Sanford Biggers, ‘The Gift of Tongues’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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Greek mythology associates the Narcissus flower with a youth who was cursed to fall in love with himself,  but it also describes the bloom as one that enticed Persephone to stray from her companions and be abducted by Hades.  Sanford Biggers’ sculpture ‘Narcissus,’ a centerpiece of his current exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, aligns with the later tale for its intriguing patterning and positioning at the end of a hung-fabric corridor that encourages visitors to draw close.  Known for his syncretic approach to artmaking, Biggers here combines a Greco-Roman torso with a head inspired by an African mask against a backdrop drawing on quilt patterns, a rich, intercultural combination that speaks to the complexity of American identity.  (On view in Chelsea through June 13th.)

An African mask on a Greek upper torso, painted with an abstract pattern that aligns with that of a quilt on a background panel.
Sanford Biggers, Narcissus, marble, antique quilt, assorted fabric, mixed media, marble: 18 ½ x 18 x 13 ½; plink 50 3/8 x 21 7/8 x 17 ¾ inches, 2026.

Katharina Fritsch, ‘Car and Caravan’ at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Katharina Fritsch’s sculptures elicit a mix of wonder and puzzlement, their careful manufacture and invitingly slick surfaces enticing us to ponder a strange shift in scale or unexpected color choice.  Here, a sculpture of a car and caravan in Fritsch’s solo show at Matthew Marks Gallery generates mild confusion at the incongruity of a Mercedes hauling a small camper (highlighted by the contrast between the car’s sleek black surface and the caravan’s white finish).  The artwork is based on a model of a toy that she presented at art school in 1979, a Pop art gesture that flirted with but flouted the prevalent minimalist aesthetic of the time. (On view in Chelsea through June 27th.)

A sculpture of a black car in front of a sculpture of a white caravan in a big, open-plan gallery.
Katharina Fritsch, Auto und Wohnwagen / Car and Caravan 1979/2026, vinyl ester resin, stainless steel, aluminum, lacquer, overall: 84 5/8 x 357 x 74 7/8 inches, 1979 / 2026.

Mark di Suvero, ‘Avanti!’ at Paula Cooper Gallery

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Preponderously heavy yet looking as if it just danced into Paula Cooper Gallery and paused for applause, Mark di Suvero’s 1986 ‘Nelly’ exemplifies the exuberance and solidity of the nonagenarian’s sculptures.  Across the gallery, ‘Avanti!’ from 1998 dares visitors to climb a small platform and use their own weight to shift a hulking great piece of steel suspended from a thick chain.  Both frightening and exhilarating, the experience of interacting with the metal behemoth takes visitors beyond the delight at dynamic forms to an appreciation of weight and actual movement.  (On view through July 17th).

An abstract sculpture roughly in the form of an X made of i-beams and other steel parts.
Mark di Suvero, Nelly, steel, 12 ft 6 inches x 18 ft 6 inches x 16 ft 10 ½ inches, 1986.

Sam Falls, ‘Amongst the Living’ at 303 Gallery

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Real flowers blend with vividly colored glazes on Sam Falls’ recent ceramic sculptures at 303 Gallery to offer an intense experience of nature, real and represented.  Working with flowers and plants from his own garden, Falls rolls them into ceramic slabs which he fires to burn off the organic matter.  Referring to the remaining silhouette of the plants as ‘fossilization,’ the artist aims to preserve elements of a changing landscape as a record for the future.  (On view through May 30th).

A round collage of ceramic panels that fit together in an abstract pattern and hold two small shelves with ceramic vases holding flowers.
Sam Falls, Double Fantasy, glazed ceramic with glass and brass frame, 43 inches, 2026.

“Chair Show” at 125 Newberry

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125 Newberry’s jam-packed ‘Chair Show’ offers an abundance of resting spots, but just for the eyes; over three dozen artworks in a variety of media imagine familiar furniture in a wild variety of ways. Donald Judd’s boxy aluminum and wood benches and chairs on the floor and hung at angles from the ceiling turn otherwise static forms into a lively display while Kiki Smith’s papier-mache seat hovers mysteriously above the floor, affixed to a central column.  Hugh Hayden’s clever Swiss-army-knife wooden school desk with attached garden implements compliments the eclectic quality of Louise Nevelson’s assemblage of once-useful found objects nearby.  An excellent contrast to David Byrne’s apparently light-weight macaroni-covered chair is Alicja Kwade’s ‘Mono Matter,’ a garden chair (actually made of cast bronze) that appears to magically support the enormous weight of a boulder. (On view in Tribeca through May 23rd).

A boulder sitting on what looks like a white, plastic garden chair.
Alicja Kwade, Mono Matter, painted bronze and stone, 46 7/8 x 24 x 24 7/16 inches, unique, 2023.

Erwin Wurm, ‘Double Dream’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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Chosen with little effort or a lot, our clothing gives an impression of who we are or at least how we see ourselves.  But what would happen if could just send our clothes out into the public realm without us?  Austrian sculptor Erwin Wurm’s ‘Substitutes’ series puts this idea to the test with painted aluminum garments that stand or float in Lehman Maupin Gallery as if inhabited by a living force.  The potential eeriness of the sculptures is offset by their cheerful tones – a hot pink suit, an electric yellow hoody and pants and a towering powder blue dress with tights are more fun than creepy and geared to entertain.  (On view in Chelsea through June 6th).

A sculpture of a pink suit stands in front of an all-yellow outfit behind. Both are unworn but standing.
Erwin Wurm, In the foreground: Waiting Pink Small (Substitutes), aluminum and acrylic paint, 39 3/8 x 5 7/8 x 13 ¾ inches, 2024. In the background: Hoody I (Philosophers), aluminum and paint, 80 ¾ x 24 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches, 2023.

Sally Saul, ‘Over the River and Through the Woods’ at Shrine Gallery

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On a low pedestal at the center of Shrine Gallery’s back exhibition space, a selection of Sally Saul’s quirky ceramic sculptures seems designed to underwhelm but charms none-the-less.  Snaggle-toothed dogs frisk around, three white-throated sparrows with delicate bodies and chunky feet gather around a dish of food, and a couple of chipmunks chatter together in sculptures that delightfully picture animals in community with each other.  Meanwhile, Saul’s perturbed-looking self-portrait head semi-surrounded by several tiny flying fish humorously suggests that this alter ego has slipped into another mental state while nearby, a whimsical hatted figure holding a dish of something resembling fruit sits in wholesome enjoyment of the natural world. (On view in Tribeca through May 9th).

A ceramic man in a hat holds a dish of fruit while seated on the floor next to a ceramic tree.
Sally Saul, Man with Hat, clay and glaze, 17 x 12.75 x 12.5 inches, 2022.

Robert Gober, ‘Plein Air’ at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Tiny prison windows appear in Robert Gober’s recently completed wall-mounted box sculptures at Matthew Marks Gallery, recalling the artist’s iconic barred windows and suggesting a place of confinement. This untitled sculpture adds meticulously hand-crafted window blinds and a rendition of Edouard Manet’s ‘Dead Christ with Angels,’ affixed to the back wall behind a fragile-looking non-functional lightbulb.  Pierced on the wrong side and iconographically incorrect in Manet’s ridiculed 1864 version, Gober’s Christ is missing the angels that would place the body in a timeline that leads to resurrection. Adding to the suggestion of stasis or failure, two cigarettes and a toothpick on the box’s floor suggest that someone has been waiting but perhaps, as the barred windows and nonfunctional light suggest, not seeing.  (On view in Chelsea through April 18th).

A box on the wall with blinds at the front and a lightbulb and picture visible inside.
Robert Gober, Untitled, aluminum, wood, clay, plaster, copper, epoxy putty, handmade paper, pewter, brass, glass, acrylic and oil paint, pastel, LED lights, string, 38 x 38 x 23 3/8 inches, 1990-2025.
A lightbulb made of ceramic and cracked is positioned in front of a cropped picture of Manet's Dead Christ with Angels.
Robert Gober, Untitled, aluminum, wood, clay, plaster, copper, epoxy putty, handmade paper, pewter, brass, glass, acrylic and oil paint, pastel, LED lights, string, 38 x 38 x 23 3/8 inches, 1990-2025.

Anish Kapoor, ‘Untitled’ at Lisson Gallery

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Walk in front of Anish Kapoor’s 15-foot-tall sheet of stainless steel at Lisson Gallery, and you will be flipped upside down and made huge, an effect both disarming and entertaining.  In another sculpture titled ‘Double Vertigo,’ two back-to-back sheets of curving steel reflect each other into infinity while their opposite sides distort gallery visitors’ appearances to the point of disorientation.  In his quest to know who we are as humans, Kapoor’s work often attempts to metaphorically look inside the body or aims to create a sublime experience beyond it.  His current show falls into the later category, immersing viewers not just in artworks but in environments of his own making. (On view in Chelsea through April 25th).

Three people stand in front of a tall, curving piece of reflective metal in a white-cube gallery.
Anish Kapoor, Non Object (Plane), stainless steel, 184 x 85 7/8 x 29 7/8 inches, 2010.

Wendy Red Star, ‘One Blue Bead’ at Sargent’s Daughters

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18th and 19th century versions of the White French Cross bead in the foreground of this installation view of Wendy Red Star’s solo show at Sargent’s Daughters in Tribeca were harder for Venetian glassmakers to produce, and therefore worth more in the North American fur trade.  Trade routes that brought the beads from Europe to the North American interior as well as historic exchange values (3-4 could trade for a prime winter beaver pelt in the 1800s) are part of the information accompanying Red Star’s alluring display of much enlarged glass beads placed on Hudson Bay blankets.  A grid of watercolor paintings features the beads and their names (e.g. Padre, Watermelon), enlarging the tiny forms that generated big demand in exchange between Native Americans and Europeans. (On view in Tribeca through April 18th).

Large sculptural glass beads lie on a red blanket on the floor. Behind, on the wall, is a grid of paintings of individual beads.
Wendy Red Star, installation view of ‘One Blue Bead’ at Sargent’s Daughters, March 2026.

Ursula von Rydingsvard, recent sculpture at Galerie Lelong

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Ursula von Rydingsvard’s monumental cedar sculptures have taken a turn toward more complex forms in her recent work at Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong.  Already labor intensive, von Rydingsvard’s process appears to have become even more challenging as she has moved from towering forms with complex surfaces that evoke weathered rock to equally large pieces that feature long, smoother finger-like forms.  Inspired by her own hands, the new work foregrounds the act of creation by picturing waving patterns of digits that also recall the shape of coral or underwater plants. (On view in Chelsea through March 28th.)

An abstract sculpture made of light brown cedar wood with waving folds and finger-like forms on the surface.
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Untitled, cedar, 123 x 109 x 90 inches, 2024-25.
An abstract sculpture made of light brown cedar wood with waving folds and finger-like forms on the surface.
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Untitled, cedar, 123 x 109 x 90 inches, 2024-25.

