Svenja Deininger at Marianne Boesky Gallery

In her current solo show at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery, Austrian artist Svenja Deininger has brought out a new body of painting, literally, in canvases that evoke the human form, her own domestic environment, and the city of Milan, where she initiated her latest series.  (On view through Dec 22nd).

Svenja Deininger, Untitled, oil on canvas, 23 ¾ x 19 5/8 inches, 2018.

Barnaby Furnas at Marianne Boesky Gallery

In his latest show at Marianne Boesky Gallery, Barnaby Furnas morphs Grant Woods’ iconic American Gothic (now on view at the Whitney) into an eerie portrait of pitchfork-clutching quadruplet sisters defined by their flatness and conformity.  Other paintings feature charging bison and Mt Rushmore, summoning iconic ‘American’ imagery to question what that means now.  Even Furnas’ new experiments in painting technique – he has worked with the research group ARTMATR to digitally replicate his labor-intensive paint application techniques – align with the sense that these robotic characters lack a human element.  (On view in Chelsea through April 14th).

Barnaby Furnas, The Quartet, dispersed pigments, acrylic, colored pencil, pencil on linen, 51 x 38 ½ inches, 2018.

Claudia Wieser at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Berlin-based artist Claudia Wieser takes the 1976 BBC drama ‘I, Claudius’ as inspiration for a gorgeous exhibition featuring wallpaper printed with towering busts from antiquity and a series of refined painted vessels atop a large ceramic tiled pedestal.  Rather than tell a story or suggest particular meanings, Wieser evokes elegance and opulence using low-brow materials like wood and mirror-polished steel, perhaps a parallel to politically corrupt Roman rulers whose culture non-the-less produced prized artwork.  (On view at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea through April 14th).

Claudia Wieser, installation view of ‘Chapter’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery, March 2018.

Serge Alain Nitegeka at Marianne Boeksy Gallery

Obstacle courses constructed from lengths of black wood are a recurring part of Johannesburg-based artist Serge Alain Nitegeka’s practice, forcing gallery visitors to reconsider their environment while ducking and bending through the gallery. Having lived and moved often as a refugee during his childhood, Nitegeka connects his own political experience with the gallery visitor’s spatial experience. (On view at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 24th).

Serge Alain Nitegeka, installation view at Marianne Boesky Gallery, January, 2018.

Jessica Jackson Hutchins at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Jessica Jackson Hutchins’ work elicits appreciation of the uncharming extraordinary in life. ‘Cushion,’ from the artist’s latest solo show at Marianne Boesky Gallery, is no exception. Two misshapen figures intertwine on a couch cushion, enjoying a moment of tenderness and connection. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 22nd).

Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Cushion, ceramic, cushion, 26 ½ x 32 x 32 inches, 2017.