Vija Celmins’ once described her relationship to the ocean, which she has rendered again and again in paint, graphite and prints, as akin to wrestling something huge into a tiny 2-D space. This woodcut from 2000, created with one of printmaking’s oldest techniques, captures a particular view of the water’s surface that looks as if it could have been made yesterday or hundreds of years ago. (On view in Chelsea at Matthew Marks Gallery through Oct 26th).
Three children forge ahead into the unknown on a boat made of braiding hair packaging in this oil-based relief collage on canvas by Yale MFA candidate Kathia St Hilaire. A standout in Derek Eller Gallery’s current group show, St Hilaire’s image features kids venturing forth under a blazing sun to navigate their own identities and paths in life. (On view on the Lower East Side through July 3rd).
Male behaviors and rituals occupy Ohio-based printmaker and current International Print Center New York resident artist Morteza Khakshoor’s colorful, dream-like prints. This piece, ‘Men of High Culture’ is a standout in the IPCNY’s current juried exhibition of new prints. Including a homogeneously dressed cast of male wall flowers and two figures grappling with eccentric creatures and separated by a vase of flowers, Khakshoor’s setup reinterprets the uber-male cockfight. (On view through Sept 22nd).
It’ll be no problem to ‘Please recycle this bag,’ in this case, as artwork. Yoonmi Nam’s plastic carrier bags are in fact lithographs on gampi paper containing not plastic food containers but glazed slipcast porcelain. They subvert the notion of disposability powerfully. (At the International Print Center’s ‘New Prints 2017/Winter’ exhibition through April 1st).
