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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Keith Tyson at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

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To say that British artist Keith Tyson’s art practice is expansive is something of an understatement; for decades, his painting and sculpture have aimed to show the connectedness of all things.  Drawing from thousands of paintings created over more than twenty years, grids of images now on view at Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Chelsea suggest links between neural networks, the vastness and changeability of space, mathematical concepts and much more.  Here, meteorites embedded in stainless steel prompted Tyson’s mind-boggling question in a recent catalogue essay: “What were the odds at some point in the distant past, when these chunks of matter were on their particular trajectories through outer space, that they would all end up together here in this piece of work?”  (On view in Chelsea through April 2nd).

Field of Heaven, stainless steel, meteorites, 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 inches, 2016.

John Pai in ‘The Unseen Professors’ at Tina Kim Gallery

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Dense and complex, this piece by octogenarian sculptor John Pai, now on view in a show of work by three 20th century Asian-American sculptors at Chelsea’s Tina Kim Gallery, evokes a scientific or mathematical model in flux.  Piece by piece, Pai welded short steel rods together in a hands-on practice he likened to drawing.  Reflecting subconscious activity and taking inspiration from music, science, architecture and more, Pai’s dynamic constructions elicit wonder at complex structures in our own thought processes and the world around us.  (On view through January 29th. Note holiday hours and closures.)

John Pai, Slice of Wave to Go, welded steel, 23.5 x 32 x 30.5 inches, 1980.

John Chamberlain at Gagosian Gallery

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At over nine feet tall and titled TAMBOURINEFRAPPE, this 2010 sculpture by John Chamberlain at Gagosian Gallery pulses with the percussive rhythms and energy.  Vertical lengths of steel placed parallel to each other create a base like a fluted classical column or pleated dress while diagonal strips of metal raise the eye up to a crown of shiny steel decorated with colorful curving lines.  Featuring work from the ‘50s to the ‘00s, this exhibition demonstrates Chamberlain’s expressive manipulation of his material. (On view on 21st Street in Chelsea through Dec 11th.  Masks and vaccination proof required).

John Chamberlain, TAMBOURINEFRAPPE, painted and chrome-plated steel, 116 ¾ x 90 x 86 ½ inches, 2010.

Carol Bove, Chimes at Midnight at David Zwirner

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Crushed tubular steel in an electric orange color provocatively juxtaposes and compliments salvaged sheets of rolled steel in Carol Bove’s dramatic sculptural installation at David Zwirner Gallery.  Titled ‘Chimes at Midnight’ after a 1965 Orson Wells film in which two characters speak of mortality, the sculptures’ industrial materials summons the past while soft, malleable-looking orange segments speak to a future in formation.  In its reckoning between past and present, the sculptures continue Bove’s engagement with history in her current sculptural commission on the façade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  (On view at David Zwirner Gallery).

Carol Bove, installation view of Chimes at Midnight at David Zwirner Gallery

Carol Bove at davidzwirner.com

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Fashion, art history and the relationship between works in an exhibition drive the color choices that make Carol Bove’s hybrid sculptures stand out.  Sharp contrasts between aged, found steel and the smooth geometries of urethane-covered forms give pause to consider the relationships between two familiar yet seemingly mismatched materials.  This piece (seen in detail) from the artist’s last major Chelsea solo show at David Zwirner Gallery in ‘16 juxtaposes found steel with urethane-covered steel to create a wonderfully misleading suggestion of pliability.  When a sculpture’s color can make it appear to have a digital effect, Bove’s at her happiest.  She explains this and more on davidzwirner.com where a new on-line exhibition showcases select new works.

Carol Bove, (detail of) Daphne and Apollo, found steel, stainless steel, and urethane paint, 98 x 72 x 61 inches, 2016.

Anish Kapoor at Lisson Gallery

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After confronting viewers with visceral, blood-red sculpture in his last New York show, Anish Kapoor is back with a two-venue exhibition bound to seduce his audience.  Front and center in Lisson Gallery’s 24th Street space is Tsunami, a towering stainless steel sculpture that lures visitors in to marvel at the spatial distortions created by the curved metal.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 20th).

Anish Kapoor, Tsunami, stainless steel, 143 5/8 x 161 3/8 x 133 ¾ inches, 2018.

