Philip Taaffe’s latest body of work serves up an almost overpowering optical experience, even seen in detail, as in this segment of a painting at Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine Gallery. Inspired by natural history and Japanese paper-working technique that involves dipping folded paper in strong dyes, this mixed media artwork favors a grid format that suggests orderly structuring of knowledge even while unleashing wild coloring. (On view through Dec 21st).
Belgian photographer Maroesjka Lavigne has traveled from Namibia to China to the American West photographing animals and landscapes featuring unusual and unexpected color relationships. ‘Rainbow mountains’ in Xinjiang China and sharp pops of color from yellow plants in Argentina are standouts in her solo show at Robert Mann Gallery, but it’s the unexpectedly beautiful soft pastel blooms of rust on the car in this photo that steal the show. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 21st).
Simen Johan’s dramatic photographs of animals are convincing at first glance, then give viewers pause to consider. Johan’s skillful digital manipulations allow a panda to appear ready to nurse furry little black and white creatures which turn out to be skunks, while in another image, a longhorn bull poses comfortably in an Alpine scene, though the animal may be more at home in Texas. In its original setting, this wolf was having its belly rubbed; in the gallery, its blank look and menacing teeth capitalize on preconceived ideas about the animal’s ferocity. (On view in Chelsea at Yossi Milo Gallery through Dec 7th).
Holly Coulis electrifies the traditional genre of still life, painting arrangements of glasses, pitchers and fruit that sometimes appear to defy gravity while popping dramatically off of the canvas in brilliant color. In her latest show at Lower East Side gallery Klaus Von Nichtssagend, a bowl of lemons and one lime materialize in three dimensions to perform a wonderfully dynamic juggling act. (On view through Dec 15th).
What color is the moon? Astronauts disagreed on the answer, and their conversations sparked artist and son of the founders of the Italian fashion company Missoni to reorient his long-term photographic study of the moon to portray the celestial body in brilliant color. In an installation in Benrubi Gallery’s dark side gallery, Missoni presents an installation of back-lit transparencies that give the orb a stunning presence. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 21st).
Known for portraits of her friends and circle that recall the color and lighting of early 20th century European avant-garde painting, Hope Gangloff has refocused her recent paintings on images of plants in nature and indoors. Her still vibrant palette and energetic compositions are as enticing as ever as she turns a screen into a glittering backdrop for a still life showcasing hardy succulents and the artist’s essential tools. (On view at Susan Inglett Gallery in Chelsea through Nov 30th).
After confronting viewers with visceral, blood-red sculpture in his last New York show, Anish Kapoor is back with a two-venue exhibition bound to seduce his audience. Front and center in Lisson Gallery’s 24th Street space is Tsunami, a towering stainless steel sculpture that lures visitors in to marvel at the spatial distortions created by the curved metal. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 20th).
The vanishing point has disappeared in Claire Kerr’s small oil on linen seascape, literally gone missing somewhere between sea and sky. Bringing to mind both the foundational role of the horizon in Western linear perspective and the limits of vision, this small-scale image also contrasts the vastness of the body of water depicted, adding further complication to and pleasure in contemplating landscape. (On view at BravinLee Programs in Chelsea through Nov 27th).
Frank Gehry’s undulating ‘Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health’ in Las Vegas is the subject of this sculpture by young Philadelphia-based artist Kambel Smith, a highlight of his current show at Marlborough Gallery. Diagnosed with autism at a young age, Smith discovered painting and then sculpture in his teens, pouring his energies into sculptural models of Philadelphia buildings. At Marlborough, Smith expands his purview to recreate a bridge in Tbilisi, Georgia and invent a sci-fi city, recalling the creative abundance of Bodys Isek Kingelez’ invented cityscapes but with a sleeker vision. (On view in Chelsea through Nov 16th).
Hannah Wilke’s two drawings of herself as an angel after Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer, now on view at Ronald Feldman Gallery in SoHo, stand out among photo, video and sculpture from the 70s to the early 90s by the feminist art icon. Although known for having defied feminist conventions by displaying her own body in provocative ways; here, Wilke’s audience gazes on her profile not her figure as she manifests as a celestial being. Recalling Durer’s engraving ‘Melancholia,’ in which a female angel represents the artist’s melancholy, Wilke expressionist version offers a more freeing vision. (On view in SoHo through Nov 30th).
Chicago Imagist Karl Wirsum’s gender ambiguous, robotic characters are an odd mix of human and alien, bionic and freighted by imperfect human bodies. This character – a standout in Derek Eller Gallery’s showcase of 50 years of Wirsum’s drawing – has proportions calculated to puzzle and amaze, from tiny eyes and little apple core mouth that contrast a complex and angular nose to broad shoulders that set off a pair of small feet. (On view on the Lower East Side through Nov 10th).
Young Chicago-based artist Alex Bradley Cohen channels the vibrant color and inventive perspectives of David Hockney’s 80s paintings in expressively distorted portraits of friends and family now on view at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. Against a fiery orange carpet and cool blue background beyond the terrace, this subject comes across as both guarded and open, inviting viewers to engage further. (On the Lower East Side through Nov 10th).
