Based on the life of Frederick Douglass, the most photographed American man of the 19th century, British filmmaker Isaac Julien’s new ten-screen installation ‘Lessons of the Hour’ brings Douglass’ remarkable life and oratory talents into focus at Metro Pictures Gallery. Here, actors play the role of Douglass and his wife traveling by rail, echoing and contrasting his escape via train as a young man to freedom in New York. (On view in Chelsea through April 13th).
A field of fruit appears perfect until it begins to move and collide, revealing soft surfaces that bespeak rot below a flawless exterior. Titled Impeach I, this animation by Jennifer Steinkamp began life as an LA billboard and now exists as a selection of constantly moving, morphing and reforming fruit. (On view at Lehmann Maupin Gallery’s 22nd Street Chelsea location through April 13th).
From persecuted religious figures to the first recorded female sculptor in Spain, Spanish artist Carlos Vega’s portrait paintings bring to light histories of remarkable women who refused traditional gender roles. Here, Vega switches from mortals to marvel at the divine with an image of Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity. (On view at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea through March 30th).
Before late Swiss artist David Weiss joined forces with Peter Fischli to become the charmingly eccentric duo Fischli and Weiss, he traveled widely, drawing as he went. Also inspired by underground comics, Weiss produced drawings like this tongue-in-cheek take on Giacometti’s famously reduced figure, currently on view at Matthew Marks Gallery’s 24th Street location. (On view through April 6th).
External architecture comes indoors at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea, where Iranian-American artist Andisheh Avini has installed two domed forms. Born and raised in the US but inspired by his Iranian heritage, Avini provocatively arranges these two quasi-readymades (the domes are crafted and painted by hand) to suggest danger via their pointed spires, around which visitors are invited to step. (On view in Chelsea through April 6th).
A cross section of a tree turns into a bosom in Kiki Smith’s bronze sculpture, ‘Sun,’ a highlight of new work at Pace Gallery that pulls human bodies into close contact with nature. This sculpture’s golden patina recalls gilded, divine bodies while revealing its origins in a majestically-sized tree that nurtures. (On view on 24th Street in Chelsea through March 30th).
Ceramic fragments resembling cracked mud ripple like water in response to visitors’ movements at Bitforms on the Lower East Side, creating a surprising and delightful effect, despite the worrying allusion to a parched environment. Part of Rozin’s new series of mechanical mirrors – interactive artworks that respond via motion sensor to a visitor’s movements which Rozin has created since the late 90s – the new mirrors inhabit a darkened gallery, creating a theatrical feeling that heightens the senses. (On view through March 17th).
Central Park is bursting with color and life in this acrylic painting by New York artist Nicholas Buffon, currently on view on the Lower East Side at Callicoon Fine Arts. Featuring the Bethesda Fountain’s ‘Angel of the Waters’ by queer sculptor Emma Stebbins, the painting calls attention to and celebrates sites important to LGBTQ communities around the city. (On view through March 24th).
Inspired by views of distant galaxies via NASA’s Hubble Telescope, Canadian painter Erik Olson launched a series of paintings that bring his characteristic bright color and expressive forms to outer space. Including paintings made with DS black, a light absorbing coating material, Olson’s show at Bravin Lee expresses wonder at and appreciation of our world and beyond. (On view in Chelsea through March 16th).
Female legs become soft beakers in Jen Liu’s painting of a luxuriously gold-toned world populated by detached body parts, currently on view at Simone Subal Gallery on the Lower East Side. A floating head connects by thin gold wire to the legs, while giant fingers reach in from the side to manipulate events. A nearby video featuring a hot dog factory manned by cadres of female workers aims at “resolving the inequities of wealth and resource distribution through the factory-produced hot dog.” (On view through March 24th).
Thousands of staples obscure and decorate the surface of a photo mounted on wood by Philadelphia-based artist Wilmer Wilson IV at Susan Inglett Gallery. Hiding the besuited figures barely visible below, the staples create an antsy rhythm, reflect light and deflecting viewers’ gaze. (On view in Chelsea through March 16th).
From melted plastics to acrylic paint on paper from old Indian ledgers, Judy Pfaff’s use of traditional and non-traditional art materials continues to set her exuberantly colored new assemblages apart. Now on view at Miles McEnery Gallery, her new riotous new creations are dominated by circular and organic forms. Part of a series of pieces title ‘Quartet,’ they find harmony in difference. (On view through March 9th in Chelsea).
