Chris “Daze” Ellis at PPOW Gallery

Chris “Daze” Ellis started painting train cars as a teen in the mid-70s and within a few years was showing his work indoors in shows at The Mudd Club and the renowned gallery Fashion Moda. Decades later, he reflects on contemporaries who’ve passed, including Cliff 3YB, Billy 167, Stan 153 and others in this recent painting in his current solo show at PPOW Gallery.  Above their names on the subway walls and cars, an expressionist composition of greens, pinks and yellow colors glows like a celestial phenomenon honoring the lives and memory of street art pioneers.  (On view through Feb 12th in Tribeca.  Masks and social distancing required).

Chris “Daze” Ellis, A Memorial, acrylic, oil, spray paint, respirator on canvas, 60 x 54 inches, 2020.

Valerie Hegarty at Burning in Water

In the shadow of Chelsea’s ultra-luxurious new residential buildings, Valerie Hegarty’s new sculptures and wall installations at Burning in Water are a poignant, contemporary vanitas, reminding us that what is fresh will soon be old.  Here, the Brooklyn-based artist’s own subway stop is the inspiration for a paint and paper installation that nestles right into a pristine wall.  (On view in Chelsea through Jan 5th).

Valerie Hegarty, Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum (My Subway Stop), paper, latex and acrylic paint, Tyvek, glue, 82 x 72 inches, 2018.

Wyatt Gallery at Foley Gallery

Subway advertising boards, scraped free of ads before being recovered by new posters, continue to inspire Wyatt Gallery’s ongoing photo series, ‘Subtext.’ In the latest work, he considers his images as portals to more tranquil, meditative environments than the train platform. (On view at Foley Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 25th).

Wyatt Gallery, 135th BC: 157-245.9, UV Cured Pigment Ink on Dibond, 42 x 54 inches, 2017.

Reinier Gerritsen at Julie Saul Gallery

On the subway platform one day, Dutch photographer Reinier Gerritsen noticed a serendipitous arrangement in red in the bag, sweater and lips of three women reading on the 6 train. From this initial flash of inspiration, Gerritsen began his a series of photo collages, bringing together book readers in single compositions that memorialize the printed tome. (On view at Chelsea’s Julie Saul Gallery through Feb 7th).

Reinier Gerritsen, One Hundred Years of Solitude, pigment print, 40 ½ x 70 ¾ , 2013.