Josephine Meckseper at Andrea Rosen Gallery

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In her large-scale vitrines, German artist Josephine Meckseper brings together a replica of Brancusi’s endless column, underwear modeling mannequins and more to question how appropriating historical and contemporary artifacts can create new meaning.  (At Andrea Rosen Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 18th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Josephine Meckseper, Title TBD, pigment prints on anodize aluminum, acrylic on wood, concrete, aluminum, bronze and stainless steel in stainless steel and glass vitrine, 2013.

Arman’s Collection of African Art at Paul Kasmin Gallery

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Most prominent in post-war in France for his ‘accumulations,’ the artist Arman was also an avid collector of art from other cultures.  Paul Kasmin Gallery’s select show of pieces from Arman’s African collection features this mask from the Makonde of Tanzania, a type worn by young men in their initiation ceremonies.  (In Chelsea through Jan 11th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Face Mask:  likomba, Makonde, Tanzania, wood, teeth, fiber, 24 x 10 x 9 inches with base.  From the collection of Arman.

Susana Solano at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Jack Shainman Gallery brings together sculptures from the past twenty-six years by major Spanish artist Susana Solano this month, including these evocative rattan forms, which suggest miniaturized housing (foreground) or a gargantuan thimble (back).  (In Chelsea through Jan 11th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Susana Solano, Bura III (foreground), rattan, 2004-2005.  Bura II (background), painted iron and rattan, 2001-2005.

Roni Horn at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

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Even inside a gallery, these pristine glass sculptures by American artist Roni Horn subtly change as the light from the skylights passes through them.  Their title references dreams while their surfaces resemble pools; they’re objects to transport you.  (At Hauser & Wirth Gallery through Jan 11th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Roni Horn, Untitled (“A dream dreamt in a dreaming world is not really a dream…but a dream not dreamt is.”), solid cast glass with as-cast surfaces, 10 parts, unique (series 5), 2012.

TM Davy at Eleven Rivington

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In Eleven Rivington’s brightly lit Lower East Side space, Brooklyn painter TM Davy presents a series of small, candle lit paintings.  Studies from life made in and around his home, their intimate nature belies their bright, public display. (Through Jan 5th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

TM Davy, from the series ‘Candela,’ oil on linen, 10 x 8 inches

Tony Feher at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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Had your grandmother gotten inventive with displaying her glassware, it might look something like Tony Feher’s ‘Parlor Trix.’  Known for simple installations made using every day materials, Feher delivers more visual delights in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co.  (Through Jan 18th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Tony Feher, Parlor Trix (detail view of installation), glass, galvanized steel wire and chrome-plated steel chain, 2013.

Michael Eastman at Barry Friedman Gallery

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Only the birds and Jesus are left at the Better Donut Drive In, in one of American photographer Michael Eastman’s photos of seen-better-days small town America.  Nostalgia, sadness and hope come together in a picture with themes as powerful as its color contrasts.  (At Barry Friedman Gallery through Jan 11th.  Check the gallery’s website or call ahead for holiday season opening hours).  

Michael Eastman, Jesus Donut, digital C-print, 60 x 48 inches, 2008.

Raqib Shaw at Pace Gallery

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London-based artist Raqib Shaw turns the martyrdom of Sebastian into high drama in this painting of the saint bound with flowering vines and besieged by a cloud of beastly cherubs.  Even the blood-red poppies are as threatening as they are beautiful.  (At Pace Gallery through Jan 11th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Raqib Shaw, St Sebastian of the Poppies, oil, acrylic, glitter and rhinestones on Birch wood, 60,” 2011-12.

Christian Marclay at Paula Cooper Gallery

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Visitors expecting more of Christian Marclay’s enormously popular video work will get a shock from his latest solo show – a selection of paintings in which silkscreened, Roy Lichtenstein-like cartoon text meets Abstract Expressionist splashes of color.  (At Paula Cooper Gallery through Jan 18th.  Check website for holiday season opening hours.)  

Christian Marclay, Actions:  Whaak Plop Plooch Sooosh (No 4), screenprint and acrylic on canvas, 2013.

Catharine Ahearn at Ramiken Crucible

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Low lighting, almost black paintings, homemade lava lamps and furniture made of pretzel shapes give New York artist Catharine Ahearn’s solo show at Ramiken Crucible the feeling of a cartoonish robbers’ den in Bavaria.  For sheer inventiveness, it’s a standout on the Lower East Side gallery scene.  (Through Dec 22nd).  

Catharine Ahearn, Couch, rebar, aquaresin, acrylic, salt, 2013; and Lamp, rebar, aquaresin, acrylic, salt, 2013.

Mariano Sardon at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

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Mariano Sardon not only gives us portraits, he tells us how we look at them.  The Buenos Aires-based Argentinian artist shows a picture of a face to viewers while a camera records their eye movements.  The information from many viewers is then mapped onto the face, which is drawn before our eyes following the sequences of the gazes.  (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 21st).  

