Esteban Cabeza de Baca at Garth Greenan Gallery

Queens-based artist Esteban Cabeza de Baca’s parents met while working as union organizers for United Farmworkers founders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta; in Cabeza de Baca’s colorful narrative paintings at Garth Greenan Gallery in Chelsea, he pays homage to both family and labor history.  Here in ‘Huelga,’ or ‘Strike,’ Chavez and Huerta walk down a row of grapes, a reference to a nation-wide boycott of the fruit led by the duo as they fought for fair wages and decent working conditions for farm workers.  (On view through July 21st).

Esteban Cabeza de Baca, Huelga, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 72 inches, 2023.

Hank Willis Thomas at Jack Shainman Gallery

Inspired by Louis Lozowick’s 1935 ‘Strike Scene’ lithograph, Hank Willis Thomas’s stainless steel ‘Strike’ is a powerful symbol of resistance.  A highlight of the artist’s latest two-gallery solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery, the sculpture presents a fragment of a scenario that speaks to a broader history of struggle. (On view in Chelsea through May 12th).

Hank Willis Thomas, Strike, stainless steel with mirrored finish, approx. 33 x 33 x 9 inches, 2018.