Kiyoshi Nakagami’s otherworldly abstractions, dramatically contrasting light and dark and rendered in pigment and gold dust, suggest a moment of cosmic creation or the beginning of an alien encounter. Scale and subject matter are hard to discern but the impact of Nakagami’s meticulously laid gold lines is profound. (On view at Ameringer McEnery Yohe gallery in Chelsea at the gallery’s temporary location on 19th Street).
No other gallery security staff are as subtle as Tom Friedman’s ‘Guardian,’ a light projection above Luhring Augustine’s exit. Friedman’s entire show does away with his usual labor-intensive sculpture techniques, substituting instead alluring objects and figures that might disappear at the press of a power button. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 28th).
Shortly after Teresita Fernandez made this rainbow made of acrylic cubes, she exhibited it with other sculpture to create a beautiful, stylized garden from man-made materials. With water as a theme, Fernandez also showed a swooping waterfall crafted from curving blue and white plastic alongside this rendering of light refracted in mist. (At Lehmann Maupin Gallery’s Lower East Side location through Sept 1st).
Leo Villareal’s light sculptures have transformed the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the walkway between buildings at DC’s National Gallery and many other high profile sites. On a smaller scale but with no less mesmerizing impact, Villareal has transformed Pace Gallery’s 24th Street location with hanging stainless steel bars displaying an ever-changing combination of LED lights. (On view through June 17th).
‘Dazzle painting’ is an apt and humorous term used by New York artist Jane Hammond to describe her glittery paintings on mica sheets, which are arranged over reflective materials to catch the light. Featuring images from yesteryear, Hammond’s work literally burnishes memories. (At Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong through April 22nd).
