Tag: painting

Mernet Larsen in ‘Let’s Get Figurative’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

Mernet Larsen’s eerie nativity scene is a standout in Nicelle Beauchene Gallery’s mini-survey of current trends in figurative painting. Though the figures’ boxy shapes recall the Cubism-mocking ‘Cubies’ cartoons from a century ago, flashes of oddness (in the position of the angels’ feet, a spill on Mary’s lap) punctuate an already charged atmosphere. (On the Lower East Side through Nov 15th).

Mernet Larsen, Nativity, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 74 x 31.5 inches, 2005.

Jose Parla at Mary Boone Gallery & Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

Once a street artist, now an artist inspired by the
histories of the built environment, Jose Parla adds layers of posters, grime
and brightly colored paint to faux fragments of wall currently on view at Bryce
Wolkowitz Gallery and Mary Boone Gallery. 
Considering that the block on which these galleries stand has been
largely rebuilt in the past several years, Parla’s treasuring of fragments from
the past has particular resonance. 
(Through Oct 31st).

Jose Parla, installation view at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery,
Sept 2015.

William Villalongo at Susan Inglett Gallery

‘You Matter,’ reads a sign in the window of William Villalongo’s current solo show at Susan Inglett Gallery, recalling the refrain from recent protests against police aggression. Inside, the Brooklyn-based artist presents the seasons as skeletons cloaked in glittering black female bodies and dominating lush landscapes – characters at peace and one with nature. (In Chelsea through Oct 17th).

William Villalongo, (detail from) Spring, acrylic, paper and velvet flocking on wood panel, 72 x 36 inches, 2015.

Keltie Ferris at Mitchell-Innes and Nash

Brooklyn-based painter Keltie Ferris is known for abstract paintings that recall the city grid, so you’d think she’d relish LA’s road systems on her recent residency there. Instead, she turns her eye skyward in pieces like ‘oRiOn,’ a canvas that hints at a celestial hunter, outlined in vivid color and decorated in a shower of shooting stars. (At Chelsea’s Mitchell-Innes and Nash through Oct 17th).

Keltie Ferris, oRiOn, acrylic and oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches, 2015.

Chuck Close at Pace Gallery

For his latest show at Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location, Chuck Close continues to replicate mechanical processes by hand in huge self-portraits painted square by square in thin washes of red, blue or yellow paint. (Through Oct 17th).

Chuck Close, Self-Portrait IV, oil on canvas, 96 x 84 inches, 2014-15 (right) and Self-Portrait III, oil on canvas, 101 5/8 x 84 inches, 2014 (to the left).