Alexis Rockman, ‘Feedback Loop’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

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For sheer beauty, no other current Chelsea show can beat Alexis Rockman’s watercolor and acrylic landscape paintings, part of his exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery.  Attracted by washes of bright watercolor and acrylic, visitors are drawn into environments around the world that have experienced climate change-related fires or agricultural burns.  Oil and cold wax paintings in the main gallery juxtapose towering, burning landscapes with diminutive humans in boats on rivers in the foreground, helpless witnesses to the devastation.  A final gallery of ‘field drawings’ from the Great Lakes region were created from a kind of paint made with local materials – sand from the lakes or coal dust from a power plant – which he used to picture local fish, birds and more.  Part elegy at what is being lost, part appreciation of the beauty that remains, Rockman’s new work is a powerful reminder of the fragility of nature.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 28th.)

Bird of paradise flower in foreground, blurry fire in the background of this washy watercolor.
Alexis Rockman, Osa Peninsula, watercolor and acrylic on paper, 18 x 24 inches, 2025.

Enoc Perez at Harper’s Books

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Based on vintage Bacardi rum ads and travel brochures, Puerto Rican artist Enoc Perez’s paintings of his home country at Harper’s Gallery feature pristine beaches, bright blue pools and abundant tropical vegetation.  Created in a painting style akin to printmaking, for which the artist rubs paint onto canvas using an oil coated sheet of paper and a pencil, the details of each supposed paradise are rendered slightly indistinct.  Titled ‘Stockholm Syndrome,’ the paintings revel in an abundance of natural beauty yet withhold a richer appreciation of it, forcing the question of how much of each image is just marketing.  (On view in Chelsea through Nov 11th).

Enoc Perez, View of San Juan, P.R., oil on linen, 2023.

Cynthia Daignault at Kasmin Gallery

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Visiting Gettysburg National Military Park can amount to moving from one memorial to another, but Cynthia Daignault’s new series of paintings at Kasmin Gallery, inspired by the Civil War battlefield, focus not on the built environment but the natural world.  Called ‘a rumination on the meaning of site and time’ by the gallery, Daignault’s work features ‘witness trees,’ which were alive in the 1860s and are still in place today.  Surrounded by graves, the trees operate outside of a human timeframe and offer an alternative perspective on historic events.  Painting titles include terms like ‘synecdoche’ or ‘chiaroscuro,’ suggesting that parts of an image can tell a larger story or that events exist in shades of light and dark.  Here, ‘Gettysburg (Stereoscopic)’ nods to the popular 19th century photographic technique that creates depth by presenting two near identical images side-by-side.  (On view through Jan 8th. Note holiday hours and closures.)

Cynthia Daignault, Gettysburg (Stereoscopic), oil on linen, 30 x 60 inches, 2021.

Alice Neel, Conversation on a Bus at David Zwirner

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Alice Neel’s desire to ‘bear witness’ to the humanity she encountered resulted in a range of portraits, from bohemian downtown artists to her Harlem neighbors to colorful characters seen on the street.  ‘Conversation on a Bus’ from 1944 exaggerates the features of two chattering friends but at the same time lures us into their animated conversation and, in the eyes of the woman in the brown hat, hints at the pleasure of intimacy with a friend.  Despite the Met’s recent extensive survey of Neel’s work, this selection of paintings from Neel’s early decades at David Zwirner Gallery feels fresh and full of revelation.  (On view on 20th Street in Chelsea through Oct 16th.)

Alice Neel, Conversation on a Bus, oil on canvas, 29 x 22 inches, 1944.

Gerhard Richter at Gagosian Gallery

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Six towering oil on canvas abstractions by Gerhard Richter, currently on view at Gagosian Gallery, are a second chance to take in a highlight of the Met’s short-lived Richter retrospective last spring.  Collectively titled ‘Cage Paintings,’ they pay homage to composer John Cage, whose chance-based music Richter listened to as he created the series in 2006.  Made by pulling a squeegee across painted canvas, the paintings juxtapose the artist’s carefully developed technique with the inevitable unforeseen results of his painting method.  (On view in Chelsea through June 26th).

Gerhard Richter, installation view of ‘Cage Paintings’ at Gagosian Gallery, April 2021

Katharine Bradford at Canada New York

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Katherine Bradford’s new ‘Mother Paintings’ at Canada New York depict women caring for sick family members, offering the comfort of a lap and waiting for a school bus, but her signature abstract style upends traditional representations of moms.  By avoiding identifying details, she creates symbolic characters and instead directs our focus to the vivid fields of color that make up what might otherwise be mundane scenes.  Here, in ‘Mother Joins the Circus – Second Version,’ a mom is taken away, inducted into a new aspect of life by mysterious characters who literally turn things upside down.  (On view at Canada Gallery through May 15th).

