Louis Fratino at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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Surprisingly, Louis Fratino’s still lives can be the most dynamic of his works – a sink full of dishes or an arrangement of fish in a market stall appear as a jumble of curving or stacked forms in constant motion.  In ‘Latteria,’ from Fratino’s current show at Sikkema Jenkins and Co., the artist creates an intriguing balance of action and repose as he combines the bustle of the figures in the café, tables that tilt and floor tiles that rear up with the stillness of the central figure who sits with a quiet and pensive look.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 9th).

Louis Fratino, Latteria, oil on canvas, 47 x 42 inches, 2023.

Jeffrey Gibson at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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From its vibrant, patterned wall mural to the abundance of vivid paintings in saturated color, Jeffrey Gibson’s solo show at Sikkema, Jenkins & Co is one of the most eye-catching exhibitions in Chelsea. Titled ‘Superbloom,’ in reference to an especially bountiful appearance of wildflowers, the show features work in Gibson’s signature formats, including beaded punching bags, which invite admiration not violence, and patterned paintings recalling Native American design and bearing phrases taken from pop songs or various texts.  In this piece on painted elk hide titled and including the text SPIRIT AND MATTER, viewers encounter a central circular form recalling both a meditative diagram and a target.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 21st).

Jeffrey Gibson, SPIRIT AND MATTER, acrylic paint on elk hide inset in custom wood frame, 2023.

New video featuring Maria Nepomuceno at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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If you enjoyed my recent post featuring Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno’s vibrant abstract sculpture, see more of this gorgeous exhibition in the video below.  With her repeated curving, organic forms, Nepomuceno aims to represent movement into our own inner depths as well as an expansion into the infinite.

Maria Nepomuceno, Enchanted Wheel at Sikkema Jenkins

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Titled ‘Roda das encantadas,’ or ‘Enchanted Wheel,’ Maria Nepomuceno’s new solo exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins & Co delights the eye with the Brazilian artist’s signature spiraling forms crafted from straw, beads and resin.  Intended to represent a movement into our own inner depths as well as an expansion into the infinite, this assemblage of circular forms also makes more concrete allusions to the body in breast-like ceramic elements and a recurring umbilical cord reference.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 12th.  Masks and proof of vaccination are required.)

Maria Nepomuceno, Untitled, beads, ceramic, resin, 39 3/8 x 23 5/8 x 11 ¾ inches, 2021.

Kay Rosen, Queue Up at Sikkema Jenkins

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‘Stay Away’ reads an enormous latex sign on the wall of Sikkema Jenkins and Co in Chelsea, not warning visitors away but welcoming them to Kay Rosen’s new show of text-based artwork.  Seeing words as found material, Rosen repeats word fragments (such as the ‘ay in ‘stay’ and ‘away’) in a play on language that highlights unnoticed connections.  Here, ‘Queue Up’ speaks to the experiences of lining up during the pandemic.  (On view through Oct 16th.  Masks required).

Kay Rosen, Queue Up, latex on wall, installation dimensions variable, 2020 – 21.

Marlene McCarty at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Rue is a herb that can be used as a contraceptive and in high doses can kill; it’s one of the plants in Marlene McCarty’s installation ‘Into the Weeds: Sex and Death’ at Sikkema Jenkins & Co which presents plants with medicinal and/or lethal properties in a dumpster outside the gallery and a pile of dirt lit by grow lights inside.  Rue also features in one of the McCarty’s large drawings, positioned in front of The Vessel at Hudson Yards (a symbol of developer’s power and more recently, death by suicide), two Roman sandals and more.  Explained in detail through histories of each plant posted to the gallery website, McCarty’s point is to highlight flora’s power to undermine established order.  (On view through July 30th.  Masks and social distancing required).

Marlene McCarty, installation view of ‘Into the Weeds: Sex and Death’ at Sikkema Jenkins & Co, June, 2021.

Zipora Fried at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Though her lined-based, labor-intensive drawings have been described as resisting language in favor of the emotional potential of color, Zipora Fried’s own words best describe the inspiration for her latest work.  She explains that the ‘sky and mud colored lizards, soft-toned cicada shells, sunsets echoing exploding worlds…,” the tides and sands of Lamu Island, Kenya prompted her vivid color choices.  Short repeated pencil strokes and tonal variety make each image appear to shimmer in an unfixed meditation on her experience of the island.  (On view in Chelsea at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through Jan 18th).

