New York-based painter Michael Cline updates both the portrait and still life traditions with eccentric arrangements of plants and flowers sprouting eyes, teeth and an ear. This arrangement, with its lights (electric and candle) and card reading, “…really rules the world” unnervingly suggests hidden surveillance. (At Horton Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 8th).
Michael Cline, Arranged Portrait, oil on linen, 2013.
Martin Creed’s exhibition at Hauser & Wirth’s 69th Street location includes portraits painted by leaping high in the air with a paintbrush, stacking sculptures based on mathematical ratios and room-altering minimal, monumental wall paintings. None seem to involve much effort on Creed’s part to create – this being his signature style – yet each will definitely create a reaction. (Through Dec 21st ).
Martin Creed, work no. 1782, toilet roll, unique, 2013 (foreground). Martin Creed, work no. 905, emulsion on wall, 2008 (background).
As construction continues apace on several new buildings in Chelsea, French artist Cyprien Gaillard’s first solo show at Barbara Gladstone Gallery – featuring sculptures made of excavator heads) feels particularly apt and a little too familiar. Fixed with calcite rods sourced in Iran and Utah, Gaillard reaches for international import, but his general point about destruction and progress stemming from the same tool is a little blunt. (At Barbara Gladstone Gallery through Dec 21st).
Cyprien Gaillard, installation view of ‘Today Diggers, Tomorrow Dickens,’ at Barbara Gladstone Gallery, (excavator heads and banded calcite), November 2013.
Michael Williams’ latest paintings employ tacky techniques – inkjet and airbrush – and mingle dominant subject matter with incidental-seeming doodles. They stand out for their utter weirdness, demonstrating that there are rules of taste by breaking them. (At Canada Gallery through Dec 8th).
Michael Williams, Art Loft Eviction Sale, inkjet and airbrush on canvas, 2013.
Given its subject matter and size, Brazilian artist Sandra Cinto’s thirteen meter plus pen and acrylic rendering of roiling seas is surprisingly subtle. As gradations of blue and white fog recede, what look like mountain peaks turn into frosting peak waves in a decidedly elegant storm scene. (At Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery through Dec 21st.)
Sandra Cinto, One Day, After the Rain, permanent pen and acrylic on canvas, 2012.
Ever see an artfully arranged piece of trash? A piece of soap balanced just-so on the edge of the sink? German photographer Thomas Demand had captured these moments and thousands more when he decided to apply his signature art-making technique to the scenes, recreating select photos as sculptures constructed entirely of paper and card then photographing them. The resulting series is a homage to the still, transformative moment. (At Matthew Marks Gallery’s 526 West 22nd Street location through Dec 21st.)
Thomas Demand, Daily #18, framed dye transfer print, 2012.
Fran Siegel’s monumental aerial view of Los Angeles defies standard views of the city that emphasize the grid, instead glorying in the expansive notion of the place as a fragmented network of systems and communities. (At Lesley Heller Workspace on the Lower East Side through December 1st.)
Fran Siegel, installation view of ‘Overland 16,’ cyanotype, ink, pencil and pigment on cut paper, 96” x 140,” 2013.
In the Chelsea tradition of bigger is better, New York based artist and designer KAWS presents two huge sculptures – each over 18 feet high – at Mary Boone Gallery that show his signature COMPANION figures in states of distress. The gallery has been packed with visitors…but many fans don’t necessarily make for a good show. Why do you think these works such a draw? (In Chelsea through Dec 21st).
KAWS, Along the Way, 216” x 176” x 120,” wood, 2013.
LA-based artist Kristin Calabrese’s exhibition at Lower East Side gallery Brennan and Griffin aims to consider our mortality; here, the beauty of the flowers has faded but a gorgeous sunset in the distance offers succor. (Through Dec 8th).
Kristin Calabrese, Depth of Field, oil on canvas, 78 x 66 inches, 2013.
Despite ceramicist Peter Voulkos’ huge influence on contemporary ceramic art, New York hasn’t been treated to a solo presentation of his work since 1997. Through this week, 57th Street gallery Franklin Parrasch breaks the dry spell with a sampling of work from the 50s to the 90s from a single private collection. (Through Nov 23rd).
