It’s not the vibrant colors and energetic forms of Shazad Dawood’s ‘Anselm Chapel, Tokyo,’ (seen here in detail) but the strong diagonal lines that connect the London-based artist’s abstract painting on vintage textile with its namesake – Czech/American architect Antonin Raymond’s stark, concrete house of worship. Reconciling opposite appearances seems beside the point with such a joyous composition. (At Jane Lombard Gallery through May 14th).
Gunships approach, bombers fly overhead and the Gemini spacecraft blasts off in old press photos and artist renderings gathered by German photographer Thomas Ruff, now on view in Chelsea at David Zwirner Gallery. Ruff scanned both sides of each photo – all of which relate to the U.S. aeronautics and space program in the 20th century – then merged them to merge private notes and public image. (Through April 30th).
Brazilian artist Adriana Varejao explores the complicated relationship between western and indigenous cultures with a series of self-portraits that blend Native South American and mid-20th century minimalist aesthetics. Here, wavy feathered plumes contrast a stark geometric stripe running the length of her face and clouds of dots over her eyes. (At Lehmann Maupin Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 16th).
They’re not looking at each other, but this dancing couple makes a connection through the eyes. As if they share a common vision, or are alert to each other’s thoughts, each bears an eye of the other as they engage in an elaborate courtship ritual. (At Lower East Side Gallery Thierry Goldberg, through May 1st).
With oppressive systems as his theme, British artist Adam McEwan presents sculptures of supercomputers that move data, a rendition of airport security trays and this walk-in sculpture of the letter ‘K.’ The letter stands in for Kafka and a character in ‘The Trial’ as well as a hieroglyph for an open hand. The most convincing way to understand the mood of the piece, however, is to climb the terrifyingly steep stairs. (At Petzel Gallery through April 30th).
Set against wallpaper developed for an installation at Mass MoCA, Barbara Takenaga’s ‘Life’ looks like an implosion inside of a molecular structure. The effect is eye-popping in person. (At DC Moore Gallery in Chelsea through April 30th).
New York artist Amy Lincoln carefully studies particular plants, then incorporates them in paintings of the natural world so crisp and vibrantly colored, they’re almost hallucinogenic. (At Morgan Lehman Gallery in Chelsea through May 7th).
Arranged in vitrines or along this long shelf, Katy Fischer’s ceramic objects look like archaeological finds. They’re a humorous take on the notion that ceramics must have use-value and yet provocative in prompting consideration of what those uses might be. (At Lower East Side gallery Louis B. James through May 1st).
Painter and sculptor Volker Hueller is known for mining art history, remixing styles and associations from yesteryear into a contemporary visual vocabulary. In this recent painting, on view at Lower East Side gallery 11R, he turns one of his signature, geometric characters into art object, suggestively equating face and vase. (Through April 24th).
Above a barely noticeable landscape of frothing waves and neon-colored bridges, a strange assortment of alien characters array themselves like a contemporary, psychedelic thangka in Keiichi Tanaami’s ‘Vision in the Womb.’ The Japanese icon blends eroticism and the lingering terror of Tokyo’s firebombing in a hallucinatory scene that stuns in its creative profusion. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co through April 23rd).
Conceptual art pioneer Robert Barry uses language to transport viewers; in this handsome installation, cast resin letters painted a vibrant red form words like ‘intimate,’ ‘apparent’ that evoke strong associations. (At Chelsea’s Mary Boone Gallery through April 23rd).
Using her home and the surrounding landscape in Amagansett as subject matter, Jennifer Bartlett offers two versions of the same view. Both have been constructed with a graining brush, a tool that allows her to paint in parallel lines, taking her longstanding relationship with the grid to new directions. (At Paula Cooper Gallery through April 23rd).
A visit to the Alhambra in Spain inspired Oxford, England-based Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi to begin his ‘Flamenco’ series, in which he celebrates the music and dance of Andalusia in his signature, modernist style. (At Salon94 on the Lower East Side through April 18th).
Though they’re both solitary women illuminated by glowing backgrounds, the subject of Barkley L. Hendrick’s 2015 painting, Anthem, couldn’t be further in character from the measured cool of his iconic 1969 ‘Lawdy Mama.’ This singer is holding nothing back as she takes the stage with a double mike and unrestrained self-confidence. (At Jack Shainman Gallery through April 23rd.)
You won’t find wholesome fantasies of life in the American heartland in Iowan artist Timothy Wehrle’s surreal pencil drawings at Chelsea’s P.P.O.W. Gallery. Under rain clouds, a severed head acts as momento mori, while an upside down shoe studded with nails suggests a painful journey. (Through April 16th).
Young Johannesburg artist Serge Alain Nitegeka pushes abstraction off the wall at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea, altering the gallery with paintings that project into the room while simultaneously acting as portals into 2D illusionary spaces. (Through April 23rd).
