Tag: representational painting

‘Friends and Lovers’ at the FLAG Art Foundation

Visitors to Chelsea’s FLAG Art Foundation encounter a wall of beautiful and colorful portraits by Billy Sullivan made over forty-five years at the entrance to FLAG’s hugely enjoyable group show ‘Friends and Lovers.’  Featuring work by over fifty artists and partly inspired by Alice Neel’s expressive portraits (the show includes her 1952 painting of her son, Hartley), the show is a hotbed of better and lesser-known talent and includes work by artists who have lately shown standout work in New York.  Among many highlights are Jerrell Gibbs’ portrait of a dapper young man in a lively interior sitting before an image of Picasso’s iconic dove and Ruby Sky Stiler’s inclusive grouping of male, female and child models that exist in both 2-D and 3-D.  (On view through Jan 20th).

Ruby Sky Stiler, Rose Bathers, Baltic plywood, paint and hardware, 78 x 95 x 3 inches, 2021.
Jerrell Gibbs, Fly Black Boy, FLY, oil, oil stick on canvas, 72 x 60 ¼ inches, 2020.
Billy Sullivan, Various works, pastel, oil and watercolor on pastel and canvas, various dimensions, 1974 – 2019.

Maya Brodsky at George Adams Gallery

From the modestly sized to the tiny, Maya Brodsky’s realist paintings at George Adams Gallery draw audiences closer to inspect and appreciate detailed images of the artist, her young daughter and her grandmother.  Though several scenes of Brodsky’s daughter Eda in the hospital after being born are touching in their tenderness and most of the show’s paintings showcase beautiful light effects (sunlight or artificial light), the most moving paintings are of Dusya, Brodsky’s grandmother.  As Dusya rubs Maya’s foot or fastens the buttons of her own sweater, Brodsky renders her fine crown of straight white hair or her well-used hands with loving detail and a sense of gravity that feels profound. (On view in Tribeca through April 1st).

Maya Brodsky, Open/Close, oil on mylar mounted on panel, 5 5/8 x 5 ¼ inches, 2019.

Ross Bleckner at Mary Boone Gallery

Titled ‘(In)Security,’ this detail-view of an enticing if creepy new painting by New York artist Ross Bleckner offers the unnerving suggestion that we’re being watched, albeit by a range of characterful eyes. (At Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea through April 26th).

Ross Bleckner, “(In)Security,” 27 x 144 inches, oil/linen, 2013-14.

TM Davy at Eleven Rivington

In Eleven Rivington’s brightly lit Lower East Side space, Brooklyn painter TM Davy presents a series of small, candle lit paintings.  Studies from life made in and around his home, their intimate nature belies their bright, public display. (Through Jan 5th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

TM Davy, from the series ‘Candela,’ oil on linen, 10 x 8 inches

Adrien Ghenie at Pace Gallery

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.