Debbie Lawson, ‘In a Cowslip’s Bell I Lie’ at Sargent’s Daughters

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Inspired by animal forms woven into carpets, carved into furniture and present throughout the history of architecture and the decorative arts, UK artist Debbie Lawson hides animals in plain sight in new sculpture at Sargent’s Daughters Gallery. Starting with a wire and tape armature, Lawson builds the animals and covers them in patterned carpet in a surprising blend of nature and culture.  The show’s handsome installation begins with canids camouflaged against a carpet backdrop and freestanding animals including a big cat and a bear, then progresses to this magnificent eagle at the back of the gallery, wings spread and claws poised as if materializing from the carpet’s foliage. (On view in Tribeca through May 30th.)

A Persian-style carpet hung on the wall with the form (sculpture) of an eagle appearing to fly out of it.
Debbie Lawson, Red Eagle, carpet, steel and mixed media, 116 1/8 x 21 5/8 inches, 2026.

Katelyn Ledford, ‘Verso’ at Fredericks and Freiser Gallery

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Apparitions materialize on the backs of paintings while art smocks reveal the imprint of saintly heads in Katelyn Ledford’s skeptically mystical works at Fredericks and Freiser Gallery.  Possessed of great skill in fooling the eye, Ledford paints what look to be the verso of framed artworks, suggesting that meaning might be found in what would normally be hidden from view.  Messages like, ‘Keep looking’ or ‘free’ so convincingly appear to be rendered in masking tape that identifying the actual material – acrylic and oil – comes across as a revelation.  Recurring clown faces, which the artist regularly dons on her social media, suggest a performative aspect to the painterly skill that entertains and delights her audience.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 7th).

Katelyn Ledford, Free, acrylic and oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 2025.

Vija Celmins in ‘The Writing’s on the Wall’ at the Hill Art Foundation

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Small-scale and monochrome, the works opening the Hill Art Foundation’s group exhibition ‘The Writing’s on the Wall: Language and Silence in the Visual Arts,’ feel calculated to go unnoticed.  This is all the more reason to mentally detach from attention-grabbing work in nearby galleries and ponder a few lines from Adrienne Rich’s 1978 poem ‘Cartographies of Silence,’ printed on a nearby wall label: “Silence can be a plan rigorously executed…Do not confuse it with any kind of absence.” Nearby, the solitary word ‘dance’ typed repeatedly across the top of a paper by Christopher Knowles, a washy gray watercolor overlaid with a rigid grid by Agnes Martin and a stonily silent bronze bust of James Baldwin by Larry Wolhandler are alive with feeling unreliant on speech, a key intention of the show’s curator, Hilton Als.  Here, Vija Celmin’s giant eraser, crafted from balsa wood and paint, strongly suggests that expression is a process of laying down and removing.  (On view in Chelsea through March 29th).

Vija Celmins, Pink Pearl Eraser, acrylic on balsa wood, 6 ¾ x 19 ½ x 3 ¼ inches, 1966-67.

Valerie Hegarty at Burning in Water

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In the shadow of Chelsea’s ultra-luxurious new residential buildings, Valerie Hegarty’s new sculptures and wall installations at Burning in Water are a poignant, contemporary vanitas, reminding us that what is fresh will soon be old.  Here, the Brooklyn-based artist’s own subway stop is the inspiration for a paint and paper installation that nestles right into a pristine wall.  (On view in Chelsea through Jan 5th).

Valerie Hegarty, Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum (My Subway Stop), paper, latex and acrylic paint, Tyvek, glue, 82 x 72 inches, 2018.

Antonio Santin at Marc Straus Gallery

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Marc Straus Gallery nods to Mark Rothko’s hovering, painted rectangles of color and Josef Alber’s nests of colored squares on canvas, but the real attraction to Spain-born, New York-based artist Antonio Santin’s paintings is the fact that they’re painted at all.  Resembling tapestries, Santin’s amazing abstract paintings are made with oil paint in a variety of patterns that suggest a 3D surface with something hidden beneath.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Oct 16th).

Antonio Santin, Apana, oil on canvas, 70.8 x 78.7 inches, 2018.

Helene Appel at James Cohan Gallery

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Soap suds, sand and spaghetti are the mundane subjects of Helene Appel’s extraordinary new paintings at James Cohan Gallery.  A muted palette and minute detail make it necessary to draw close to finely detailed renderings of beach sand and glistening soap bubbles.  From a few feet away, this painting (seen in detail) delights as a trompe l’oeil rendering of a delicately colored fishing net while doubling as an energetically free, grid-busting abstraction. (On view on the Lower East Side through July 27th).

Helene Appel, detail of Blue Net Painting, acrylic and watercolor on linen, 92 ½ x 155 ½ inches, 2018.

