Beijing-based artist Chen Fei channels Dutch still life in his painting of tempting foodstuffs but substitutes dumplings for bread and banana leaf wraps for grapes. He cites Renaissance historian Vasari to question whether still life can be as engaging as portraiture, forcing the issue by presenting figurative painting in the downstairs gallery and still life upstairs. While the large-scale nude characters downstairs steal the show with their unconventional personalities, the still lifes still wow with their sheer abundance. (On view at Perrotin on the Lower East Side through Dec 21st).