Zipora Fried, To Those Who Know How to Laugh, colored pencil on archival museum board, 80 x 54 inches, 2019.

Vik Muniz, Museum of Ashes at Sikkema Jenkins

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After the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro was ravaged by fire in Sept 2018, renowned Rio and NY based artist Vik Muniz reached out to offer help.  The resulting series ‘Museum of Ashes,’ now on view at Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea, mourns the loss of artifacts that range from dinosaur fossils to Egyptian artifacts by recreating images of the objects created from their own ashes.  (On view through Nov 16th).

Vik Muniz, Sarcophagus of Sha-amun-en-su, 750 BC, Museum of Ashes, archival inkjet print, 40 x 30 inches, 2019.

Mitch Epstein at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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‘Property Rights,’ Mitch Epstein’s latest photography series focuses on contested land in the U.S., from protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock to the conflict between immigration activists and self-organized patrols along the southern border.  Though each location is defined by its tensions, Epstein’s photos are marked by their calmness and sensitivity to the experience of everyday people navigating the impact of larger forces on their lives.  (On view at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in Chelsea through Oct 5th).

Mitch Epstein, Border Wall, Nogales, Arizona 2017, chromogenic print, 25.125 x 33.5 inches, 2017.

Terry Haggerty Mural at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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It’s risky to take too long a look at Sikkema Jenkins & Co’s gallery wall – British abstract artist Terry Haggerty’s mural can literally upend your balance as his painted lines appear to twist and bend in space.  The optical surprises continue in painted wooden panels that invite us to try to make out the multiple viewpoints depicted in each piece.  Whether you walk away with a headache or invigorated by the effort of wrestling with your perceptions, the show is worth engaging.  (On view in Chelsea through June 30th).

Terry Haggerty, Untitled, acrylic on wall, dimensions variable, 2019.

Jennifer Packer Portraits at Sikkema Jenkins

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Jennifer Packer’s portraits of friends and family don’t fully materialize before us; a fading foot or face that hasn’t quite come into focus keep each sitter’s identity unfixed.  Here, in a captivating portrait titled ‘The Body Has Memory,’ Packer suggests that past experiences manifest physically in the body. (On view in Chelsea at Sikkema Jenkins & Co through Jan 19th).

Jennifer Packer, The Body has Memory, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches, 2018.

Maria Nepomuceno at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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A superabundance of color and curving forms characterize Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno’s ‘imaginary nature,’ as she calls her sculpture composed of woven straw, beads, ceramics and resin forms.  With direct links to the human body – beads are cells, straw references skin – the artist’s life affirming constructions celebrate nature in its eye-popping variety. (On view at Sikkema Jenkins and Co in Chelsea through April 7th). 

Maria Nepomuceno, 3 mulheres, beads, braided straw, ropes, ceramics, clay, resin and wood, 180 x 150 x 90 cm, 2017.

Arturo Herrera at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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Large new paintings by Arturo Herrera suggest movement across the canvas, as if wind or gravity partnered with the Berlin-based painter to drag earthy, autumn tones over a now partially obscured pattern. Usually involving half-seen layers, Herrera’s works continue to obscure and reveal. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through Jan 20th).

Arturo Herrera, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 86.625 x 74.75 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2017.

Josephine Halvorson, Jagged at Sikkema Jenkins

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The title of Josephine Halvorson’s exhibition of new painting, ‘As I Went Walking,’ refers to a verse in Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land is Your Land’ about trespassing; Halvorson’s weathered signs and tattered boundary markers suggest that ownership of the land is not so easily claimed. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea through Nov 22nd).

Josephine Halvorson, Jagged, oil on linen, 23 x 20 inches, 2017.

 

Kara Walker at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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The U.S.’s dark and violent past continues to inspire Kara Walker’s new paintings and drawings; here, Walker presents a portrait of Grandison Harris, a 19th century man enslaved and assigned to rob graves to supply the classrooms of anatomy students at a Georgia medical college. After the Civil War, financial constraints forced his decision to return to the college and continue to supply bodies until his eventual death and burial in the same cemetery that he revisited in his working life. (On view in Chelsea at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through Sept 16th).

Kara Walker, detail of Paradox of the Negro Burial Ground, oil stick, collage, and mixed media on paper, 30.25 x 22.75 inches, 2017.

Maria Nepomuceno in ‘More Simply Put’ at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Organic shapes snake around and into a wooden box in this work by Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno, suggesting that whatever is inside cannot be contained. A trumpet-like ceramic form introduces the idea of broadcasting sound, offering the possibility that an unheard song might further animate this alluring organism. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co through June 30th).

