Nora Turato at 52 Walker

‘Follow me you coward,’ reads an arresting command on the wall of Nora Turato’s current show at 52 Walker, along with the cliched, ‘a lifetime of action and adventure with no clock to punch,’ and tantalizing ‘all is forgiven.’ The show’s title, ‘Govern Me Harder,’ a puzzlingly submissive, perhaps masochistic demand was inspired by a sticker she saw in an Amsterdam dog park; other expressions were gathered from news, ads, online sources and, says the artist, her own thoughts.  In this enamel on steel panel, the last word of the sentence, ‘I sold it for million bells,’ derails expectations of a million dollar sale, leaving us in a thought-provoking lurch.  (On view in Tribeca through July 1st.)

Nora Turato, i sold it for million bells, vitreous enamel on steel in four (4) parts, overall: 94 ½ x 75 5/8 inches, 2022.

Brad Kahlhamer at Jack Shainman Gallery

Born in Arizona to Native American parents, raised by his adoptive German-American parents in Wisconsin and based on the Bowery for the past 23 years, Brad Kahlhamer still draws on his varied background in art that blends Native American iconography and a graffiti-like graphic sensibility in this haunting portrait of an apparition-like character.  (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 24th Street location through Nov 16th).  

Brad Kahlhamer, The Way They Looked The Way They Lived, ink spray paint, acrylic and ballpoint pen on cloth, 2013.