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.

John Houck at On Stellar Rays

Known for clever analogue photo manipulation, John Houck’s latest body of work adds painting to the mix. Houck paints around items borrowed from friends – here a mason jar – in successive arrangements, gradually building one composite photo that disrupts traditional picture space. (At On Stellar Rays on the Lower East Side through May 22nd).

John Houck, Incidental and Intentional, archival pigment print, 28 ½ x 21 ½ inches, 2015.
John Houck, Incidental and Intentional, archival pigment print, 28 ½ x 21 ½ inches, 2015.

Jane Corrigan at Feuer Mesler




Like protagonists in a young adults detective novel, Jane Corrigan’s svelte sleuths ooze intrigue as they receive covert messages, investigate strange noises and meet secretively at night. The hook is strong. What are they up to? (At Feuer Mesler through Feb 14th).

Jane Corrigan, Spies, oil on canvas, 70 x 55 inches, 2015.


Jacco Olivier at Marianne Boesky Gallery




Known for videos made from photos taking during his painting process, Dutch artist Jacco Olivier embraces abstraction in his latest projections at Marianne Boesky’s Lower East Side space. Without the narrative found in his previous painted videos, the recent work becomes meditative; it’s not so much watching paint dry as watching it drift slowly across the canvas. (Through Feb 14th).

Jacco Olivier, Equilibrium II, HD Animation, 3 min, 20 seconds, projection size: 37 3/8 x 33 ½ inches, 2015.


Daniel Hesidence at Canada New York




Like Claes Oldenburg’s Ray Gun series, for which he gathered found objects that had a gun-like shape, Daniel Hesidence’s latest series of paintings – subtitled ‘Summer’s Gun’ – tempt his audience into a game of looking for and interpreting the various forms that take center stage against heavily textured backgrounds.  Set among calming, green-tones, an arrow-head or skull-like shape dominates this image, suggesting a still partially buried archaeological find.  (At Canada NY on the Lower East Side through Jan 6th).

 Daniel Hesidence, Untitled (Summer’s Gun), oil on canvas, 59 x 78 inches, 2015.