Patrick Hughes at Flowers Gallery

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British painter Patrick Hughes continues to explore what he terms ‘reverspective,’ or the upending of our expectation that paintings will appear to be in one fixed place. Walk past one of Hughes’ projecting paintings on board, and the rooms he paints appear to shift; the device is acutely appropriate to his depiction of the Barnes Foundation, the art museum which itself shifted locations by moving to downtown Philadelphia in 2012. (On view at Flowers Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 14th).

Patrick Hughes, The Barnes Foundation, oil on board construction, 59 x 207.5 x 24 cm, 2016.

Steve Wolfe at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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This well-worn tome isn’t a book at all but a meticulous painting by the artist Steve Wolfe. Not only does it memorialize a classic novel but serves as a tribute to Wolfe himself, who passed away last year.  Well-known for creating trompe l’oeil paintings of favorite books and records, Wolfe indirectly created a portrait of himself and his era. (At Luhring Augustine Gallery through March 11th).

Steve Wolfe, Untitled (Portrait of the Artist), oil, silkscreen, modeling paste, and linen on stretcher, 7 ¾ x 5 x ½ inches, 1991.

Vija Celmins at Matthew Marks Gallery

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One stone is real, the other is a replica. Vija Celmins entices viewers to ponder which one came from the earth and which from the artist’s hand in this pairing at Matthew Marks Gallery’s 22nd Street space in Chelsea. In other works, Celmins turns her hand to the skies and the seas with meticulous realist paintings that celebrate the creative powers of the artist. (On view through April 15th).

Vija Celmins, Two Stones, one found stone and one made stone: bronze and alkyd oil, 2 ¼ x 8 x 5 ½ inches, 1977/2014-16.

Matt Johnson Sculpture at 303 Gallery

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The text on this box – ‘Enjoy your delicious moments!’ – is supposed to be an encouragement to appreciate pizza, but it’s also a good way to describe the feeling of realizing that this realistic food box is actually a meticulously crafted, hand painted wooden sculpture by trompe l’oeil master Matt Johnson. (At 303 Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 25th).

Matt Johnson, Untitled (Small Pizza Box), carved wood and paint, 17 ½ x 14 ½ x 7 inches, 2016.
Matt Johnson, Untitled (Small Pizza Box), carved wood and paint, 17 ½ x 14 ½ x 7 inches, 2016.

Nolan Simon at 47 Canal

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Pulling source images from the web, young Brooklyn artist Nolan Simon copies them to canvas, framing each one with painted, trompe l’oeil masking tape like an analogue version of open windows on a computer screen. While the technique doesn’t radically update collage, Simon has an eye for intriguingly odd juxtapositions. (At 47 Canal on the Lower East Side through Feb 15th).

Nolan Simon, Commonwealth, oil and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches.

Roxy Paine at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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A room eighty feet long is condensed into 18 feet in Roxy Paine’s latest uncanny scene from his Diorama series – an airport security checkpoint crafted entirely in maple wood, devoid of humans and presented for contemplation. (At Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery through October 18th).

Roxy Paine, Checkpoint, maple, aluminum, fluorescent light bulbs, and acrylic prismatic light diffusers, 14 ‘ h x 26’ – 11” w x 18’ – 7 1/2” d, 2014.

Kristen Morgin at Zach Feuer Gallery

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Once loved, now up on blocks, this childhood relic looks like it’s headed for the dump if it doesn’t disintegrate first. However, like the rest of the work in this unassuming exhibition by LA-based sculptor Kristin Morgin, it’s an eye-teasing triumph made entirely of unfired clay. (At Chelsea’s Zach Feuer Gallery through May 3rd).

Kristen Morgin, Madonna with Tricycle, unfired clay, paint, ink, wood, wire, 20 x 16 x 28 inches, 2013.

Michael St. John at Andrea Rosen Gallery II

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Having moved from New York City to Massachusetts, Michael St John titles the paintings in his latest solo show at Andrea Rosen Gallery ‘Country Life.’  The resulting images, which employ collage and trompe l’oeil, are cheeky ruminations on what the differences between city and country life may be. (Through October 5th).  

Michael St.  John, ‘Country Life,’ acrylic, collage/assemblage, polymers, 2013.

Richard Hughes at Anton Kern Gallery

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In his latest New York solo show, British artist Richard Hughes turns drabness into whimsy by appearing to transform light posts into a pair of jauntily high-stepping legs.  They’re actually meticulously created to look like the real thing, but that fact’s almost irrelevant to their enjoyment. (At Chelsea’s Anton Kern Gallery through May 18th).  

Richard Hughes, Pedestrian (Hot Ste P), architectural grey board, fiberglass, stone resin, steel and paint, 2013.