Yuko Mohri, ‘Falling Water Given’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo-based artist Yuko Mohri was drawn to materials that would change or, as she puts it, be as unstable as people’s lives were at the time.  Her current sculpture, installation and painting at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Chelsea continue to explore the creative possibilities of impermanence in surprising ways; in this sculpture, electrodes attached to the fruits on the table measure changing moisture levels that are translated into data that cause the hanging lightbulbs to turn on and off.  In other works, the decomposing fruits create sounds that echo though the gallery and remind viewers of forces (decay, sound) that are invisible but active. (On view in Chelsea through April 18th).

A small wooden table with fruit on the top and lights hanging underneath.
Yuko Mohri, Decomposition, vintage table, speakers, lights, 3-channel audio generated by fruits, and 3 LED lights dimmed by fruits, 26 x 23 ½ x 24 inches, 2026.

Elias Sime, ‘Final Drop’ at James Cohan Gallery

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Titled ‘Final Drop,’ Elias Sime’s show at James Cohan Gallery of gorgeous new assemblage art created from row upon row of braided electrical wire and other end-of-life electronics continues his theme of human impact on the environment.  Sime’s past work occasionally resembles aerial views of landscapes and in this piece, a central oval shape could be water seen from above, surrounded by contour lines of land.  If the blue is water, it is surprisingly geometric – formed from stacked cube shapes – and suggests an imposed order on the landscape by humans, not natural forces. Clusters of earphone components give texture to the areas of ‘land’ while also repeating the recurring droplet shape that appears in multiple works, symbolizing the life-giving importance of water (and nature) and its precarity.  (On view through March 21st).

An abstract pattern featuring a round blue form at center.
Elias Sime, FINAL DROP 11, woven electrical wires on wooden panel, 66 x 112 inches, 2026.
An abstract pattern made with colorful braided electrical wire.
Elias Sime, (detail) FINAL DROP 11, woven electrical wires on wooden panel, 66 x 112 inches, 2026.

Agnieszka Kurant, ‘Recursion’ at Marian Goodman Gallery

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“What would a chameleon do when confronted with its own reflection?” This question, posed decades ago by an expert in control systems, inspired Agnieszka Kurant’s ‘Recursivity 3,’ a standout sculpture in her current solo show at Marian Goodman Gallery that features a chameleon whose color changes based on information provided by AI.  Using various sets of AI-gathered data, Kurant considers aspects of human and animal life from new angles, for example, via a video featuring new language based on patterns of thousands of existing tongues and a panel with designs that are constantly altered by data gathered from wild animals via GPS, drones and other technologies.  Like the chameleon, humanity’s behavior is shaped by information gathered in real time and by future predictions; Kurant turns the flood of data into a portrait both complicated and illuminating. (On view through March 21st).

A bronze sculpture of a chameleon on a twisting branch, placed in front of a mirror.
Agnieszka Kurant, Recursivity 3, bronze, museum glass, liquid crystal pigments, heat sinks, Peltier elements, artificial intelligence, custom software, computer, AC, custom pedestal, 33 7/8 x 29 ½ x 51 1/8 inches, 2024/26.

Zarina, ‘Beyond the Stars’ at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Born in Aligarh, India ten years before partition, Zarina Hashmi’s uprooting at an early age prefigured a nomadic life of artmaking in Thailand, Germany, Paris, Japan, New York and beyond.  Luhring Augustine’s survey of several decides of the artist’s print-centered work reflects the artist’s recurring themes of home and displacement through pieces picturing abstracted maps of countries and cities in which she lived, as well as abstract work recalling architecture.  In this thickly textured cast-paper wall-sculpture titled ‘Marrakesh,’ Zarina, who went by her first name, suggests the earthen building tradition of Morrocco and a recurring stepped form in Islamic architecture.  (On view in Tribeca through March 28th).

A cast-paper form like a ziggurat or plant, colored brown.
Zarina, Marrakesh, cast paper, 22 x 19 ½ inches, 1988.

Jeff Koons, ‘Porcelain Series’ at Gagosian Gallery

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Meticulously crafted in flawlessly smooth mirror-polished stainless steel, Jeff Koons’ large-scale new sculptures from his ‘Porcelain Series’ at Gagosian dazzle and dominate viewers, making the spacious gallery feel full.  Towering renderings of Aphrodite, the Three Graces and Diana are rooted in Greek and Roman myth but take their forms from diverse sources ranging from mass-produced collectibles to elite objects by Sevres or Meissen, continuing Koons’ practice of flattening distinctions between pop culture and ‘high art.’  Here, a kissing couple in courtly dress express desire for each other as the sculpture itself becomes an oversized object of desire, undergoing a scale shift that intensifies both romance and market appeal. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 28th).

A sculpture of two kissing people in 18th century dress in highly polished and painted steel.
Jeff Koons, Kissing Lovers, mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating, 88 x 77 x 55 inches, 2016-25.

Eva Robarts, ‘Bikes, Bolts and Brooms’ at Nicola Vassell Gallery

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Titled ‘Bikes, Bolts and Brooms,’ Eva Robarts show of new sculpture at Nicola Vassell Gallery makes familiar objects feel both strange and wonderful by clustering them in colorful accumulations.  A rainbow of overlapping V-shaped bike frame segments and monochromatic panels made of roughly woven, crushed flat broom handles convey a certain amount of energy just by their tilting, dense arrangement of forms.  In the back room, this combination of a scythe and truck mirror titled ‘Dancers’ strikes a darker, dangerous note.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 21st).

Eva Robarts, Dancers, scythe, trucking door mount mirror, steel hardware, 35 x 54 x 33 inches, 2021.

Dan Flavin, ‘Grids’ at David Zwirner Gallery

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Perfectly timed to contrast New York’s drab winter landscape, David Zwirner Gallery’s show of iconic light artist Dan Flavin’s fluorescent ‘Grids’ series offers a hugely enjoyable immersion in color.  Installed in the gallery as they were in Leo Castelli’s space in 1987, the show starts with three grids on loan from the Guggenheim, Princeton University Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art placed end to end across a corner.  Casting and blending their colors, this work from 1977 and the show’s other pieces transform the space of the gallery, engaging with architecture by bathing it in light. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 21st.)

Two people stand in front of a sculpture made of a grid of colorful fluorescent tubes.
Dan Flavin, untitled (for you, Leo, in long respect and affection) 2, blue, yellow, pink and green fluorescent light, 8 ft square across a corner, edition 3 of 3, 1977.

Nicole Cherubini, ‘Hotel Roma’ at Friedman Benda Gallery

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Three towering arrangements of curving stacked forms in Nicole Cherubini’s first solo show at Chelsea’s Friedman Benda Gallery represent Greek mythology’s Three Graces in a decidedly updated style. Cherubini’s versions partially preserve the white expanses of flesh on ancient marble trios while adding expressionist drips and splashes of color and terracotta material as if to partially cloth the normally nude characters.  In past work, Cherubini has treated sculpture and support as equally important; here for Grace number three, a long bench-like form extends away from the figure like the train of a dress or elements of a landscape. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 21st).

A stack of sculptural ceramic forms with a bench-like shape extending back into the gallery.
Nicole Cherubini, 3, earthenware, terracotta, sculptural clay, glaze, epoxy resin, Magic Sculpt, acrylic paint, steel rod, hardware, 87 ¼ x 146 x 26 ½ inches, 2025.

Louise Bourgeois, ‘Gathering Wool’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

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Though Hauser and Wirth Gallery’s current exhibition of work by Louise Bourgeois focuses on the late artist’s abstract sculpture, many pieces incorporate found objects or include an element of representation that gives each work an extra charge.  Viewers first encounter a darkened gallery dominated by a metal submarine-like shape in two parts – one moving slowly in an out of the other on rails – meant to evoke mother/child dependency. Less unnerving but still pointing to the female body, one of the artist’s Poids sculptures features a humerously minimal assemblage of curving forms – a tire and two liquid-filled glass bowls positioned on an arched steel rod – that suggest a stooped, subservient form. Here, an untitled pink marble sculpture offers another spherical shape, this one with a chubby arm emerging from one side as if breaking out into independent life.  (On view in Chelsea through April 18th).

A marble sphere sits on top of a roughly carved marble block. A child's chubby upper arm comes from the sphere.
Louise Bourgeois, Untitled (With Hand), pink marble, 31 x 30 ½ x 21 inches, 1989.

Judy Pfaff, ‘Light Years’ at Cristin Tierney Gallery

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‘Wow’ is always an appropriate response to Judy Pfaff’s exuberant installations and sculpture, their joyful excess of materials and form always eye-catching, sometimes overwhelming.  Her first show with Cristin Tierney Gallery features a 40’ long installation of acrylic sheets fixed with neon, polyurethane foam, recycled plastic and umbrellas along one wall of the gallery’s new Tribeca space.  Opposite, three sculptures incorporating waving segments of plastic carpet pierced by neon (made with collaborating neon artist Joe Upham) transform impoverished materials into artworks with engaging visual complexity.  (On view through Dec 20th).

An abstract arrangement of a waving plastic carpet and neon lights.
Judy Pfaff, CARPETRIGHT, steel, recycled plastic carpet, neon, T5 fluorescent light, 74 x 68 x 41 inches, 2025.

Analia Saban, ‘Flowchart’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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A paint-flecked puffer jacket hanging at the entrance to Analia Saban’s latest solo exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery feels a little out of place, at least until closer inspection reveals it to be made of white-veined black marble.  Known for her inventive use of materials and for work that mediates between hand making and computer technologies, Saban’s coat represents another analogue / digital merger. A video posted to her Instagram account features the artist standing next to a giant milling robotic arm with the unfinished piece nearby, an artistic collaboration between human and machine that recalls how clothing (including the original puffer coat) is made.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 18th).

A black puffer jacket that looks like a coat but is made of marble hangs on the wall.
Analia Saban, Puffer (Patagonia, Nero Marquina), Nero Marquina marble, 31 ½ x 19 1/5 x 12 1/5 inches, 2025.

Jacob Hashimoto, ‘The bittersweet fall into actuality’ at Miles McEnery Gallery

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Jacob Hashimoto’s new wall-mounted paper and bamboo sculptures at Miles McEnery Gallery have tantalizing titles (‘The problem with bubbles’ and ‘It was all possible until it wasn’t’) but are resolutely abstract.  Inspired by structures from circuit-boards to cells, Hashimoto has described his work as an open system that allows viewers in, validating a variety of experience.  Nevertheless, he seems to be edging closer to representation with this multi-colored, riotously patterned construction titled, ‘The bittersweet fall into actuality.’  Anchored in a form suggesting a tree, the artist’s step towards ‘actuality’ is still enjoyably open to interpretation. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 20th).

