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.
Inspired by film and fiber art, Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes’ site-specific installation at the New Museum turns hand-made, hanging forms into an architecture perceived by the body as it moves through the installation. (At the New Museum through Sept 6th).
Installation view of Leonor Antunes at the New Museum, July 2015.
For her last series, late Pictures Generation photographer Sarah Charlesworth used available light coming from her studio window to illuminate carefully chosen objects. Here, a glass holding a sphere has the meticulous quality of product photography, but it sells nothing, instead it turns everyday objects into something serenely magical. (At the New Museum through Sept 20th).
Sarah Charlesworth, Carnival Ball, from the ‘Available Light’ series, Fuji Crystal Archive prints with lacquered wood frames, 2012.
For creepy, nothing quiet matches young French artist Renaud Jerez’s bug-eyed, chicken-footed, PVC skeleton at James Fuentes Gallery on the Lower East Side. Similar sculptures in the New Museum’s Triennial, cobbled together and slightly burnt characters, suggest post-apocalyptic survivors. (Through April 26th).
Renaud Jerez, TJS 1, burnt PVC pipe, aluminum, cotton, string, satellite cable, web cams, duct tape, plastic tubing, polyester and denim clothing with rubber feet, 79 x 29.5 x 32 inches, unique, 2015.
Bodies morph into nearly unrecognizable emanations in Sascha Braunig’s new group of oil on linen paintings, including ‘Feeder,’ in which an artificial life form both emerges from and feeds from a pattered background. (At Foxy Production through April 18th).
Sascha Braunig, Feeder, oil on linen over panel, 31 x 16 inches, 2014.