Mariano Sardon, from the series ‘150 Gazes looking around them,’ digital video, 2012.

K8 Hardy at Reena Spaulings Gallery

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In her latest show at LES gallery Reena Spaulings, Brooklyn-based artist K8 Hardy moves away from her signature subversive fashion photos toward sculpture made from found and scavenged materials.  Her sense of fun remains, however, as seen with this intentionally (?) narcissistic mirror and a twerking stick figure.  (Through Dec 22nd).  

K8 Hardy, Twerk Team (foreground sculpture), wood liquid latex, acrylic paint, plastic tubing, synthetic fabric and (against wall) Kate, tinted glass mirror, 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.

Shinichi Maruyama at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

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Technology makes Shinichi Maruyama’s ‘Nudes’ series modest; by layering thousands of frames together, the New York-based Japanese photographer diverts attention from the body to the motion of a dancer.  (At Bruce Silverstein Gallery through Dec 21st).  

Shinichi Maruyama, Nude #8, archival pigment print, 2012.

Ryan McLaughlin at Laurel Gitlen Gallery

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This unassuming little painting by Berlin-based American artist Ryan McLaughlin conjures a cruise line advertisement for or by kids, a water conservation poster or some other public service message.  It’s simple, earnest and charming.  (At Laurel Gitlen Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 22nd.)  

Ryan McLaughlin, Wasserbetriebe, oil on canvas on MDF, 25 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches, 2013.

Rosemarie Trockel at Barbara Gladstone Gallery

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Placed end to end and titled ‘Copy Me,’ two identical cast steel sofas by German conceptual artist Rosemarie Trockel are oddly and improbably long.  Their oxidized patina creates a homey color but their material makes them uninviting, a fact that seems to be acknowledged by a protective plastic cover only casually placed over the sofas. (At Barbara Gladstone Gallery through Dec 21st).  

Rosemarie Trockel, Copy Me, cast steel and plastic, 31 ½ x 165 3/8 x 28 inches, 2013.

Tony Matelli in ‘Double Hamburger Deluxe’ at Marlborough Gallery

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Inspired by a giant hamburger painting by Andy Warhol, the group show ‘Double Hamburger Deluxe’ at Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery explores Warhol’s approach through comparison to pieces like Tony Matelli’s bronze lilies, a meticulously hand-crafted, editioned sculpture that never fails to astound.  (Through Dec 21st.)  

Tony Matelli, Arrangement, painted bronze, 2012.

Jaume Plensa at Galerie Lelong

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Spanish artist Jaume Plensa experiments with an international aesthetic with a nineteen-part installation of sculptures created from die-cut stainless steel letters from nine alphabets in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong.  Faceless humans perched on floating boulders create an immaterial ‘every man.’   (Through Dec 14th.)  

Jaume Plensa, Talking Continents (installation view), stainless steel, 19 components, varying dimensions, 2013.

Scott Reeder at Lisa Cooley Gallery

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By spray painting over and removing pasta shapes on canvas, Scott Reeder creates tongue-in-cheek paintings that resemble austere abstraction, or in the case of this painting (seen in detail) a constellation composed of alphabet soup letters.  (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 22nd.)  

Scott Reeder, detail from ‘Untitled (Pasta Painting),’ oil and enamel on canvas, 96 x 108 inches, 2013.

Gary Hume at Matthew Marks Gallery

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British artist Gary Hume made his name by painting hospital doors like these in the 90s, as England controversially debated public vs private health care.  Here, he had doors constructed that lead in to a second gallery housing attractive glossy enamel paintings featuring disquieting subjects, including versions of an off center wheel derived from a sniper’s sight that reference conflict in Iraq.  (At Matthew Marks’ 522 W. 22nd Street location through Dec 21st.)  

Gary Hume, Installation view of ‘The Wonky Wheel,’ at Matthew Marks Gallery.  Wheel:  The Wonky Wheel (Red), enamel on aluminum, 2013.  Door:  How to Paint a Door, gallery door, 2013.

Ilya Kabakov at Pace Gallery

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Highly celebrated, Ukraine born, Long Island-based painter Ilya Kabakov departs from the collage style of his other paintings in this recent work titled ‘The Window into my Past,’ in which a history painting not only dominates the wall but the minds of these young students.  (At Pace Gallery on 57th Street through Dec 21st).  

Ilya Kabakov, The Window into my Past, oil on canvas, 2012.

Gu Wenda at Chambers Fine Art

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New York based Chinese artist Gu Wenda draws on scholarly Chinese painting for these nine and a half feet tall, ink on rice paper on board drawings, each featuring a landscape and calligraphy and relating to his recent project proposal for a landscaped garden rich with symbolism.  (At Chambers Fine Art in Chelsea through Dec 21st).  