An artwork composed of layers of small paper disks with abstract patterning. The entire pattern suggests a tree at the center with surrounding abstract patterns.
Jacob Hashimoto, The bittersweet fall into actuality, acrylic, paper, bamboo, wood and Dacron, 60 x 48 x 8 ¼ inches, 2025.
Detail of the artwork showing abstract patterns of green, white and brown on circular disks.
Jacob Hashimoto, (detail) The bittersweet fall into actuality, acrylic, paper, bamboo, wood and Dacron, 60 x 48 x 8 ¼ inches, 2025.

Ming Fay, ‘Midnite Porridge’ at Kurimanzutto

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Scaled up to several feet tall, even the most mundane fruits and seeds have uncanny intrigue, as evidenced by late New York artist Ming Fay’s mixed media sculpture at Kurimanzutto.  Here, an unidentified green veg resembles a jester’s cap while behind, a huge bronze cherry symbolizes love.  Fay created his first fruit sculpture during a period of his life in which he commuted between his home in downtown New York and a teaching gig at the University of Pennsylvania, experiencing abrupt contrasts between urban and rural environments.  Inspired by nature but alluding to symbolic meanings (peaches associated with longevity, peppers referring to passion and prosperity), Fay’s scaled-up sculptures magnify delight in and interconnectedness with nature.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 13th. Check holiday hours over the Thanksgiving weekend).

A sculpture of a green vegetable sits on a pedestal with sculptures of fruits behind.
Ming Fay, Untitled, mixed media, 25 x 7.5 x 7.5 inches, 1990s.

Chiharu Shiota, ‘Echoes Between’ at Templon Gallery

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Visitors to Berlin-based Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota’s latest solo show at Templon Gallery in Chelsea immediately encounter a tunnel-like path through hanging fiberoptic threads, an enchanting space that invites wonder.  Tiny lights at the end of each thread affixed to the ceiling form walls of white light which open up to allow visitors to walk around a white chair placed at the center of the gallery.  Known for employing everyday objects that may carry histories of use, Shiota arranges a flurry of butterfly-like fabric tufts above the chair, perhaps alluding to a person or spirit who is no longer there.  Suggesting transformation and passage into another state of consciousness, wakefulness or life, the installation is a dramatic opener to a though-provoking show.  (On view in Chelsea through Jan 22nd).

A white chair sits in the center of a room, surrounded by hanging fiberoptic threads.
Chiharu Shiota, installation view of ‘Echoes Between,’ November 2025 at Templon Gallery, New York.

Alex Da Corte, ‘Parade’ at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Using prosthetics and costumes, Alex Da Corte has morphed into characters as varied as Marcel Duchamp and Mister Rogers.  In his latest solo show at Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea, he embodies the artist Paul Thek in his iconic 1967 tomb and recreates artworks on the theme of hidden spaces by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Fluxus artist Robert Watts, and others.  Here, Da Corte places a cast of his own body in a Pink Panther suit. Nearby, a furry head resting on the floor completes the costume, but Da Corte’s double rejects it in favor of pink face paint, as if more fully trying to embody Pink Panther’s elusive character.  Posing in a way that recalls Duane Hanson’s ‘Housepainter’ sculpture, the piece introduces a range of ideas, from the personal (Da Corte’s brother is a professional house painter) to the art historical and beyond. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 20th).

Sculpture of a man wearing a Pink Panther outfit holding a paint roller in front of a partially painted pink wall.
Alex Da Corte, Housepainter II, foam, plywood, resin, silicone, fur, hair, steel, paint, hardware, muslin, glass, 2025.

Susan Hamburger, ‘Near Enemies’ at Asya Geisberg Gallery

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Historical European parade armor can be so fancifully decorated, it’s sometimes hard to take it seriously as a byproduct of military activity.  New York artist Susan Hamburger picks up on the disconnect and runs with it, producing a series of wildly creative helmets at Asya Geisberg Gallery that push ornate design into the deliciously absurd. (On view in Tribeca through Dec 20th).

A white helmet shaped like a bird-like face and decorated with floral motifs.
Susan Hamburger, Helmet (Feathers), papier mache, celluclay, paperclay, wood stand, 21” h x 13” w x 13” d, 2023.

Veronica Ryan, ‘Retrieval’ at Paula Cooper Gallery

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Three years after winning Britain’s biggest art prize Veronica Ryan’s evocative, small-scale sculpture invite intimate inspection at Paula Cooper Gallery.  Despite the many accolades that have come her way in recent years, Ryan continues to craft humble, abstract sculptures from a combination of ephemeral and found materials that speak to the memories and associations held by everyday objects.  Titled ‘Retrieval,’ the show includes objects covered in bandages and sacks of Himalayan salt crystals that open conversations about healing.  Pillow-like forms, pincushions and a giant doily speak to the labor and care shown by Ryan’s late mother, who embroidered the family’s pillowcases and made clothing.  Here, two small towers created by stacking pie tins and held together by crocheted wool represent a structure made to house bundles of salt and ceramic seeds, symbols of healing and growth. (On view in Chelsea through Nov 22nd).

Two circular columns of stacked materials inside of two close-fitting orange and a turquoise crocheted sacks.
Veronica Ryan, Totem, pie tins, crochet wool, plaster, thread, Himalayan salt, netting, air-dried clay, acrylic paint, pink totem: 35 x 12 x 9 inches, blue totem: 30 ¼ x 9 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 2024-25.
A circular column inside of two crocheted forms, supporting three small sacks.
Veronica Ryan, Totem, pie tins, crochet wool, plaster, thread, Himalayan salt, netting, air-dried clay, acrylic paint, pink totem: 35 x 12 x 9 inches, blue totem: 30 ¼ x 9 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches, 2024-25.

Hank Willis Thomas, ‘I AM MANY’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

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A small bronze sculpture of two open hands, palms upward, in Hank Willis Thomas’ show at Jack Shainman Gallery is physically small but conceptually huge.  Last week, Davidson College in North Carolina dedicated a monumental, site-specific version of the sculpture by Thomas as a memorial to the enslaved individuals who labored on and built the institution in the 19th century.  Other standout works in the show include quilt-like textile pieces featuring US flags and prison uniforms that suggest that the carceral state has become part of the fabric of the nation and screenprinted retroflective vinyl panels which reveal hidden images of protesters from various points in US history.  (On view in Tribeca through Nov 1st).

In the foreground, a bronze sculpture of two open hands emerging from a reflective surface.
Hank Willis Thomas, With These Hands, patina and polished bronze, 8 ½ x 18 x 24inches, 2025.

Mona Kowalska, ‘Out of Body’ at Kerry Schuss Gallery

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After a life in the fashion industry, which began as a fit model in a Polish state-run clothing factory and progressed to running her beloved NYC-based brand ‘A Detacher,’ Mona Kowalska struck out as a visual artist.  Six years later, her second solo show at Kerry Schuss Gallery in Tribeca demonstrates her continued interest in bodies, expressed through textiles.  A sculpture of a thick and curvy, Smurf-like lower torso and legs crafted in impressively thick lengths of hemp rope rests near a dress and boots made in the same material.  Nearby, a bowl-like wooden form attached to the wall and covered with black netting suggests a figure partially disguised by a face veil.  Another mysterious visage emerges from two socks joined by a single string, a shaggy, wall-mounted sculpture made of goat hair that effects a fairy-tale-like merger of human and animal forms. (In view in Tribeca through Oct 25th).

Mona Kowalska, Goathair Socks, goathair, cotton, 25.5 x 15.5 x 1.5 inches, 2019.

Gabriel Chaile, ‘Esto es America, o qual e o limite?’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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It’s easy to miss a tiny black and white photo of protestors in Bozeman, Montana at the entrance to Gabriel Chaile’s solo show at Marianne Boesky Gallery, but the marchers inspired the Argentinian artist to arrange his monumental adobe sculptures as if they’re conducting their own demonstration.  Known for anthropomorphic sculptures inspired by indigenous art in the Americas, Chaile created five enormous figures with large, stylized eyes, mouths and arms drawn flush with the vessel surface.  Here, a sculpture mimics the form of an oven, the open space inside the round mouth suggesting community production of sustaining bread.  Placed in a circular arrangement in the gallery (where Chaile created them in-place this summer), their powerful size and charming, fantastical quality prompt appreciation and respect for the relevance and beauty of indigenous cultural tradition.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 18th).

Gabriel Chaile, installation view of ‘Esto es America, o qual e o limite?’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery, Sept 2025.

John Wilson, ‘Witnessing Humanity’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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At eight feet tall, John Wilson’s bronze bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. was intended to be “a Black image you could not ignore.” Much smaller, but still arresting, Wilson’s sculpture of King with an intensely focused gaze (a model for the final piece installed in Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Buffalo) dominates the first gallery of the artist’s powerful Metropolitan Museum of Art retrospective.  Intimate charcoal drawings of the love between fathers and children, stylized portrayals of working people in Mexico and Paris, pictured incidents of racially motivated violence and art made in wartime show Wilson countering prevalent negative images of African Americans with depictions grounded in real-life that demonstrate beauty and respect for Black subjects. (On view on the Upper East Side at the Met Museum through Feb 8th, 2026).

Large bronze bust of Martin Luther King Jr's head.
John Wilson, Maquette for Martin Luther King, Jr. (Buffalo, New York), modeled 1982, cast 2021, bronze.

Jonathan Baldock, ‘Friends’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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Below a sign made of hessian and felt reading ‘Never Be Cool,’ Jonathan Baldock’s ceramic sculpture ‘She’s Sassy’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery obeys the message with her fiery-red color and engaged stance.  Other ceramic sculptures continue the British artist’s series of colorful mask-like faces while multi-media works reference the Bremen Town musicians as human, animal hybrids.  Baldock’s bodies-as-vessels continue to explore the breadth of human identity, foibles and fun included.  (On view in Tribeca through Oct 11th).

Jonathan Baldock, She’s Sassy, glazed ceramic, 25 9/16 x 11 13/15 x 14 9/16 inches, 2025.

Pedro Reyes, new work at Lisson Gallery

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New stone, glass, silver and gold mosaics compliment stylized sculptures inspired by Pre-Columbian culture by Pedro Reyes in the Mexican artist’s latest solo show at Chelsea’s Lisson Gallery.  Adding bright notes of color and presenting a compact vocabulary of small-scale decorative forms, the small, wall-mounted mosaics recall architectural fragments.  One piece featuring scrolling forms is titled ‘Mitla,’ a reference to the Zapotec archeological site rich with patterned architecture.  Here, ‘Chaac’ recalls the Mayan deity associated with rain, thunder and lightning.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 18th).

Abstract pattern of silver lines on blue/green background.
Pedro Reyes, Chaac, silver and glass mosaic, 18 ¼ x 11 ½ x 1 ½ inches, 2025.

