Gahee Park at Perrotin Gallery

Lone insects, sharpened fingernails and portraits of impassive, semi-clad or nude characters lend young New York painter Gahee Park’s new paintings at Perrotin Gallery a sense of eerie calm and pervasive danger.  Innuendo ranges from the obvious to subtle, here appearing in two speared olives and the fishs’ pretty lips not to mention the long red nails pulling down the blinds.  A mini-cascade of eyes peers in past the shrimp-shaped nails to give the painting a surreal, voyeuristic charge.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Oct 17th).

Gahee Park, Seafood Dream, 24 x 25 inches, oil on canvas, 2020.

Cosima von Bonin in ‘The Secret History of Everything’ at Galerie Perrotin

“First of all, I never explain my work,” Cosima von Bonin declared at the beginning of a 2018 interview with Brooklyn Rail, establishing that there are no pat explanations for pieces like this octopus currently on view at Galerie Perrotin.  Patchwork fabrics and stuffing give the animal an approachable and familiar feel, like a kid’s toy, while the blue glow of neon tubes below may represent mysterious ocean depths. Beached on this platform, however, with patches of white suggesting splashed water, the animal doesn’t appear to be on safe ground, creating an attractive but uncertain scenario.  (On view in the group exhibition ‘The Secret History of Everything’ on the Lower East Side through Aug 14th . Masks and social distancing are required.  Appointments can be made via the gallery’s app.)

Cosima von Bonin, Total Produce (Morality), 2010, Octopus: Various fabrics, polyfill, Base: Various fabrics, foam materials, rubber, wood, neon tubes, Octopus: 86.6 x 86.6 x 23.6 inches

Bharti Kher at Perrotin Gallery

New Delhi-based British artist Bharti Kher breaks and recombines clay figures she’s collected over the years, inventing hybrids that combine supposed opposites – male and female or divine figures from different faiths.  Her show at Perrotin Gallery on the Lower East Side is no longer open to the public, but Kher shared her process in an insightful video shot during a residency in the UK.  This piece, Ardhanarishvara, represents a manifestation of the Hindu divinities Shiva and Parvati.  Roughly joined from mass produced figurines, they’re far from divine perfection.  Instead, they represent the artist’s ability to remake the known world, in this case with mysterious materials packed into conjoined bodies.

Bharti Kher, (foreground) Ardhanarishvara, cement, clay, wax, bronze, 54 1/8” x 9 5/8”, unique, 2016.

Jesper Just at Perrotin Gallery

Emotion and vulnerability continue to be strong themes in Jesper Just’s latest body of work at Perrotin Gallery on the Lower East Side.   American Ballet Theater dancers lie and sit on the floor while receiving muscle therapy via patches applied to their skin. Though nearly motionless, this individual’s alert state and a single tear suggest powerful goings on beneath a calm exterior.  Panels separated from the main display join blocks of concrete on the gallery floor in order to engage viewers more personally by forcing us to consider our own bodies in the gallery space and our own efforts at constructing meaning.  (On view through Feb 15th).

Jesper Just, Corporealities – 1, LED panels, multi-channel video, sound, steel, and cement, 98 7/16 x 137 13/16 x 143 inches, 2020.

Chen Fei at Galerie Perrotin

Beijing-based artist Chen Fei channels Dutch still life in his painting of tempting foodstuffs but substitutes dumplings for bread and banana leaf wraps for grapes.  He cites Renaissance historian Vasari to question whether still life can be as engaging as portraiture, forcing the issue by presenting figurative painting in the downstairs gallery and still life upstairs.  While the large-scale nude characters downstairs steal the show with their unconventional personalities, the still lifes still wow with their sheer abundance.  (On view at Perrotin on the Lower East Side through Dec 21st).

Chen Fei, detail from Painting of Harmony, acrylic, gold and silver foil on linen mounted on board, 39 3/8 x 78 ¾ inches.