Using maps of the night sky as background, New York artist Jessica Rankin adds phrases and words from her own thoughts and found texts in a fragmented, poetic mediation on cosmic forces and personal experience. (At Salon94 Freemans through Dec 21st).
Jessica Rankin, The Ancient Seat of Indescribable You, graphite, ink and collage on paper, 42 x 42 inches, 2014.
How do babies see the world without benefit (or burden) of language and experience in interpreting forms? This question inspired Brooklyn artist and new father Johannes VanDerBeek’s more or less obviously human figures, including this flattened, rabbit-like form and a striding figure at Chelsea’s Zach Feuer Gallery (through Oct 4th).
Johannes VanDerBeek, to the left: Running in Grass, aqua-resin, fiberglass, steel, clay, silicon, paint, 65 x 45 inches, 2014. To the right: Early Outline with Leaning Features, Celluclay, Aqua-Resin, paint, steel, including base: 87 x 24 x ¼ inches, 2014.
Known for his careful arrangements of consumer objects on shelves, New York artist Haim Steinbach samples readymades of a different kind in this text piece. Though the size of the greeting suggests it’s being offered at high volume, its punctuation implies a curtness lacking warmth. (At Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery through Feb 8th).
Haim Steinbach, ‘hello. again.’, text in matte black vinyl letters, dimensions variable, 2013.
Spanish artist Jaume Plensa experiments with an international aesthetic with a nineteen-part installation of sculptures created from die-cut stainless steel letters from nine alphabets in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong. Faceless humans perched on floating boulders create an immaterial ‘every man.’ (Through Dec 14th.)
Jaume Plensa, Talking Continents (installation view), stainless steel, 19 components, varying dimensions, 2013.