Red Grooms, Mimi Gross and The Ruckus Construction Company, ‘Dame of the Narrows’ at Brooklyn Museum

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‘Ruckus Manhattan,’ a legendary sculptural rendition of New York City’s iconic sites created in 1975 by Red Grooms, Mimi Gross and collaborators known as the Ruckus Construction Co., is so huge that it is only occasionally shown.  Now, the artists’ version of the Staten Island Ferry has surfaced in the Brooklyn Museum’s main, ground floor gallery along with the group’s recreation of a Times Square adult bookstore and a small selection of supporting artwork by other artists reflecting on the city.  Surrounded on the four walls of the museum’s large exhibition space by a mural of the harbor, a visit to ‘Dame of the Narrows’ is the next best thing to actually getting out on the water.  (On view at the Brooklyn Museum through Nov 2nd).

sculpture of a ferry and a pier in NY harbor in a large exhibition gallery
Red Grooms, Mimi Gross and The Ruckus Construction Company, Dame of the Narrows, mixed media, 1975.

Met Museum medieval galleries – recent additions

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A group of arrestingly odd characters have turned up lately in the Met Museum’s Fifth Avenue medieval galleries; three dapper wise men, a mysteriously cloaked Mary and a half-dressed saint associated with the plague stop foot traffic with their large size and idiosyncratic details.  A wall text points out that in Europe’s bustling cities c. 1500, sculptors enlivened familiar holy figures with details inspired by contemporary life.  Here, a limestone rendering of St Catherine of Alexandria from Lorraine, France ca 1475-1525 reads a book as she dominates a figure representing the ruler she refused to marry, reflecting, “the promise that virtuous rulers will triumph over corrupt tyrants.” (On view at the Met’s Fifth Ave location in gallery 305).

A large hall at the met museum with a stone sculpture of a woman, left foreground, and a trio of sculptures in the background.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Workshop of Jan Crocq, Limestone with traces of paint, French, Lorraine, ca 1475-1525.

Steve Keister, ‘Split Level’ at Derek Eller Gallery

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Steve Keister’s graphically bold mixed media creations at Derek Eller Gallery came about with the discovery that Styrofoam and cardboard packaging often come in shapes recalling Mesoamerican design.  Using some of these pre-formed shapes as casts, Keister developed plaster molds that would allow him to make sculpture in ceramic slip.  In combination with flat and heavily geometric paintings, the sculptural face seen here in ‘Contrapposto’ is a cultural hybrid, blending influences from Latin American design, western art and Modernism.  (On view in Tribeca through Aug 22nd.)

Abstracted, geometric human figure painted with attached sculpture of a head.
Steve Keister, Contrapposto, glazed ceramic and acrylic on wood, 30 x 24 x 4 inches.

Nathalie Khayat, ‘Unfolded Proximities’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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With titles like ‘Clutch,’ ‘Trespass,’ and ‘Cradling,’ Nathalie Khayat’s new ceramic sculptures at Marianne Boesky Gallery suggest emotionally evocative human actions in clay form.  Yet each centers on a merger of architectural solidity (aided by stoneware construction) and plant-like organic growth, upward and outward. Weighty and deliberate yet offering the notion of development within those restraints, Khayat situates her practice in the experience of living in the crossroads city of Beirut, where she has described a tenuous and fluid quality to life.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 15th.  Note summer hours.)

Nathalie Khayat, The Devouring of You, glazed stoneware, 21 ½ x 23 x 19 ½ inches, 2025.

Alicja Kwade in ‘Seasonal Drift’ at 303 Gallery

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303 Gallery’s summer group show ‘Seasonal Drift’ includes artwork by gallery artists that makes strange our notions of time and space.  Simultaneous with her similarly themed solo exhibition at Pace Gallery, a few blocks to the north, Alicja Kwade’s contribution at 303, ‘Trial Turn’ from 2019, employs minimal materials – steel rings and bricks – to prompt us to consider our place in the universe.  Typically elegant, the sculpture suggests oversized jewelry or the playfulness of hula hoops yet employs utilitarian (and ancient) building materials in a way that evokes gears or the functioning of machinery.  Numbering 12, 24, 36 and 48 on the four rings, the bricks create a system like those we create to navigate and manage life.  (On view through Aug 8th).

Alicja Kwade, Trial Turn, unique, stainless steel, bricks, 2019.

Dustin Yellin, ‘If A Bird’s Nest is Nature, What is a House’ at Almine Rech Gallery

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Playfully describing his work as ‘window sandwiches,’ Brooklyn artist Dustin Yellin seals images from books and magazines, paint and street trash in layered glass sculptures that delight with their creativity and tiny details.  Now on view in his solo show at Almine Rech Gallery, this image of a human figure with waterfalls for arms and a head that looks as if the sun is exploding from a volcano is host to dozens of little climbing, rafting and parachuting human figures.  Blurring the line between man and nature, Yellin questions the role of the spirit in human life with the title ‘God Shaped Hole (Study).’  (On view in Tribeca through Aug 1st. Note summer hours.)

Dustin Yellin, God Shaped Hole (Study), glass, epoxy, collage, acrylic paint, 19 ¼ x 8 1/8 x 6 ½ inches, 2024.
Dustin Yellin, God Shaped Hole (Study), glass, epoxy, collage, acrylic paint, 19 ¼ x 8 1/8 x 6 ½ inches, 2024.

Marepe in ‘The Kids Are Alright’ at Timothy Taylor Gallery

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Growing up is complicated.  Nevertheless, ‘The Kids are Alright,’ a sprawling, salon-style summer group show curated by Helen Toomer at Tribeca’s Timothy Taylor Gallery suggests by its title that obstacles can be surmounted.  A textile piece by Anya Paintsil pictures a weeping child comforted by a loving mom, Dominic Chambers’ painting shows young people joyfully fly kites against an apocalyptically red background and Gehard Demetz’ wooden sculpture disturbingly positions a youngster at the center of a giant grinding device yet pictures the youth as entirely serene.  Brazilian artist Marepe, known for repurposing found objects in his sculpture, contributes a cluster of hanging nets with openings through which one might have tossed the colorful plastic balls resting within. If life is a game, this piece suggests you need some luck to play it.  (On view in Tribeca through Aug 1st. Note summer hours.)

Marepe, Uteros [Wombs], net, aluminum, and plastic balls, 128 x 110 x 144 inches overall, 2023.

Sam Moyer, ‘Woman with Holes’ at Hill Art Foundation

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Sam Moyer’s monumental ‘Fern Friend Grief Growth’ is the anchor of her show at the Hill Art Foundation, an exhibition made richer by including artworks by major contemporary artists who share Moyer’s interest in pushing the possibilities of materials.  This ‘stone painting’, as it was called when shown at The Parrish Art Museum last summer, employs painted plaster and segments of recycled marble to picture delicate plant structures that carry literal and (in the title) metaphorical weight.  Nearby, Liz Glynn’s partial recreation of Rodin’s ‘Walking Man’ sculpture abandons the heaviness of the original bronze like a shed skin while her nearby stainless-steel tumbleweed sculpture is more solid and lasting than the original.  From Isamu Noguchi’s ponderous ‘Woman with Holes’ to Robert Gober’s representation of an open window, the dynamic of contrast between weight and lightness generates continual interest.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 1st).

Sam Moyer, Fern Friend Grief Growth, marble, acrylic on plaster-coated canvas mounted to MDF, 120 x 240 x 1 inches, 2024.
A fern leaf pattern made of canvas and stone.
Sam Moyer, (detail) Fern Friend Grief Growth, marble, acrylic on plaster-coated canvas mounted to MDF, 120 x 240 x 1 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.

Woomin Kim in ‘Soft Structures’ at Jane Lombard Gallery

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Jane Lombard Gallery’s summer group show ‘Soft Structures’ is an immediate ‘wow,’ enticing visitors with ten textile-centric artists’ inventive use of materials.   At the show’s entrance, Woomin Kim’s huge soft sculpture of fingertips with wildly decorated nails charms with its humor and vibrant color.  Nearby, Crystal Gregory’s knit cotton and silk netting, embedded with pewter and cast in concrete pits the various strengths of textile, metal and concrete while Elodie Blanchard creates pleasingly wonky ‘ceramic’ vessel forms from fabric, leather and mylar balloon.  As summer group shows are increasingly replaced by solo shows in New York galleries, this exhibition argues for the vitality of the group showcase.  (Curated by independent curator Jen Wroblewski. On view through Aug 8th in Tribeca.  Note summer hours).

a wall mounted sculpture featuring a cluster of fingertips made of different colors and patterns of fabric.
Woomin Kim, Sontop II, fabric, embellishment, fiberfill, 53 x 65 inches, 2024.
Closeup of a sculpture of decorated fingernails in many colors and patterns.
Woomin Kim, Sontop II (detail), fabric, embellishment, fiberfill, 53 x 65 inches, 2024.

Claudette Schreuders, ‘Genesis’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Compact yet full-bodied, unexpressive yet communicating feeling, South African artist Claudette Schreuders’ figurative wooden sculptures have an uncanny presence in her current solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery. Medieval church figures, Baule sculpture and historic wooden representations of people in western dress made for the colonial tourist trade influence the form of Schreuders’ sculpture, but new pieces featuring the artist’s son, husband, dog and herself at work on a sculpture keep the subject matter close to home.  In this sculpture, simply titled ‘Work,’ Schreuders invites us into her studio to witness the process of creation, a sustained intimacy between maker and made.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 1st. Note summer hours.)

Claudette Schreuders, Work, jelutong wood and paint, 36 5/8 x 13 3/8 x 19 ¾ inches, 2025.

Michelle Im, ‘Hello, Goodbye’ at Dimin Gallery

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Positioned in two rows of eight large sculptures, Michelle Im’s ceramic renditions of Korean Air flight attendants at Dimin Gallery stand at the ready, prepared to meet the needs of passengers with a bottle of wine, pot of tea or a demonstration of correct seatbelt usage.  Though all subjects wear sincerely pleasant looks, the title of each figure (supplied by the artist’s mother) suggests particular character traits, such as the propensity to talk a lot or show grace.  In one of two sculptures named by Im herself and pictured here, the artist applies a family name meaning ‘to lead the world with her words’ to this figure with her obligingly tilting head, offering a thought-provoking tribute to professionalism and service. (On view in Tribeca through July 11th).

Michelle Im, Gyu-Jin, ceramic, epoxy, enamel, acrylic, 42 x 16 x 11 inches, 2025.
Michelle Im, (detail) Gyu-Jin, ceramic, epoxy, enamel, acrylic, 42 x 16 x 11 inches, 2025.

Moffat Takadiwa, ‘Second Life’ at Nicodim Gallery

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Reminiscent of microorganisms or animal-like forms yet created with cast-off plastics, Zimbabwe-based artist Moffat Takadiwa’s wall mounted sculptures at Nicodim Gallery embody what he calls ‘post-colonial hangover.’ Sourced from dumping sites and factory cast-offs, the artist explains, the materials are evidence of stalled industry.  Manipulated into a ‘Second Life’ per the show’s title, however, the artworks speak to the resourcefulness and creativity driving Takadiwa’s practice.  (On view in SoHo through July 3rd).

