Yves Klein’s use of nude female models – daubed in his signature blue paint – as live paintbrushes increases in political incorrectness as the years go by. Now, Addie Wagenknecht has joined the ranks of artists who’ve responded with their own takes on Klein’s iconic objectification. Engaging a Roomba to paint as it skirted her nude body, Wagenknecht creates expressionist canvases with an algorithm and robot. (On view at Bitforms on the Lower East Side through Feb 11th).
Haegue Yang continues her ‘Trustworthy’ series – made from the patterned interiors of security envelopes – with this installation of abstract diagrams set against deeply soothing Yves Klein blue walls at Greene Naftali Gallery. Just as Klein offered a portal into the sublime, Yang points to the mystical with her eye-like shapes and totemic figure covered in bells. (In Chelsea through April 16th).
Known for making artwork relating to lesser-known facts about historically important figures, Brooklyn & Philadelphia artist Terry Adkins turns his sights to George Washington Carver & Yves Klein in his Lower East Side show. Using apple pickers to refer to Carver’s efforts to move away from the ubiquity of cotton, and blown glass to recall Yves Klein’s fiery, transformative performances, Adkins invites us to read meaning into his subtly reworked histories. (At Salon94 Bowery and Salon 94 Freemans on the Lower East Side through Jan 11th).
Terry Adkins, installation view of Nenuphar at Salon94 Bowery, November, 2013. Sculpture in foreground: Terry Adkins, Harvest Montgomery, blown glass, apple picker, fiberglass and aluminum pole, 2013.
