Paul McCarthy at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Paul McCarthy continues to subvert classic fairy-tales with his ‘White Snow’ sculpture in black walnut at Chelsea’s Hauser & Wirth Gallery.  Here, McCarthy explodes a kitschy figurine into a mirrored display of gaiety ten feet high. (Through June 1st).  

Paul McCarthy, White Snow, Flower Girl, black walnut, 2012-13.

Rita Ackermann at Hauser & Wirth

The figures in Rita Ackermann’s new paintings at Hauser & Wirth’s 69th Street location appear to materialize from the deep, their outlines like veins seen through flesh or marble.  Ghostly characters with pointy pixy noses and saucer-shaped eyes, they walk the line between benevolent and menacing. (Through April 20th).  

Rita Ackermann, ‘Fire by Days Blues VII,’ spray paint, oil pigments and rabbit skin glue on canvas, 2013.

Dieter Roth/Bjorn Roth at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Bjorn Roth/Oddur Roth/Einar Roth, New York Kitchen, mixed media installation, 2013.
Bjorn Roth/Oddur Roth/Einar Roth, New York Kitchen, mixed media installation, 2013.

German-Swiss-Icelandic artist Dieter Roth (1930 – 1998) used natural materials like chocolate, cheese, bananas, sausages and rabbit dung to make sculptures and images that would blossom with new life as they aged.  Here, assistants create chocolate casts of Roth’s famous chocolate or sugar self-portrait busts, as seen on the pallet.  (At Chelsea’s Hauser & Wirth through April 13th).