Moffat Takadiwa, Fashion Brands (d), computer and laptop keys, toothbrushes, buttons and various accessories, 69 ½ x 55 inches, 2025.
Moffat Takadiwa, (detail) Fashion Brands (d), computer and laptop keys, toothbrushes, buttons and various accessories, 69 ½ x 55 inches, 2025.

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.

Laura Lima, ‘Bale Literal’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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Dozens of performers noiselessly cluster backstage waiting to go before the audience at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in a performance orchestrated by Brazilian artist Laura Lima.  All actors, or ‘ballerinas’ as the gallery terms some of them, are sculptures created by Lima’s studio and include beekeeping clothes modified to suggest a space suit, a hammer and a sickle, each sporting a long ‘Greek’ dress, and a black and red cross a la early 20th century artist Kazimir Malevich.  Sent out on a pulley system along one gallery wall and powered by an offstage bicycle, the inanimate figures are given life by lights, sound and careful movement of the pulley.  Strangely absorbing, the installation and its dancing figures reward visitors who are game for interpretation. (On view in Chelsea through May 30th.)

Laura Lima, installation view of ‘Bale Literal,’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, May 2025.

Kennedy Yanko, ‘Epithets’ at James Cohan Gallery

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Spotlit and spaciously installed on elegantly understated grey walls at James Cohan Gallery, Kennedy Yanko’s abstract sculptures delight with their formally complex compositions.  Continuing her signature combination of scrap metal and sheets of dried and folded paint, Yanko’s latest sculptures are restrained in size but rich in evocative color and dynamic form. The first piece in the show incorporates a crushed metal cannister that looks as soft as a duffel bag.  Another sculpture features curlicues crafted from metal fencing surrounding a twisting sheet of paint skin in colors that complement the fragments of color on the metal.  Here, rusting metal compliments a deep red swathe of paint. (On view in Tribeca through May 10th).

Kennedy Yanko, Remembering the Future, paint skin, metal, 40 x 24 x 15 inches, 2025.

Jeppe Hein, ‘Expect a Miracle’ at 303 Gallery

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Happiness is Danish sculptor Jeppe Hein’s stock-in-trade.  Past work includes brightly colored benches he calls ‘social sculptures’ that invite strangers or intimates to stop and converse, walls of water that dare interaction and shiny balloons of metal that appear to float on the ceiling.  A new installation at Chelsea’s 303 Gallery presents a ceiling bedecked with swathes of fabric evoking waves, home to alluringly shiny lacquered plastic fish and other animals.  The text ‘expect a miracle,’ spelled out in balloon-like letters at the gallery front door is both poignant and hopeful.  (On view in Chelsea through May 31st).

Jeppe Hein, installation view of ‘Expect A Miracle,’ at 303 Gallery April 26th, 2025.

Willem de Kooning, ‘Endless Painting’ at Gagosian Gallery

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Though painting dominated Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning’s career, his bronze sculpture ‘Standing Figure’ takes over a room of paintings in a standout show of the iconic artist’s work at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea.  Showcasing pieces from the ‘40s to the ‘80s, including major loans from MoMA and the Guggenheim and organized with the support of the Willem de Kooning Foundation, this expansive exhibition offers the opportunity to consider work from different periods of de Kooning’s career in light of his continual reference to the human body.  Placed in proximity to nearly figurative work from early career to the pared down, elegant abstractions of his final painting years, this monumental bronze recalls de Kooning’s observation that “even abstract shapes must have a likeness.” (On view in Chelsea through June 14th).

Willem De Kooning, Standing Figure, bronze, 148 x 252 x 80 inches, 1969-84.

 

vanessa german, GUMBALL at Kasmin Gallery

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Two angels visited vanessa german last fall, one sharing a word – Olmec – and the other urging the artist to continue to practice the spiritual in her art.  The resulting series of monumental head sculptures in “GUMBALL – there is absolutely no space between body and soul” at Chelsea’s Kasmin Gallery are extravagantly rich in their ornamentation, masterful in their collage technique and abundant in references to the sacred.  Also a writer, german is as generous with her words as her materials and recounts (@vanessalgerman) not only the visitation that inspired the heads but explains that she has developed her work to include energy-bearing stones, stars, words, numbers and animal forms.  Here, a head with elaborate decoration and a quilted backing bears a long, poetic list of not just of materials but of concepts on the gallery’s checklist, ending in ‘have faith.’  (On view in Chelsea through May 10th).

vanessa german, bring light in through the top of your head, wood, plaster, foam, plaster gauze, sweet kisses, love, gold chain purse, rose quartz butterflies, the sound of horns honking out of the hotel window, cut glass, lucky feet in rose quartz from the window of the eye, have faith. 79 x 51 x 43 inches, 2025.
vanessa german, bring light in through the top of your head, wood, plaster, foam, plaster gauze, sweet kisses, love, gold chain purse, rose quartz butterflies, the sound of horns honking out of the hotel window, cut glass, lucky feet in rose quartz from the window of the eye, have faith. 79 x 51 x 43 inches, 2025.
vanessa german, bring light in through the top of your head, wood, plaster, foam, plaster gauze, sweet kisses, love, gold chain purse, rose quartz butterflies, the sound of horns honking out of the hotel window, cut glass, lucky feet in rose quartz from the window of the eye, have faith. 79 x 51 x 43 inches, 2025.

Jane Rosen, ‘Variegated Stones’ at Bienvenu, Steinberg & C

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Jane Rosen’s elegantly streamlined glass and stone bird sculptures at Bienvenu, Steinberg and C inspire admiration for the natural world without dramatizing it.  Similarly restrained but more roughly stylized canids conjure relief carving traditions from around the world, while ink and gouache paintings on weathered-looking paper both reveal the artist’s thought process and present her subjects as if drawn from an ancient text. (On view in Tribeca through April 5th).

Jane Rosen, Roussillon Bird, hand blown glass, French pigment and limestone, overall dimensions: 53 x 10 x13 in, figure: 14 x 6 x 8 in, 2023.

En Iwamura, ‘Mask’ at Ross and Kramer Gallery

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Titled ‘Neo Jomon,’ Japanese ceramic artist En Iwamura’s sculpture at Ross and Kramer Gallery updates ancient Japanese pottery with a new consideration of the age-old ‘cord’ pattern.  Pulling a tool over clay that has started to harden, Iwamura achieves a textured effect that can look deceptively like fabric, even at close range.  Inspired by the mask collections in Osaka’s National Museum of Ethnology, which he visited while growing up, Iwamura infuses his forms with both mystery and humor.  (On view in Chelsea through March 22nd).

En Iwamura, Neo Jomon: Black Mask (Crack), glazed ceramic, gold, 31 x 31 x 9 inches, 2024.

Julian Opie at Lisson Gallery

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How present can you be while on your phone?  British artist Julian Opie offers his take on the question with a presentation of four nearly 10-foot-tall striding figures at Lisson Gallery in Chelsea, two of whom gaze down at digital devices.  Blatantly present due to their size, but mentally removed, the figures are emblematic of our distracted times while also monumentalizing digital connectedness.  Initially created for an exhibition in Busan, Korea, the figures could come from anywhere yet retain distinct characteristics in a mix-up of specificity and universality.  (On view in Chelsea through April 19th.)

Julian Opie, Red phone, Auto paint on aluminium, 119 1/8 x 54 3/8 x 19 1/4 in, 2023.

Camille Henrot, ‘A Number of Things’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

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Green rubber playground flooring transports visitors into an unexpected perceptual experience in Camille Henrot’s first New York solo show of playfully odd sculpture at Hauser and Wirth Gallery. Marked with a matrix-like grid that’s calming yet at the same time reminiscent of a guillotine paper cutter, the pattern reinforces the artist’s ongoing interest in the structures that organize society. Paintings inspired by etiquette books, sculpture that looks like abacuses (both the kind used as tools and children’s toys) and this group of dogs on leashes offer varied takes on relationships and power relations. (On view in Chelsea through April 12th).

Camille Henrot, installation view of ‘A Number of Things’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Feb ’25.

Nick Cave, ‘Amalgams and Graphts’ at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Nick Cave’s stunning sculpture ‘Amalgam (Origin)’ at Jack Shainman Gallery’s newly renovated Tribeca location radically scales up the artist’s iconic Soundsuits, wearable sculptures that make sound as they are moved.  Designed as a protective gesture in response to the 1992 beating of Rodney King’s by LA police, Cave’s first Soundsuit was made of twigs; this 26’ tall bronze adds full branches in a melding of human and natural forms that reaches nearly to the gallery’s 29’ tall ceiling.  (On view through March 29th).

Nick Cave, installation view of ‘Amalgam (Origin)’ at Jack Shainman Gallery, Tribeca, bronze, 309 5/8 x 201 x 227 inches, 2024.

Simphiwe Mbunyuza at David Kordansky Gallery

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At over five feet tall, Simphiwe Mbunyuza’s monumental ceramics at Chelsea’s David Kordansky Gallery entice with their strong presence, striking color and unusual protrusions.  Bumps inspired by traditional Xhosa ritual vessels, house shapes that recall cylindrical South African dwellings and horns pointing to the importance of cattle in Xhosa life signal Mbunyuza’s engagement with aspects of his culture and upbringing including his spiritual identity.  The latter manifests in the sizes of the works, the larger pieces connecting to ancestors while smaller pieces are associated with the artist and his living relatives. Arranged specifically in the gallery and characterized by colors representing South African landscapes, Mbunyuza’s ceramics offer access to material and immaterial worlds.  (On view through Feb 22nd).

Simphiwe Mbunyuza, MTHIMKHULU, ceramic, 63 x 53 x 51 inches, 2024.

Louise Nevelson, Mirror-Shadow VI at Pace

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At the entrance to Pace Gallery’s exhibition of late work by iconic modern artist Louise Nevelson, the contrast between one all-white sculpture and many black-painted assemblages creates a dynamism that is revisited in the diagonals and curving forms of the artist’s sculpture from the 70s and 80s.  Nevelson’s oft quoted intent to “join the shattered world, creating a new harmony” is joined by an attempt to picture the sublime, manifest in works with titles referring to moonlight, reflections, night frost and here, mirrors and shadow.  (On view in Chelsea through March 1st).

Louise Nevelson, Mirror-Shadow VI, wood painted black, 1985, 9’ 9” x 11’ 7” x 1’ 9”, 1985.

Ruth Asawa in ’18 Women: 50 Years’ at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery

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’18 Women: 50 Years’ at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is a tour de force of painting and sculpture, ceramic, textile and work in a variety of media created between 1918 to 1968 by some of the most influential artists of the mid-20th century.  Among the many standout pieces is Ruth Asawa’s S.391/50, a crocheted brass wire sculpture from c. 1958, which the gallery describes as taking the form of ‘six double-sided, trumpet-like shapes that expand outward from the central void’ in a dynamic composition of repeated looping line. (On view in Chelsea through Jan 25th.  Note that gallery hours change during the holiday period.)

