“The hierarchy of the word ‘front’ is so strong…” explained painter Dona Nelson in a recent interview, concisely conveying how rule-breaking it still feels to exhibit paintings in an upright freestanding frame vs wall mounting them. Her current show at Chelsea’s Thomas Erben Gallery includes two-sided paintings like ‘Early September,’ a canvas that combines a grid system and patterns of dripped lines to play order and chaos against each other. (On view through April 3rd).
Ethereal forms appear to rise up in this photograph printed on satin by Turin-based artist Elisa Sighicelli, currently part of her two-artist show at Tribeca’s 55 Walker/Kaufmann Repetto. Created by hanging sheets of plastic in front of her window and photographing them, Sighicelli’s images are clearly representational yet appear abstract as they invite shifting perceptions of space. Printed on sheets of synthetic satin and hung in the gallery, they ripple slightly – just enough to create additional, 3D spatial depth. (On view through Jan 23rd).
A cascade of color greets visitors to Kasmin Gallery’s cavernous 27th Street gallery in the form of British artist Ian Davenport’s large-scale poured paintings. Inspired by the gorgeous colors he once encountered in a field of bluebonnets, the artist planned sequences of poured lines of paint that would translate a natural vision into a powerful, mediated experience of color. (On view in Chelsea through Jan 9th).
Both chance paint pours and deliberate, meticulous mark-making comprise Barbara Takenaga’s otherworldly abstractions at DC Moore Gallery. New, profuse forms suggest fireworks displays or the wonders of unseen life under a microscope. This small detail of a larger canvas sets paint swirls against hanging strings of beaded forms, two elements that would seem incompatible but which instead offer unexpected depth and an apparent glimpse into a mysterious world. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 23rd. Masks and social distancing required).
In a recent review, New York Times critic Robera Smith praised Warren Isensee’s new abstract paintings at Miles McEnery Gallery for having ‘taken a sharp turn for the better’ citing a new energy that almost transcends paint on canvas. Isensee’s ‘Skin and Bones,’ pictured here, leaps off the wall, turning color and shape into subject matter and sending the viewer’s eye bouncing around the picture’s lively geometry. (On view in Chelsea through Aug 28th. Appointments are not necessary but masks and social distancing are required.)
