Gerald Lovell’s grandmother’s photo albums were a key inspiration in the young Atlanta painter’s motivation to create portraits of family and friends. Calling such source photos of family and person history ‘saving moments,’ Lovell sets out to make depoliticized, ‘honest depictions of the people I’m around.’ (On view at PPOW Gallery’s new Tribeca location through Feb 20th. Masks and social distancing are required).
Ethereal forms appear to rise up in this photograph printed on satin by Turin-based artist Elisa Sighicelli, currently part of her two-artist show at Tribeca’s 55 Walker/Kaufmann Repetto. Created by hanging sheets of plastic in front of her window and photographing them, Sighicelli’s images are clearly representational yet appear abstract as they invite shifting perceptions of space. Printed on sheets of synthetic satin and hung in the gallery, they ripple slightly – just enough to create additional, 3D spatial depth. (On view through Jan 23rd).
Judging by this standout painting from her current show at Nicelle Beauchene’s new Tribeca space, it comes as no surprise that painter Alice Tippit has cited Magritte as her ‘all-time favorite’ artist to come back to for his ‘sense of mystery.’ Though ‘Stall’ suggests a recognizable scenario – the mind wandering to happy places or at rest – its graphic, streamlined style embodies enigma. (On view at 7 Franklin Place through Jan 16th. Masks and social distancing are required.)
Mernet Larsen continues to break with traditional Western linear perspective in new, irresistibly cheeky canvases at James Cohan Gallery that pay homage to Russian constructivist El Lissitzky. Larsen explains that decades ago, she broke a taboo by imagining that the early 20th century avant-gardist’s abstractions could be read figuratively. She takes things a step further here, turning El Lissitzky’s circles bisected by long rectangles into an astronaut floating in front of a planet or a restaurant table attending by a plank-like waiter bearing cocktails. (On view in Tribeca through Jan 23rd . Masks and social distancing are required).
Anna Ostoya’s oil paintings of bodies in motion leap, surge forward, jump and float, each canvas presenting a different manner of group movement. This activity and the presence of protesters in other works in her show at Tribeca’s Bortolami Gallery lends a Futurist-like energy and an urgency to her abstracted scenes. “I’m trying to get Slap to look violent and fragile and to pull all of the contrasting colors together to slap the eyes,” explains Ostoya in a succinct explanation of this work’s dramatic impact. (On view through Dec 19th. Masks and social distancing are required).
