Veteran painter Susan Rothenberg’s huge red bird is an arresting standout in a solo show stocked with tense paintings of animals in intense, fraught colors. (At Sperone Westwater Gallery through Dec 20th).
Sargent’s Daughters’ homage to Dutch New Yorker Anton van Dalen includes this painting from 1986 featuring behavior psychologist B.F. Skinner, whose pigeon experiments included a plan to train the birds to guide missiles in WWII. Himself a pigeon fancier, van Dalen reimagines the pigeon’s world to fascinating effect. (On the Lower East Side through June 12th).
Bjorn Braun, Untitled, sunflower seed, oat flakes, wheat,
juniper seed, peanuts, honey and flour, 2015.
‘You Matter,’ reads a sign in the window of William Villalongo’s current solo show at Susan Inglett Gallery, recalling the refrain from recent protests against police aggression. Inside, the Brooklyn-based artist presents the seasons as skeletons cloaked in glittering black female bodies and dominating lush landscapes – characters at peace and one with nature. (In Chelsea through Oct 17th).
William Villalongo, (detail from) Spring, acrylic, paper and velvet flocking on wood panel, 72 x 36 inches, 2015.
Seven striking new aluminum sculptures by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava are a bold contrast in color and form to the buildings lining Park Ave (even elegant Lever House in the background). They’re reminiscent of Calatrava’s evolving transportation hub downtown, designed in a similarly organic form to suggest the wings and flight of a bird. (On view on the Park Avenue Mall between 52nd and 55th Streets through early November.)
Santiago Calatrava, S4, painted plate aluminum, 2015.