Katherine Bradford, Mother Joins the Circus – Second Version, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 inches, 2021.

Damien Hirst at Gagosian Gallery

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If you thought Damien Hirst could possibly be done with painting dots, think again. Gagosian Gallery’s cavernous space is filled with new dot paintings, freed from their usual grid format and now swirling across the canvas.  (On view in Chelsea through June 30th).

Damien Hirst, detail from ‘Colour Space Paintings’ at Gagosian Gallery, 555 West 24th Street, through June 30th.

Imi Knoebel in ‘Shapeshifters’ at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Imi Knoebel’s large potato paintings are a standout in Luhring Augustine’s impressive intergenerational summer painting exhibition. Organic and geometric shapes seem to vie for dominance while muted tones struggle with vibrant color. (At Luhring Augustine Gallery through August 12th).

Imi Knoebel, Kartoffelbild, acrylic on aluminum, 69 5/8 x 98 13/16 inches, 2015.
Imi Knoebel, Kartoffelbild, acrylic on aluminum, 69 5/8 x 98 13/16 inches, 2015.

Hans Op de Beeck at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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Since 2009, Brussels-based Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck has been painting black and white watercolors during the night, as a contrast to days spent in a busy studio making art that includes CGI animations, video, installation and more. Empty of people and highly atmospheric, the watercolors are a peaceful and evocative contrast to the digital realm. (At Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea through May 2nd).

Hans Op de Beeck, Seascape, Cloudy Sky, black and white watercolor on Arches paper in wooden frame, 51 ½ x 100 ¼ x 1 ½ inches, 2014.

Laylah Ali at Paul Kasmin Gallery

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Laylah Ali’s new ‘Acephalous’ series features her signature creatures – slim cartoonish humans with something insect-like about them – but with heads and bodies separate. Here, a sympathetic mermaid/insect in green engages with a desperate-looking head-with-tail in a mysterious yet captivating exchange. (In Chelsea at Paul Kasmin Gallery through April 25th).

Laylah Ali, detail of Untitled (Acephalous series), gouache, acrylic, watercolor, and pencil on paper, 14 x 56 inches, 2015.

David Korty at Wallspace

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LA artist David Korty’s shelf-paintings assemble a set of shapes that combine both positive and negative cut-outs, brushstrokes and patterns, all basic components of the artist’s toolbox. (At Wallspace through March 28th).

David Korty, Blue Shelf #38, ink, paper, pencil, silkscreen and paint on canvas, 79 x 93 inches, 2015.

Arturo Herrera at Sikkema Jenkins

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Found paintings, shopping bags, books and more items gathered from his everyday life in Berlin and New York inspired the abstract collage-paintings in Arturo Herrera’s latest solo show. (At Sikkema Jenkins in Chelsea through Nov 15th).

Arturo Herrera, Untitled (Liebe), mixed media on canvas, 43.25 x 22.5 inches, 2014.

Lucas Ajemian at Marlborough Gallery

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If you’re an artist who thinks your work might be improved by being destroyed, you might want to talk to New York based artist Lucas Ajemian. Ajemian has created this work – reminiscent of a reclining figure in a weathered fresco from a Roman villa – and the others in his latest solo show at Marlborough Gallery’s Lower East Side location by treating, then machine washing other artists’ paintings. (Through June 8th).

Lucas Ajemian, Laundered Painting (20 x 16) I, painting on canvas, 2014.

John Riepenhoff at Marlborough Gallery, Lower East Side

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Working by the light of a lamp or with no artificial light at all, Milwaukee-based artist John Riepenhoff has created his night sky paintings in the city and country.  Explaining that he can’t see much of what he’s doing while he’s painting, each is a surprise in the morning.  (At Marlborough Gallery, Lower East Side through Feb 9th.)  

John Riepenhoff, Plein Air (Isle of Eigg), acrylic on canvas, 2013.

Amy Bessone at Salon 94

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Amy Bessone’s pencil holder fists unite in vague protest in her current solo show at Salon94 Bowery on the Lower East Side.  A nearby poster warns, ‘Don’t Truncate Me!’  Already truncated, the hands become resistance tchotchkes. (through June 14th).

Amy Bessone, installation view of  ‘In the Green Room’ (foreground is ‘Number…(Numbers),’ ceramic, pencil, 2013).