Tag: group show

Erin O’Keefe in ‘AND/ALSO Photography (Mis)represented’ at Paul Kasmin Gallery

New York photographer Erin O’Keefe’s beguiling photographs in Paul Kasmin Gallery’s summer group show are an immediate knockout for their bold color contrasts and rich, saturated hues.  They get more complex on close viewing – when viewers look at the top portion of this image, it’s unclear if we’re looking at a painting or a photo.  Lower down, where the sculpted wooden block meets the surface on which it’s resting, the dimensions of this photographed space become clear.  That this is a photo and not a painting or sculpture allows a delayed legibility that creates a provocative open-endedness to this image. (On view by appointment, Tues – Fri, through August 21st.  Masks and social distancing required.)

Erin O’Keefe, Red Twist, archival pigment print, 25 x 20 inches, 2020.

Toyin Ojih Odutola at jackshainman.com

Behind Toyin Ojih Odutola’s portrait-like drawings (including this 2017 artwork from New York Art Tours archives) are fictional narratives, hinted at through the images but not detailed in words.  Her latest body of work opens on-line this week at Jack Shainman Gallery as protesters around the world demand respect for black lives and justice for George Floyd and others killed by police.  Ojih Odutola’s new work continues to picture the complexity of black subjectivity in an uncharacteristic pairing of images and texts in which, as the artist puts it, “exactitude is elusive.”  Instead, meaning comes from the gap between pictures and words, a place that prompts viewers to consider how their expectations inform interpretation.

Toyin Ojih Odutola, Manifesto, charcoal, pastel and pencil on paper, 18 ¾ x 23 ¾ inches, 2017.

Robin Kang in ‘Pool Party’ at C24 Gallery

Robin Kang morphs circuit board imagery into patterns resembling peacock feathers in a textile created with a digitally operated Jacquard hand loom.  An abundance of gold from metallic yarns suggests a link to the divine, the receding space a throne-like seat or corridor leading to the beyond.  (On view in ‘Pool Party’ organized by Field Projects at C24 Gallery in Chelsea through Sept 21st).


Robin Kang, Daggerwing, hand jacquard woven wool, chenille, hand dyed cotton and metallic yarns, 53 x 65 inches, 2016.

Ellen Berkenblit in ‘Samaritans’ at Eva Presenhuber Gallery

Ellen Berkenblit’s snarling big cat dominates Eva Presenhuber Gallery’s basement, where the group show ‘Samaritans’ assembles painting, sculpture and photography that spin strange tales.  Above the animal, pipes spew blue clouds while below (or in the distance?) a truck dumps a load of materials.  Trapped in the middle of human endeavors, this powerful creature bares its teeth.  (On view in the East Village through March 2nd).

Ellen Berkenblit, Captain of the Road, oil and paint stick on linen, 57 x 76 inches, 2018.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye in ‘Painting Now and Forever, part III’ at Greene Naftali Gallery

Humor, irony and abjection abound in Greene Naftali Gallery’s summer group show ‘Painting Now and Forever, part III,’ a collaboration with Matthew Marks Gallery, but none of these qualities are found in British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s fictional portrait titled ‘Jubilee.’  Instead, Yiadom-Boakye’s elevated characters – backlit in this case by a golden glow – are quietly exalted, seemingly above everyday life and happy in their own company and thoughts.  (On view in Chelsea through August 17th).

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Jubilee, oil on canvas, 41 ½ x 35 ¾ inches, 2016.