Robyn O’Neil, American Animals at Susan Inglett Gallery

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‘American Animals,’ an uncannily orderly yet apocalyptic vision of the heads of white men subsumed by waves of water or hair, dominates Robyn O’Neil’s current solo show at Susan Inglett Gallery.  Known for drawings that feature multitudes of middle-aged men wreaking various kinds of havoc, O’Neil suggests with this enormous drawing that the men are receiving their comeuppance, perhaps from a feminine force engulfing them with hair or from nature, overcoming them with waves of water.  Who are the men?  Why is their response to calamity so strangely passive?  O’Neil keeps us guessing with provocative questions. (On view in Chelsea through June 4th).

Robyn O’Neil, American Animals, graphite on canvas, 103 x 140 inches, 2020 – 2022.

Paulo Nazareth at Mendes Wood DM

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Positioned on the floor of Mendes Wood DM’s new Tribeca gallery space, Brazilian artist Paulo Nazareth’s water-filled glass vessels and sand-filled ceramic dishes look vulnerable to a careless visitor’s foot, yet each one is a container for something more fragile – a tiny replica of a ship.  Accompanied by a cast-iron sink, its top painted with a globe, the vases, jugs, glasses and dishes appear to represent travel on the earth’s land and seas; the term ‘nau’ in the title referring to the masted sailing ships used from the 14th century by the Portuguese. Fragile and toy-like, the small boats recall child’s play, but given the artist’s fascination with travel from the Middle Passage to the present day, the piece also carries the weight of history.  (On view through June 10th.)

 

Paulo Nazareth, Barquinho sem titulo (da serie nau fragil)[Little boat untitled (from nau fragil series)], installation with glassware, bathroom sink and handmade boats, variable dimensions, 2007.

Didi Rojas at Launch F18

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Young Brooklyn-based sculptor Didi Rojas makes portraits in the form of ceramic shoes, titling her current show at Launch F18 ‘Felt Cute, Might Delete Later’ after the selfie meme.  This sneaker is titled ‘I really don’t think I’m like other girls but whatever, you’ll believe what you want to believe,’ suggesting a speaker’s bid for independence and doubt that (s)he’ll be taken seriously.  In past work – yellow platform crocs or bright red high-heeled boots – Rojas has seduced us with standout fashions; here, more muted colors and everyday styles speak to identities we put on every day. (On view in Tribeca through June 11th).

Didi Rojas, installation view of ‘Felt Cute, Might Delete Later,’ Launch F18 Gallery, May 2022 featuring “I really don’t think I’m like other girls but whatever, you’ll believe what you want to believe,” ceramic, 11 x 4.5 x 5.5 in, 2021-2022.

Angelo Filomeno at Chart Gallery

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Angelo Filomeno’s latest works, now on view at Chart Gallery in his first New York solo show in seven years, lure visitors closer via bold color contrasts and a literal glow from his materials.  Appearing to be ‘painted with a sewing machine,’ as the New York Times once put it, the embroidered works on silk shantung resemble painting in presentation and scale but are marked by a richness of color and abundance of light afforded by their material.  Filomeno’s work never strays far from the theme of mortality; here, an iceberg illuminated by lightning brings our changing environment into focus.  (On view through June 18th).

Angelo Filomeno, Storm, embroidery on silk shantung stretched over cotton, 68 x 52 inches, 2022.

Ebony G Patterson, Tapestry Installations at Hales Gallery

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In the darkened space of Hales Gallery’s Chelsea location, Ebony G. Patterson’s ‘night garden’ entices with elaborately cut works on paper and wall-mounted tapestry installations decorated with strings of beads, glitter and other alluring objects. Each features a female figure (here in pink) with missing face or other body parts, a representative of loss who is literally no longer whole herself.  Patterson explains that on occasions of mourning, it’s often women who are the public face of their family or community; as such, this central, sequined figure, like the garden around her, represents ‘beauty concealing trauma and violence.’ (On view through June 18th).

Ebony G. Patterson, ‘….in the swallowing…she carries the whole…the hole’ (partial view), hand-cut jacquard woven photo tapestry with appliqué, fabric, plastic, beads, feathers, trim, glitter, and wood mounted on wallpaper in two (2) parts, 50 3/8 x 86 1/4 x 5 7/8 in, 2021 – 2022.

Andreas Gursky at Gagosian Gallery

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Look at photos of the Streif ski slope in Kitzbuhel, Austria and it’s clear why it’s considered to be one of the most dangerous in the world.  Still, its steep downward angles are nothing compared to Andreas Gursky’s version of the run, now on view in his current solo show of new photography at Gagosian Gallery.  Monitors mounted along the run show skiers wiping out, but all is calm on the course.  The new work is alert to dangers of another sort as well, addressing climate change and the deleterious effect of making fake snow. (On view in Chelsea through June 18th).

Andreas Gursky, Streif, Inkjet print and Diasec, 120 7/8 x 94 1/8 x 2 7/16 inches, 2021.

