Dawn Clements isn’t bothered about artful arrangement of the still life objects she paints, yet each object’s deliberately placement gives them all equal weight, from a smiley face made of fruits and a banana, to lip balm, rubber bands and a small belt buckle. (At Pierogi Gallery on the Lower East Side through May 7th).
Known for his meticulously hand-rendered small sculptures that allude to objects without resolving into specific things, Matt Hoyt again reveals a body of work at Bureau, Inc. that resembles unexplained archaeological finds. This untitled stand-alone piece suggests Rorschach tests, a pelvic-bone or vertebra, without closely resembling any of these. (At Bureau, Inc. on the Lower East Side through April 30th).
At the end of Romare Bearden’s ‘Bayou Fever,’ a 1979 ballet storyboarded by the artist but never performed, all problems are resolved and ‘The Emperor of the Golden Trumpet’ plays for the characters as they travel to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. One of twenty-one panels, this artwork demonstrates Bearden’s wonderful storytelling capacity and facility with collage. (At DC Moore Gallery through April 29th).
Though Yoshitomo Nara’s new work at Pace Gallery is based on traditional Japanese vessel forms, the new ceramic works continue Nara’s practice of tapping into contemporary youth cultures. Whether disaffected or conformist, Nara’s young characters are less the free spirits they normally are; as portly jugs, they come across as more contained. (At Pace Gallery’s 25th Street location through April 29th).
This painting is from the MoMA series, but it’s never been in the Museum of Modern Art. Instead, this piece of rogue modernism is a remake of Van Gogh’s famous Starry Night, painted by Chinese artist and provocateur Shen Shaomin to look as if it’s covered in bubble wrap. Even the packing tape is painted, not just trying to impress as trompe l’oeil, but suggesting that famous paintings are just another commodity. (At Klein Sun Gallery in Chelsea through April 29th).
A tent of wet cement appears to either disgorge or swallow a lush spill of mosses in Brazilian artist Thiago Rocha Pitta’s ‘The First Green,’ an installation at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea. Though the scene appears to be a static standoff between the survival of man or nature, Rocha Pitta avoids thinking in binaries. On the wall, frescos resemble ancient microorganisms performing photosynthesis, producing oxygen, and continuing a process that has gone on for billions of years. (On view through April 29th).
Jackie Saccoccio tilts and shifts her canvas while pouring paint to create a grid of drips; in her latest work, the grid both dominates the paintings and disintegrates in vibrant, explosive colors. (At 11R on the Lower East Side through April 30th).
Why do we collect objects? Whether it’s art, fossils or shoes, Allan McCollum suggests that we’re looking to fulfill greater needs. In this piece from 1991, currently on view at Mary Boone Gallery’s 24th Street location, McCollum presents cast copies of original bones from the Carnegie Museum, begging the question of what their collection and display means for human history. (On view through April 29th).
Leidy Churchman’s carefully arranged giraffes in the group exhibition ‘Sputterances’ at Metro Pictures categorize nature into manageable options, here, small, medium and large. Titled ‘Free Delivery,’ the painting equates the animals with product consumption, coincidently offering a provocative comment on the huge on-line audience that watched April the giraffe give birth to a calf in an upstate animal park in recent weeks. (In Chelsea through April 22nd).
The skin, shirt and vest of the man in this portrait by Toyin Odutola are alive with pattern, a foil to the quiet interior in which he stands and a suggestion of busy thoughts. Looking out into the light coming from outdoors, he’s privy to a vision from outside that we can’t yet see. (In ‘Vanishing Points’ at James Cohan Gallery through April 22nd).
‘Dazzle painting’ is an apt and humorous term used by New York artist Jane Hammond to describe her glittery paintings on mica sheets, which are arranged over reflective materials to catch the light. Featuring images from yesteryear, Hammond’s work literally burnishes memories. (At Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong through April 22nd).
Though the central figure of Sedrick Huckaby’s genre-bending painting/sculpture ‘Frederick’s Family’ is surrounded by relatives, their crossed arms and stony looks suggest deep discord. With downcast eyes and drab-colored clothing, Frederick begs the question of what went wrong and how things are to continue. (At Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects on the Lower East Side through April 23rd).
Color appears to move and shift, sometimes without the constraints of form in Scott Olson’s new oil paintings at James Cohan Gallery on the Lower East Side. Recalling Umberto Boccioni without the urgency or Robert Delaunay with less defined geometry, Olson channels early 20th century experiments in abstraction with subtle nods to the organic world and a palette that alternatively soothes and excites. (On view through April 23rd).
Olafur Eliasson introduces his latest exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery as political commentary with ‘The listening dimension,’ an installation of mirrored surfaces that invite personal reflection on the complexities of life. By creating an environment that gives viewers pause to consider an unusual space, Eliasson hopes to combat ‘oversimplification’ in the political realm and beyond. (In Chelsea through April 22nd).