Ruth Asawa, S.391/50, brass wire, 15 x 13 ½ x 12 ¾ inches, c. 1958.

Anne Samat at Marc Straus Gallery

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Malaysian artist Anne Samat’s monumental family portrait at Marc Straus Gallery is a memorial to her late mother, brother and sister.  At center, an abstracted figure bearing a ‘no smoking’ sign alludes to Samat’s brother’s fatal illness, yet his form towers protectively over a small standing figure before a small pond.  Constructed in everyday materials ranging from rakes to plastic swords and woven with a mix of yarn and rattan sticks, Samat updates Malaysian and SE Asian artistic practices in a powerful installation acknowledging the importance of family and, as the title ‘Never Walk in Anyone’s Shadow’ suggests, self-reliance. (On view in Tribeca through Dec 21st).

Anne Samat, Never Walk in Anyone’s Shadow 2, rattan sticks, kitchen and garden utensils, beads, ceramic, metal and plastic ornaments, handwoven tapestry, 151 ½ x 285 x 77 inches, 2024.
Anne Samat, (detail) Never Walk in Anyone’s Shadow 2, rattan sticks, kitchen and garden utensils, beads, ceramic, metal and plastic ornaments, handwoven tapestry, 151 ½ x 285 x 77 inches, 2024.

Richard Serra, Every Which Way at David Zwirner

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Installed at a diagonal in David Zwirner Gallery’s huge ground floor 20th Street space, late artist Richard Serra’s 2015 sculpture ‘Every Which Way’ forces a decision from entering visitors who must opt to turn right, left or wind their way between the 16 steel panels.  Regardless of how it is approached, the piece invites interaction and a physical comparison between a visitor’s body and the giant, weighty slabs of metal seven, nine or eleven feet tall that Serra likened to architecture.  Unlike Serra’s rolled steel sculptures with their curving walls and warm, brown patina, this piece’s abrupt flatness and grey steel surfaces convey austerity.  Their arrangement in shorter segments, however, gives visitors agency to explore this minimal but engaging arrangement of form.  (On view through Dec 14th).

Richard Serra, Every Which Way, steel, 2015.

Simone Leigh at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Simone Leigh’s handsome show of new work at Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea features several sculptures of female figures in skirts that, with their substantial size, convey power and solidity.  Larger than life, the torso and head of this generalized individual is nevertheless small in comparison to her skirt.  Composed of giant ceramic cowry shells, the material nods to past forms of currency and to esoteric spiritual knowledge.  Resembling the domed shapes of traditional Musgum architecture, West African spiritual objects, and face jugs from the American South, and alluding to many other aspects of African and diasporic culture, Leigh’s beautiful figures manifest complex cultural heritage and histories.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 14th).

Simone Leigh, Untitled, earthenware, stoneware, and steel armature, 90 x 73 x 75 inches, 2023-24.

Mulyana, Betty 27 at Sapar Contemporary

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Indonesian artist Mulyana’s signature colorful crocheted coral reef sculptures give way in his latest solo show at Sapar Contemporary to clusters of white forms resembling bleached coral.  Fashioned in plastic instead of yarn, the new work is every bit as intricately crafted and pleasingly detailed as his previous work, but the attraction is uncomfortable.  Made from a material harmful to sea life and speaking to damage done by climate change, the work has an elegiac quality as sad as it is beautiful. (On view through Nov 20th. Curated by John Silvis).

Mulyana, Betty 27, plastic yarn, plastic net, cable wire, 63 x 80 ¾ x 11 ¾ inches, 2024.
Mulyana, Betty 27 (detail), plastic yarn, plastic net, cable wire, 63 x 80 ¾ x 11 ¾ inches, 2024.

Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Sculpture at Kaufmann Repetto

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Magdalena Suarez Frimkess’s lively and charming ceramic sculptures, now on view at Kaufmann Repetto in Tribeca, feature popular cartoon characters rendered in an expressive style.  Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and the Chilean character Condorito, the artist says, “…are the masters of everything for me…they know all the answers for everything. They make fun of everything.  Nothing is so serious.”  Additional tiles, plates, vessels and sculpture feature Aztec motifs and other indigenous American imagery speak to Suarez Frimkess’ diverse interests and influences over her 95 years of creativity.  (On view through Oct 19th).

Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Untitled, glazed ceramic, 2 x 6.1 x 6.4 inches, 2022.

Suzanne Jackson at Ortuzar Projects

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After standing out in the 2024 Whitney Biennial and in the Shah Garg Collection’s Chelsea exhibition last winter, Suzanne Jackson’s hanging environmental installations and works on paper at Ortuzar Projects offer a more in-depth look at the artist’s remarkable assemblage.  Jackson has likened her studio to a compost heap where materials are broken down and recomposed; here in ‘9, Billie, Mingus, Monk’s,’ she repurposes many different kinds of paper and cloth along with her signature acrylic gel medium in a dense yet floating record of marks and decision-making.  Praised for its music-like fragility and manifestation of joy by Hilton Als in the New Yorker recently, the piece’s earth-toned colors and solid presence are a standout in the show.  (On view through Oct 19th in Tribeca).

Suzanne Jackson, 9, Billie, Mingus, Monk’s, acrylic, acrylic gel medium, flax paper, Bogus paper, Stonehenge paper, tissue, linen, nursery burlap, produce bag netting, canvas and wood, double-sided, 64 x 65 x 5 ½ inches, 2003.

Josh Kline at Lisson Gallery

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Among New York artist Josh Kline’s most memorable sculptures are his huge FedEx boxes filled with packing peanuts and disassembled, 3D printed Fed Ex employees.  Like that chilling indictment of exploitable or disposable labor, Kline’s scathing new work at Lisson Gallery considers the precarious position of artists and other creatives.  In the age of AI replacing humans, expensive MFAs and prohibitively expensive costs of living, what is the roll of artists?  Taking his own body as model, Kline’s scattered 3D printed heads, arms and legs suggest a complete merger between worker and product.  Printed with Kline’s own Chase credit card and titled ‘New York Artist,’ Kline suggests that he is both consumer and consumable in the ‘art industry.’ (On view in Chelsea through Oct 19th.)

Josh Kline, New York Artist, 3D-printed sculpture in acrylic-based photopolymer resin; Ikea chair, denim, UV protective coating, and museum wax, 2024.
Josh Kline, New York Artist, 3D-printed sculpture in acrylic-based photopolymer resin; Ikea chair, denim, UV protective coating, and museum wax, 2024.

Karen Bennicke at HB381

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Karen Bennicke’s richly colored ceramic sculptures are a puzzle, their cubist forms appearing at first to represent street art, alien bodies, signage, or toys.  Once visitors to her exhibition at HB381 spot the maps of Manhattan on the gallery’s back wall, however, each tangle of lines and shapes materializes into a segment of the island’s street map.  We can’t see but we can imagine that work, leisure, recreation and every aspect of city life takes place in the locations pictured, a representation of possibility more than experience.  At the same time, Bennicke’s sculptures speak to histories of settlement and the myriad decisions that went into what our urban environment looks like today.  (On view in Tribeca through Oct 19th).

Karen Bennicke, MP IVA, terracotta, slab built, 40.5” H x 13.5” W x 9.25” D, 2024.

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.

Aki Sasamoto at Bortolami Gallery

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Performance is key to New York artist Aki Sasamoto’s practice, but for her latest show at Bortolami Gallery, she outsources the action to her sculpture and to gallery visitors.  Titled ‘Sounding Lines,’ after the devices used to test water depth from a vessel, the show consists of handmade sculptures resembling giant fishing lures and lengths of long springs stretched across the gallery between them.  Occasionally, a motorized arm causes one of the springs to dance around and unaware visitors to react with surprise.  Delightful yet disconcerting, the installation foregrounds our own response to (literally) alluring art.  (On view in Tribeca through Oct 19th.)

Aki Sasamoto, ‘Sounding Line (black, red, yellow – whip whisk), wood (red cedar), whip whisk, acrylic paint, epoxy, Mylar, plexiglass, stainless steel wire and springs, bronze rod, fishhooks, stainless-steel hardware, steel, AC motor, speed controller, timer, 9 ¼ x 27 x 1 ½ inches, 2024.

Steve Wolfe, Anna Karenina at Luhring Augustine

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Late San Francisco artist Steve Wolfe’s trompe l’oeil versions of books, boxes of books, book covers, sketchbooks and records at Luhring Augustine’s Tribeca space continue to testify to the personal significance of iconic works of art, literature, music and more.  Here, Wolfe’s recreation of a Penguin Classics edition of Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karina’ – made with oil paint, enamel, ink transfer, modeling paste, canvas and wood – looks used but intact.  Other ‘books’ have ripped or dingy covers, indications of having been well-used, while dated cover art offers its own history of design.  Wolfe’s New York Times obituary from 2016 included the newspaper’s critic Holland Cotter’s note that “…the histories trapped in the work are what warm up the optical tours de force.” Eight years after Wolfe’s passing, his work continues to fascinate not just for the pleasure of his sculptural skill but for the personal connections and memories the volumes evoke.  (On view in Tribeca through Oct 19th).

Steve Wolfe, Untitled (Anna Karenina), oil, enamel, ink transfer, modeling paste, canvas and wood, 7 ½ x 5 x 2 ¼ inches, 1987.
Steve Wolfe, Untitled (Anna Karenina), oil, enamel, ink transfer, modeling paste, canvas and wood, 7 ½ x 5 x 2 ¼ inches, 1987.

Petrit Halilaj’s Met Museum Roof Commission

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Sketches of flowers, two conversing birds, an eye, a huge drawing of a house and other line drawings are realized as free-standing steel sculpture in Met Museum’s current Roof Commission by Kosovan artist Petrit Halilaj. Titled ‘Abetare,’ after a textbook the artist used in school to learn the alphabet, the installation’s monumental size is belied by its delicate and casually rendered forms, all based on drawings the artist found on school desks in Kosovo and other Balkan countries.  Prompted by the planned demolition of his old school, one of the few buildings that remained from the artist’s war-torn hometown, Halilaj preserved the markings of kids from years past, creating a language of drawings that expresses the thoughts and experience of young people. (On view through Oct 27th).

Petrit Halilaj, installation view of ‘Abetare,’ Met Museum Roof Commission, summer ’24.

Cannupa Hanska Luger at City Hall Park

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Near a text describing City Hall Park as the ‘refuge of the people, the cradle of liberty,’ Native American artist Cannupa Hanska Luger’s steel sculpture of a bison skeleton recalls the deliberate mass slaughter of the animal from the mid-to-late 19th century.  Part of the Public Art Fund’s annual art programming in the park, the solitary sculpture is smaller than past installations but meaningfully and impactfully placed at the park’s dramatic southern entrance.   Titled ‘Attrition,’ the piece speaks to sustained attack on the lives and culture of Native American peoples by the near eradication of bison, yet the bison skeleton’s mechanical, plated design and obviously durable material conveys strength and resilience. (On view through Nov 17th.)