Bea Scaccia at JDJ Gallery

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Hair, clothing and jewelry were of utmost importance in the small town where Italian artist Bea Scaccia grew up.  Now a New Yorker and long-since escaped from the cultural norms of her youth, the artist is showing painted assemblages at Tribeca’s JDJ Gallery of items – wigs, gloves and ornaments – that allow individuals to role-play through dress.  Titled, ‘A belief in physio-gnomic principles,’ this grouping of ringlets and puffs of fur hints at a figure without revealing one, mock-suggesting that accoutrements make the person. (On view through May 27th).

Bea Scaccia, A belief in physio-gnomic principles, acrylic on canvas, 42 x 42 inches, 2022.

Doug Aitken, Wilderness at 303 Gallery

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In his latest multi-screen video installation, ‘Wilderness’ at 303 Gallery, renowned artist Doug Aitken asks, “How far we will continue to evolve, and at what cost?”   Aitken’s last major show in ‘18 at his Chelsea gallery featured communications expert and cell-phone pioneer Martin Cooper pondering how connected we actually need to be.  Here, the artist takes this train of thought further, shooting footage on the beach near his Venice home to suggest land’s end as a kind of metaphorical end to pre-digital life.  Beachgoers mouth phrases like ‘You sound so sweet and clear but you’re not really there,’ but the audio is from AI generated digital voices.  Alluring and alarming, Aitken’s scenes give pause for thought as we witness hands photographing the sunset becoming hands that hail the new.  (On view through May 27th).

Doug Aitken, Wilderness, installation view, eight-channel composited video, 2022.

Jolie Ngo and R & Company

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Jolie Ngo is having her first solo show in New York at R & Company, but her debut happened a few years ago as an undergrad when her renowned professor Glenn Adamson highlighted her ceramics on his personal Instagram.  Curators and gallerists bought the work, which she’d crafted from her 3-D printed designs. Now wrapping up her MFA at Alfred University and only in her mid-20s, Ngo’s showing new pieces in Tribeca that were conceived in a 3-D modeling program, brought into the round using 3-D clay printing, glazed and fired.  Painted with gradients and affixed with add-on forms, Ngo’s so-called ‘cyborgian pottery objects’ are a unique mix of fascinating and fun.  (On view in Tribeca through August 12th.)

Jolie Ngo, installation view of Memory Palace at R & Company, (foreground) a unique ceramic vessel in porcelain, glaze, luster and PLA plastic, 2021.

Nari Ward, Shoelaces at Lehmann Maupin

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Shining copper panels shaped like the squares of a sidewalk, marked with outlines of candles and other items left by mourners on a street memorial are beautiful reminders of the terrible cost of the pandemic and of racially-motivated violence in Nari Ward’s latest solo show at Lehman Maupin Gallery.  Downstairs, four text-based works in one of his signature materials – hanging shoelaces – cite songs, poetry and the Emancipation Proclamation.  ‘What’s Going On,’ references Marvin Gaye’s 1971 song, inspired by US involvement in Vietnam and the civil unrest in Watts.  In the past, Ward has collected shoelaces from museum visitors to make word-based installations, establishing an association with the personal that brings the text closer to home.  (On view in Chelsea through June 4th).

Nari Ward, What’s Going On, shoelaces, 78 x 81.5 x 1 inch, 2022.

Future Retrieval at Denny Dimin Gallery

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Inspired by their residency at the natural-history treasure-trove, The Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati, artist duo Future Retrieval have filled Denny Dimin Gallery in Tribeca with sculpture, cut paper and rugs inspired by the natural world.  Here, an image of mushrooms carefully crafted from cut-paper towers over porcelain specimens, together creating a mini-garden celebrating fungal diversity. Called a ‘mycological trophy case’ by the artists, the piece pays homage to mycologist Curtis Gates Lloyd’s extensive research and study.  (On view through June 4th).

Future Retrieval, Fungiculture, porcelain, cut paper, wood, 47 x 38 x 12 inches, ’21 – ’22.

Read about the Tribeca art scene in Club Traveler Magazine

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Read about New York’s off-the-beaten-track art treasures and my comments on the newly booming Tribeca art scene in Delle Chan’s piece for Hilton Grand Vacations‘ Club Traveler Magazine’s Spring ‘22 issue!

Roy Nachum at A Hug From the Art World

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Five huge photorealist portraits by Israeli-New Yorker Roy Nachum dominate the creatively titled Chelsea gallery ‘A Hug from the Art World.’ The sense of immediacy that their size generates in this compact space is amplified by expressionist painting on their surfaces.  At first puzzling for the contrast between styles, an upstairs video reveals the paintings to be layered portraits, collaborations between Nachum and blind makers like Rosie Lopez, pictured here.  Once explained, the portraits become fascinating expressions of self-representation.  (On view through May 7th).

Roy Nachum, Rosie Lopez, oil on canvas, 84 x 71 inches, 2015 – 2022.

Toshiko Takaezu at James Cohan Gallery

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Hawaii-born master ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu’s sculptural forms from the 90s, on view at James Cohan Gallery, synthesize Abstract Expressionism and Japanese art tradition with understated beauty.  Working in a palette of colors inspired by nature in her home state, Takaezu ventured beyond earthly inspiration to create ‘moon pots’ like this one from two half-spheres.  (On view in Tribeca through May 7th).

Toshiko Takaezu, Untitled, glazed stoneware, 16 x 21 x 21 inches, ca 1990s.