Marti Cormand in ‘Flora/Fauna’ at Josee Bienvenu Gallery

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Marti Cormand’s last solo show at Chelsea’s Josee Bienvenu Gallery involved meticulously painting replicas of rediscovered artworks that had been considered ‘degenerate’ in the Nazi era.  His current series of oil on Polaroid paintings at the gallery involves painterly additions to photos found in his childhood house in Spain, continuing an engagement with recovered imagery from the past.  A hazy view inside a refrigerator, and a parrot in an arctic landscape suggest that Cormand is focusing on the strange or magical in the everyday; his swimmer similarly transports us, triggering memories of nature at its most inviting.  (On view through August 15th).

Marti Cormand, Swimmer (nedador), oil on polaroid, 4.20 h x 3.5 x inches, 2019.

Jenna Krypell in ‘Impossible Objects’ at Davidson Gallery

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Brooklyn-based artist Jenna Krypell’s abstract shapes suggest three dimensions in two, effecting momentary disruptions in our perception.  Resembling mazes, stylized calligraphy, or here, sections of a sunset-colored sky cut into strips and hung out, each arrangement of form offers engaging spatial complexity.  (On view in Chelsea at Davidson Gallery through August 16th.)

Jenna Krypell, DUSK, MDF, resin, enamel, 87 x 45 x 2 inches, 2019.

ektor garcia in ‘garcia, Raina, Shore, Tossin’ at Luhring Augustine

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ektor garcia’s ‘portal (guadalajara)’ connects not only to his upbringing by female relatives who supported the family in Mexico and the U.S. with their skill at crochet but also to the earth in its warm, terracotta color.  In another piece, a long slim panel of oxidized copper lined with crochet artificial sinew speaks to the building value of minerals derived from the land and its feminized embellishment while his ‘chainmale’ glazed ceramics resemble metal links but are crafted from a more fragile material.  (On view in ‘garcia, Raina, Shore, Tossin’ at Luhring Augustine Gallery in Chelsea through August 16th).

ektor garcia, portal (Guadalajara), crochet leather cord, copper tubing, suede, dimensions variable, 2018.

Joani Tremblay in ‘Plastic Garden’ at Asya Geisberg Gallery

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The peachy tones of the rock formation in this painting by Canadian artist Joani Tremblay resemble spray-tanned flesh as much as sedimentary stone, questioning Mother Nature’s ‘natural’ qualities.  Included in Asya Geisberg Gallery’s ‘Plastic Garden’ summer group show, this painting’s houseplants further signal that the view is seen through an ‘arranged’ human lens.  (On view in Chelsea through August 16th).

Joani Tremblay, A Room of One’s Own, oil on linen, 36 h x 32 x inches, 2018.

Mel Ziegler at Galerie Perrotin

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Fifteen years of collected memorabilia from Mt Rushmore yielded the material for artist Mel Ziegler’s one thousand digitally printed portraits of the monument’s four presidents, currently filling the ground floor of Galerie Perrotin on the Lower East Side.  Though repetition and systemization are key, the degradation of each image – suggesting they were lifted from cheaply made or tiny reproductions – leaves the most lasting impression.  Despite the scale of the effort in the original Rushmore or Ziegler’s redo, there’s no guarantee that a burnished image will be handed down to posterity.  (On view through Aug 16th).

Mel Ziegler, detail installation view of ‘1000 Portraits,’ inkjet on canvas, dimensions variable, each canvas 8 x 10 inches, 2018.

Gladys Nilsson in ’36 Works on Paper’ at Garth Greenan Gallery

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Critic John Yau hits the nail on head when he describes Gladys Nilsson’s ability to ‘keep the viewer looking in ways that are both pleasurable and challenging.’  In her 1984 watercolor ‘Lightly There,’ Nilsson sets up a seemingly flirtatious engagement between two masculine and feminine characters against a backdrop of folks high-mindedly going about their business, noses to the air.  Extra-long limbs – oddly allowing the man on the left to reach between his legs to pick up a tiny passenger – are just the beginning of the eccentric proportions and asymmetries of bodies, hair and facial features that lend Nilsson’s characters their intrigue and bait us to question what’s going on.  (On view in ’36 Works on Paper’ at Garth Greenan Gallery in Chelsea through August 9th).

