ASMA at Deli Gallery

In Greek mythology, Narcissus broke hearts and in turn had his own heart broken by falling in love with his reflection in a pool of water.  Related imagery appears throughout Mexico City-based duo ASMA’s current show at Deli Gallery in Tribeca, along with a sculpture of the flower that Narcissus was said to have turned into upon his death.  Working in a variety of materials including platinum silicon and cast bronze, the artists ponder this posthumous transformative act, considering life between fixed states.  Here, a wall-mounted bronze bust of a male torso skews upward and to the side, as if being tugged out of conventional space and time.  (On view through Feb 19th).

ASMA, It seeks, is sought, it burns and it is burnt, cast bronze, 27 ½ x 24 ½ x 2 inches, 2021.

Raqib Shaw at Pace Gallery

Raqib Shaw’s richly imagined scenes at Pace Gallery are dominated by the verdant Kashmiri landscape and a tribe of cavorting and lounging peacock-headed characters, who echo the poses of picnicking Parisians lounging in a park in Manet’s 1862 painting Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe.  Intricately painted in vibrant enamel colors, Shaw’s new paintings are a feast for the eyes. (On view in Chelsea through May 18th).

Raqib Shaw, detail of ‘From Narcissus to Icarus (After Dejeuner sur l’herbe),’ acrylic liner and enamel on birch wood, 60 5/8 x 71 5/8 inches, 2019.