Located in the same room as the Queens Museum’s model of New York City’s water system, Duke Riley’s ‘That’s What She Said’ is a commissioned work warning against misuse of a precious natural resource. To the left, an Egyptian goddess creates the waters that flow down into a landscape destroyed by power plants and the indifference of its inhabitants. (Through Jan 1, 2017).
Painting over You Tube video stills, Iranian artist Rokni Haerizadeh morphs familiar imagery into a setting for mythological creatures inspired by Persian tradition. Here, a building echoes the Guggenheim’s spiraling form but is surrounded by emergency vehicles, one of which has partially changed into a fish. (At the Guggenheim, in ‘A Storm is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa’ through Oct 5th).
Zhang Hongtu, Monet, Study of Pi Ma Ts’un and Jie So Ts’un, oil on canvas, 2007.
Influential German painter Albert Oehlen’s huge, boldly messy paintings put representational drawing, expressionism, color experiments and more in the blender, challenging how much ‘bad’ a ‘good’ painting can accommodate. (At the New Museum through Sept 13th).
Installation view of Albert Oehlen: Home and Garden at the New Museum, July 2015.
Performers give it their all in one of the best galleries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s John Singer Sargent show, focusing on non commissioned (hence less restricted) portraits of friends and colleagues. Here, after meeting musical patron and singer Mabel Batten, Sargent persuaded her to pose for this incredible portrait of singing abandon. (Through Oct 4th).
John Singer Sargent, Mrs George Batten Singing, oil on canvas, 1897.