Gladys Nilsson, Lightly There, watercolor on paper, 23 x 30 inches, 1984.

Y. G. Srimati at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Late Indian artist Y. G. Srimati’s traditional Bharatanatyam dancer captivatingly demonstrates control and dynamism in this large-scale watercolor from 1963.  Trained in dance and other arts, Srimati once led devotional singing for Mahatma Gandhi and participated in India’s struggle for independence.  Adapting British-led art instruction to Indian painting tradition, Srimati pictured rural life and spiritual figures, developing her own uniquely Indian idiom.  (On view through August 9th at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea).

Y. G. Srimati, Bartha Natyam Dancer, watercolor, 76 x 47 inches, 1963.

Ugo Mulas at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Late Italian photographer Ugo Mulas made his name documenting the Venice Biennials from 1954 – 1972 and establishing relationships with Italy’s major post-war artists.  In the ‘60s, his purview expanded to New York where he met and photographed now iconic avant-garde artists from Barnett Newman to Marcel Duchamp.  These photos and more at Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea offer a peek at yesteryear’s art scene, from the police closing a Warhol loft party to intimate shots of Jasper Johns at work.  Here, Roy Lichtenstein inhabits one of his cartoon scenarios with good humor.  (On view through August 16th).

Ugo Mulas, Roy Lichtenstein, vintage gelatin silver print, 10 ½ x 17 7/8 inches, 1964.

Dona Nelson at Lisson Gallery

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Dona Nelson’s walk around frames turn painting into sculpture, insisting that viewers have access to (and equally value) both front and back.  In ‘Bells,’ blues and greens with a horizontal section of yellow suggest a sunset seen through a window while sections of white canvas deceptively imply transparency.  (On view in Lisson Gallery’s ‘Painters Reply:  Experimental Painting in the 1970s and now through Aug 9th.)

Dona Nelson, Bells, acrylic and acrylic medium on canvas, 80 x 80 inches, 2017.

Amy Bennett at Miles McEnery Gallery

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Amy Bennett’s meticulously rendered oil on panel paintings catalogue disfunction in the suburbs, from a distant couple in ‘Anniversary’ sitting on two different sides of a wrap-around porch to the deeply sad images of kids in ‘Drills’ who practice hiding in school.  Privy to moments that are both tense and personal for each painting’s isolated characters, our remove from them (sometimes aided by a bird’s eye perspective) adds alienation and intrigue.  Here, ‘Floating Lessons’ parallels and seem to prefigure another of the show’s best and most alarming images in which a body (alive?) floats in an above-ground pool.  Bennett’s disturbing but fascinating vision stops viewers from conflating comfortable surroundings with happiness or family life with security. (On view through August 16th at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea.)

Amy Bennett, Floating Lessons, oil on panel, 22 x 22 inches, 2018.

Dana Hoey at Petzel Gallery

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Photographer Dana Hoey describes former world champion boxer Alicia Ashley’s shadowboxing as ‘sublimely beautiful.’  Here, in a 44-foot-long wall mural at Chelsea’s Petzel Gallery, Ashley engages with Hoey’s humanoid, diamond-patterned assemblages in a series of movements that showcases the boxer’s art and her agency.  (On view in Chelsea through August 2nd).

Dana Hoey, Alicia “Slick” Ashley Shadow-boxing, vinyl wall adhesive, 168 x 528 inches, 2019.

Graham Nickson in ‘Summer!’ at Betty Cuningham Gallery

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New York Studio School dean Graham Nickson’s beach paintings have been described as “extreme, impenetrable, and haunting” for their isolated figures inhabiting landscapes pared down to horizontal bands of color.  Here, a lone figure’s ambiguous activity (Is she shielding her face from the sun?  Reading a giant book?) lends mystery and import to a leisure activity that might otherwise be overlooked.  (On view in ‘Summer!’ at Betty Cuningham Gallery on the Lower East Side through August 2nd).

Graham Nickson, Untitled from Bather Series, acrylic on canvas in artist’s frame, 48 x 48 inches, c. 1980.

