Caroline Larsen at The Hole NYC

Caroline Larsen’s paintings are a deliberate tour-de-force of low-brow associations, resembling latch-hook or embroidery, created by squeezing oil paint through pastry bags and mounted on cheap wall coverings. Seemingly designed to test whether there’s any fertile ground left in the fine art vs kitsch debate, they deliberately elude the kind of transcendence that this majestic mountainscape might suggest. (At The Hole NYC through July 24th).

Caroline Larsen, Diamond Back, oil on canvas over board, 37 x 47 inches, 2016.
Caroline Larsen, Diamond Back, oil on canvas over board, 37 x 47 inches, 2016.

Jonathan Callan in ‘The Suspended Line’ at Josee Bienvenu Gallery

British artist Jonathan Callan’s serene white mountain range encases a selection of books on nature (including ‘All About Lions,’ and ‘Bird Neighbors’) in plaster, suppressing knowledge of nature in favor of imitating it. (In ‘The Suspended Line’ at Josee Bienvenu Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 28th).

Jonathan Callan, Range, paper and plaster, 33.85 x 21.25inches, 2012.