Jeppe Hein at 303 Gallery

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Though Berlin-based Danish artist Jeppe Hein has installed his trademark polished stainless steel panels in large outdoor spaces (notably at Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2015), 303 Gallery’s tiny back space seems uniquely suited to host an intense experience of reality for visitors who see themselves and Hein’s striped paintings cut together in thin strips.  Hein has explained that his stripe paintings represent breathing in and out which sounds meditative, but in this installation is geared to quicken the senses.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 19th).

Jeppe Hein, Intersecting Circles, high polished stainless steel, 87 3/8 x 85 x 70 inches, 2019.

Charles Ray, The Repair Annex at Matthew Marks

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In a gallery titled ‘the repair annex,’ two new sculptures by Charles Ray depict mechanics absorbed in their work.  A man squats in a pose reminiscent of Ray’s own kneeling self-portrait from a few years back but also suggesting supplication or rapt attention to a task.  Ray’s meticulous renderings, here in painted steel, can take years to realize and the attention to detail and smooth finish give the piece an elegance and preciousness that connect this subject less to an autobody shop and more to an art history of heroic bodies.  (On view at Matthew Marks Gallery‘s 526 West 22nd Street location in Chelsea through June 16th).

Charles Ray, Mechanic 1 and Mechanic 2 (detail), painted steel, mechanic 2: 21 x 14 ½ x 18 ¾ inches, 2018.

Robert Indiana at Paul Kasmin Gallery

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Robert Indiana’s mid-1960s monument to love continues to work its magic on audiences around the world as the artist nears his 90th birthday. Now at Paul Kasmin Gallery, this towering steel sculpture multiplies and magnifies the term in all its myriad understandings. (On view at Paul Kasmin Gallery’s 27th Street location through March 3rd).

Robert Indiana, LOVE WALL, cor-ten steel, 144 x 144 x 48 inches, 1966-2006.

Melvin Edwards in ‘Sidelined’ at Galerie Lelong

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As a young man, Melvin Edwards chose a career in art over football, but explains that the physicality of the sport remained in his sculpture.  He explores a more critical consideration of the game in Goal Line Stance, a steel sculpture from 2017 that stands out in Galerie Lelong’s current show – an exhibition prompted by NFL players’ protests against social injustice (On view through Feb 17th in Chelsea).

Melvin Edwards, Goal Line Stance, 2017, welded steel, 15.25 x 11.5 x 14.5 inches, 2017.

Mark di Suvero, Eppur si Muove at Paula Cooper

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“And yet it moves” is the translated titled of this new monumental steel sculpture by Mark di Suvero, referring to Galileo’s 17th century assertion (despite pressure from the Inquisition) that the earth is not stable. Likewise, this formidably weighty sculpture looks fixed but will rock on its axis if set in motion. (On view at Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 3rd.)

Mark di Suvero, Eppur si Muove, stainless steel, 10.5 x 28 x 12 feet, 2017 – 2017.

 

 

Charles Long at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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The human body meets cold hard metal in LA sculptor Charles Long’s eerie new sculptures that pair geometric forms covered in flesh-like platinum silicon rubber with mirror polished stainless steel forms. Here, RealSenseSapient2 includes the appearance of moles, veins and wrinkles, suggesting a quasi-human futuristic living being. (At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery through Feb 4th).

Charles Long, RealSenseSapient2, platinum silicon with pigment, stainless steel and pedestal, sculpture (without pedestal): 20 x 14 x 13 inches, 2016.
Charles Long, RealSenseSapient2, platinum silicon with pigment, stainless steel and pedestal, sculpture (without pedestal): 20 x 14 x 13 inches, 2016.

Anthony Caro at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery

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Mid-20th century American minimalist sculptors rebelled against the relationship of parts in Anthony Caro’s abstract sculptures; later in life, Caro was the one to break out, introducing Perspex into his sculptures when he was in his mid-80s. Here, a thick sheet of clear Perspex turns two pieces of rusted steel into characters in an untold story –a customer and a bank teller, or a prisoner and her visitor? (At Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery in Chelsea on the Upper East Side through Feb 4th).

Anthony Caro, Sackbut, steel and clear Perspex, steel rusted and waxed, 48 x 70 x 46 inches, 2011/2012.
Anthony Caro, Sackbut, steel and clear Perspex, steel rusted and waxed, 48 x 70 x 46 inches, 2011/2012.

Carol Bove at David Zwirner Gallery

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Scrap metal, vividly colored steel tubing and shiny, black cylindrical disks compete for attention in Carol Bove’s ‘Polka Dots,’ now on view at Chelsea’s David Zwirner Gallery. Here, the show’s titular sculpture brings to mind the powerful forces required to bend steel while reveling in a burst of yellow and the smooth perfection of black ‘polka dots.’  (On view through Dec 17th).

