‘You break it, you buy it’ does not apply at the Austrian art collective Gelatin’s latest solo show at Greene Naftali in Chelsea, where the point is to send art objects flying in order to ‘finish’ them. Pressing the pedal to send objects like these crashing to the floor feels as wrong as dropping a baby, regardless of their artistic merit (or lack thereof). (Through Nov 13th.)
This is one watermelon you do not want to eat…or be eaten by. A giant lick of modeling paste extends from Valerie Hegarty’s repulsive ‘Watermelon Tongue,’ curbing the appetite and recalling ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ one inspiration for this painting. Hegarty was also thinking of last year’s news reports of exploding watermelons in China, which were mistakenly sprayed with growth accelerator. Now do you want to know where your food comes from? (At Nichelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side, through October 20th).
What’s at the cutting edge of visual art animation? Check out the New Museum’s answer to that question – the on-line only exhibition, ‘3-D Form,’ which features four artists whose human characters dance, flirt and float as they occupy strange realms of cyberspace. (Through October 17th.)
One thousand hand-painted, porcelain sunflower seeds made in Jingdezhen, China are on offer at Carolina Nitsch as part of a show of work (80s NYC photos and Qing Dynasty chairs) by dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Once a metaphor for the Chinese populace following their leadership as the sunflower follows the sun, these remnants of Weiwei’s five ton installation at Tate Modern suggest that it’s the artist who is followed so closely as his popularity continues to rise. (At Carolina Nitsch through Nov 3rd.)
Why is one textile hung carefully on a wall for display while others are put on the floor for everyday use? Andrea Zittel’s latest solo show, designed by her and crafted by weavers from around the country, digs into the question of why we want both beautifully designed objects with use value and objects to rever as fine art. Zittel created this carpet to fill the floor of her yet-to-be-built 12 x 16 foot cabin. (At Andrea Rosen Gallery, Chelsea, through October 27th).
Toba Khedoori is known for her monumental paintings on paper devoid of human subjects, but in her latest show at Chelsea’s David Zwirner Gallery, she makes a major shift to small-scale oils on canvas. The size change lessens the works’ dramatic impact but a mood of still isolation remains, prompting writer Julian Bismuth to compare each new work to, “…a puzzle piece removed from its set and held up to the light.” (Through October 27th).
Ever think Christopher Columbus would invite you over to his place? Something like that is happening on Columbus Circle, starting tomorrow, as the Public Art Fund opens Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi’s ‘Discovering Columbus.’ After climbing six flights of stairs, visitors who’ve reserved free, timed passes can lounge in a furnished living room constructed atop a scaffolding that surrounds the 13-foot tall sculpture from 1892. (Through November 18th. Passes available at publicartfund.org.)
LA artist Julian Hoeber’s first NY solo show features a recreation of an old roadside attraction, a ‘gravitational mystery spot’ in which the laws of gravity were altered. Inside a plywood and metal-framed cube, the trick is a simple sloping floor and ceiling which non-the-less demonstrates how easily our perception can be tricked. (At Harris Lieberman, Chelsea through October 20th).
Teresita Fernandez created this sculpture on site at Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side location this summer, turning thousands of translucent, colored layers of polycarbonate into an installation evoking the lights of the aurora borealis. (Through October 20th.)
You use tools to make art, but can you make art out of studio tools? Martha Friedman gives it her best shot, transforming a rather impersonal object – the wedge – into mysteriously totemic towers punctuated with flaccid, pizza-paddle shapes in day-glo orange silicone rubber. (At Chelsea’s Wallspace Gallery through October 20th).
‘Bye Bye Babylon,’ the title of Erik Parker’s latest solo show at Paul Kasmin Gallery, and his subject matter – edenic landscapes teeming with psychedelic flora – suggest he’s left the city for greener pastures. In fact, he’s still Brooklyn-based but uses the exotic locales he depicts to take a mental break from urban life. (Through October 13th). For more fuchsia skies and purple seas, check out Paul Kasmin’s website.
Before you get to the giant inflated and conjoined rear ends, you have to pass under ‘Carnivaleyes’, a pair of 3 x 4 ½ foot wide peepers made from latex, fabric and rope by Nancy Davidson. Slightly risqué with their net-stocking-like lids, they seem a little vexed with their oddball neighbors in Davidson’s solo show at Chelsea’s Betty Cunningham Gallery. (Through October 6th). Check out Davidson’s odd bodies on her website.
Paul Pfeiffer continues to manipulate footage of sporting events in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery; though he makes welcome forays into new areas, the show’s most entertaining piece collages footage of basketball games from the 50s through the 90s, only with the players and ball digitally removed. What’s left are bright lights and a ghostly, swishing net as Pfeiffer turns a popular game into a magic act. (Through October 13th).
Books – in colorful grids on the floor, piled on a remainders table, preciously designed and placed far out of reach on high shelves and in many more guises – fill Friedrich Petzel Gallery’s biblio-centric group show, ‘The Feverish Library’ (organized in cooperation with Matthew Higgs). Rachel Whiteread’s plaster, polystyrene and steel ‘Untitled (Sequel III)’ from 2002 lends a note of gravitas and mystery to the show by recording only the cast space around a bookshelf. (In Chelsea’s Friedrich Petzel Gallery through Oct 20th).
Known for his nature-inspired, mural-sized dramas affixed to the gallery wall, Adam Cvijanovic doesn’t disappoint in his first New York solo show since ’08. At 15 x 65 feet, the show’s centerpiece, ‘Discovery of America’ is a trompe l’oeil triumph, appearing to bring a prehistoric, Rocky Mountain scene into a wall-splintering conflict with an image of human settlers racing across the plains all of which appears to take place in a messy art studio. (at Postmasters, Chelsea through October 13th).
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.)