It would trouble some, but the smell of burning paper is the norm in Chris McCaw’s photographic practice. Using powerful lenses, McCaw magnifies the intensity of the sun to the extent that it burns holes in the light sensitive paper he places in his homemade cameras. The effect is ethereal, as the sun literally carves a path through the sky over shadowy landscapes. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through April 9th).
San Francisco Mission School artist Alicia McCarthy presents signature grids and more at Jack Hanley on the Lower East Side, including this pulsing lattice, marred (or made perfect?) by a blur of grey paint. (Through Oct 11th).
Alicia McCarthy, Untitled, gouache and spray and latex paint on wood panel, 96 x 96 inches, 2015.
Like inedible confections, the surfaces and strange forms of San Francisco artist Ron Nagle’s tiny ceramic sculptures are delectations for the eye. But for every attractive, shiny surface, there’s an opposite impulse to reject clashing color combinations and oddly suggestive bodily forms. (At Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 24th).
Ron Nagle, Long Good Friday, ceramic, porcelain, glaze, catalyzed polyurethane, epoxy resin, 3 ¾ x 2 ½ x 3 ¾ inches, 2015.
This washed out figure is a faded but haunting recurring image in Andrew Kreps Gallery’s retrospective of work by San Francisco-based artist and graphic designer Robert Overby. Based on a 16th century Madonna by Albrecht Durer, Mary’s imposing, weirdly angled eye suggests an oddly provocative madness. (In Chelsea through Oct 31st).
Robert Overby, detail of ONE EYED-GRID, offset lithograph on paper on plywood, 18 ½ x 14 ¾ inches, 1975.
‘How Iraqi Are You?’ asks the title of Iraqi born, San Francisco-based artist Hayv Kahraman’s current solo show of paintings at Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery. Based on a 12th century text about everyday Iraqi life, Kahraman’s paintings loosely tell stories from her own life, including this piece, which refers to her experience of having been smuggled out of Baghdad to Sweden. (Through April 4th).
Hayv Kahraman, Kachakchi, oil on linen, 79 x 108 x 2 inches, 2015.
