In a 20-year retrospective of his work at Chelsea’s Metro Pictures Gallery, Gary Simmons’ ‘Stardust, Blizzard’ from 2006 is a standout. Simmons turns two terms for cocaine into beautiful but haunting text images using his signature, hand-smearing technique. (Through Jan 19th.)
In advance of Ghanaian artist El Anatsui’s show of monumental works at the Brooklyn Museum opening early next month, Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery is currently showing elegant new, quasi-textile artworks created from the artist’s signature material – metal sourced from recycled liquor bottles. (through Jan 19th).
The sheer size of ‘Wandering Songs I (Canti errabondi I)’ from 1983 makes it a standout in ‘Mario Merz: Major Works from the 1980s’ at Sperone Westwater Gallery on the Lower East Side. The Arte Povera artist’s natural materials abound in an oil painting of leaves and pine cones on a 25’ long canvas, accompanied by a block of beeswax formed around a tree branch. The contrast between nature depicted (the painting), sampled (the branch) and made (wax made by bees) gives the piece its energy. (through Dec 22nd).
Does anything say ‘elegant urban funky construction worker’ like a workman’s shirt with embroidered logo, workman’s jeans, a fur coat and a chicken bone necklace? This outfit from artist collective Bernadette Corporation’s mid-90s fashion label turns the street into a runway by merging everyday fashions with haute couture. (BC’s retrospective is in SoHo at Artists Space through Dec 16th).
Headless animals wander in and out of a bamboo cage-like structure while a giant deity collapses into pieces in Chinese-French artist Huang Yong Ping’s latest installation at Barbara Gladstone’s 21st Street gallery. The piece feels a little too eerie and apocalyptic for its cynical title, ‘Circus.’ (through Jan 19th.)