of LA-based artist Tim Hawkinson’s new sculptures at Pace Gallery is named after a girl-scout cookie, with this piece provocatively titled ‘Cartwheel.’  Featuring spinning wheels on each toe and the heel, this giant foot looks ready to roll around town popping eyes. (At Pace Gallery’s 508 W. 25th Street location through June 29th)  

Tim Hawkinson, Cartwheel, fiberglass, steel, Bondo, motor & extension cord, 2013.

Zhang Xiaogang at Pace Gallery

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Ordered by his doctors to avoid stress by taking a hiatus from painting, Chinese art superstar Zhang Xiaogang took up bronze casting instead.  Pace Gallery presents these stoic young characters who take up Xiaogang’s long meditation on individual vs collective identity. (At Pace Gallery, 508-510 West 25th Street through April 27th).  

Zhang Xiaogang, Young Man, painted bronze, 2013.

James Turrell at Pace Gallery

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Since the 70s, James Turrell has been converting the Roden Crater, an extinct volcano in Arizona, into a series of chambers for viewing earth’s atmosphere and celestial phenomena beyond.  At Pace Gallery’s 57th St space, he’s exhibiting models of structures based on light phenomena explored at Roden, including this one, which suggests a merger of a UFO and a pyramid.  (Through April 20th).  

James Turrell, Missed Approach, cast, plaster and wood, 1990.

Adrien Ghenie at Pace Gallery

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Romanian artist Adrien Ghenie often paints historical figures from Hitler to Darwin, blotting out their features in aggressive smears of paint.  Here, a woman’s comfortable, bourgeois home-life comes under attack as the furniture appears to explode or dissolve into pools of paint as she sends a helpless glance heavenward. (At Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location through May 4th).  

Adrien Ghenie, Pie Fight Interior 8, oil on canvas, 2012.

Thomas Nozkowski at Pace Gallery

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“With Nozkowski, a good, slow look-’n’-solve is part of the fun,” Tyler Green of Modern Art Notes has observed in response to Nozkowski’s puzzle-like paintings.  Packed with familiar yet alien forms, they translate the everyday world into abstraction. (At Pace Gallery’s 508 West 25th Street location through March 23rd).  

Thomas Nozkowski, Untitled (9-22), oil on linen on panel, 2012.

Song Dong at Pace Gallery

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Constructed of discarded building materials, Song Dong’s ‘Doing Nothing’ mountains mark the replacement of China’s traditional historical obstacles (‘three big mountains’) of imperialism, feudalism and capitalism, by current concerns about education, health care and housing.  Neon characters on the wall spelling out ‘doing’ and ‘nothing’ are subtle protests of slow progress.  (At Pace Gallery, 534 and 510 West 25th Street through Feb 23rd).  

Song Dong, Doing Nothing Mountains, installation view, window, glass, hinge, doorknob, handrail, lock, multi-layer board, socket, wire and paint, 2011-12.

Edward & Nancy Kienholz’s ‘The Ozymandias Parade’ at Pace Gallery

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Edward & Nancy Kienholz, 'The Ozymandias Parade,' mixed media installation, 1985.
Edward & Nancy Kienholz, ‘The Ozymandias Parade,’ mixed media installation, 1985.

Installation art pioneers Edward & Nancy Kienholz’s 1985 sculpture ‘The Ozymandias Parade’ is heartfelt and bitter enough to give pause to both post U.S. presidential election gloaters and wound-lickers. Depicting a national leader and his deputy falling from horses and a top ranking general riding an elderly taxpayer’s back, it also reveals the results of a poll taken this fall prior to the installation asking, “Are you happy with your government?’  The answer was ‘no.’  (At Pace Gallery, 510 West 25th Street through Dec 22nd).

Lee Friedlander, ‘Nudes’ at Pace Gallery

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Lee Friedlander, Nude, gelatin silver print, 1980.
Lee Friedlander, Nude, gelatin silver print, 1980.

John Szarkowski, MoMA’s photography director for nearly 30 years, called Lee Friedlander’s nude photos, “… the most unblinkingly, unreservedly candid descriptions of other people’s bodies that serious photography has produced.”  Pace Gallery proves his point with a show of photos from the late 70s to the early 90s that practically interrogate female bodies in their intensity.  (On 57th Street through Dec 22nd).

Zhan Wang in the 590 Madison Ave Atrium

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Zhan Wang, Jiashanshi No 106, stainless steel, 2006.
Zhan Wang, Jiashanshi No 106, stainless steel, 2006.

In the 90s, Zhan Wang caused a stir in China by intervening in the landscaping around new, modern buildings by replacing natural rock formations with his large, chrome-covered stainless steel scholars rocks.  In the atrium of 590 Madison Ave, the ‘stones’ are in keeping with the glass wall and bamboo plantings, but they still have a ghostly, shape-shifting presence.

Chuck Close at Pace Gallery

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Chuck Close, Kara/Felt Hand Stamp, oil paint on handmade, Twinrocker/Hot Press paper with Feature Decal, 2012.
Chuck Close, Kara/Felt Hand Stamp, oil paint on handmade, Twinrocker/Hot Press paper with Feature Decal, 2012.

With over 200 solo shows to his credit, Chuck Close is one of America’s best known artists, and he’s still pushing the boundaries of his craft.  His latest solo show at Pace Gallery’s 534 W. 25th Street space features oil paintings, watercolors made with a printer and other works, including this portrait of artist Kara Walker made with oil and a felt hand stamp. (Through Dec 22nd.)