Christine and Margaret Wertheim and the Institute for Figuring at the Museum of Art & Design

In one of the most visually stunning shows in New York this season, sisters Christine and Margaret Wertheim and a team of collaborating makers have created crocheted segments of coral reefs as sculptures, now on view at the Museum of Art and Design. Using geometry to crochet forms that correspond to the shapes of the reefs, the sisters combine yarn and plastic trash in glittering, colorful sculptures that gratify the senses as they warn against our ongoing destruction of the world’s coral reefs. (On view through Jan 22nd).

Christine Wertheim and Margaret Wertheim with Sarah Simons, Clare O’Callaghan, Kathleen Greco, Evelyn Hardin, Matthew Adnams, Christina Simons, and Jemima Wyman, (detail) Coral Forest – Ea, Plastic shopping bags, The New York Times wrappers, Hula-Hoop, plastic spades, found objects, yarn, felt, Sonotube, chicken wire, 2009 – 14.
Christine Wertheim and Margaret Wertheim with Sarah Simons, Clare O’Callaghan, Kathleen Greco, Evelyn Hardin, Matthew Adnams, Christina Simons, and Jemima Wyman, (detail) Coral Forest – Ea, Plastic shopping bags, The New York Times wrappers, Hula-Hoop, plastic spades, found objects, yarn, felt, Sonotube, chicken wire, 2009 – 14.

Elmgreen and Dragset at Flag Art Foundation

Created in mirror-polished stainless steel, this sculpture of a lifeguard by Scandinavian art duo Elmgreen and Dragset shimmers like an apparition on the Flag Art Foundation’s 9th floor terrace. Peering intently toward the Hudson River (or the buildings on the block in between), the guard is perpetually alert to a situation we can’t see. (In Chelsea through Dec 17th).

Elmgreen and Dragset, Watching, mirror-polished stainless steel, 118 x 31 ½ x 37 2/5 inches, 2016.
Elmgreen and Dragset, Watching, mirror-polished stainless steel, 118 x 31 ½ x 37 2/5 inches, 2016.

GCC at Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery

Against the backdrop of rapid urban development in the Persian Gulf countries, the artist collective GCC examines the parallel trends toward the pursuit of happiness and health. Here, a woman practices a new age, healing therapy on her son. They stand in sand, a symbol of the landscape, inside a racing track reminiscent of the region’s many new urban walkways. (At Chelsea’s Mitchell-Innes and Nash through Nov 23rd).

GCC, installation view of Positive Pathways (+), at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Oct 2016.
GCC, installation view of Positive Pathways (+), at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Oct 2016.

David Kennedy Cutler, Michael DeLucia, and David Scanavino at Derek Eller Gallery

David Scanavino’s vibrantly colored institutional floor tiles, Michael DeLucia’s tire images, carved out of MDF by a computer-controlled router, and David Kennedy Cutler’s elongated arm, created with pictures of a real hand, bring together images generated in the computer and realized in three dimensions. (At Chelsea’s Derek Eller Gallery through June 28th).

David Kennedy Cutler, Michael DeLucia, David Scanavino, To Be Titled, plywood and high pressure laminate, injet on cotton sateen and aluminum, tree branch, wood, spray paint, permalac, VCT tile, floor wax, MDF, glue, 2014.