Peter Voulkos, Iron Head, ceramic, 1990.
Known for making artwork relating to lesser-known facts about historically important figures, Brooklyn & Philadelphia artist Terry Adkins turns his sights to George Washington Carver & Yves Klein in his Lower East Side show. Using apple pickers to refer to Carver’s efforts to move away from the ubiquity of cotton, and blown glass to recall Yves Klein’s fiery, transformative performances, Adkins invites us to read meaning into his subtly reworked histories. (At Salon94 Bowery and Salon 94 Freemans on the Lower East Side through Jan 11th).
Terry Adkins, installation view of Nenuphar at Salon94 Bowery, November, 2013. Sculpture in foreground: Terry Adkins, Harvest Montgomery, blown glass, apple picker, fiberglass and aluminum pole, 2013.
Though created from paint, this folksy character’s shirt and pants have the texture of rough-hewn fabric, perfectly in keeping with his Johnny-Appleseed-like barefooted nature wanderer persona. By New York painter Benjamin Degen and titled ‘Kleos,’ it suggests that like the ancient Greeks, this home-grown oddball is also seeking a glory of sorts. (At Chelsea’s Susan Inglett Gallery through Dec 7th).
Benjamin Degen, Kleos, oil on canvas over panel, 2013.
Rod Penner’s tiny photo realist renderings of desolate scenes from the American rural landscape summon nostalgia and intrigue in equal parts. (At Ameringer, McEnery, Yohe in Chelsea through Nov 23rd).
Rod Penner, Ranch View Motel/Vaughn, NM, acrylic on canvas, 2013.
Iran-born, London-based artist Shirazeh Houshiary offers twisting columns of anodized blocks as a contrast to the minutely detailed, veil-like patterns covering abstract paintings like the diptych in the background here. Like twisters or stepping feet, they literalize an unidentified and unseen force. (At Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side location through Dec 28th).
Shirazeh Houshiary, Eddy, anodized aluminum, 2013 (foreground) and Echo, pencil, pigments and black aquacryl on canvas and aluminum, 2013 (background).
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.
New York based-Scandinavian artist Simen Johan’s latest photos from his ongoing series, ‘Until the Kingdom Comes’ are stronger than even, offering seamless images of animals inserted into landscapes that would be alien to them, as with these giraffes (shot in a U.S. zoo), whose heads are lost in the fog of landscapes from Turkey, Bali & Iceland. (At Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery through Dec 7th).
Simen Johan, Untitled #172, digital c-print, 2013.
‘Self Portrait as Afterparty’ continues Brooklyn-based painter Julie Heffernan’s ongoing quasi-self-portrait series, here in a post-apocalyptic scenario in which she eschews plates of spaghetti to gather sacks of game. An abandoned dinner, piles of rocks, some of which have smashed the chairs, and a picture of an exploding volcano suggest that the end of the world has come but this goddess-like survivor can fend for herself. (At Chelsea’s PPOW Gallery through Nov 16th).
Julie Heffernan, Self Portrait as After-party, oil on canvas, 2013.
You don’t have to be into fashion to appreciate the spectacle that is ‘The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier’ at Brooklyn Museum. A moving catwalk, mannequins with animated faces, and more turn the normally sleepy Brooklyn Museum into a carnival celebrating Gaultier’s extravagant, gender-bending vision, which germinated in childhood when he fashioned a conical bra for his teddy, some 30 years prior to his designs for Madonna’s ‘Blond Ambition’ tour. (At Brooklyn Museum through Feb 23rd).
Jean Paul Gautier, ‘Nana’ from 1957; ‘chest of drawers with integrated vanity,’ prototype, 1992; and “Black Swan Collection,” modele Saut de l’Ange, Haute couture fall/winter 2011-12.
Born in Arizona to Native American parents, raised by his adoptive German-American parents in Wisconsin and based on the Bowery for the past 23 years, Brad Kahlhamer still draws on his varied background in art that blends Native American iconography and a graffiti-like graphic sensibility in this haunting portrait of an apparition-like character. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 24th Street location through Nov 16th).
Brad Kahlhamer, The Way They Looked The Way They Lived, ink spray paint, acrylic and ballpoint pen on cloth, 2013.
