Iconic German artist Sigmar Polke created this painting the year after a trip that took him around Asia, from Papua New Guinea to Thailand and beyond. Painted on checked fabric, Polke’s hovering, calligraphic mountains compete with a rectangular pattern of curving black splashes, creating an almost mythical realm at center. (At David Zwirner Gallery’s 20th Street location through June 25th).
German photographer Elisabeth Hase’s 1931 rooftop photo turns workers and pedestrians into doll-like figures while paralleling the unusual perspectives adopted by Russian avant-garde photographers. (At Robert Mann Gallery through May 7th).
Gunships approach, bombers fly overhead and the Gemini spacecraft blasts off in old press photos and artist renderings gathered by German photographer Thomas Ruff, now on view in Chelsea at David Zwirner Gallery. Ruff scanned both sides of each photo – all of which relate to the U.S. aeronautics and space program in the 20th century – then merged them to merge private notes and public image. (Through April 30th).
Isa Genzken’s exuberant accumulations of glitzy and everyday
materials (where a pedestal wrapped in a sheet of shiny Mylar might meet
plastic chairs or a bouquet of flowers) have sobered up considerably with her
latest exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery.
Here, mannequins are the basic building block for her abstractions; some
appear to converse freely with each other, others appear to be in disguise or
are tied and bound. Several in police
vests and safety gear near the front door set a tense tone. (At David Zwirner Gallery through Oct 31st).
Isa Genzken, installation view at David Zwirner Gallery, October 2015.
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.
