Rose Cabat in ‘Painting in the Dark’ at James Cohan Gallery

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Rose Cabat’s small ceramic forms go against the grain, literally, with their textured glazes and invitation to touch.  Though it’s not possible to pick up the artist’s signature ‘feelies’ now on view at James Cohan Gallery in Tribeca, color-coordinated groupings of beautifully glazed stoneware vessels are a delight to the eye.  Part of a group exhibition showcasing ceramics that can be appreciated in similar terms to abstract painting, the gallery likens each vessel as a stroke in a pointillist composition. (On view through Aug 5th).

Rose Cabat, Collection of 7 Feelies, glazed stoneware, tallest: 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 in, shortest: 1 3/4 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 in., ca 2012-2013.

Mattias Sellden at Friedman Benda Gallery

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Swedish designer Mattias Sellden’s eureka moment, when he settled on his signature use of minimally processed planks of wood to create dynamic furniture items, came from a simple aversion to altering a piece of wood he admired.  Calling the creations now on view at Friedman Benda his ‘little wooden friends,’ Sellden allows his audience to find use-value in the constructions or simply enjoy them as they are.  (On view through August 12th).

Mattias Sellden, Sunset Giraffe, curly birch, birch, varnish, pigment, 50.5 x 23.5 x 17.75 inches, 2021.

‘Chroma’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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See Greek and Roman sculpture like never before in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new show ‘Chroma,’ which presents reconstructions of ancient sculpture in vivid tones based on traces of original pigment.  Using tools like multispectral photography, German professor Dr V. Brinkmann and Dr U. Koch-Brinkmann of the Liebieghaus sculpture collection in Frankfurt, Germany reveal how ancient Mediterranean cultures favored vibrant color.  Join me on a Met Museum highlights tour to see these works and more.  (On view through March 26th, 2023).

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Reconstruction of a marble statue of a woman wrapping herself in a mantle (so-called Small Herculaneum Woman). Marble stucco on plaster cast, natural pigments in egg tempera, gold foil, 2019.

Emily Mullin in ‘RGB’ at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Can art compete with nature?  Emily Mullin’s ceramics at Yossi Milo Gallery, presented on wall-mounted shelves and offset by a rectangle of background color, are crowned by show-stealing floral arrangements.  Yet like the flowers, which will change as the piece is displayed, Mullin sees her hand-made ceramic pieces as unique individuals, almost characters.  Together, this quirky assemblage of sculpture, support and background challenges expectations, existing, as the artist puts it, “…between the space of representation and reality.”  (On view through August 12th in Chelsea).

Emily Mullin, xtravaganza, Lime Raku fired vessels, powder coated steel, flora, 17 x 21 ¼ x 8 inches, (flora dimensions variable), 2022.

Barbara Kruger – MoMA and David Zwirner Gallery

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Have you seen this eye-grabbing new installation by Barbara Kruger in the Museum of Modern Art’s atrium?  Don’t miss the rest of the show at David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea, where the gallery’s three adjoining spaces on 19th Street showcase work from a recent exhibition of Kruger’s work at the Art Institute of Chicago and the LA County Museum of Art.  Join me on a Chelsea gallery tour to see the show before it closes on Aug 12th.

Barbara Kruger, installation view of Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You at The Museum of Modern Art, July 2022.

Yoan Capote, Requiem (vault) at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Evoking light from heaven as well as the rising sun, Cuban artist Yoan Capote’s use of gold in a show of new seascapes at Jack Shainman Gallery’s Chelsea locations offers immediate uplift. After a 2019 visit to Italy, where Capote had access to abundant medieval and early Renaissance art, the artist adopted gold backgrounds and the circular format of this painting to create images that are optimistic yet also anxious.  Connecting the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean with many Cubans’ struggle to cross the Caribbean, Capote embeds fishing hooks in recent work, picturing the sea as a barrier.  (On view through Aug 5th).

Yoan Capote, Requiem (vault), 24kt gold leaf, nails and fishhooks on panel of linen mounted over plywood, 53 (diameter) x 5 (depth) inches, 2021.

