Mark di Suvero at Paula Cooper Gallery

Geometric steel beams and panels dangle a pair of organic shapes in Mark di Suvero’s 2015 sculpture ‘The Cave’ at Paula Cooper Gallery, suggesting a manmade structure designed to offer up a natural form for our consideration. (In Chelsea through Dec 10th).

Mark di Suvero, The Cave, steel, 157 ½ x 172 x 132 inches, 2015.
Mark di Suvero, The Cave, steel, 157 ½ x 172 x 132 inches, 2015.

Paul Pfeiffer at Paula Cooper Gallery

An unseen opponent batters James Kirkland with blows that literally make the flesh on his face shake in Paul Pfeiffer’s powerful video at Paula Cooper Gallery. By collaging together short clips that feature direct hits to the head and body and digitally removing Kirkland’s adversary, Pfeiffer focuses attention on the violence of boxing and turns fighter into victim. (In Chelsea through Nov 12th).

Paul Pfeiffer, Caryatid (Kirkland), digital video loop, chromed 32” color television with embedded media player, 27 x 30 x 19 inches, unique, 2016.
Paul Pfeiffer, Caryatid (Kirkland), digital video loop, chromed 32” color television with embedded media player, 27 x 30 x 19 inches, unique, 2016.

Sol LeWitt at Paula Cooper Gallery

Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #368 appears to pulse and move as it surrounds visitors to Paula Cooper Gallery. In addition to the physical impact, there’s also appeal in imagining the various ways LeWitt’s instructions (as enumerated in the drawing’s title) could be interpreted. (In Chelsea through Oct 22nd).

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #368:  The wall is divided vertically into five equal parts.  The center part is divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts.  Within each part are three-inch (7.5 cm) wide parallel bands of lines in four directions in four colors.  In each of the other parts, three-inch (7.5 cm) bands of lines in one of the four directions.  The bands are drawn in color and India ink washes.  Red, yellow, blue, ink, India ink 3” (7.5 cm) bands.  First drawn by:  Jo Watanabe and others.  First installation:  Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, January 1982. India ink. dimensions variable.
Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #368: The wall is divided vertically into five equal parts. The center part is divided horizontally and vertically into four equal parts. Within each part are three-inch (7.5 cm) wide parallel bands of lines in four directions in four colors. In each of the other parts, three-inch (7.5 cm) bands of lines in one of the four directions. The bands are drawn in color and India ink washes. Red, yellow, blue, ink, India ink 3” (7.5 cm) bands. First drawn by: Jo Watanabe and others. First installation: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, January 1982. India ink. dimensions variable.

Jennifer Bartlett at Paula Cooper Gallery

Using her home and the surrounding landscape in Amagansett as subject matter, Jennifer Bartlett offers two versions of the same view. Both have been constructed with a graining brush, a tool that allows her to paint in parallel lines, taking her longstanding relationship with the grid to new directions. (At Paula Cooper Gallery through April 23rd).

Jennifer Bartlett, Amagansett Diptypch #2, oil on canvas, each of two panels 96 x 96 inches, 2007-08.
Jennifer Bartlett, Amagansett Diptypch #2, oil on canvas, each of two panels 96 x 96 inches, 2007-08.

Walid Raad at Paula Cooper Gallery

In Walid Raad’s tongue in cheek narratives about the emergence of a booming new Arab art world, he’s hunted for refugee color and fonts that have gone into hiding and reflections that are missing; here at Paula Cooper Gallery, a wall text explains that the shadows normally cast by the artwork have run away, no longer interested in being part of the art infrastructure. The artist hopefully builds a series of walls with fake shadows to entice the real ones to return, all the while ostensibly failing to notice that the art itself is missing. (In Chelsea through March 26th).

Walid Raad, installation view of ‘Letters to the Reader,’ at Paula Cooper Gallery, March 2016.
Walid Raad, installation view of ‘Letters to the Reader,’ at Paula Cooper Gallery, March 2016.