Michael Riedel at David Zwirner Gallery

In past work, German artist Michael Riedel has drawn his materials from texts on the web written about his own work, which he turned into exhibition wallpaper.  For his current show at David Zwirner Gallery, he puts those images into PowerPoint and causes a ‘freezing’ between slides to create a new merger of information.  (At David Zwirner Gallery’s 533 West 19th Street location through March 23rd).  

Michael Riedel at David Zwirner Gallery, installation view, Feb 2013.

Luc Tuymans at David Zwirner Gallery

Luc Tuymans, Jacket, oil on canvas, 2011.
Luc Tuymans, Jacket, oil on canvas, 2011.

From Belgium’s colonial past to The Disney Company’s practices, Luc Tuymans’s past paintings have obliquely referenced the exercise of power and control.  By contrast, his latest body of work presents fragments from his own life, including this ominous image of a zoo building and a jacket, which looks like a modernist abstraction plus or minus a body.  (At David Zwirner Gallery, 519 West 19th Street through Feb 9th).

Luc Tuymans, Zoo, oil on canvas, 2011.
Luc Tuymans, Zoo, oil on canvas, 2011.

Al Taylor at David Zwirner Gallery

Al Taylor, Cans & Hoops, plastic hula hoops, tin cans, wire, 1993.
Al Taylor, Cans & Hoops, plastic hula hoops, tin cans, wire, 1993.

Strapped for cash to buy art supplies after a trip to Africa in the early 80s, Al Taylor started fashioning sculptures from material found on the street, transferring his usual work on paper and canvas to three dimensions.  Cans & Hoops – fashioned from plastic hula hoops, tin cans & wire – allows his 2-D drawings to come alive in real space. (At David Zwirner Gallery, through Oct 27th).

Toba Khedoori at David Zwirner Gallery

Toba Khedoori, Untitled (mountains 2), oil on linen, 27 1/2 x 40 7/8 inches, 2011-12.
Toba Khedoori, Untitled (mountains 2), oil on linen, 27 1/2 x 40 7/8 inches, 2011-12.

Toba Khedoori is known for her monumental paintings on paper devoid of human subjects, but in her latest show at Chelsea’s David Zwirner Gallery, she makes a major shift to small-scale oils on canvas.  The size change lessens the works’ dramatic impact but a mood of still isolation remains, prompting writer Julian Bismuth to compare each new work to, “…a puzzle piece removed from its set and held up to the light.” (Through October 27th).