Carol Bove, Polka Dots, found steel, stainless steel, and urethane paint, 91 x 81 x 87 inches, 2016.
Carol Bove, Polka Dots, found steel, stainless steel, and urethane paint, 91 x 81 x 87 inches, 2016.

 

Mark di Suvero, The Cave at Paula Cooper

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Geometric steel beams and panels dangle a pair of organic shapes in Mark di Suvero’s 2015 sculpture ‘The Cave’ at Paula Cooper Gallery, suggesting a manmade structure designed to offer up a natural form for our consideration. (In Chelsea through Dec 10th).

Mark di Suvero, The Cave, steel, 157 ½ x 172 x 132 inches, 2015.
Mark di Suvero, The Cave, steel, 157 ½ x 172 x 132 inches, 2015.

Richard Serra, NJ-1 at Gagosian Gallery

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The biggest show in town – literally – starts with a fifty-foot long walk between two thirteen foot high steel plates. Then it’s into a slightly disorienting and unexpected labyrinth of open and constricted spaces that challenge viewers to take the measure of Richard Serra’s NJ-1 with our own bodies. (At Gagosian Gallery’s 522 West 21st Street location through July 29th).

Richard Serra, NJ-1, weatherproof steel, six plates, overall 13’ 9” x 51’ 6” x 24’ 6”, 2015.
Richard Serra, NJ-1, weatherproof steel, six plates, overall 13’ 9” x 51’ 6” x 24’ 6”, 2015.

Thomas Schutte in ‘Sculpture’ at Skarstedt Gallery

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Part of a series of reclining nudes that recall iconic artworks from Manet’s Olympia to Henry Moore’s posed figures, Thomas Schutte’s female figure appears to have been pressed down, as if made of clay and not steel. She is defined by compromise – the antithesis of the classical norm. (At Skarstedt Gallery through Dec 19th).

 Thomas Schutte, Stahlfrau Nr. 4, cast steel on steel table, 13 ¾ x 86 ½ x 47 ½ inches, 1999.

Zheng Lu at Sundaram Tagore Gallery

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Beijing artist Zheng Lu learned the art of calligraphy from his literary family; respect for the written word has extended to his present practice in pieces like this, for which the artist laser cut characters from steel (that originally appeared in historically important texts) fusing them into this elegant, dynamic drip of water. (At Chelsea’s Sundaram Tagore Gallery through Oct 10th.)

Zheng Lu, Water Dripping – Splashing, stainless steel, 181.1 x 131.9 x 114.2 inches, 2014.

Amilcar de Castro in ‘Empty House/Casa Vazia’ at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Like sketchbook pages mounted to the wall, Brazilian Neoconcretist sculptor Amilcar de Castro’s model-like Corten steel sculptures resemble drawings for future pieces as well as typography, recalling the artist’s graphic design background. (At Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine Gallery through Aug 28th).

Amilcar de Castro, Untitled, 140 sculptures of Corten steel, 9 inches – approx. size, c. 1990. (background) Paulo Monteiro, Untitled, bronze, 28 11/16 x 35 3/8 x 35 3/8 inches, bronze.

Forcefield in ‘What Nerve!’ at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Art made outside of New York art scene from the 60s to the present inspired Matthew Marks Gallery’s group show this summer, an exhibition that includes work by the collective ‘Forcefield’ who are known for their unconventional costuming. Here, Lord of the Rings inspires a contemporary chain mail chic. (In Chelsea through August 14th).

Forcefield, Lord of the Rings Modulator Shroud, stainless steel ID rings, 2002-15.

Pepo Salazar in ‘Grand Illusion(s)’ at Simon Preston Gallery

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In the still of Simon Preston Gallery, Paris-based artist Pepo Salazar stretches a slim yet commandeering text reading ‘noise’ from wall to wall, forcing visitors to step gingerly through an artwork inspired by heavy metal music fonts. (On the Lower East Side through August 8th.)

Pepo Salazar, Noise, steel, 843 x 331 x 10.16 cm, 2008-2015.

Tony Smith at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Titled ‘Playground,’ this piece by architect turned modernist sculptor Tony Smith was inspired by ancient mud-brick buildings. Two public installations of the sculpture in Beverly Hills, CA and Rochester, NY entice visitors to go through the opening but in New York, visitors to Chelsea’s Matthew Marks Gallery are invited to appreciate at a little more of a remove. (Through April 18th).