Maria Nepomuceno, Untitled, ropes, beads, ceramic, wood, fiberglass and resin, 27.5 x 29.125 x 24.375 inches, 2015.

Vik Muniz, Buttons (L) at Sikkema Jenkins

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Some buttons are photographed, some are real; the fun is picking out which is which. For his recent body of work, Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz creates such skilled illusions that what might be a gimmick in the hands of others instead prompts real pleasure in physically interacting with artwork up close and in person. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through April 1st).

Vik Muniz, Buttons (L), Handmade, mixed media, framed: 73.375 x 49.5 inches, one of a kind, 2016.

Arlene Shechet, I Saw the 18th Century at Sikkema Jenkins

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Wood makes a surprise appearance in sculptor and ceramic artist Arlene Shechet’s latest sculptures at Sikkema Jenkins & Co., challenging ceramic for primacy in pieces like ‘I Saw the 18th Century.’ Shechet is also currently showing new work at the Frick Collection inspired by 18th century porcelain, but the pieces in Chelsea bear little resemblance to the delicate results of her uptown project, instead suggesting the sturdiness of a corseted matron from a past century. (In Chelsea through Nov 12th).

Arlene Shechet, I Saw the 18th Century, glazed ceramic, painted and carved hardwood, steel, 69.5 x 19.5 x 19.5 inches, 2016.
Arlene Shechet, I Saw the 18th Century, glazed ceramic, painted and carved hardwood, steel, 69.5 x 19.5 x 19.5 inches, 2016.

Merlin James at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Glasgow painter Merlin James suggests a sweeping landscape with an extreme economy of means in this painting on nylon at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. A tree overlooking a placid shoreline dominates the foreground while lighter tones at center and a few intersecting diagonal lines to the left suggest distant, mountainous terrain. (In Chelsea through Nov 12th).

Merlin James, An Old Tree, nylon fabric, wood frame, acrylic paint, 100 x 66 cm, 2016.
Merlin James, An Old Tree, nylon fabric, wood frame, acrylic paint, 100 x 66 cm, 2016.

Leonardo Drew, Number 181 at Sikkema Jenkins

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Number 181 is a powerful presence at the entrance to abstract sculptor Leonardo Drew’s latest solo show at Chelsea gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co. Thick clusters of driftwood project out over viewers who draw close to explore small sticks with white ends laid out in lines between rows of variously shaped pieces of wood. In this and the show’s other sculptures, Drew powerfully juxtaposes chaotic arrangements and careful order. (Through Oct 8th).

Leonardo Drew, Number 181, wood, paint, screws, nails, 111 x 220 x 39 inches, 2016.
Leonardo Drew, Number 181, wood, paint, screws, nails, 111 x 220 x 39 inches, 2016.

Luiz Zerbini at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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‘Perhappiness,’ a one word poem by Brazilian poet Paulo Leminsky, borrowed as the title of painter/musician Luiz Zerbini’s first solo show in New York, perfectly embodies the artist’s upbeat experimentation. Here, rocks that look like abstract paintings, pools of water crafted from lines of color and nests that resemble creative architecture are an homage to the inspiration of nature. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea through June 4th.)

Luiz Zerbini, Distraidos venceremos (Distracted Win), acrylic on canvas, 102.375 x 157.5 inches, 2015.
Luiz Zerbini, Distraidos venceremos (Distracted Win), acrylic on canvas, 102.375 x 157.5 inches, 2015.

Keiichi Tanaami at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Above a barely noticeable landscape of frothing waves and neon-colored bridges, a strange assortment of alien characters array themselves like a contemporary, psychedelic thangka in Keiichi Tanaami’s ‘Vision in the Womb.’ The Japanese icon blends eroticism and the lingering terror of Tokyo’s firebombing in a hallucinatory scene that stuns in its creative profusion. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co through April 23rd).

Keiichi Tanaami, Vision in the Womb, acrlic paint, digital pigment print, silkscreen print, glass powder on canvas, 80.125 x 118.125 inches, 2015.
Keiichi Tanaami, Vision in the Womb, acrlic paint, digital pigment print, silkscreen print, glass powder on canvas, 80.125 x 118.125 inches, 2015.

Jennifer Packer at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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An Artforum critic recently identified a central quality of young New York painter Jennifer Packer’s style by explaining that her paintings capture a ‘state of perpetual becoming.’ In this painting dedicated to the artist’s late college painting instructor, flowers emerge explosively from a shadowy yet brilliant mass, existing as suggestions of color and form. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co through Jan 23rd).

