Tag: Lower East Side gallery

Ashley Bickerton at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Bali-based American artist Ashley Bickerton has long painted tropical paradise inhabited by corrupt, non-idyllic characters.  Now, his nubile female stock character has morphed into a brightly made-up crone with a snaking tongue and necklaces of trash.  As disturbing as she is, it’s a bold new direction for Bickerton, who ups the ante with even stronger contrasts between attraction and repulsion.  (At Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side space through Oct 26th).   

Ashley Bickerton, MV1, aluminum, oil and acrylic paint, hair, cement, 2013 (foreground).  Ashley Bickerton, m-DNA_eve1, oil and acrylic on digital print on wood, 2013 (background).

Aaron Spangler at Horton Gallery

Inspired by the tradition of Americans finding escape in wilderness living, northern Minnesota-based artist Aaron Spangler’s latest work suggests totems for the modern frontiersman.  ‘Idol’ is based on the form of a boli, or sacred object, and Spangler’s abstract designs suggest a secret language between human and the divine.  (At Horton Gallery on the Lower East Side through Oct 20th).  

Aaron Spangler, Idol, carved and painted basswood with a touch of graphite, 2013.

David Adamo at Untitled Gallery

Art applauds nature in Berlin-based American sculptor David Adamo’s hand-made, ceramic termite mounds.  Called “exceptionally appealing as objects” by the New York Times, the mini-mounds are smaller than they’d appear in nature but invite wonder at insect engineering.  (At Untitled Gallery on the Lower East Side through Oct 20th).  

David Adamo, installation view of ‘David Adamo’ at Untitled Gallery, Oct 2013.  Foreground:  Untitled (Cathedral A), Zellan, 2013.

Chip Hughes at Kerry Schuss Gallery

Chip Hughes’ meticulously rendered abstract painting, ‘Drinks’, on view at Lower East Side gallery Kerry Schuss, recalls quilting with its grid and wavy lines like piping.  But amoeba-like organic shapes, cool colors and a slick of washed out color suggest watery worlds or blown-up microbiology.  (Through Oct 20th).  

Chip Hughes, Drinks, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, 2012.

Ann Toebbe in ‘Inaugural Group Exhibition at 34 Orchard St’ at Monya Rowe Gallery

Chicago-based artist Ann Toebbe’s flattened perspective piques interest.  Here, a TV room’s couch looks like a modernist collage while the rest of the furnishings – shelves lined with books, a rocking chair and pictures featuring nature  – suggest homey Americana. (At Monya Rowe Gallery’s inaugural exhibition at a new Lower East Side space through Oct 20th).  

Ann Toebbe, TV Room, gouache and cut paper on panel, 15 x 20 inches, 2013.