These days, San Francisco street art legend Barry McGee is more likely to show his work in galleries and museums than outdoors, but his installation in the back room of Cheim & Read Gallery in Chelsea – a collection of around 400 elements bulging off the wall – pops with a white-cube defying energy. (Through Oct 26th).
Barry McGee, Untitled, 400 elements; ink, graphite, acrylic, screenprint, photographs on paper, found objects and frames, 2005-2013.
While much of the art world slumbered through August, some galleries remained open, including 57th St area Gering Lopez Gallery, which features this subtly energetic 10 x 40 foot wall painting in which swirling lines resemble but belie the intimacy of fingerprints. (Through Sept 7th)
Linn Meyers, This Familiar Place, ink and acrylic paint on wall, 2013.
At over nine feet tall, New York-based Erin Shirreff’s hot-rolled steel sculpture ‘Drop (no. 3)’ is imposing without being overbearing. The elongated shapes, hung from a steel rod, derive from paper scraps created by the artist and turn leftovers into the monumental main attraction. (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 23rd).
Erin Shirreff, Drop (no. 3), raw hot-rolled steel, 2013.
Over the past few years, Kara Walker has moved away from her signature antebellum figures seen in silhouette enacting various barbarisms on each other. In the back galleries of Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins, they return with vigor and malice, begging the question of what’s changed since they made Walker’s name in the mid-90s. (Through May 22nd).
Kara Walker, Wall Sampler 1, cut paper and paint on wall, dimensions variable, 2013.
