Tag: animals

Kate Clark at 542 West 24th Street

Recent high-profile court cases have argued for basic human rights to be applied to animals while at the same time, many people exist with a remarkable remove from nature.  Kate Clark’s skillfully rendered hybrid human/animal characters question the nature of the relationship between humans and animals by existing as both and neither.  Confronting audiences with preternatural calm, Clark’s figures suggest an otherworldly intelligence and recall wise fictional characters from the worlds of entertainment and mythology.  (On view at 542 West 24th Street through Sept 28th).

Kate Clark, Twins, pronghorn hide and horns, blesbok antelope hide and horns, foam, clay, thread, pins, rubber eyes, H 34” x W 27” x D12”, 2021.

Sahana Ramakrishnan in ‘A Stranger’s Soul is a Deep Well’ at Fridman Gallery

Born in Mumbai, raised in Singapore and living in Brooklyn, Sahana Ramakrishnan draws on a multitude of sources, including Hindu, Buddhist and Greek mythology to create intriguingly enigmatic stories.  Referring to ‘the innate mystery of the other,’ the group exhibition ‘A Stranger’s Soul is a Deep Well’ at Fridman Gallery showcases complex and unexplained imagery, including Ramakrishnan’s characterful animals, gathering around a vessel to ask for retribution.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 20th).

Sahana Ramakrishnan, All The Animals Asked For Blood, egg tempera, sumi ink, gold leaf and ferric chloride on stretched paper, 16 x 13 x 1”, 2020.

Nikki Maloof at Jack Hanley Gallery

Nikki Maloof puts her audience right in the cage with these canaries while free pigeons cavort outside.  Newspaper headlines on the pages papering the cage alternate between self-help and anxious messages while a dynamic twisting branch and electric colors of the yellow birds against a pink wall suggest pleasure and danger.  (On view at Jack Hanley Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 21st).

Nikki Maloof, Canaries, oil on canvas, 70 x 88 inches, 2018.

Maria Berrio in ‘All That Glitters’ at Rachel Uffner Gallery

Like a group of goddesses on Mount Olympus, Maria Berrio’s trio of milky-skinned mothers and their infants appear to lounge above the mortal realm in this collage by the New York-based Columbian artist. Accompanied by a menagerie of animals and framed by the constellations, Berrio exaults the mothers’ nurturing role. (On view on the Lower East Side in ‘All That Glitters’ at Rachel Uffner Gallery through August 2nd).

Maria Berrio, Nativity, Japanese paper on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, 2014.

Karen Heagle at On Stellar Rays

Karen Heagle’s sumptuous, gold leaved paintings of scavengers, predators and fallen prey are irresistible, even at their goriest moments. On a solitary drawing, the text ‘The Unwashed Masses’ hints that Heagle’s interests stray beyond the lifecycle of animals to reflect on humanity’s ‘natural’ inclination to violence. (At On Stellar Rays on the Lower East Side through Feb 19th).

Karen Heagle, Untitled Scene (three vultures and a carcass), acrylic, ink, collage, gold and copper leaf on paper, 22 ½ x 29 ½ inches, 2016.
Karen Heagle, Untitled Scene (three vultures and a carcass), acrylic, ink, collage, gold and copper leaf on paper, 22 ½ x 29 ½ inches, 2016.