Albert York at Matthew Marks Gallery

Late New York painter Albert York’s paintings of landscapes, dogs, cows and flowers may look conventional, but they elicit strong praise from art world cognoscenti for their dreamy quality and conversation with the history of painting landscape and portraiture. (At Chelsea’s Matthew Marks Gallery through Dec 20th).

Albert York, Cow, oil on board, 9 x 10 ¼ inches, c. 1972.

David Hockney at Pace Gallery

New media takes a turn for the traditional in David Hockney’s new series at Pace Gallery, for which his iPad drawings are displayed as prints. Still, the Brit art icon’s colors remain vibrant, transforming the English countryside with fantastical, south-of-France brightness. (At Pace’s 508 West 25th Street space in Chelsea through Nov 1st).

David Hockney, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) – 5 May, 2011, iPad drawing printed on paper, 55” x 41 ½”

Stephanie Pierce at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects

A mirror buried in a tangle of orange-blossomed plants turns this lush landscape by Arkansas-based artist and musician Stephanie Pierce into an enigmatic self-portrait. (At Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects on the Lower East Side through June 29th).

Stephanie Pierce, Cosmos, oil on canvas, 2013.

Rackstraw Downes at Betty Cunningham Gallery

To celebrate the publication of Rackstraw Downes’ writings since 1983, Betty Cunningham Gallery has curated an exhibition of his work, including this typically ordinary landscape made remarkable by whizzing wires and rising radio towers that strain to burst out of the frame. (In Chelsea through May 3rd).

Rackstraw Downes, At the Confluence of Two Ditches Bordering a Field with Four Radio Towers, oil on canvas, 46 x 48 inches, 1995. (Collection of Louis-Dreyfus Family).

Andrew Moore at Yancey Richardson Gallery

American photographer Andrew Moore’s latest series, Dirt Meridian, zeros in on the 100th meridian, a longitudinal line that has demarcated the start of the American West.  In his haunting photos, Moore considers the area ‘lost in time,’ yet at the center of global forces including climate change, energy exploration and more.  (At Chelsea’s Yancey Richardson Gallery through Feb 15th).  

Andrew Moore, Homesteaders Tree, Cherry County, Nebraska, archival pigment print, ed 1 of 5, 46 x 58.25 inches, 2013.