Joan Linder at Mixed Greens

Joan Linder revisits the 1970s Love Canal toxic dumping scandal with a labor-intensive exhibition at Mixed Greens of meticulous drawings depicting the borders of the Buffalo landfill site as well as renderings of documents related to environmental degradation. In the gallery’s back room, notebooks stretching along every wall picture fences that keep the public way from ruined land, raising the question of what’s lurking here and elsewhere. (In Chelsea through Nov 14th).

Joan Linder, Hooker 102nd Street Book, ink on moleskin notebook, 5 books, 5 ½ x 3 ½ inches when closed; 5 ½ x 105 inches when opened, 2013.

Simon Schubert at Foley Gallery

Edgar Allan Poe’s stern face dominates one very dark wall of graphite drawings by German artist Simon Schubert at the Lower East Side’s Foley Gallery; on the other, a series of white paper ‘drawings’ are folded to create the lines that picture a staircase with a ghostly figure. The sense of a benign, ghostly presence is palpable. (Through Oct 18th).

Simon Schubert, Untitled (Stairs with Figure), 39.5 x 27.5 inches, 2015.

Robin Rhode at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Known for photo sequences that involve individuals interacting with drawings made on the ground or wall, South Africa artist Robin Rhode branches out into post-performance installation in his latest show at Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery. Bikes have long figured in his work as emblems of what the average kid on the street can’t afford; here, he’s used a cast chalk bike as a drawing tool to create a jittery, moving vehicle. (Through August 21st).

Robin Rhode, Chalk Bike, chalk and steel, 41 x 72.5 x 19 in, 2 windows, each 24.75 x 38.5 x 3 inches, 2015.

Patrick Van Caeckenbergh at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Belgian artist Patrick Van Caeckenbergh’s meticulous drawings resemble photographs but record trees embellished by his imagination into wondrous monstrosities. (At Lehmann Maupin Gallery on the Lower East Side through August 21st).

Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Drawing of Old Trees during wintry days 2007-2014, pencil and paint on paper, 21.06 x 30.79 inches, 2007 – 2014.

Sandra Allen in ‘Land and Sea’ at Danese Corey

Known for graphite-on-paper drawings of trees, Massachusetts-based artist Sandra Allen creates an almost abstract, immensely powerful image from the trunk of a tree in ‘Ballast’ from 2009. (At Danese Corey through July 31st).

Sandra Allen, Ballast, graphite on paper, 11 x 18.5 feet, 2009.