Evocative sculpture by New York artist Sarah Braman creates a nexus between mass produced furniture and the unique art object, coldly minimal forms and a potentially cozy bedroom, a mined metal and unexploited nature in the form of a gorgeous sunset. (At Chelsea’s Mitchell-Innes & Nash through April 16th).
This shot by Rosalind Fox Solomon comes across as simple enough at first…until you register that the caregiver is a crybaby, caring for a bunny and wearing a beard, defying expectations at every turn. The unexpected and odd dominate Fox Solomon’s selection of images from her archive, shot over three decades and around the world, now on view at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in Chelsea. (Through April 16th).
Fruity filling oozes from cracked dough like blood seeping from a wound in this painting of two stacked donuts by Emily Eveleth. The painting’s title ‘Façade,’ suggests we’re only getting half of the story and backs up the impression that these donuts can be read as stand-ins for much more. (At Danese Corey Gallery in Chelsea through April 16th).
A series of charming vintage color photos from the 70s and 80s by the late Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri, currently on view in Chelsea at Matthew Marks Gallery, use framing and balance to tell stories. This photo – cropped or layered to hide how a fancifully colored turquoise grate came to stand between us and a huge factory floor – both keeps us out and the workers in. (Through April 30th).
Mary Weatherford’s Casa Reef is a standout in Skarstedt Gallery’s excellent painting show in Chelsea, bringing to mind Yves Klein’s body prints, but in geometric blocks that suggest an underwater structure emerging from swirling white foam pushed by a (literal, neon) current. (In Chelsea through April 16th).
Since lifting it from the bulletin board of a Thai ceramic factory 30 years ago, Swiss artists Fischli and Weiss have reproduced this motivational list in different locations and formats over the years, most recently installing it on Houston Street in Manhattan. From the simple instruction to ‘do one thing at a time’ to the more profound challenge to ‘distinguish sense from nonsense,’ the advice encapsulates the artists’ credo to ask questions and embrace the absurd. (On Houston St at Mott Street through May 1st. For more info, see Public Art Fund or visit the artists’ retrospective at the Guggenheim.)
Iconic photographer Malick Sidibe – who will be 80 this year – pulls out more joie de vivre from his famous archives of Malian night-life with images shot at parties over the decades. Here, three young men dressed as secret agents let us in on the fun of their masquerade. (At Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery through April 23rd).
Haegue Yang continues her ‘Trustworthy’ series – made from the patterned interiors of security envelopes – with this installation of abstract diagrams set against deeply soothing Yves Klein blue walls at Greene Naftali Gallery. Just as Klein offered a portal into the sublime, Yang points to the mystical with her eye-like shapes and totemic figure covered in bells. (In Chelsea through April 16th).
A moody beach scene by Norwegian expressionist icon Edvard Munch inspires this painting by William Wegman at Sperone Westwater Gallery, which incorporates and builds on a postcard at center. Wegman both adds psychological intensity and humor to Munch’s angsty scene by making the main character a creative type alone in his Spartan room. Come see this painting and more on Saturday’s Lower East Side Gallery Tour, 1 – 3pm. (Click here for tickets. On view through April 23rd).
Fractal patterns on the walls of meticulously constructed dioramas by French artist Laetitia Soulier at Claire Oliver Gallery transform each space into a fantastical realm. The dominant cube pattern in this construction leaps off the walls and into the ever-decreasing form of this Lilliputian set of nesting rooms. (In Chelsea through April 9th).
Her own nature photography and images downloaded from the Internet are the basis for several new photos by Eileen Quinlan at Miguel Abreu Gallery, including this interrupted shot of an otter. A strip from the center of the image looks like both a rip and a pool of water, while streams of photo chemicals toward the bottom of the image contrast liquids used in photo processing with the otter’s natural habitat. (On the Lower East Side through April 17th).
Celebrated Cuban artist Roberto Diago presents wall-mounted works in corrugated sheet metal that look like weather-beaten modernist abstractions with a distinctly Cuban twist revealed in the title, ‘Variaciones de Oggun,’ a nod to the Latin American deity Oggun, who is associated with metal work. (At Magnan Metz in Chelsea through April 9th).
Inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi’s famous early 17th century painting of the Biblical heroine Judith slaying the Assyrian army general Holofernes, Anna Ostoya’s quasi-cubist rendition of the scene pits Judith against herself. Now that beheadings have become current events, Ostoya asks to what extent this is self-definition and self-harm. (At Bortolami Gallery in Chelsea through April 23rd.)
Tim Hawkinson offers visitors to Pace Gallery the chance to snoop through his medicine cabinet, in the process giving us the time around the globe with what’s actually a world clock in disguise. The unassuming bathroom fixture includes a bandage representing the time in Los Angeles and a soap pump acting as a clock for Tokyo. The biggest delight is New York’s timepiece – a lotion bottle with a cap that rotates as an hour hand and a drip of lotion (plastic) that acts as the minute hand. (At Chelsea’s Pace Gallery through April 23rd).
