Shara Hughes’ new paintings of lush, psychedelic flowers dominate landscapes so teeming with life it’s almost alarming. Here, several colorful plants sprout blossoms supported by curvaceous stems resembling cursive script, as if new language was needed to describe this beautifully alien world. (On view at Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 23rd).
Torn and damaged-looking, Bianca Beck’s past paintings have drawn comparison to anguished post-WWII art movements. Eleven seven-foot-high sculptures dominating Rachel Uffner Gallery‘s back space couldn’t be more different, however. Towering over visitors with raucous poses and vibrant color, they were inspired by Plato’s Symposium, which imagined humans so spirited they had to be disciplined by Zeus. (On view on the Lower East Side through Dec 23rd).
Arcmanoro Niles’ portraits – set in the Washington DC neighborhood where he grew up – feature not only their posed subjects but a host of secondary, ghoulish characters who the artist calls ‘seekers.’ Though this boy’s vibrant youth is made magical by his glittery hair, an odd creature wrapped around his feet could be setting the boy up for a fall. (On view at Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 25th).
These shoes may not be the most ambition artworks in Sally Saul’s debut show at Rachel Uffner Gallery, but their unassuming quality – a quotidian appreciation for the quiet pleasures in life, such as the perfect shoes for the occasion – is the perfect introduction to a show of what critic John Yau calls ‘funny, sweet and tender’ artworks. (On view on the Lower East Side through Oct 29th).
Like a group of goddesses on Mount Olympus, Maria Berrio’s trio of milky-skinned mothers and their infants appear to lounge above the mortal realm in this collage by the New York-based Columbian artist. Accompanied by a menagerie of animals and framed by the constellations, Berrio exaults the mothers’ nurturing role. (On view on the Lower East Side in ‘All That Glitters’ at Rachel Uffner Gallery through August 2nd).
