Jane Rosen at Sears Peyton Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

‘Knight to Rook,’ the title of Jane Rosen’s latest solo show at Sears-Peyton Gallery, highlights the strategic placement of her totemic sculptures; here, a glass raptor perches before a stone fox, both suggesting the birds of prey and jackal of Egyptian mythology.  Though the artist cites Giorgio Morandi’s vessel-based still lives as inspiration (particularly in a sculptural installation), Brancusi’s stylized, curving sculptures atop rough-hewn plinths come to mind, linking the finished product back to its origins in nature.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 15th).

Jane Rosen, Cash Bird on Ladder, hand blown pigmented glass and limestone, 64 x 8 x 13 inches, 2017.

Elise Ansel at Danese Corey

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Caravaggio’s 1602 oil painting ‘The Taking of Christ’ includes betrayal, surrender and alarm in one action-packed scene;’ New York artist Elise Ansel distills the drama in her oil painting, ‘Kiss,’ an abstraction that sketches the main characters as hovering areas of light.  By exploring gesture, light and pattern, Ansel focuses attention on the feeling of the scene rather than the specifics, offering new ways to connect to the Old Masters.  (On view at Danese Corey in Chelsea through Jan 5th).

Elise Ansel, Kiss, oil on linen, 48 x 60 inches, 2018.

Valerie Hegarty at Burning in Water

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In the shadow of Chelsea’s ultra-luxurious new residential buildings, Valerie Hegarty’s new sculptures and wall installations at Burning in Water are a poignant, contemporary vanitas, reminding us that what is fresh will soon be old.  Here, the Brooklyn-based artist’s own subway stop is the inspiration for a paint and paper installation that nestles right into a pristine wall.  (On view in Chelsea through Jan 5th).

Valerie Hegarty, Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum (My Subway Stop), paper, latex and acrylic paint, Tyvek, glue, 82 x 72 inches, 2018.

Ken Price, Formerly The Slump at Matthew Marks

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Late sculptor Ken Price evoked bodies and nature in a humorous, accessible and endlessly colorful way for decades until his death in 2012.  In a show of work from the ‘90s to 2010 at Matthew Marks Gallery, Price’s evocative forms continue to elicit puzzlement and delight in equal measure.  (On view on 24th Street in Chelsea through Dec 22nd).

Ken Price, Formerly The Slump, fired and painted clay, 5 ¼ x 18 ½ x 13 ¾ inches, 2001.

Zaria Forman at Winston Wachter Fine Art

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Known for large-scale majestic scenes of nature rendered in pastel on paper, Zaria Forman’s stunning new work takes her drawings to a new level.  Invited by NASA to join their regular data-collecting flights over Greenland and the Antarctic, Forman had access to the landscapes that she recreates in huge pastel drawings that demonstrate the beauty and fragility of our planet’s northern climates.  Here, a supraglacial lake is enchantingly beautiful but also a warmer spot that will contribute to this glacier’s faster melt.  (On view in Chelsea at Winston Wachter Fine Art through Dec 21st).

Zaria Forman, Supraglacial Lake (between Hiawatha and Humboldt Glaciers), Greenland, 79 degrees 6’59.05”N 65 degrees 15’54.99”W, July 19, 2017, soft pastel on paper, 60 x 81 7/8 inches, 2018.

Richard Prince at Gagosian Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

“I was trying to imitate or channel what my kids were doing, because, you know, I can draw,” explains iconic appropriation artist Richard Prince of his new body of work ‘High Times.’  Titled after the counterculture magazine, which requested work from Prince for a 2016 cover, the new work is inspired by drawings from the late 90s that aim for immediacy and feeling that studied drawing couldn’t achieve for Prince.  Here, in a piece over 18 x 20 feet, Prince inkjet prints, paints and collages his way into a body of work that overwhelms with manic energy.  (On view at Gagosian Gallery’s 21st Street location through Dec 15th).

Richard Prince, installation view of ‘High Times’ at Gagosian Gallery on 21st Street, November, 2018.