Kathleen Ryan in ‘Fruiting Bodies’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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Tanya Bonakdar Gallery’s summer group show ‘Fruiting Bodies,’ curated by Sam Rauch, the gallery’s Director of Commissions and Special Projects, showcases art projects that focus on food, from beer to fungi.  Here, Kathleen Ryan uses nearly two dozen semi-precious stones to construct a rotting lemon.  Known for creating interest in what appear to be everyday objects through dramatic shifts in scale (memorably, a necklace composed of bowling balls at Arsenal Gallery), here Ryan also creates tension between alluring materials and repellent decay.  (On view in Chelsea through July 29th).

Kathleen Ryan, Bad Lemon (Eclipse), aventurine, serpentine, ruby in zoisite, amethyst, labradorite, hematite, carnelian, tiger eye, brecciated jasper, tektite, citrine, agate, sesame jasper, snowflake obsidian, amazonite, quartz, smoky quartz, pyrite, moonstone, lava rock, onyx marble, marble, glass, steel pins on coated polystyrene, 16 x 18 x 16 inches, 2020.

Introducing Tribeca’s new gallery scene…

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Tribeca has quickly become one of the best places to see contemporary art in New York.  Over the past few years, some of the city’s most established galleries have opened locations here, joining mid-sized spaces and younger dealers to create a diverse and lively new art scene.  Check out the neighborhood in this video, and join me soon in Tribeca!

Richard Bosman at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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No one falls off a cliff or screams into the rain in Richard Bosman’s paintings at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, a departure from the artist’s signature film noir subject matter.  Instead, a selection of Bosman’s work from the past thirteen years pays homage to icons of European/U.S. art history in the form of a painting on wood recreating Van Gogh’s palette and a view of mid-20th century abstract artist Barnett Newman’s studio.  The show’s highlight and biggest work is a 2015 installation titled ‘Museum Wall,’ a selection of paintings mimicking a Frieda Kahlo portrait, James Ensor’s masked characters, Van Gogh’s sunflowers and more.  Painted as if in elaborate frames, each canvas is pinned directly to a grey-painted wall like a poster, an homage to influential artists that also comments on the easy consumption of art. (On view in Tribeca through July 29th).

Richard Bosman, Museum Wall, oil on canvas, dimensions variable, 2015.

Isca Greenfield-Sanders at Miles McEnery Gallery

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Isca Greenfield-Sanders’ landscape paintings at Miles McEnery Gallery point out the filters through which we see scenery; here, a pinkish cast to this beach scene recalls aged film, but the artist’s paintings also suggest layers of time and distance. Painting from found vintage photographs of places she’s never been, Greenfield-Sanders singles out scenes that have a familiarity that many in her audience will recognize from their own experience.  After making several versions of an image, tinkering with placement of details and doing preparatory watercolors, Greenfield-Sanders creates a final version of the painting which embodies the transitory, ‘captured’ images of a photo in the more labor-intensive medium of painting.  (On view in Chelsea through July 23rd).

Isca Greenfield-Sanders, Silver Beach, mixed media oil on canvas, 51 x 51 inches, 2022.

Agnieszka Kurant in ‘No Forms’ at the Hill Art Foundation

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In the words of one curator, conceptually oriented artist Agnieszka Kurant “makes the fictional actual.”  Whether it’s commissioning authors to write books referred to in works of fiction or creating maps of mythical places, Kurant investigates what she calls ‘phantom capital,’ or value waiting to be realized.  In this sculpture titled ‘Air Rights 2’ in the Hill Art Foundation’s summer group show in Chelsea, the artist finds a parallel in the real estate concept of air rights, the potential useable space above a property. Here, a constructed rock hovers over a pedestal as if by magic; held in place by electromagnets, the ordinary appears to be extraordinary. (On view through July 15th).

Agnieszka Kurant, Air Rights 2, powdered stone, foam, wood, electromagnets, custom pedestal, base: 59 ¼ x 9 x 9 inches, 2015.

