Zaria Forman at Winston Wachter

Zaria Forman’s monumental polar landscapes, rendered in intricate detail in pastel, have afforded her national recognition and the chance to work with NASA as an artist.  In her latest solo show at Winston Wachter Gallery in Chelsea, Forman continues to capture the beauty of ice in renderings of an Icelandic glacial lagoon.  Fragments of ice washed ashore and resting on black volcanic sand look like jewels, while bubbles trapped in ice form a dynamic, abstract composition.  Forman’s focus is on the specifics of landscape vs the climate changes impacting it, and her work offers a moment to appreciate the sublime as it presently exists.  (On view in Chelsea through March 30th in SoHo).

Zaria Forman, Fellsfjara, Iceland, No. 5, April 22nd, 2022, soft pastel on paper, 40 x 51 1/8 inches, 2023.
Zaria Forman, (detail) Fellsfjara, Iceland, No. 5, April 22nd, 2022, soft pastel on paper, 40 x 51 1/8 inches, 2023.

Blane De St Croix at Fredericks & Freiser Gallery

Brooklyn artist Blane De St Croix’s trips to the Arctic Circle have resulted in this huge (24 foot long) sculpture titled after the run-off of a melting glacier. It brings to mind a fossilized sea creature or a ship’s hull, turning a still-familiar form into a relic. (At Chelsea’s Fredericks Freiser Gallery through June 14th).

Blane De St. Croix, Dead Ice, mixed media, aqua resin, eco expoxy and recycled material, 288 x 132 x 84 inches, 2014.