Sweden-based artist Nathalia Edenmont is both collector and artist – using rare butterfly wings she acquires at fairs in Singapore and Paris, she creates labor-intensive collages that uniquely comment on nature’s beauty. (At Chelsea’s Nancy Hoffman Gallery through Sept 1st.)
Simen Johan’s stunning image of sea lions (seen here in detail) has the creatures rising to the right in a digitally manipulated crescendo of activity. The composition and atmospheric background recalls Gericault’s famously dramatic 19th century shipwreck scene, ‘The Raft of the Medusa,’ though it is animals that embody intense emotion. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 10th).
Whether she is Venus, Sister Ray (a Velvet Underground character), or Penthesilea, the Amazonian Queen, Danish artist Peter Linde Busk’s recurring female character has a jittery, incomplete quality owing to her construction from cast-off and fragmentary materials. Here, Smalti, natural stones, ceramics and more compose a faceless, imperfect creature. (At Derek Eller Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 19th).
A ghostly face and a walking figure arise out of a tangle of clothing in Thornton Dial’s energetic 2007 work ‘Winter Jackets.’ The late self-taught artist returns to political themes in this show – the first since his passing in January. Here, we ponder the movement of a solitary (uniformed?) individual who strides forward with purpose. (At Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea through June 18th).
Titled ‘post-paintings,’ as if they’re pioneering a new art form after painting, Strauss Bourque-LaFrance’s wall sculptures are in fact made from 2 x 2” posts and cropped pictures from the New York Post newspaper. Colored like a quilt and featuring snippets of Post sports coverage, this piece evokes all-American pastimes. (At Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through May 16th).
