Minnesota-based nonagenarian ceramic artist Warren MacKenzie means for his creations to be used. A selection of work at Driscoll Babcock Galleries, including this attractive arrangement of cups and bowls, holds out the idea of living with beautiful things. (In Chelsea through Feb 25th).
Paul Kasmin Gallery and Sotheby’s Gallery team up this month to bring the vanitas still life and memento mori up to date in an impressive exhibition of Dutch genre painting and contemporary art touching on the theme of life’s brevity. Columbian artist Rafael Gomezbarros’ smarm of ants – constructed with cast human skulls – opens the show with a bang. (At Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea through March 4th).
Paul Sharits’ painting ‘Infected Foot III’ doesn’t regard the pain of others; we’re looking down at the purple, throbbing mass as if it’s our own. Beads and glistening cords of paint look as if they’d be part of a cheerier composition; instead, they add to the surprise of a rogue body part that threatens to bring down the whole. (At Greene Naftali Gallery through Feb 25th).
Sohei Nishino’s charmingly idiosyncratic maps of cities around the world track the Japanese globetrotter’s exploration of metropolitan architecture and populations. Each bricolage results from hundreds of images shot at various vantage points around a given city. In this detail from Nishino’s New Delhi diorama map, the crowds and traffic encroach on the India Gate war memorial, though it retains a space and aura of its own. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through March 4th).
Maybe it’s the descending pattern of dots or the black rainbow shape in Diedrick Brackens’ tapestry but the text, ‘everything is lovely now’ isn’t quite believable. Instead, this shaggy banner seems to announce a still transitory state. (At Thomas Erben Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 18th).
