London-based painter Ellen Macdonald snaps her audience to attention by juxtaposing abstraction and figuration in this painting of a hand and a neighboring abstract work composed of looping lines on a vivid orange background. (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side through August 14th).
Ellen Macdonald, Untitled (U include the, wall between and you), oil on linen, 24 x 18 inches, 2015.
Known for videos and drawings channeling disillusioned angst, Cameron Jamie takes a new direction with ceramics that suggest natural forms and which are simultaneously object and pedestal. Undulating stalagmites at bottom have a fecal quality while resembling curving bodies; the top form in the foreground brings to mind vertebra or coral. (At Barbara Gladstone Gallery on West 24th Street through May 30th).
Cameron Jamie, installation view of untitled, glazed ceramic sculptures, May 2015.
Laylah Ali’s new ‘Acephalous’ series features her signature creatures – slim cartoonish humans with something insect-like about them – but with heads and bodies separate. Here, a sympathetic mermaid/insect in green engages with a desperate-looking head-with-tail in a mysterious yet captivating exchange. (In Chelsea at Paul Kasmin Gallery through April 25th).
Laylah Ali, detail of Untitled (Acephalous series), gouache, acrylic, watercolor, and pencil on paper, 14 x 56 inches, 2015.
California artist Marlon Mullen reduces the world to blocks of color and general forms, conveying the gist of his source material – ads and images in art magazines – in striking simplicity. (At JTT Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 15th).
Marlon Mullen, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches, 2012.
Titled ‘Marker’s Mark,’ Julia Dault’s solo debut at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery is all about process. One of her signature sculptures, created by bundling together rolled pieces of Formica and Plexiglas reflects a huge painting in gorgeous pastel hues, marked with a brayer roller in a creative mix of hand-made and mechanical processes. (Through March 21st).
Julia Dault, Untitled 38, 8:45am – 12:30pm, Feb 19th 2015, Formica, Plexiglas, Everlast boxing wraps, string, 2015.