Cannupa Hanska Luger, Attrition, cast steel, 2024.
Cannupa Hanska Luger, Attrition, cast steel, 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.

Samara Golden in ’Material World’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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LA artist Samara Golden turns conventional space on its head in immersive installations like her memorable show at CANADA Gallery in 2015, for which she employed mirrors, an elevated walkway and tables and chairs affixed to the wall to suggest an event space from a parallel dimension.  A fragment related to that body of work is a standout in Marianne Boesky Gallery’s summer group show ‘Material World,’ curated by Gina Beavers, another artist whose paintings and installations spring off the wall with their bold, often humorous imagery.  The show includes an aluminum textile-like wall work by El Anatsui, a geometric sculpture made of quilts by Sanford Biggers and a painted ceramic ice cream dessert by Claes Oldenburg, all of which have been inspirations for Beaver’s work and which act as an enticing prelude to her upcoming show in September.  (On view through July 26th).

Samara Golden, Missing Pieces from A Fall of Corners #7, foam, plastic, glue, paint, 89 x 89 x 32 inches, 2015 – 2024.

Diamond Stingily at 52 Walker

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Diamond Stingily’s ‘Entryway’ sculptures, two of which are on view in her current solo show at 52 Walker, feature a well-worn front door, held upright in the gallery space and supporting a baseball bat.  Inspired by her grandmother’s practice of keeping a bat against the door for protection, Stingily rejects narratives of victimization in favor of female agency.  In other work, the artist sets closets into the gallery wall, their familiar louvered doors signaling the intimate space of the bedroom.  Open to reveal a collection of bats, a stack of bricks or a row of identical white shirts, the objects inside and accompanying articles from the newspaper-lined closet walls touch on a variety of topics, several to do with the exploitation or protection of female bodies.  (On view through Sept 14th in Tribeca).

Diamond Stingily, Entryway (City), door, bat and hardware, overall dimensions variable – as installed: 82 x 33 ½ x 83 inches, 2024.

Virginia Overton at Bortolami Gallery

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Known for repurposing industrial and scrap materials into bold sculptural installations, Virginia Overton’s powerful show at Bortolami Gallery features new work generated from large-scale, deconstructed outdoor signage.  Overton’s evocative material aestheticizes objects that were once functional while alluding to continuous urban change and the desire to remember the past. Upstairs, as part of a group show, three of Overton’s Skylight Gem (NYC) sculptures dangle from the ceiling and rest on the floor.  Similar to the pieces Overton installed at the Delta Terminal at LaGuardia airport, the sculptures are at once iconic New York emblems, both present in today’s landscape and nostalgic as they point to past lives lived under the skylights.  (On view through Aug 30th).

Virginia Overton, Skylight Gem (NYC) coated copper, wired glass, electrical components, (suspended) 36 x 36 x 18 inches and (floor) 35 x 35 x 26 inches, 2024.

Leslie Wayne, Summer Slope at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Known for fashioning sheets of oil paint into sculptural forms or collaging oil skins into 2-D works, Leslie Wayne turns her medium in a new direction with curiously-shaped canvases at Jack Shainman Gallery.  Tall, narrow panels 7 feet high and less than 2 feet wide with names like ‘Rush,’ ‘Summer Slope’ and ‘Low Tide,’ at times suggest core samples of the earth and are accompanied by another series of realist paintings featuring aerial views of the landscape set in special frames that mimic airplane windows.  Titled ‘This Land’ after Woody Guthrie’s classic folk song, the show was inspired by Wayne’s 2021 flight across the Western US and offers views of the landscape, distant or abstracted, that step away from divisions and conflict represented by place.  (On view in Chelsea through August 2nd).

Leslie Wayne, Summer Slope, oil on wood, 84 x 16 ¾ x 3 ½ inches, 2023.
Leslie Wayne, (detail of) Summer Slope, oil on wood, 84 x 16 ¾ x 3 ½ inches, 2023.

Charles Ray, 8FLU100 at Matthew Marks

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Just three sculptures, varying in scale and material, yet all in white-toned materials make up LA-based sculptor Charles Ray’s current show at Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea.  To the rear of the gallery, a nearly 9-foot-tall woman constructed of handmade paper steps out of her pants.  Towards the front of the space, two slightly larger than life-size supine nude male figures made from marble lie dead on a platform while on a nearby pedestal rests a small, crashed car, hand-crafted from hundreds of pieces of paper.  Though apparently unrelated, the three sculptures suggest that one could be doing something as ordinary as getting dressed one moment and encounter an accident or even death the next.  Titled 8FLU100 after Ray’s own license plate and referring to a crash suffered by the artist, the car is both testament to the fragility of life and statement about art’s role in processing reality.  (On view through June 29th).

Charles Ray, 8FLU100, paper, 7 7/8 x 11 ¾ x 23 ¾ inches, 2024.

Jennie Jieun Lee in ‘Channeling’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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Inspired by visitations from a spiritual entity, late self-taught British artist Madge Gill produced drawings of anonymous female figures surrounded by patterns; selections of her work from the ‘40s and ‘50s ground Nicelle Beauchene Gallery’s vibrant 3-person show in Tribeca.  Bright, patterned paintings by Chelsea Culprit and lushly glazed ceramics by Jennie Jieun Lee add color and, in the case of Lee’s sculpted heads, introduce decidedly otherworldly figures with appealingly ambiguous identities.  (On view through June 29th).

Jennie Jieun Lee, Red Face, slipcast porcelain, glaze, stoneware stand, 10 x 8 x 8 inches, stoneware stand 2 x 6 x 6 inches, 2024.

The Haas Brothers Exhibition at Marianne Boesky

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Inspired by tree fungus, coral and other structures in the natural world that build up over time, The Haas Brothers’ bronzes at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery are typically quirky in form and attractive in their shiny and patinaed bronze surfaces.  Inspired by psychedelic aspects of Stevie Wonder’s 1973 album ‘Innervisions,’ after which the artists titled the show, the works trend towards the hallucinatory. In this piece, tentacle-like forms seem to reach out towards visitors like living extensions of the seed-like form below.  On the wall, patterned paintings formed by squeezing bottles of acrylic paint echo the accretion process used to make the bronzes while adding lush color to the exhibition.  (On view through June 15th).

The Haas Bros, Holden Ball-field, patinated cast bronze, marble base, bronze: 34 x 28 x 13 inches, 2024.

Maurizio Cattelan at Gagosian Gallery

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“I had become addicted to shooting, like one becomes addicted to a drug,” said artist Niki de Saint Phalle of her ‘Shooting Pictures’ from the ‘60s, for which she fired a shotgun at surfaces prepared with bags of paint.  Maurizio Cattelan’s ‘Sunday,’ a 71’ wall of gold-plated steel panels marked with holes and bullets on view at Gagosian Gallery, argues something similar, but with the U.S. as the speaker.  Telling the New York Times in a recent interview that “we are completely immersed in violence every day, and we’ve gotten used to it,” Cattelan hired locals at a New York shooting range to create a bullet-riddled gold and steel wall that towers over gallery visitors, confronting us with our own reflections amid the damage. (On view in Chelsea through June 15th).

Maurizio Cattelan, (detail of) Sunday, 24-karat gold plated steel panel shot with different caliber weapons, 854 x 213.5 x 1.5 inches, 2024.

Yvonne Pacanosky Bobrowicz at Sapar Contemporary

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In her 70+ year career, Yvonne Pacanosky Bobrowicz helped pioneer fiber art as fine art, teaching for decades at Drexel University and placing her work in both corporate and public collections.  Two years after she passed away at the age of 94, Pacanosky Bobrowicz’s beautiful and complex sculptural work is on view at Sapar Contemporary in Tribeca.  Created from knotted monofilament which she mixed with fiber and gold leaf, the artist’s signature ‘cosmic energy fields,’ as she called them, express her fascination with physics and philosophy.  (On view through June 1st).

Yvonne Pacanosky Bobrowicz, Cosmic Series Amber, 16 x 14 x 4 inches, monofilament, 2015.

Teresita Fernandez, Soil Horizon at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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From the caves of Cuba’s Vinales Valley to the Aurora Borealis, Teresita Fernandez’s elegant sculpture is inspired by the beauty of nature but questions mankind’s relationship with the land.  In ‘Soil Horizon,’ Fernandez’s current solo show at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, the artist titles several works – ‘Bardo,’ ‘Sky/Burial’ – after Buddhist concepts relating to the gap between lives.  A 24’ long concrete arch hints at a burial mound while thousands of ceramic cubes installed on the wall speak to a body’s dispersal after death.  A third piece in tiny ceramic tile suggests weather systems or other dynamic forces that create larger or small-scale impact on humans and the planet.  (On view through June 1st).

Teresita Fernandez, installation view of ‘Soil Horizon’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, May 2024.

Kimsooja at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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Titled ‘Meta-Painting,’ Korean artist Kimsooja’s exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery questions the essence of painting via an installation of unpainted panels and a light-absorbing black orb.  In one of the gallery’s main spaces, raw linen on stretchers hang from the ceiling while the artist’s signature bottari (a cloth bundle referencing the act of packing one’s belongings in bedclothing) rest nearby.  Kimsooja speaks of both panels and bundles as paintings, though they were not made with paint, much as Deductive Object – a welded steel oblong covered in paint that absorbs ambient light – has presence in its own gallery yet has boundaries that are difficult to perceive.  Linked to the Brahmanda stone of Indian origin, this mysterious object hints at profound mysteries of life. (On view through June 14th).

Kimsooja, Deductive Object, painted welded steel, mirror, wood, 72 x 43 ¼ x 43 ¼ inches, 2016.

Claude and Francoise-Xavier Lalanne at Kasmin Gallery

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There’s just one more day to see Kasmin Gallery’s presentation of selected works by the late French husband/wife sculptors Claude and Francoise-Xavier Lalanne, known as Les Lalanne, whose unique, surreal vision of the natural world continues to resonate.  At nearly 10’ long, this huge, mysterious animal with a cat’s head, fish’s tail, cow’s lower body and bird wings serves not just as a creative response to hybrid creatures in classical literature (Lalanne worked as a guard in the Egyptian and Assyrian galleries of the Louvre for a short while), but is opened to serve as a bar cart.  Initially conceived of for a private commission by a French architect and now on view as part of the Lalanne’s eldest daughter’s collection, the piece prompted Francois-Xavier Lalanne to remark that the cat was living all nine of its lives at once.  (On view through May 9th in Chelsea).

Francois-Xavier Lalanne, Grand Chat polymorphe, brass, bronze with stainless steel pin, 72 ¼ x 117 x 25 inches, 1998/2008.

