Daniel Gordon at Kasmin Gallery

Unlike classic Dutch still life, Daniel Gordon’s ‘Philodendron with Sardines and Lobster’ at Kasmin Gallery lacks the typical superabundance of a table piled high with fruit, meats and other delicacies, allowing for a more focused appreciation of the artist’s detailed, hands-on production of each item on display. After finding or taking a photograph of each object he intends to depict, Gordon prints images of the object, cutting and gluing them over forms that are placed into an arrangement of similarly crafted objects and then photographed to produce the final image.   Because they’ve originated in photographic images, lobster, fish, plant and vase on the one hand look believable as a flat image and yet are obviously 3-D renderings.  The space of the image is temporarily unclear, the medium blurred, creating pleasurable moments of uncertainty. (On view through June 3rd).

Daniel Gordon, Philodendron with Sardines and Lobster, pigment print with UV lamination, 49 7/8 x 40 inches, 2023.

David Gilbert at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery

Patterns of sunlight and shadow falling over arrangements of cut paper and painted canvas give LA artist David Gilbert’s new work at Klaus Gallery an ephemerality that speaks to art as a process of making.  Calling him a ‘discerning scavenger of poignant and beautiful things,’ the gallery points out how Gilbert captures moments in which something special arises from arrangements of everyday objects.  In this image, a single pink bead and isolated dots of red color at top right add balance and interest to the predicament of the dove at center, which may or may not be captured by both painted and actual netting as it attempts to fly upward into the blue.  (On view in Tribeca through May 6th).

David Gilbert, Dove, archival inkjet print, 13 x 8.6 inches, 2023

Edward Burtynsky at Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has spent a lifetime documenting mankind’s impact on the planet, picturing German coal mines, vast industrial landscapes in China and more recently, salt pans, gold tailings, oil bunkering and more in sub-Saharan Africa.  His current exhibition of photos shot in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and beyond at Chelsea’s Sundaram Tagore Gallery includes otherworldly landscapes created by the harvesting of salt, including these Salt Ponds near Naglou Sam Sam in Senegal. In shallow, man-made ponds, microorganisms change color as evaporation causes salinity to increase, resulting in a spectacular, painterly display. (On view in Chelsea through April 1st).

Edward Burtynsky, Salt Ponds #4, Near Naglou Sam Sam, Senegal, pigment inkjet print on Kodak Professional Photo Paper, 48 x 64 inches, 2019.

Berenice Abbott at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Right on the heels of a show of photographer Berenice Abbott’s Greenwich Village portraits and urban landscapes at Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery, fans of the iconic early 20th century New York City chronicler can enjoy the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition of images from Abbott’s 1929 album shot around town.  Freshly back from an eight year-long stay in Paris where she pivoted to photography and established her own successful studio, Abbott arrived in New York and enthusiastically fell to documenting the thriving city as she found it.  Also included in the Met’s show are works by Abbott’s contemporaries and her ‘Changing New York’ series from ’35-’39, including this view of a 9th Ave Automat. (On view on the Upper East Side through Sept 4th).

Berenice Abbott, Automat, 877 Ninth Avenue, gelatin silver print, 1936.

Carrie Schneider at Chart Gallery

Mariah Carey’s head dominates Carrie Schneider’s solo show at Chart Gallery in Tribeca; smiling and nodding, it is featured in a large 16mm color film projection, a still image and two impressively huge photos printed on paper rolls that total 400 feet in length.  Sampled from an interview in which Carey says in response to a question about Jennifer Lopez, ‘I don’t know her,’ Schneider’s work explores how a few seconds of footage can become a meme with an unending digital lifespan and how an evasion on Carey’s part resulted in a cascade of attention.  Schneider’s super-abundance of abstract imagery created via multiple exposures in a specially built camera generates its own kind of optical noise, a visual art parallel to celebrity culture.

Carrie Schneider, Voice’s Owner (I don’t know her), two unique chromogenic photographs made in camera, 20 x 4800 inches, installation dimensions vary, 2023.