Jennifer Packer, Breathing Room, Flowers for Frank Bramblett, oil on canvas, 48 x 29 inches, 2015.

Sheila Hicks, Baoli at Sikkema Jenkins

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Titled after a step-well leading down to water, Sheila Hicks’ large wall hanging, Baoli, offers a dynamic surface, with colorful areas leading the eye into the depths, lighter areas suggesting a solid surface on which the eye can rest. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co through Nov 28th).

Sheila Hicks, Baoli, natural linen, triple-dyed embroidery cotton, 114 x 63 x 8 inches, 2014.

Terry Haggerty, Double Back at Sikkema Jenkins

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British artist Terry Haggerty takes his illusion-based painting a step further in his solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co by literally projecting his signature undulating ribbons toward the viewer. The normally wall-hugging panels are painted on aluminum supports and appear as if they can’t quite be tamed. (Through Oct 17th).

Terry Haggerty, Double Back, acrylic on aluminum, 81.125 x 36 x 17.75 inches, 2015.

Diane Simpson in ‘Over & Under’ at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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This mystery object (Exercise machine? Seesaw? Giant snowshoe?) by Diane Simpson is a humorous stand-out in Sikkema Jenkins’ summer group show of minimalism-inspired objects. It depicts an oversized sombrero. (In Chelsea through July 24th).

Diane Simpson, Sombrero, acrylic paint, MDF, polyester spunbond fabric, metallic cord, 34 x 90 x 25 inches, 1995. (Background wall cover: Matt Keegan, double-wall cardboard, dimensions variable, 2015).

Kara Walker Installation at Sikkema Jenkins

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Kara Walker’s monumental installation of an eroticized, African-American sphinx last summer at Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Factory was a run-away hit for its sheer size and painful exaggeration of an American stereotype. At Sikkema Jenkins in Chelsea, Walker presents work surrounding the project, including watercolors and the sphinx’s severed hand, preserved for the time being in its defiantly rude gesture. (Through Jan 17th.)

Kara Walker, installation view of Afterword at Sikkema Jenkins, Dec 2014.

Arturo Herrera at Sikkema Jenkins

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

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

Marlene McCarty at Sikkema Jenkins

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Marlene McCarty closes out her ‘Murder Girls’ series that pictures girls who have killed with this huge, four-part ballpoint and graphite drawing. Instead of showing the face of someone who has taken a life, McCarty hides it in a screen of wild hair, suggesting mental turmoil. (At Sikkema Jenkins in Chelsea through Oct 4th).

Marlene McCarty, series titled: ’14,’ graphite and ballpoint pen on paper, 71 x 94 inches each of four drawings, 2014.

Suzanne Opton at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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New York photographer Suzanne Opton creates a surprisingly intimate situation between gallery visitors and her subjects – soldiers who are back in the US after a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. Reclining on a flat surface, their presence and vulnerability is palpable. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea through July 18th).

Suzanne Opton, installation view at Sikkema Jenkins & Co, June 2014.

Vik Muniz at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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In his latest series ‘Postcards from Nowhere,’ Brazilian artist Vik Muniz magnifies the thrill of getting a postcard (an experience which the Internet age may be consigning to the past) by collaging together postcards blown up to huge scale (seen here in detail). (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co through May 10th).

Vik Muniz, detail from New York Postcard (Postcards from Nowhere), digital c-print, 71 x 111.5 inches, 2014.

Sheila Hicks at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Sheila Hicks’ brightly colored, sculptural waterfall of cords now on view at the Whitney Biennial may have more dramatic impact, but this installation at Sikkema Jenkins of 98 balls shaped by wrapping string around fabric – all found materials – has a quiet but no less enchanting appeal. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins through April 5th).

Sheila Hicks, Lares and Penates, found materials, 98 elements, 117 x 115 x 5 inches, 1990 – 2013.

Josephine Halvorson at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Known for her lovingly painted renditions of architecture and industrial equipment created in a single, long sitting, Josephine Halvorson has turned her attention to her more immediate surroundings in her new Massachusetts home. Using paint to render a door covered with chipped paint, Halvorson’s knowing play with her material is a pleasure to experience. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co through March 1st).

Josephine Halvorson, Woodshed Door, oil on linen, 70 x 35 inches, 2013.