Gracelee Lawrence at Postmasters Gallery

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Is it natural to manipulate nature?  Gracelee Lawrence’s 3D printed sculpture of fruit and the human body, two commonly modified objects, question how far we’re willing to go.  In new work now on view at Postmasters Gallery in Tribeca, Lawrence prints versions of her own body in vegetable-derived bioplastic, merging it with plant or fruit-forms to create an extra-fertile figure.  Fruits and veg displayed on rotating disks include this giant (7 inches in length) strawberry, an object to admire but no longer to consume, at least in its traditional capacity as food.  (On view through July 23rd).

Gracelee Lawrence, Trampled or in Your Hands, polylactic acid 3D print, 8 available in an edition of 10 with 2 AP, 7 x 6 x 5 inches, 2021.

Nam June Paik at Gagosian Gallery

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20th century new media pioneer Nam June Paik integrated nature and technology in iconic artworks like his TV Garden (monitors set amid live plants) and robots that mimic the human figure.  One of the robots is a standout in Gagosian Gallery’s current two-part exhibition of multi-media work from Paik’s career.  Composed of radios – mass produced, found objects that spread information and culture globally – Paik’s late career robot sculptures don’t move, rather their bodies feature movement via circular inset monitors.  Excited by the merger of technology, art and music and the advance of technology into daily life, Paik used TV sets like canvases and constructed cellos from stacked monitors.  Both on display in the current show testifying to the artist’s hopeful and creative vision.  (On view in Chelsea through July 22nd and at Gagosian’s uptown from July 19th – Aug 26th).

Nam June Paik, Bakelite Robot, single-channel video, LCD color monitors, electric lights, media player and permanent oil marker, 49 ½ x 58 x 7 inches, 2002.

Carrie Moyer’s ‘Pirate Jenny’ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art is switching up its contemporary galleries regularly these days in an exciting change from past years.  For the last month, this lush, abstract painting by Brooklyn-based painter, writer and activist Carrie Moyer has enticed mezzanine visitors, celebrating Pride Month and offering up pure visual pleasure.  Titled ‘Pirate Jenny,’ the piece refers to a song in Bertoldt Brecht and Kurt Will’s ‘Three Penny Opera’ about a hotel maid who triumphs over her scornful fellow townspeople, sailing away to happiness.

Carrie Moyer, Pirate Jenny, acrylic, glitter, and graphite on canvas, 2012.

Nicole Eisenman at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

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Things don’t look good for this couple, whose lives have literally come crashing together in this monumental painting by Nicole Eisenman at Chelsea’s Hauser and Wirth Gallery.  Though the flying cyclist and tumbling cat rescuer look as if they’re going to be injured, their faces are impassive, lacking even a hint of regret or fear and the title – Destiny Riding Her Bike – reveals that resistance would be useless.  In a profile article in The New Yorker, Eisenman connected the scene to their own romantic partnership; swirling patterns and intense colors in the landscape speak to the intensity of this couple’s relationship.  (On view through July 29th).

Nicole Eisenman, Destiny Riding Her Bike, oil on canvas, 127 x 105 inches, 2020.

Gina Beavers, Hot Dog Nails at Marianne Boesky

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Known for high-relief acrylic and foam paintings, Gina Beavers’ work on paper now at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery still leaps off the surface, even though it’s fully 2-D.  Inspired by enticing ‘food porn’ images and ubiquitous makeup tutorials available on-line, Beavers combines the two here in ‘Hot Dog Nails.’ (On view through August 5th).

Gina Beavers, Hot Dog Nails, soft pastel on paper, 34 x 27 inches, 2022.

Woomin Kim at Susan Inglett Gallery

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New York-based artist Woomin Kim describes Korean street markets with nostalgia, as places to hang out with friends or enjoy snacks.  Accordingly, her textile works on view at Chelsea’s Susan Inglett Gallery depict market stalls as colorful and inviting places to buy everyday items or marvel at the abundance and variety of goods.  Here, a ribbon store offers towers of stacked wares, alluring in their patterns and possibilities.  (On view through July 29th.)

Woomin Kim, Shijang: Ribbon Store, fabric, 48 x 55”, 2021.