Rainy days aren’t what they seem in Brazilian artist Cleverson Oliveira’s world. Look closely at this detail of a vine-filled, wetland landscape and the raindrops on the surface of the image transform into black and white oblong shapes resembling tiny heads with towering hairdos. (On view at Miyako Yoshinaga in Chelsea through Jan 6th).
Cage-based artworks from the ‘60s to the early ‘80s by late, Paris-based Japanese artist Tetsumi Kudo at Andrea Rosen Gallery demonstrate human estrangement from nature. Despite the bright colors, a heart shape, plastic flowers and the label reading ‘Bonheur,’ happiness seems far from this abject couple’s experience. (In Chelsea through Nov 16th).
Huge whispering heads with combined features of several people tower over visitors to Tony Oursler’s latest solo show at Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side space. Inspired by his wariness of facial recognition technology, Oursler creates hybrid faces composed not of a unified whole but of identifiable parts ready to be stored as info in a database. (Through June 14th).
Tony Oursler, CV (15), wood, LCD screens, inkjet print, sound, performed by Jason Scott Henderson and Joanna Smolenski, 106 x 71.5 x 30.5 inches, 2015.
When humans talk about nature, it’s to promote ends that may have little to do with the natural world, argues Brooklyn artist Marc Handelman in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema, Jenkins & Co. Binders filled with images from corporate reports that portray forced compliance (e.g. cleanups) as a willing choice join whimsical paintings like these to question real motivations behind discussions of the environment. (Through April 11th).
Marc Handelman, Dear Stakeholder, oil on canvas, 87.5 x 61.75 inches, 2014.
George Condo’s Picassoid jumbling of classic Condo facial features on the left and a sketchy blond Ab Exp muse on the right make an arresting couple at the entrance to Skarstedt’s Chelsea gallery. They’re also an amusing counterpart to the current Picasso show down the block at Gagosian Gallery. (In Chelsea through Dec 20th)
George Condo, Double Heads on Blue and Silver, acrylic, charcoal, pastel on linen, 78 x 110 inches, 2014.