Gu Wenda, installation view of ‘Central Park’ at Chambers Fine Art, Nov, 2013.  (In the foreground:  Central Park – Concept #1:  Winter Snow, chinese ink, rice paper mount on wooden board, 2008).

Emily Noelle Lambert at Lu Magnus

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Titled ‘Curio Logic,’ New York based artist Emily Noelle Lambert’s solo show at Lower East Side gallery Lu Magnus presents works on paper showing what look like shelves of curios.  Culling images from old sketchbooks, drawings and even remnants of her students work, she reworks the imagery into enticing story fragments.  (Through Dec 22nd).  

Emily Noelle Lambert, ‘May You Be Filled Collection,’ mixed media on paper, 2009.

Hellen van Meene at Yancey Richardson

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Dutch photographer Hellen van Meene is known for traveling around the world to capture still, exquisite images of young people; her latest solo show at Chelsea’s Yancey Richardson Gallery zeros in on girls closer to home, photographing them with pets to study the interaction between them.  (Through Dec 21st).

Hellen van Meene, Untitled #390, from the series ‘Dogs and Girls,’ 16 x 16 inches, 2012.

Alexandre Singh at Metro Pictures

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British artist Alexandre Singh’s theatrical performance ‘The Humans’  – an elaborate tale of creation, then divine meddling in human fate – was called ‘one of the outstanding achievements’ of the Performa 13 performance art biennial this November.  Metro Pictures in Chelsea gives us a close-up on the eccentric characters in the play with busts including Singh’s ‘Wife’ character.  (At Metro Pictures through December 7th).  

Alexandre Singh, Wife, bronze, 2013.

Sarah Morris at Petzel Gallery

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Part of an exhibition by British artist Sarah Morris inspired by Rio de Janeiro, this graphically slick painting evokes the iPhone’s sliding on/off switches, an active game board or abstracted commuters moving rapidly through the city grid, all of which make for an urban landscape painting that evokes a city on the move.  (At Petzel Gallery through Dec 21st).  

Sarah Morris, Hybrid Solar Eclipse (Rio), household gloss paint on canvas, 2013.

Yayoi Kusama at David Zwirner Gallery

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Yayoi Kusama’s star is still shining in New York, where her Whitney Museum show in 2012 attracted throngs, and now an exhibition including two more trademark ‘infinity rooms’ is drawing thousands of visitors a day to Chelsea’s David Zwirner Gallery.  In this room, mirrors, low lights and polka-dotted tentacles coming from floor and ceiling create a hallucinatory effect.  (Through Dec 21st).  

Yayoi Kusama, Love is Calling, wood, metal, glass mirrors, tile, acrylic panel, rubber, blowers, lighting element, speakers, and sound, 2013.

Eileen Quinlan at Miguel Abreu Gallery

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For Brooklyn-based artist Eileen Quinlan, photography is not about passive recording.  In a series of 24 images pinned directly to the wall, she degrades the surface of her negatives by both allowing the developing process to go awry and scratching with steel wool to create abstractions that emphasize the medium as a process. (At Miguel Abreu Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 8th).  

Eileen Quinlan, installation view of ‘Curtains’ at Miguel Abreu Gallery, Nov 2013.

Gabriel Orozco at Marian Goodman Gallery

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Circular forms – a seemingly simple conceptual starting point with endless variations – dominate Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco’s latest solo show at Marian Goodman Gallery.  The most compelling are these river cobblestones, sold roadside in Mexico as a building material, but here carved with abstract patterns to conjure tactile ancient artifacts.   (On 57th Street through Dec 21st).  

Gabriel Orozco, (foreground) Untitled, carved river cobblestone from the Guerrero coast, Mexico, 2013.

Elaine Reichek at Zach Feuer Gallery

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In this conceptual artwork from 1990, New York artist Elaine Reichek pairs a source photo of a Native American teepee with her own knitted version of it, picturing a marginalized culture with a marginalized craft.  Does the homey feel of knitted objects connect with the feelings conjured by this home?  Reichek’s unassuming objects ask complicated questions.  (At Zach Feuer Gallery through Dec 21st).  

Elaine Reichek, Painted Blackfoot, knitted wool yarn and oil on gelatin silver print, 1990.

‘Calder Shadows’ at Venus over Manhattan

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Famed creator of the mobile and stabile, Alexander Calder, used light and shadow to envision scaled up versions of his sculpture.   In an inspired display technique, Upper East Side gallery Venus Over Manhattan does the same, keeping the gallery dark so that maquettes cast dramatic shadows and the pieces take a step beyond Calder.  (Through Dec 21st).  

Alexander Calder, Morning Cobweb (intermediate maquette), sheet metal, bolts and paint, 1967.