Nora Correas at Institute for Studies on Latin American Art

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Titled after a line in a poem by exiled Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuna about how threads (textiles) connected her to her homeland, ‘Threads to the South’ at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art considers how fiber-based art has alluded to customs from grape harvests to quipus.  Here, Nora Correas’s 1981 undulating virgin wool floor sculpture ‘En carne viva (In the Raw)’ is abstract but evokes living forms; complex textures suggest earth or clay while shapes formed from horizontal lines resemble cocoons. Created as a response to Argentina’s military dictatorship, the piece and Correas’ other fiber-based work from the time is an expression of grief, ‘a scream’ explains the artist in a text alongside the work.  (On view in Tribeca through July 27th).

Nora Correas, En carne viva (In the Raw), virgin wool, 1981.
Nora Correas, En carne viva (In the Raw), virgin wool, 1981.

Beau Dick at Andrew Kreps Gallery

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Late hereditary chief and Kwakwaka’wakw master woodcarver Beau Dick’s current solo show at Andrew Kreps Gallery features carved wooden masks intended to be used in ceremonies as symbols of the spirit world.  Made between 1979 and 2015, the carvings reinvent traditional supernatural figures such as ‘Crooked Beak,’ seen here.  Made for a ceremony revoking the cannibal spirit and reinforcing correct behavior in an initiate, the mask also exists now to allow an appreciation of Kwakwaka’wakw spiritual practice.  (On view through May 11th).

Beau Dick, Kwakwaka’wakw, Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nation Crooked Beak, red cedar, cedar bark, acrylic, 12 x 8 x 34 inches, 1994.

Cal Lane at C24 Gallery

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Cal Lane’s steel sculptures of lacy underwear – incongruous in their industrial material vs subject matter – are real attention grabbers but take a back seat to altered found materials in the artist’s mini-retrospective at C24 Gallery in Chelsea.  Though they appear light and whimsical, these shovels from 2016 recall steel sculptural panels commissioned by the MTA for Knickerbocker Ave station which were inspired by the area’s architecture.  The wheelbarrow is one of the show’s best pieces for pushing the material, achieving a surprising delicacy via intricate patterning.  (On view through May 10th).

Cal Lane, Untitled (Wheel Barrow), plasma cut wheel barrow, 55.5 x 25.5 x 6 inches, 2007 and 3 x Untitled (Shovel), plasma cut steel and wood, 2016.

Sarah Crowner at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Barbara Hepworth’s pierced organic abstractions, Henry Moore’s curvilinear reclining figures and the undulating forms of Chinese scholar stones come to mind when viewing Sarah Crowner’s attractive new bronze sculptures at Luhring Augustine Gallery’s Tribeca space.  Reflecting Crowner’s vibrant paintings, which have fittingly vivid titles like ‘Red Oranges Over Orange with Curve,’ or ‘Violets Over Reds,’ the sculptures are enhanced by and enhance their environment.  (On view through May 4th).

Sarah Crowner, installation view of ‘Hot Light, Hard Light,’ at Luhring Augustine Gallery, Tribeca, March 2024.

Mary Carlson at Kerry Schuss Gallery

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Modeled after El Greco’s ‘The Penitent Mary Magdalene,’ Mary Carlson’s small-scale sculpture of one of Christ’s most devoted followers is both delicate in her tiny features and monumental in her seated, robed body. Now on view at Kerry Schuss Gallery, displayed on wall-mounted wooden shelves amid scrolling copper piping, Carlson’s new sculptures evoke the figures and decorative designs on the pages of medieval manuscripts.  Characterized by world-weariness vs El Greco’s doe-eyed young woman, Carlson’s saint is pictured in the process of receiving a revelation and puts a hand to her bare chest.  Less erotic than El Greco’s version, Carlson’s Mary is a substantial woman engaged with the life of the mind and spirit.  (On view in Tribeca through April 27th).

Mary Carlson, Mary Magdalene (after El Greco), glazed porcelain, wood, copper, 29 x 36 x 8.75 inches, 2024.
Mary Carlson, Mary Magdalene (after El Greco), glazed porcelain, wood, copper, 29 x 36 x 8.75 inches, 2024.

Frank Stella at Deitch Projects

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Five works by octogenarian painter and sculptor Frank Stella fill Jeffrey Deitch’s large SoHo space with looping, colorful segments of fiberglass and aluminum, their scale dominating and delighting visitors in equal measure.  The work here, ‘K.144 Large Version’ is part of a series titled after a musicologist who catalogued 18th century Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas.  To create his complex and vibrant sculpture, Stella starts with computer models which are 3-D printed, developed, constructed by fabricators in the Netherlands and Belgium and finally finished back in the artist’s Hudson Valley studio.  Trucked down to SoHo on double-wide flatbed trucks, the final products make their presence felt.  (On view through April 20th).

Frank Stella, K.144 Large Version, fiberglass on foam core, 197 x 208 x 150 inches, 2014.

Apollinaria Broche at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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To a soundtrack featuring readings from Charles Baudelaire’s ‘Flowers of Evil,’ Apollinaria Broche’s ceramic and bronze flowers strike gangly poses in her solo show at Marianne Boesky Gallery, exuding both wonky charm and maleficence.  Like an insect to nectar, viewers are drawn into the center of colorful ceramic flowers that feature tiny bronze sculptures – a winged horse, a contented-looking cat – of cavorting magical creatures.  More ominous figures – snakes, flies – appear as well, suggesting that the flowers inhabit a garden less welcoming than it first appears.  In this detail image of ‘I hid my tracks Spit out all my hair,’ skulls and daggers mingle with the seeds of this lush blossoming plant, summoning a specter of death and violence where it might least be expected.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 24th.)

Apollinaria Broche, (detail) I hid my tracks Spit out all my air, glazed ceramic, bronze, 63 x 21 x 18 inches, 2023.

Madeline Hollander at Bortolami Gallery

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Initially trained as a ballet dancer, Madeline Hollander incorporates movement into her artistic practice in surprising and delightful ways.  Her current solo show at Bortolami Gallery in Tribeca titled ‘Entanglement Choreography’ presents a grid of six mirrored pods on round pedestals which at first glance belie the magic of peering inside.  Each sculpture houses a tiny rotating dancing figure, abstracted like a Matisse nude, which at a certain angle appears to both float above the pod and be contained within it.  Nodding in the title to the notion in physics of quantum entanglement, when two separate particles demonstrate a connection with each other as if moving as if in a dance, Hollander’s partners manifest what Einstein called ‘spooky action at a distance.’ (On view in Tribeca through March 2nd).

Madeline Hollander, Entanglement Choreography VI (figs. 6, 12, 18, 24), 24 x 24 x 32 ½ inches, 2023.

Rammellzee in ‘Wild Style’ at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery

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Forty years after the release of the independent film ‘Wild Style,’ a chronicle of the early days of New York hip hop culture, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery celebrates with a star-studded exhibition of writing, painting and sculpture that captures the creativity and energy of emerging urban youth cultures in the late 70s and early 80s.  Rammellzee’s sculpture Gasholear, surrounded by a cloud of spacecraft capable of producing lettering, is an astounding sight at the center of the main gallery.  Grasping a combination guitar/double halberd, this futuristic character is a machine/robot/human force to reckon with. (On view in SoHo through Jan 13th).

Rammellzee, The Gasholear (THE RAMM:ELLl:ZEE), c. 1987-1998, 180 pound exoskeleton of the RAMM:ELLl:ZEE, found objects, wireless sound system, paint and resin), dimensions variable.

Whitney Oldenburg at Chart Gallery

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A sculpture titled ‘Feeding Frenzy’ – three giant chrysalis forms studded with red paper admission tickets – announces Whitney Oldenburg’s first New York solo at Chart Gallery as an energetic and ambitious debut.  In addition to suggestive titles, unusual materials hint at storylines – Feeding Frenzy mixes in ear plugs, helmets to bring to mind a raucous concert. Composed of molds of ‘Feeding Frenzy’ along with row after row of generic acetaminophen, ‘High Tide,’ pictured here, alludes to medicated states.  Also resembling a shell big enough for Venus to arrive on, the sculpture remakes the natural world through human materials as eclectic as lollipop sticks and tiki wall, one of Oldenburg’s idiosyncratic works that beg a closer look. (Gallery opening hours change during the holidays. Check opening hours before visiting.  On view in Tribeca through Jan 6th).

Whitney Oldenburg, High Tide, molds of Feeding Frenzy, metal, clay, lollipop sticks, tiki wall, generic acetaminophen, leather, linen, resin, 60 x 51 x 28 inches, 2023.
Whitney Oldenburg, (detail) High Tide, molds of Feeding Frenzy, metal, clay, lollipop sticks, tiki wall, generic acetaminophen, leather, linen, resin, 60 x 51 x 28 inches, 2023.

 

Lynda Benglis at 125 Newbury

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Octogenarian artist and Process Art icon Lynda Benglis continues to explore organic abstraction in lively new works at 125 Newbury in Tribeca.  By placing sheets of abaca paper – from a type of banana tree native to the Philippines – on either side of forms made of bamboo reeds or aluminum wire, Benglis creates dynamic shapes that recall exoskeletons or chrysalises.  Titled ‘Skeletonizer,’ the show’s work references types of moths, appropriate to the dynamic sculptures that appear to climb the gallery walls. (Gallery opening hours change during the holidays. Check opening hours before visiting.  On view through Jan 13th).

Installation view of ‘Skeletonizer’ at 125 Newbury, Dec 2023.

Yinka Shonibare, Bronze Sculpture at James Cohan

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Known for sculpture and 2-D work that incorporates textiles originally inspired by Dutch wax printed fabrics, British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare gives new life to his signature material in pieces that resemble flying cloth at James Cohan Gallery.  Shonibare has explained that his new bronzes came from thinking about the wind that filled the sails of ships involved in transatlantic trade and forced migration in past centuries.  Now, the dynamic pieces resemble dancing forms as they elegantly and energetically swirl on their pedestals in the gallery.  (On view in Tribeca through Dec 22nd).

Yinka Shonibare, Abstract Bronze I, bronze sculpture, hand-painted with Dutch wax pattern, 78 ¾ x 57 ¾ x 49 ¾ in, 2023.

Shilpa Gupta at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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‘Uncontrollable Desirrs,’ ‘Between Places’ and ‘Until they Dsiappear’ are among the suggestive phrases that appear in Shilpa Gupta’s ‘StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream’ flapboard sculpture at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.  The sound of the board’s moving panels creates a sense of dynamism and anticipation as the text constantly changes, while the words themselves conjure unsettled feelings compounded by Gupta’s use of alternative spellings of select words.  In the show’s other works, Gupta speaks the works of jailed poets into bottles, capping them and arranging them in an ‘reimagined library’ and presents a sound installation of protest songs sung globally, a collective tribute to the power of words and the need to protect freedom of speech. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 16th).

StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream, motion flapboard, 35 min loop, 93 ½ x 5 x 9 ½ inches, 2021.