Sarah Peters takes her stylized bronze head sculptures to a newly disquieting level in her current exhibition at Van Doren Waxter on the Lower East Side. Riffing on Greek dramatic masks, ancient Assyrian or Akkadian heads, and sex dolls, figures heads like this one embody ziggurat-like architectural form, as if place and priestess had merged into one haunting figure. (On view on the Lower East Side through June 2nd).
Sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard describes this wall mounted cedar relief sculpture as beginning ‘gently then growing belligerent’ as its rows of cavities expand and lose their form closer to the floor. On the flip side of aggressive, the carved wood forms are characterized by a softness that suggests disintegration. Rising, falling and sliding along the wall, this sculpture’s shapes appear to be in constant motion. (On view at Galerie Lelong in Chelsea through June 23rd).
The human figure emerges gracefully from marble, bronze and wood in Pace Gallery’s major exhibition of Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture from the 30s to the 70s. In the foreground, ‘One, Two, Three (Vertical)’ from 1974 frames this view of towering sculpture from Hepworth’s totemic Family of Man series – an ‘Ancestor’ on the left and ‘Bridegroom’ in the back. (On view in Chelsea through April 21st).
How would a rag rug inspire a ceramic sculpture? Francesca DiMattio’s huge porcelain and stoneware sculptures mimic the shaggy surface of a Moroccan boucherouite rug, a technique aided by her use of a garlic press to extrude clay. Mixing references to art history and decorative arts, DiMattio’s new work is a riotous assertion of history’s continued presence in today’s art and design. (On view on the Lower East Side at Salon94 Bowery through April 21st).
Citing Alexander Calder’s mobiles and Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ beaded sculptures as touch-points, Jean-Michel Othoniel presents ‘black tornados’ at Perrotin on the Lower East Side. Made of aluminium beads threaded onto a steel armature, the glittering twisters reflect light and suggest movement while presenting natural phenomenon as glamorous ornament. (On view on the Lower East Side through April 15th).
