David Hammons at The Drawing Center

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

The US flag is shelter and garment for the individual depicted in this 1969 body print/screenprint by David Hammons, now on view in a powerful show of Hammons’ meticulous body prints at the Drawing Center.  Made by applying oil to his skin, pressing his body to paper and applying powdered pigments, the print is one of many that incorporate the US flag to question its meaning for Black communities.  (On view in SoHo through May 23rd.  Appointments, masks and social distancing required.  Admission charges waived).

David Hammons, Pray for America, screenprint and pigment on paper, 1969.

Katharine Bradford at Canada New York

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

Katherine Bradford’s new ‘Mother Paintings’ at Canada New York depict women caring for sick family members, offering the comfort of a lap and waiting for a school bus, but her signature abstract style upends traditional representations of moms.  By avoiding identifying details, she creates symbolic characters and instead directs our focus to the vivid fields of color that make up what might otherwise be mundane scenes.  Here, in ‘Mother Joins the Circus – Second Version,’ a mom is taken away, inducted into a new aspect of life by mysterious characters who literally turn things upside down.  (On view at Canada Gallery through May 15th).

Katherine Bradford, Mother Joins the Circus – Second Version, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 inches, 2021.

Aaron Gilbert at PPOW Gallery

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

Even in moments of tenderness and connection, Aaron Gilbert’s dead-eyed characters are shaped by the difficulty of their circumstances.  In this painting titled ‘Conspirators,’ currently on view at PPOW Gallery, these men’s tired expressions suggest they’re not just sharing a story or chatting but hatching a desperate plan.  The scene recalls Charles White’s 1942 painting of two working men in close conversation that was recently on view in the Whitney’s Mexican muralist show. But while White’s men engage with feeling about the news or activism; Gilbert’s operate with little conviction and less hope. (On view through May 1st with work by Martin Wong in Tribeca.  Masks and social distancing required.)

Aaron Gilbert, Conspirators, oil on canvas, 38 x 40 inches, 2020.

Hangama Amiri at Albertz Benda

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Growing up in Kabul and in Central Asia, recent Yale grad Hangama Amiri was drawn to bazaars and their abundance of textiles, as well as her uncle’s tailor shop.  Now in the US, Amiri has sourced similar materials from Afghan-owned businesses to create cloth collages picturing products and places in South Asian diasporic communities now on view at Albertz Benda Gallery. “Fabric as a medium really is associated with memory,” she explains in a statement released by the gallery, “…fabric captures smell, and time, lot of bodily attachments – we are all wearing fabrics. It is also a fragile medium, so it really touches and resembles all those notions of memory I am talking about and it really reconnects with what I am trying to convey in my art”.

Hangama Amiri, A.K. Fabric Shop, chiffon, silk, satin, muslin, cotton, lace, polyester, suede, paper, iridescent paper, denim, ikat printed fabric, faux leather, color pencil on fabric, velvet, camouflage, and found fabric, 113 x 99 inches, 2021.

Carrie Moyer, Hell’s Bells and Buckets at DC Moore

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

Colors pop and merge into the background while shapes seem to hover on the surface of Carrie Moyer’s latest paintings at DC Moore.  These tensions – which define Moyer’s practice – are made more provocative in her most recent work by the addition of more representative elements, like the tassel-like floral bells dotting the surface of this painting, ‘Hell’s Bells and Buckets.’   Moyer notes that in some recent work, her palette has ‘downshifted,’ or adopted a chromal sobriety found to either side of the central flow of form in this painting.  Far from creating a subdued painting, however, the effect is to heighten excitement at the shifting forms at center.  (On view in Chelsea through May 1st. Masks and social distancing required.)

Carrie Moyer, Hell’s Bells and Buckets, acrylic and sand on canvas, 66 x 60 inches, 2020.

Play: American Game Boards, 1880-1940 at Ricco/Maresca

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

Are vintage game boards art?  Ricco/Maresca’s current exhibition of American game boards from the late 19th century to 1940 aims to show that the boards are more than functional objects and are in fact ‘cousins of modern art.’  Having dealt in the boards for years but never dedicated a show to them, the gallery is now exhibiting parcheesi, backgammon, halma, checkers, Chinese checkers, mills, and solitaire boards that resemble mystical diagrams or architectural renderings.  This well-used checkers board comes alive with a combination of color and geometry that will keep the eyes moving along with the game pieces.  (On view through May 1st.  Masks and social distancing required).

