Photographer Chris Killip’s iconic images of the North of England, shot between 1973 and 1985, give meaning to the stereotype, ‘It’s grim up north.’ How will these two young girls survive their grey surroundings? (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea, through Feb 27th).
Gritty doesn’t begin to describe Danish artist Jacob Aue Sobol’s photographs taken along the Trans-Siberian Railway, now on view at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea. This man’s face and the wall behind him are marked with use; the alarmed person in the line drawing begs the question of the man’s psychological state. (Through Aug 28th).
Jacob Aue Sobol, from the series Arrivals and Departures, Untitled #16, gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 inches, 2012.
Outdoor scenes including a hot-air balloon over a Mexican pyramid and a lone, wind-gnarled tree by a lake in Japan have inspired British American photographer Michael Kenna’s serenely beautiful black and white images, now on view at Chelsea’s Robert Mann Gallery. Here, a jet of water shoots into the air, merging water and clouds in a mediated ‘equivalent’ worthy of Stieglitz. (In Chelsea at Robert Mann through January 31st).
Michael Kenna, Jet d’Eau, Geneva, 9.5 x 6.5 inches, 2012.
Under a stunning sunrise, time runs out, nature takes its course and a masked figure keeps up appearances in this attractively simple yet hard-to-interpret painting by Brooklyn artist Jaya Howey. How it all fits together seems to be less important than noting how it’s all happening at once. (At Bureau on the Lower East Side through June 15th).
Jaya Howey, Opening Narrative with Frame Work 3, oil and acrylic on canvas, ceramic, epoxy, 119 x 94cm, 2014.
Viewers have to look at just the right angle down a long, thick piece of Plexiglas to spy Hank Willis Thomas’ minstrel, a photo of a man painted half black and half white, then literally doubled by the material. Like similar characters photographed by the artist, a seemingly clear cover obstructs a clear view, a metaphor for how perceptions of race can obscure identity. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 24th Street space through Aug 17th).
Hank Willis Thomas, ‘Invisible Man,’ Plexi block and a digital c-print on aluminum, 2013.