For his latest New York solo show, New Jersey based artist Willie Cole turns a whimsical arrangement of women’s shoes into a towering, 6 foot tall bronze sculpture recalling a Yoruban deity; a literalized example of power dressing. (At Chelsea’s Alexander and Bonin Gallery through Nov 16th)
Willie Cole, The Sole Sitter, bronze, 2013.
Brazilian artist Marepe continues to use everyday materials, simply transformed to achieve big effects. In his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Anton Kern Gallery, he transforms two bikes into a stationary creature with human head and fish-like tail, a hybrid that suggests literal and figurative possibilities for forward movement. (Through Dec 14th).
Marepe, Cabeca Ciclica, bicycles and wood, 2012.
Leipzig-based painter Christoph Ruckhaberle’s stylized dance scene against a blue sky and green grass sets up a comparison with Matisse’s 1909 ‘Dance,’ but knowingly offers us subjects whose weightiness and modesty are grounded in the everyday, despite the peppy wallpaper. (At Chelsea’s Zieher Smith Gallery through Nov 16th).
Christoph Ruckhaberle, Untitled, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2013.
Ceramics are increasingly visible in Chelsea galleries this fall, particularly in a show of artists who use clay in innovative ways at Ricco Maresca Gallery. These sculptures by Carole Seborovski merge natural forms with abundantly decorated surfaces in intriguingly odd combinations. (Through Nov 16th ).
Carole Seborovski, Summer of Love (foreground), clay, medium/low fire glaze, platinum/gold luster, ceramic decals, and gold leaf, 2011.
Explaining that his carefully color-calibrated combinations of shapes are meant to evoke both fragmentation and interconnectedness, Philadelphia-based artist Odili Donald Odita applies his characteristic geometric abstractions directly to the walls creating an optical AND physical impact. (At Jack Shainman Gallery through Nov 16th).
Odili Donald Odita, Rain Forest acrylic latex wall paint, dimensions variable, 2013.
‘Souci’ (worry) was French conceptual artist Sophie Calle’s mother’s last word, uttered several years ago on her deathbed as she told her daughter not to worry about her. Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery is now showing a selection of Calle’s projects directly or indirectly relating to her mother, including one for which she traveled to the North Pole to bury her mother’s jewelry. While not as powerful as Calle’s last show, it’s a must-see for fans. (Through Nov 16th).
Sophie Calle, installation view of ‘Absence’ at Paula Cooper Gallery, Oct 2013.
Titled ‘The Connoisseur,’ this painting by New York based German artist Thomas Eggerer begs the question of what the central figure is so delicately gathering. Multiple outlines of the man suggest he’s involved in an ongoing process, while a fiery background and dark skies convey a sense of foreboding and urgency. (At Chelsea’s Petzel Gallery through Nov 9th.)
Thomas Eggerer, The Connoisseur, acrylic on canvas, 2012.
Art critic Blake Gopnik once called New York ceramic artist Arlene Shechet’s abstract sculptures ‘so bizarrely shaped they could be science-fair models of germs.’ The sculptures in the artist’s latest solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema, Jenkins & Co are just as quirky, conjuring natural and manmade forms and challenging us to puzzle them out. (Through Nov 16th).
Arlene Shechet, ‘Not to Mention,’ glazed ceramic, painted plywood base, 2013.
Brooklyn-based artist Alison Elizabeth Taylor is known for scenes of people in the landscape and decrepit interiors, all meticulously crafted from wood veneer. In her latest solo show at Chelsea’s James Cohan Gallery, she wields her signature technique and adds paint in service of depicting nature mangled by humans. (through Nov 30th).
Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Transparent Eye, wood veneer, shellac and oil on panel, 2013.
Italian artist Olivio Barbieri’s photographs of European mountain ranges are often breath-taking, but he takes something else away in his latest series, namely large sections of the mountain that he substitutes for snow-like areas of white. Barbieri explains that he’s interested in the hiker’s point of view, including ‘mirages and hallucinations.’ (At Yancey Richardson Gallery’s new 22nd Street location through Nov 2nd).
Olivio Barbieri, Alps – Geographies and People #11, archival pigment print, 2013.