American Unidentified, 5-color Checkers Game Board, enamel paint on wood, 18 x 18 inches, late 19th century.

‘Claes & Coosje: A Duet’ at Pace Gallery

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Right after the giant fork holding spaghetti and a meatball, the monumental sculpture ‘Dropped Bouquet’ is an immediate draw in Pace Gallery’s new show of collaborative work by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen from the 80s onward.  Surrounded by lighthearted works evoking music (including canvas violas, lutes and a trumpet) and flying neckties and pieces of pie, the flowers elicit delight with their cheery color and disorienting scale.  (On view in Chelsea through May 1st.  Masks, social distancing and appointments are required.)

Oldenburg/van Bruggen, Dropped Bouquet, painted aluminum, 12’ 3” x 9’ 3” x 14’ 10”, 2021.

Hassan Hajjaj at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Outstanding for its color and energy, Hassan Hajjaj’s ‘My Rockstars’ installation at Yossi Milo Gallery features photos of performers, musicians and friends that have inspired the London & Marrakech-based photographer/designer.  Shot in pop-up studios around the world with patterned textiles and mats for background, Hajjaj creates or styles each outfit.  Borders composed of small-scale commercial products, like the canned tomatoes surrounding Canadian artist MissMe, blend creativity and commerce.  (On view through May 29th.  Masks and social distancing are required).

MissMe, Metallic Lambda on 3mm Dibond in a Wood Spray white Frame with Tomato Cans, 52 inches x 37 inches x 2 ¼ inches, 2018/1440.

Matt Bollinger, Countdown at Zurcher

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

‘This is the American dream gone wrong’ declared a review of past work by Matt Bollinger whose paintings were inspired by the people and places of the artist’s home state, Kansas.  Bollinger is back with new work at Zurcher Gallery featuring electric colors that run counter to his usual muted tones, but which make the the weariness of his characters all the more noticeable.  Even when they’re in public, Bollinger’s characters are alone, caught in a moment of reflection and looking devastated.  (On view on the Lower East Side through April 29th.  Masks and social distancing are required.)

Matt Bollinger, Countdown, flashe and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 38 inches, 2021.

Sydney Vernon Portrait at Canada Gallery

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

Pretty in pink but commanding her space, the subject of this portrait by Sydney Vernon at Canada Gallery is full of life.  Along with an accompanying video the mixed media portrait is actually a memorial to a family matriarch, ‘a tender reflection on familial love and loss.’  A pelvic x-ray to the left, a photo of two children on the right along with living spaces and artwork suggest episodes from a life while writing on the column to the left offers sage advice including ‘beauty is only skin deep.’ (On view in Tribeca through April 10th.  Masks and social distancing is required and occupancy is limited).

Sydney Vernon, Tying Loose Ends, pastel, charcoal, acrylic and collage on paper, 52 x 46 inches, 2020.

Elias Sime Sculptures at James Cohan Gallery

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Megaphones accent the surfaces of Ethiopian artist Elias Sime’s latest sculptures at James Cohan Gallery, prompting viewers to question what voices are amplified in public discourse.  In the context of politics and the pandemic, Sime explains that he’s thinking about “…how humans are easily manipulated by individuals and rush to conclusions that they often regret when the truth begins to surface.”  Having recently created domed sculpture for a show at the Saint Louis Art Museum inspired by Native American Cahokia Mounds and the St Louis Gateway Arch, this huge, bowl-like sculpture is a highlight of Sime’s current show. (On view in Tribeca through April 24th.  Masks, social distancing and appointments are required).

Elias Sime, Tightrope: Eyes and Ears of a Bat (1), reclaimed electrical wires on wood, 47 ¼ x 83 ½ inches, 2020.

Karon Davis at Deitch Projects

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In her impressive New York solo show debut, Karon Davis transforms Deitch Projects’ cavernous SoHo space into the 1969 Chicago courtroom in which Bobby Seale stood trial bound and gagged.  Before a plaster cast of the Black Panther leader, a towering bench houses a replica of Judge Julius Hoffman, who Davis describes in the trial as ‘brutal and monstrous.’  Here, on the gallery’s elevated platform, a row of jurors looks on impassively, isolated in red and blue cases that disengage them with the scene unfolding before them.  (On view in SoHo through April 24th).

Karon Davis, Jury Member #3, plaster bandages, plaster, glass-eyes, steel, acrylic, plywood, white paint, 70 x 22 x 22 inches.