Tag: motherhood

Njideka Akunyili Crosby at David Zwirner Gallery

In an oasis of plants and a richly colored and patterned domestic environment, LA-based artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby poses with her baby on lap, looking out to meet the viewer’s eye in a standout piece in her current solo show at David Zwirner Gallery.  As a self-portrait as artist and mother, Akunyili Crosby projects poise and confidence amid a superabundance of imagery from Nigerian media sources, a signature element in her work. Using transfers on paper (in addition to acrylic, colored pencil and collage) Akunyili Crosby assembles photos from the worlds of Nigerian music, fashion, sports, culture and more into collages.  Taking the form of plants, architecture and more, the artist fashions influence into images that speak to her identity as both a Nigerian and an American.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 28th).

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Still You Bloom in This Land of No Gardens, acrylic, colored pencil, collage, and transfers on paper, 2021.

Clementine Keith-Roach at PPOW Gallery

Clementine Keith-Roach’s sculptures at PPOW Gallery combine found vessels with casts of her own body to explore her experience of motherhood.  During her first pregnancy, the artist felt as if she was a ‘labouring vessel’ and made the connection literal by joining carefully painted limbs to used and worn ceramics.  Paired with her husband Christopher Page’s paintings depicting mirrors with no reflection and cloud-filled windows, the exhibition explores interiority in both the physical and psychological realms.  (On view through July 1st in Tribeca).

Clementine Keith-Roach, Lost Object, terracotta vessel, jesmonite, paint, 22 ½ x 21 ¼ x 17 ¾ inches, 2022.

Katharine Bradford at Canada New York

Katherine Bradford’s new ‘Mother Paintings’ at Canada New York depict women caring for sick family members, offering the comfort of a lap and waiting for a school bus, but her signature abstract style upends traditional representations of moms.  By avoiding identifying details, she creates symbolic characters and instead directs our focus to the vivid fields of color that make up what might otherwise be mundane scenes.  Here, in ‘Mother Joins the Circus – Second Version,’ a mom is taken away, inducted into a new aspect of life by mysterious characters who literally turn things upside down.  (On view at Canada Gallery through May 15th).

Katherine Bradford, Mother Joins the Circus – Second Version, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 inches, 2021.

Loie Hollowell at pacegallery.com

Loie Hollowell’s abstracted portraits made during and after her first pregnancy inspired the curving organic forms showcased in her Fall ’19 show at Pace Gallery and pictured here.  Recent drawings now on view in an on-line show at pacegallery.com “…convey the uneven roundness of my body,” explains the artist.  Created around the time of her recent second pregnancy during quarantine this spring, the new work follows the changes of her morphing body and the bond between infant and mother.  (On view through July 14th).

Loie Hollowell, Postpartum Plumb Line, oil paint, acrylic medium, sawdust and high density foam on linen mounted on panel, 72 x 54 x 3.5 inches, 2019.

Asya Reznikov at Nancy Hoffman Gallery

Russian-American artist Asya Reznikov takes on the role of Manet’s bar maid at the Folies-Bergere, only she serves the demands of just one client and from her own body. Transplanted from the public realm into the domestic sphere, Reznikov’s character still manages a tight ship but with little apparent enjoyment. (At Nancy Hoffman Gallery in Chelsea through July 1st).

Asya Reznikov, Wet Bar, archival pigment print, 38 x 51 inches, 2016.
Asya Reznikov, Wet Bar, archival pigment print, 38 x 51 inches, 2016.