Tag: soho

Raven Halfmoon in ‘Claypop’ at Jeffrey Deitch, New York

Two towering heads are positioned back-to-back in Raven Halfmoon’s powerful monumental stoneware sculpture ‘Bah’hatteno Nut’tehtsei (Red River Girl in Caddo).’  A standout in ‘Claypop,’ Jeffrey Deitch Gallery’s new group show of contemporary ceramic artwork curated by director Alia Williams, the work’s textured surface suggests rock carved from the landscape while Halfmoon’s spray-painted face-markings and signature on the side connects the piece to contemporary urban artistic expression. (On view in SoHo through Oct 30th.)

Raven Halfmoon, Bah’hatteno Nut’tehtsei (Red River Girl in Caddo), stoneware, glaze, 2021.

Kamrooz Aram in ‘Field of Vision’ at Peter Blum Gallery

Iranian-born New Yorker Kamrooz Aram’s abstract paintings are a standout in Peter Blum Gallery’s handsome summer group show ‘Field of Vision,’ enticing with their heavy texture and abundant organic forms.  Known for riffing on arabesque decoration, Aram sends our eyes fluttering around this verdant canvas, briefly settling on forms that resemble insect wings or clouds.  Two panels suggest shutters opening on an intimate garden or the dark of night. (On view on Grand Street through July 30th.  Masks and social distancing required.)

Kamrooz Aram, Maghreb Drapery, oil, oil crayon, wax pencil and pencil on linen, 85 x 82 inches, 2020.

David Hammons at The Drawing Center

The US flag is shelter and garment for the individual depicted in this 1969 body print/screenprint by David Hammons, now on view in a powerful show of Hammons’ meticulous body prints at the Drawing Center.  Made by applying oil to his skin, pressing his body to paper and applying powdered pigments, the print is one of many that incorporate the US flag to question its meaning for Black communities.  (On view in SoHo through May 23rd.  Appointments, masks and social distancing required.  Admission charges waived).

David Hammons, Pray for America, screenprint and pigment on paper, 1969.

Karon Davis at Deitch Projects

In her impressive New York solo show debut, Karon Davis transforms Deitch Projects’ cavernous SoHo space into the 1969 Chicago courtroom in which Bobby Seale stood trial bound and gagged.  Before a plaster cast of the Black Panther leader, a towering bench houses a replica of Judge Julius Hoffman, who Davis describes in the trial as ‘brutal and monstrous.’  Here, on the gallery’s elevated platform, a row of jurors looks on impassively, isolated in red and blue cases that disengage them with the scene unfolding before them.  (On view in SoHo through April 24th).

Karon Davis, Jury Member #3, plaster bandages, plaster, glass-eyes, steel, acrylic, plywood, white paint, 70 x 22 x 22 inches.

Art 2 Heart mural project in SoHo

Aiming to send messages of “optimism, healing and love” the Art 2 Heart’s SoHo mural project has transformed SoHo’s boarded up storefronts.  Here, on the corner of Spring and Greene Streets on panels over the John Varvatos store windows, artists remember those who’ve lost their lives to police violence and insist that Black lives matter. (On view until businesses reopen).