Tag: art

Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens at Jane Lombard Gallery

From toddler fight clubs to flat earth theories, colorful sculptures by Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens at Jane Lombard Gallery symbolize rumors and conspiracies of the 21st century with seriousness tempered by humor.  The purple head in the foreground of this installation view represents the notion that climate activist Greta Thunberg is actually an actor in thrall to nefarious powers.  Other pieces suggest that the US government can control the weather or that patterns of holes in ripped jeans have been used to communicate secret messages. Lighthearted in appearance but representing harmful misunderstandings, the installation emphasizes the absurdity and ubiquity of widespread falsehoods.  (On view in Tribeca through Dec 17th).

Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens, installation view of ‘Alternative Facts of the 21st Century,’ at Jane Lombard Gallery, Nov 2022.

Fiona Rae at Miles McEnery Gallery

Typically, Fiona Rae’s ambiguous painted forms suggest real-world objects but elude identification.  Further complicating the work, both gestural and geometric abstraction appear on the same canvas, a surprising combination geared to upend our expectations.  Her latest work at Miles McEnery Gallery distills these artistic strategies into paintings featuring distinctly formed clusters of organic and geometric shapes set against a spare white background.  Titles reveal that each grouping is a word from a phrase taken from a written source, from pop music to Shakespeare.  This airy assemblage reads, ‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe,’ a line from the movie Bladerunner expounding on futuristic technological marvels.  (On view in Chelsea through Nov 26th).

Fiona Rae, I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe, oil and acrylic on linen, 60 x 50 inches, 2022.

Emily Mae Smith at Petzel Gallery

Inspired by the manically busy brooms in Disney’s Fantasia, Emily Mae Smith’s recurring broom character is set apart – an individual posing with tense self-assurance in several of the artist’s new works now on view at Petzel Gallery.  Initially, Smith saw the brooms as representative of unrecognized female labor; separated from the pack, they become lone underdogs constructed from the discards of wheat production but forming identities of their own. This figure is host to two mice on her legs and birds and a squirrel on her head, offering sanctuary and even enduring abuse as part of her relationship to nature.  (On view through Nov 12th).

Emily Mae Smith, Habitat, oil on linen, 2022.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at Pace Gallery

In the middle of Chelsea’s bustling Pace Gallery, it comes as a surprise to hear your own heartbeat filling the cavernous room housing Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive installation ‘Pulse Topology.’  Placing your hand under one of three small monitor suspended from the ceiling not only broadcasts the sound of your heartbeat but translates it into flashing lights in one of thousands of lightbulbs suspended in an undulating pattern from the ceiling.  Though essential to life, we often take our beating hearts for granted; making them the focus of an artwork not only flips interior functions to the exterior, it speaks to something visitors have in common.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 22nd).

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Pulse Topology, 2021, 3,000 LED filament lightbulbs, DMX controllers, custom-made photoplethysmography sensors, computers, covers any area between 1,000 and 5,000 square feet.

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.