Tony Smith, Playground, steel, painted black, 64 x 128 x 64 inches, 1962.

Marc Ganzglass in ‘Work Order, Change Order’ at Mitchell-Innes & Nash

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Brooklyn’s McCarren Park – equally popular among Williamsburg hipsters and brawling youth – has been renovated to the tune of millions in recent years; New York artist Marc Glanzglass’ beautifully austere steel fence titled, ‘McCarren Fence,’ acknowledges the preciousness of the place as well as its divisions.  (At Mitchell Innes & Nash in Chelsea through Feb 1st).  

Marc Ganzglass, McCarren Fence, steel, 2013.

Jeff Williams at Jack Hanley Gallery

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Brooklyn and Austin-based artist Jeff Williams both makes and unmakes his sculpture, applying muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide to decay the steel slats of this cutting board, sourced from an artist residency at Skowhegan.  In the background, a giant steel clamp pinches wooden beams in a crushing embrace.  (At Jack Hanley Gallery through Dec 21st).  

Jeff Williams, installation view of NEW/USED/WET/BROKEN at Jack Hanley Gallery, November 2013.

Richard Serra, Inside Out at Gagosian

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Renowned American sculptor Richard Serra’s exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery’s 21st and 24th Street spaces in Chelsea opened this weekend, immediately proving to be the must-see shows of the moment.  Though the 24th Street installation departs from his previous body of curving steel plates with its angular severity (watch for photos in upcoming days), the 21st Street place offers a single, huge, undulating steel installation that will delight fans of Serra’s more recent spiraling sculptures.

Richard Serra, installation view of ‘Inside Out’ at Gagosian Gallery, Oct 2013.

Angel Otero at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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Brooklyn-based artist Angel Otero adds towers of ceramic and steel to a selection of his trademark textured paintings created with oil skins in his latest body of work at Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery. Lauded for suggesting ‘secrets unearthed,’ not ruins but ‘ideas to build on, models to live by,’ in a recent piece by The Village Voice’s Christian Viveros-Faune, Otero’s fired steel and glazed porcelain ‘Slot’ sculptures evidence a remarkable drive to alter his materials.  (Through Nov 2nd).   

Angel Otero, installation view, ‘Gates of Horn and Ivory’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Sept, 2013.

Richard Serra at Gagosian Gallery

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Tonight is the public reception for Richard Serra’s most recent New York sculpture show at Gagosian’s 21st and 24th Street spaces in Chelsea.  Glimpses like this one of the installation, which has been ongoing since Sept at least, suggest that the exhibitions will be as impressive as ever.  (Through Jan 25th).

Willard Boepple at Lori Bookstein Fine Art

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Willard Boepple’s 1981 stainless steel tower is a standout in Lori Bookstein Fine Art’s ‘Heavy Metal’ show for suggesting but denying utility with steps that look as if they’ve survived a hurricane or a cubist rendering. (Through June 29th).  

Willard Boepple, Stephanie, stainless steel, 1981.

Erin Shirreff at Lisa Cooley Gallery

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At over nine feet tall, New York-based Erin Shirreff’s hot-rolled steel sculpture ‘Drop (no. 3)’ is imposing without being overbearing.  The elongated shapes, hung from a steel rod, derive from paper scraps created by the artist and turn leftovers into the monumental main attraction.  (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 23rd).  

Erin Shirreff, Drop (no. 3), raw hot-rolled steel, 2013.

Jannis Kounellis at Cheim & Read

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Greek-Italian artist Jannis Kounellis returns to Chelsea’s Cheim and Read Gallery for his first New York solo show since ’06 with work that continues to contrast individuals with larger societal structures.  Here, a train track and steel beams conjure wide transportation networks; unworn clothing and hanging overcoats stand in for the individuals who conceive of them, build, operate and are served by them. (Through June 22nd).  

Jannis Kounellis, installation view at Cheim & Read Gallery, May 2013.

Mark di Suvero at Paula Cooper Gallery

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Mark di Suvero’s huge new steel sculpture ‘Little Dancer’ at Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery belies its title at 19 x 36 x 15 feet.  Still, in comparison to the larger structure, spiraling forms hanging from the larger, angular structure are as graceful as tons of steel can get.   (Through June 29th).

Mark di Suvero, Little Dancer, steel, 2010-12.