Tag: drawing

Amy Cutler at Leslie Tonkonow Artwork and Projects

If everyone could see inside your head right now, what thoughts would be laid bare? Amy Culter’s incredible cross section shows one woman’s mental map as a series of bizarre dreams, from a scary, hostage-holding snowman to the hilarious notion that our teeth are just the caps worn by a team of ladies nestled shoulder to shoulder in our jaws. (At Leslie Tonkonow Artworks and Projects in Chelsea through June 30th).

Amy Cutler, Molar Migration (detail), gouache on paper, 22 3/8 x 22 7/8 inches, 2012.
Amy Cutler, Molar Migration (detail), gouache on paper, 22 3/8 x 22 7/8 inches, 2012.

Timothy Wehrle at PPOW Gallery

You won’t find wholesome fantasies of life in the American heartland in Iowan artist Timothy Wehrle’s surreal pencil drawings at Chelsea’s P.P.O.W. Gallery. Under rain clouds, a severed head acts as momento mori, while an upside down shoe studded with nails suggests a painful journey. (Through April 16th).

Timothy Wehle, Head Portrait (shoe), pencil on paper, 10 x 9 inches, 2014.
Timothy Wehle, Head Portrait (shoe), pencil on paper, 10 x 9 inches, 2014.

Butt Johnson at CRG Gallery

Titled ‘Quaint Abstractions,’ new ball-point and Gelly roll pen drawings by pseudonymous New York artist Butt Johnson are mind bogglingly precise. Now that deskilling has become an art world buzzword, is meticulously rendered artwork quaint? (At CRG Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 21st).

 Butt Johnson, Study for Regression Towards the Mean, ballpoint ink on metallic foil paper, 8.5 x 11,” 2013.

Toyin Ojih Odutola at Jack Shainman

Nigerian American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola’s meticulous, patterned rendering of human skin both attracts admiration and repels understanding of her subjects. In her latest show at Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery, Odutola blocks an easy read on a wall of celebrity portraits by darkening the skin of Caucasian subjects. Here, she treats the skin of two nudes as a decorative surface for a dappled pattern of light and dark color. (Through January 30th).

Toyin Ojih Odutola, Quality Control, marker and pencil on paper, 64 ¾ x 41 15/16 inches, 2015.

Karl Haendel at Mitchell-Innes and Nash

To what ends will you go for personal improvement? Karl Haendel’s huge, meticulous pencil drawings document a push for personal perfection and accompanying sense of self-worth by yoga practitioners; elsewhere, he draws apes balanced on what look like pieces of modern art. ‘Where does it all start and stop?’ his gorgeously rendered artworks seem to ask. (At Chelsea’s Mitchell-Innes and Nash through Dec 5th).

 Karl Haendel, Radcliffe, pencil on paper with shaped frame, 67 ½ x 89 ½ inches, 2015.