From persecuted religious figures to the first recorded female sculptor in Spain, Spanish artist Carlos Vega’s portrait paintings bring to light histories of remarkable women who refused traditional gender roles. Here, Vega switches from mortals to marvel at the divine with an image of Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity. (On view at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea through March 30th).
Amid glinting filigree and chains, an emaciated figure plays a horn above two skeletons in Hew Locke’s photograph embellished with mixed media. Underneath is an image of a public sculpture memorializing Peter Stuyvesant, namesake of several New York landmarks and the Dutch governor who saw slavery as an engine to drive New York’s colonial economy. In his first solo show at PPOW Gallery in Chelsea, Locke alters portraits of public figures to examine how their lives and decisions have extended beyond their sanctioned, public images. (On view through Nov 10th).
Lesley Dill describes Emily Dickinson’s poems as having a physical effect on her as she experienced ‘an ocean of images’ while reading. Similarly, Dill’s series of sculptural characters now on view at Nohra Haime Gallery in Chelsea are covered and overpowered by their own words. The show includes figures like John Brown and Sojourner Truth – who were driven by powerful experiences of the spiritual world. (On view in Chelsea through March 17th).
The U.S.’s dark and violent past continues to inspire Kara Walker’s new paintings and drawings; here, Walker presents a portrait of Grandison Harris, a 19th century man enslaved and assigned to rob graves to supply the classrooms of anatomy students at a Georgia medical college. After the Civil War, financial constraints forced his decision to return to the college and continue to supply bodies until his eventual death and burial in the same cemetery that he revisited in his working life. (On view in Chelsea at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through Sept 16th).
Brazilian artist Adriana Varejao explores the complicated relationship between western and indigenous cultures with a series of self-portraits that blend Native South American and mid-20th century minimalist aesthetics. Here, wavy feathered plumes contrast a stark geometric stripe running the length of her face and clouds of dots over her eyes. (At Lehmann Maupin Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 16th).