Jocelyn Hobbie at Fredericks and Freiser Gallery

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Realist painter Jocelyn Hobbie continues to ponder female subjects in a profusion of patterns in her latest show at Fredericks & Freiser Gallery in Chelsea.  The title of this piece, ‘Hollyhock and Anemones,’ ignores the figure at center, suggesting that she’s competing for attention with other decorative elements of the painting.  Hobbie’s glowing skinned women radiate an unreal perfection; while painted in oil, they appear to have been created in the digital realm.  Positioning them in a no-man’s land of ambiguous space and purpose, Hobbie generates a seductive uncertain image.  (On view through Dec 22nd).

Jocelyn Hobbie, Hollyhock and Anemones, oil on canvas, 50 x 20 inches, 2018.

Nick Cave Sculptures at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Nick Cave, famous for his part-armor, part-costume sound-suits, meditates on gun violence in America in a sobering, symbol-laden show at Jack Shainman Gallery.  Here, Cave nestles found sculptures of African heads amongst hands paired in prayer or raised in a solitary gesture of greeting, surrender or a caress.  Flowers in the background offer hope of renewal.  (On view at Jack Shainman’s two Chelsea locations through Dec 22nd).

Nick Cave, detail of Untitled, fiberglass hands, wood sculpted heads of various sizes, beaded flowers, 36” (h) x 270” (l) x 45 ½” (w), 2018

Kyle Meyer at Yossi Milo Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Kyle Meyer’s photodocumentary work with eSwatini’s (formerly Swaziland’s) HIV positive populations parallels a stunningly beautiful personal project shot with members of the country’s gay community and now on view at Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery. After photographing men wrapped in scarves made of vibrant fabrics (chosen together at market), Meyer hand sliced the scarf fabric, weaving it into a photo that both protects the sitter’s identity while declaring his existence.  (On view through Dec 8th).

Kyle Meyer, Unidentified 121, archival pigment print hand woven with wax print fabric, approx. 67 x 44 inches, unique, 2018.

Annie Lapin at Miles McEnery Gallery

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LA artist Annie Lapin conjures images from accidents, pouring a charcoal water solution over a prepared surface and embellishing the results with analogue and digitally created effects that she transcribes to canvas.  In ‘Defenestration,’ a few deft additions to the central shape turns a stain into an escaping figure hightailing it out of a raw linen canvas.  A metaphor for emerging artistic creativity?  (On view at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea through Nov 10th).

Annie Lapin, Defenestration, charcoal, acrylic, flocking and vinyl paint on linen, 30 x 26 x 3 inches, 2018.

Eric Aho at DCMoore Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Atmosphere, light conditions and seasons shift to absorbing effect in Vermont-based painter Eric Aho’s landscapes, sometimes in the same painting.  In ‘Headwaters,’ white patches close to the painting’s surface appear to be effects of the waterfall, while at bottom left, water appears to both drop and rise from the side of the cascade.  Perceptions alter as we look, creating a dynamic image that engages as it challenges interpretation.  (On view at DCMoore Gallery through Nov 10th).

Eric Aho, Headwaters, oil on linen, 78 x 70 inches, 2018.

Hew Locke at PPOW Gallery

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Amid glinting filigree and chains, an emaciated figure plays a horn above two skeletons in Hew Locke’s photograph embellished with mixed media.  Underneath is an image of a public sculpture memorializing Peter Stuyvesant, namesake of several New York landmarks and the Dutch governor who saw slavery as an engine to drive New York’s colonial economy.  In his first solo show at PPOW Gallery in Chelsea, Locke alters portraits of public figures to examine how their lives and decisions have extended beyond their sanctioned, public images.  (On view through Nov 10th).

Hew Locke, Stuyvesant, Jersey City, c-type photograph with mixed media, 72 x 48 inches, 2018.

Svenja Deininger Solo Show at Marianne Boesky

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In her current solo show at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery, Austrian artist Svenja Deininger has brought out a new body of painting, literally, in canvases that evoke the human form, her own domestic environment, and the city of Milan, where she initiated her latest series.  (On view through Dec 22nd).

Svenja Deininger, Untitled, oil on canvas, 23 ¾ x 19 5/8 inches, 2018.