Tony Feher at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Had your grandmother gotten inventive with displaying her glassware, it might look something like Tony Feher’s ‘Parlor Trix.’  Known for simple installations made using every day materials, Feher delivers more visual delights in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co.  (Through Jan 18th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Tony Feher, Parlor Trix (detail view of installation), glass, galvanized steel wire and chrome-plated steel chain, 2013.

Terry Haggerty at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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British artist Terry Haggerty’s updated Op Art never stops moving when you are in front of it.  The simplest device – twisting and tapering the end of parallel lines – turns this installation in Sikkema Jenkins & Co’s back gallery into a dizzying experience. (In Chelsea through Nov 16th).  

Terry Haggerty, forward/reverse, latex paint on walls, 2013.

Leslie Hewitt at Sikkema, Jenkins & Co

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To some, Leslie Hewitt’s conceptual photography will be maddeningly vague, to others, enticingly elusive.  Propped against the wall as if it were an object or sculpture, it displays one book with its spine facing us – James Baldwin’s essays on race, ‘The Fire Next Time.’  This incendiary text rests next to a cooling lemon, an art historical symbol of mortality and moderation.  (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea, through Oct 5th).  

Leslie Hewitt, Untitled (Perception), Still Life Series, digital c-print in custom maple frame, 2013.

Paula Wilson at Sikkema Jenkins

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Paula Wilson’s slice of the city street, created in tapestry at Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop and Museum, is a stunner in Sikkema Jenkins’ current summer group show.  Surprisingly erotic architectural details and graffiti are a lively and provocative contrast to boarded up buildings that look as if they’ve seen better days.  (In Chelsea through July 12th.)  

Paula Wilson, ‘Between Two,’ silkscreen pigment, acrylic, felt, paper, canvas, wood block prints, spray paint, steel rod, wood hangers, 2010.

Kara Walker Solo Show at Sikkema Jenkins

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Over the past few years, Kara Walker has moved away from her signature antebellum figures seen in silhouette enacting various barbarisms on each other.  In the back galleries of Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins, they return with vigor and malice, begging the question of what’s changed since they made Walker’s name in the mid-90s.  (Through May 22nd).  

Kara Walker, Wall Sampler 1, cut paper and paint on wall, dimensions variable, 2013.

Jorge Queiroz at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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Lisbon-based artist Jorge Queiroz barely allows a human figure to materialize in this psychologically intense painting, but his indistinct human presence turns the abstract shapes in the background into suggestions of places and objects of significance.  (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co through March 2nd).  

Jorge Queiroz, Waiting on the Room, oil stick and vinyl ink on canvas, 2012.

Mark Bradford at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Mark Bradford, We May Be Running Out of a Past, mixed media collage on canvas, 102 x 144 inches, 2012.
Mark Bradford, We May Be Running Out of a Past, mixed media collage on canvas, 102 x 144 inches, 2012.

Mark Bradford is back with more of the mixed media collage/decollage canvases that have made his reputation as a leading contemporary abstract artist, like this mixed media on canvas piece, ‘We May Be Running Out of a Past.’  His latest solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co opened this evening, showcasing eight huge, vibrantly colored pieces that don’t evidence a new direction for the artist but do explain his popularity. (Through Dec 15th .)

Leonardo Drew at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

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Leonardo Drew, Number 155, wood, 2012.
Leonardo Drew, Number 155, wood, 2012.

The new art season officially roared to life again this week with dozens of major shows opening in the last few nights.  Leonardo Drew’s installation at Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co is one of the outstanding offerings thanks to a huge, gallery-filling installation composed of rough lengths of burnt wood as well as more tidy but no less ambitious wall relief sculptures.  (Through October 12th.)

John Dilg in ‘The Big Picture’ at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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John Dilg, 'A Religious Experience,' 2009 - 10, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in.
John Dilg, ‘A Religious Experience,’ 2009 – 10, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in.

John Dilg is no outsider artist (he’s an art professor at the University of Iowa) – though his pared down painting style may look unskilled it purges unnecessary details from his eerie, uninhabited landscapes.  Muted colors and hazy lines add to the ambiguity of this scene titled, ‘A Religious Experience.’   Monumental in theme but not size (at 11 x 14 inches, it’s a little larger than book size), Dilg invites personal interpretations as he evokes a cascade of water or mountain capped by cloud a la Moses on Mt Sinai. (‘The Big Picture,’ a group show of small-scale painting, is on view at Sikkema Jenkins & Co through July 27th.)