New York photographer Suzanne Opton creates a surprisingly intimate situation between gallery visitors and her subjects – soldiers who are back in the US after a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. Reclining on a flat surface, their presence and vulnerability is palpable. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea through July 18th).
Suzanne Opton, installation view at Sikkema Jenkins & Co, June 2014.
Scenes from different continents look oddly similar in Sze Tsung Leong’s mesmerizing ‘Horizons’ show at Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery. Here, a photo of Havana rubs shoulders with a shot from Paris, linking two unlikely cities by their dense landscape and domed architecture. (Through July 11th).
Sze Tsung Leong, installation view of ‘Horizons,’ at Yossi Milo Gallery, June 2014. Right: La Habana Vieja II, 2010. Left: Quartier Latin, Paris, 2008.
Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs of natural history dioramas – ongoing since the 70s – challenge viewers to find the line between real and represented. They also point out how the museum’s role in displaying these animals has changed in the face of habitat loss and endangerment. (On view at Pace Gallery through June 28th).
Hiroshi Sugimoto, Polar Bear, gelatin silver print, 47 x 58 3/4”, 1976.
Bizarre scenarios like this exchange of processed meat in young Canadian photographer Elaine Stocki’s hand-colored silver gelatin prints make for captivating and strange images that run the gamut from obviously staged to apparently documentary. (At Chelsea’s Thomas Erben Gallery through June 28th).
Elaine Stocki, Meat Meet, hand-tinted silver gelatin print, 29.5 x 37.75 inches, 2013.
Beijing-based artist Jiang Pengyi suggests a dystopian quality to China’s rapid urban development with his ‘Unregistered City’ series now at Chelsea’s Klein Sun Gallery. Here, skyscrapers scaled down to toy-size are surrounded by dust and debris in an old, industrial-looking setting that suggests a bleak bigger picture. (Through June 21st).
Jiang Pengyi, Unregistered City No. 1, archival pigment print on cotton rag paper, 59 x 82 ¼ inches, 2008.
