Gina Beavers at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Known for high-relief acrylic and foam paintings, Gina Beavers’ work on paper now at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery still leaps off the surface, even though it’s fully 2-D.  Inspired by enticing ‘food porn’ images and ubiquitous makeup tutorials available on-line, Beavers combines the two here in ‘Hot Dog Nails.’ (On view through August 5th).

Gina Beavers, Hot Dog Nails, soft pastel on paper, 34 x 27 inches, 2022.

Gina Beavers at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Gina Beavers’ tongue in cheek (or burger in eye) self-portrait at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery pictures the artist literally becoming what she consumes online.  Inspired by the similarity of the images we look at via social media, be it enticing food or makeup tutorials, Beavers creates sculptural paintings that MoMA called ‘visceral, vexing, often grotesque…’ when she showed at the museum last year.  (On view through Oct 17th.   Masks and social distancing required and appointments recommended).

Gina Beavers, Self-Portrait with Burger Eye 2015, acrylic and linen on panel, 36 x 24 x 3 ½ inches, 2020.

Gina Beavers in ‘Painting/Sculpture’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Gina Beavers’ acrylic and foam constructions feel delightfully excessive, their high relief suggesting an eagerness to be noticed.  Inspired by glossy social media images of food, makeup and more, the work both revels in and critiques consumption, a point Beavers emphasizes by packing five paintings onto one cube, currently on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea.  Here, thick brushes and lush lips conflate on-line makeup tutorials with the painter’s art, humorously questioning art’s role in selling product.  (On view in ‘Painting/Sculpture’ through August 9th).

Gina Beavers, Lips with Painter’s Lips, acrylic and foam on canvas on panel with wood frame, framed: 31 x 31 x 8 inches, 2019

‘Guilding the Lolly’ at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

Brian Belott’s eclectic, messy collaged artwork pops up regularly in New York group shows; this month for Gavin Brown’s Lower East Side summer group show, Belott’s the organizer, having asked artist friends to contribute their own reinterpretations of iconic artwork. Among the standouts, Giva Beavers remakes Van Gogh’s Starry Night as if rendered in bacon and Melissa Brown brings Holbein’s Ambassadors up to date in paint and lottery scratch-off ink on aluminum. (Through July 30th).

Installation view of ‘Guilding the Lolly,’ curated by Brian Belott at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, through July 30th.
Installation view of ‘Guilding the Lolly,’ curated by Brian Belott at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, through July 30th.