This oil on canvas rabbit from 1968 by Pop painter Don Nice shares wall space with a muffin and a chocolate glazed donut at Allan Stone Projects, but at almost four feet high, dare not be considered as dinner. Instead, like a nearby duck or a careful watercolor rendering of an onion, its isolation on the canvas is a bold statement of the here and now. (In Chelsea through April 22nd).
Battery-studded forms resembling swaying kelp make for an enchantingly weird sculpture by Evan Holloway at Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea. Behind, a modernist-looking looping sculpture is a huge support for a tiny burning stick of incense. Unusual and unexpected, Holloway’s new sculpture engages the eye and the mind. (On view through April 22nd).
Alice Neel’s striking 1950 portrait of African-American playwright and actress Alice Childress portrays the writer as alert witness gazing from an uptown apartment window on life below. A red hat, blue dress and yellow flowers pack a visual punch, turning this otherwise sedate interior scene into a testimony to Childress’ lively powers of observation. (At David Zwirner Gallery’s 19th Street location through April 22nd).
The oldest and tallest tree in New York inspired Rachel Owens’ installation ‘Mother,’ for which she visited a Queens park to take casts of a c. 400 year old plant that may pre-date European settlement. Recreated in broken glass cast in resin, Owens marshals the vibrant colors of man-made materials to celebrate a remarkable survivor. (On view at Zieher Smith in Chelsea through April 15th).
This huge clown by Italian designer Gaetano Pesce dominates Salon94’s lively new venture, Salon94 Design, promising good things to come. (On the Lower East Side through April 15th).
A rosebush and clusters of rebar suggest beauty and a nascent building project in Cuban-born artist Enrique Martinez Celaya’s ‘The Brave.’ The text at top reads, ‘…a dream that can keep us asleep all night,’ compounding the surreal quality of this simultaneously barren and lush scenario. (At Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea through April 22nd.)
Who she is or what she’s fighting for is unclear in young Munich-based artist Leonard Hurzlmeier’s ‘Rebellion,’ but it’s obvious that the subject is moving forward apace. Hurzlmeier’s bold paintings find fun in full-bodied female figures who engage the world head-on. (At Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 23rd).
Marble moves in surprising directions in UK artist Kevin Francis Gray’s new sculpture, first executed in clay in London and then hand-carved with a team of master sculptors in Italy. Now at Pace Gallery in Chelsea, Gray’s seated nude bears abundant evidence of the artist’s hand and his desire to arrest a state of unfinish, perhaps destruction. (On view at Pace Gallery’s 24th Street address through April 22nd).
New York painter Jennifer Coates conflates consumption of art and food in new paintings featuring donuts, bagels, TV dinners and more. At center, this towering stack of pasta, cheese and sauce melts into an abstract painting evoking bubbling lava or a swirling face, playfully signaling the fetishistic power of food. (At Freight and Volume Gallery through April 16th).
Italian artist Quayola revisits the subject of Laocoon, the ill-fated Trojan priest in ancient Greek mythology, in an arresting sculpture that combines a digital, geometric rendering of the priest’s head with a realistic representation. Coated in oxidized iron powder, the sculpture appears both aged and new. (At Bitforms Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 9th).
The debris under the platform occupying center stage at Greene Naftali Gallery includes images of flags and reproductions of art historical images. Above, figures created from nylon gesticulate wildly atop blowing fans like ghosts dancing on the grave of a failed ideology or social movement. (In Chelsea through April 15th).
Robert Frank’s iconic photo series ‘The Americans’ presented a complicated and unheroic picture of the country in 1955. At Danziger Gallery on the Lower East Side, 81 contact sheets (from among thousands) allow viewers to see the shots before and after those selected for publication. Here, a baby in ‘Café-Beaufort, South Carolina’ is not as alone as she appears. (On view through April 8th).
Amid monochromatic structures that recall real world shacks built with available resources, Beverly Buchanan also created a boldly colored house built as a studio and a home. This spirited building perfectly embodies Buchanan’s aim to make buildings that are survivors but communicate, in her words, ‘Here I am; I’m still here!’ (At Andrew Edlin Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 15th).
This hooked rug manhole cover by the late Dorothy Grebenak is a handmade homage to a ubiquitous sight on New York City streets. Completely at odds with its cold, hard real-world counterpart, this textile manhole cover takes Pop art in a homey direction. (At Allan Stone Projects in Chelsea through April 22nd.)
A colorful bloom of pantyhose creates South African artist Turiya Magadlela’s palette in this 2-D piece that brings to mind modernist grid systems and consciousness of the female body. (At Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery through April 22nd).
Karin Sander, early adopter of 3D printing, still manages to make her mini-portraits look futuristic, as in this sculpture that makes her look as if she’s shimmering like a mirage or a hologram. (At Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Chelsea through April 8th).
