Ajay Kurian explores the chemicals we consume using materials that range from melted gummy bears to microwaved bars of soap. The surprise in this attractive display is that these pretty ‘rocks’ contain traces of recycled nuclear waste. (At Jack Hanley Gallery on the Lower East Side through May 5th).
Ajay Kurian, Spiegel-Leben 2, plexiglass, epoxy clay, Gobstoppers, recycled nuclear waste, 2013.
This gruesome, one-eyed, blue cigarette bedecked creature with perfect teeth could be the patron deity of Bali-based Ashley Bickerton’s portraits of crazed hedonists. At over seven feet high, the sheer profusion of color and ornament – from her bottle cap necklace to paint-smeared coral – is impressive. (At Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side location through April 20th)
Ashley Bickerton, White Head I, acrylic, digital print and plastic laminate on wood, 2012.
Gavin Kenyon seems to be channeling influences from Hans Bellmer’s disturbing dolls to Senga Nengudi’s organic sack-like shapes in his new series at Ramiken Crucible on the Lower East Side. The show’s untitled centerpiece was created by casting the insides of faux fur coats, which have left tufts of hair on the surface of this prettily colored, carcass-like beast of a sculpture. (Through March 3rd).
Gavin Kenyon, untitled, dyed plaster, fur, 2013.
Turin-based artist Fabio Viale – who started working with marble when he was 16 – once rolled a 2,000 lb marble sculpture of a tire through the city streets. These pristine marble ‘tires’ haven’t seen that much action but tied together, they’re a surprising feat of technical accomplishment. See them Saturday, Feb 9th, 2-4pm on Merrily’s Lower East Side gallery tour. (At Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side, through Feb 23rd).
Never one to shy away from controversy, Daniel Joseph Martinez’s latest body of work at Simon Preston Gallery features a hunchbacked figure in a Pope’s mitre, praying on an Afghan prayer rug, and tattooed with ‘blasphemous inscriptions in Hebrew, Arabic and Latin’ (according to the gallery handout). Is this social commentary or overkill? (Through Dec 23rd.)