How would a rag rug inspire a ceramic sculpture? Francesca DiMattio’s huge porcelain and stoneware sculptures mimic the shaggy surface of a Moroccan boucherouite rug, a technique aided by her use of a garlic press to extrude clay. Mixing references to art history and decorative arts, DiMattio’s new work is a riotous assertion of history’s continued presence in today’s art and design. (On view on the Lower East Side at Salon94 Bowery through April 21st).
Kyle Staver’s large paintings at Kent Fine Art update legends and classical mythology with panache and humor, but her small terracotta studies stand out for their immediacy. Here, Venus tries unsuccessfully to persuade Adonis not to venture out on his ill-fated hunt in a compressed action scene that casts Venus as a solid earth-mother and Adonis as an ungainly and heedless youth. (In Chelsea through Oct 22nd).
At first glance, Adam Parker Smith’s shiny mylar balloon sculptures don’t look long for this world; inside of each, however, are resin & fiberglass interiors and metal armatures that give the sculptures heft. Arranged around a faux rock garden, the balloons resemble classic Greek sculptures reinterpreted with humor – Venus stands in the foreground with a champagne bottle body barely covered by a flying scarf while Augustus towers to the rear of the gallery. (At The Hole on the Lower East Side through July 24th).
Fourteen arresting sculptures from the past 10 years by Daisy Youngblood at McKee Gallery include ‘Venus,’ one of several sensitive and dynamic renderings of primates. (In the 57th Street gallery district, through May 30th).
Daisy Youngblood, Venus, low-fire clay and hair, 2007.
Traditional perspective takes a vacation in riotous new collages by Chicago Imagist artist Gladys Nilsson featuring monumental female figures created from and surrounded by consumer goods. This quail-eggs-for-nipples-Venus yolks it up against a fertile arbor backdrop. (At Garth Greenan Gallery, through Dec 6th).
Gladys Nilsson, A Girl in the Arbor #3, mixed media on paper, 2013.
