German photographer Elisabeth Hase’s 1931 rooftop photo turns workers and pedestrians into doll-like figures while paralleling the unusual perspectives adopted by Russian avant-garde photographers. (At Robert Mann Gallery through May 7th).
When a New York Times critic praised 18th century Spanish painter Luis Melendez’s intensely realist still life paintings at the National Gallery of Art in ’09, he was captivated by Melendez’s stunning ‘near-photographic verisimilitude.’ In her photographic homage to Melendez, New York photographer Paulette Tavormina closes the gap between painting and photo with assemblages of fruit, vegetables, meats and various kitchen items that extoll the beauty not only of Melendez’s work but of the bounty of the natural world. (At Robert Mann Gallery through March 21st).
Paulette Tavormina, Still Life with Jamon Iberico, after L. M., archival pigment print, 26 x 48 inches, 2014.
Outdoor scenes including a hot-air balloon over a Mexican pyramid and a lone, wind-gnarled tree by a lake in Japan have inspired British American photographer Michael Kenna’s serenely beautiful black and white images, now on view at Chelsea’s Robert Mann Gallery. Here, a jet of water shoots into the air, merging water and clouds in a mediated ‘equivalent’ worthy of Stieglitz. (In Chelsea at Robert Mann through January 31st).
Michael Kenna, Jet d’Eau, Geneva, 9.5 x 6.5 inches, 2012.
Missouri-based photographer Julie Blackmon’s take on the Beatles Abbey Road album cover suggests a different kind of band – a precociously independent group of young entrepreneurs marching along to the beat of their own drummer. (At Chelsea’s Robert Mann Gallery through October 18th).
Julie Blackmon, Thin Mints, 59 x 81.625 inches, 2014.
Belgian photographer Maroesjka Lavigne’s New York solo debut features landscapes half obscured by snow and Icelandic locals who look as if they’re hiding something; here, disturbed water turns a swimmer’s face into a blank mask. (At Robert Mann Gallery in Chelsea through May 17th).
Maroesjka Lavigne, Phantom, Krossneslaug, Westfjords, 2011.