Gina Beavers in ‘Painting/Sculpture’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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Gina Beavers’ acrylic and foam constructions feel delightfully excessive, their high relief suggesting an eagerness to be noticed.  Inspired by glossy social media images of food, makeup and more, the work both revels in and critiques consumption, a point Beavers emphasizes by packing five paintings onto one cube, currently on view at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea.  Here, thick brushes and lush lips conflate on-line makeup tutorials with the painter’s art, humorously questioning art’s role in selling product.  (On view in ‘Painting/Sculpture’ through August 9th).

Gina Beavers, Lips with Painter’s Lips, acrylic and foam on canvas on panel with wood frame, framed: 31 x 31 x 8 inches, 2019

Tony Cox at Marlborough Gallery

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Dramatically colored abstract forms rise off the canvases in Tony Cox’s engaging new show of textured panels at Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea.  Inspired by psychotherapy and Jungian psychology, Cox emerged from a recent health crisis to create labor intensive works that reward contemplative viewing.   (On view through August 2nd).

Tony Cox, Shadow Taser, thread, acrylic, suede, lamb leather, twisted lipcord, poly stuffing on canvas in walnut frame, 73 ½ x 57 ½ inches, 2019.

Robin Kang in ‘Pool Party’ at C24 Gallery

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Robin Kang morphs circuit board imagery into patterns resembling peacock feathers in a textile created with a digitally operated Jacquard hand loom.  An abundance of gold from metallic yarns suggests a link to the divine, the receding space a throne-like seat or corridor leading to the beyond.  (On view in ‘Pool Party’ organized by Field Projects at C24 Gallery in Chelsea through Sept 21st).


Robin Kang, Daggerwing, hand jacquard woven wool, chenille, hand dyed cotton and metallic yarns, 53 x 65 inches, 2016.

Mary Heilmann Sculpture at Gladstone Gallery

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Mary Heilmann’s red and black ceramic sculpture ‘Curl’ seems to defy its title with its angular panels, yet each segment dynamically spins around a central core like a step on a spiral staircase seen from above.  Each tile evokes a riser with three treads or a chunky version of the Egyptian deity Isis’ throne in Constructivist colors that make a bold statement.  (On view at Gladstone Gallery’s 24th Street Chelsea location through July 26th).

Mary Heilmann, Curl, glazed ceramic, 15 ½ x 20 ½ x 2 ¼ inches, 1984.

Kevin Umana at DC Moore Gallery

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Music, 20th century design and the dingy tiles of New York’s Holland Tunnel have inspired New York-based painter Kevin Umana’s abstract canvases.  Here, the artist nods to the award-winning film ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ in the color scheme of this small, energetic, and fractured painting.  (On view in Chelsea at DC Moore Gallery through August 8th).

Kevin Umana, One O’clock Jump, acrylic with marble dust on linen, 12 x 12 inches, 2019.

Math Bass in ‘Throwback Jack’ at Fredericks & Freiser

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In Fredericks & Freiser Gallery’s group show homage to painter John Wesley’s erotically charged Pop aesthetic, Math Bass presents a painting from her ‘Newz!’ series in which pared down, ambiguous signs connect her paintings to Wesley’s.  When a similar painting was installed as a mural in the lobby of the Hammer Museum last fall, the black shape could be read as a one-sleeved shirt.  Here, a dog emerges to play with the pink ball and extended foot.  (On view in Chelsea through July 26th).

Math Bass, Newz!, gouache on canvas, 30h x 70s inches, 2019.

Polly Apfelbaum at Lisson Gallery

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Why paint?  In 1975, Artforum magazine posited the question to artists at a moment when enthusiasm for more contemporary approaches – from conceptual art to video – seemed to have pushed painting out of the vanguard.  Lisson Gallery’s summer group show visits responses then and now as painters pushed the boundaries of what could be considered painting.  Here, Polly Apfelbaum’s synthetic velvet and dye piece ‘Blue Joni’ takes painting off the stretcher and even off of the wall.  (On view in Chelsea through August 9th).

Polly Apfelbaum, Blue Joni, crushed four way stretch synthetic velvet and dye, 152.4 x 426.7cm, 2016.

Tajh Rust in ‘Vernacular Interior’ at Hales Gallery

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Tajh Rust’s portrait of a mom and her daughter embracing on the kitchen floor has a counterpart in a second family picture in which the mother meets our gaze while cradling her child’s head.  The comparison reveals how easy it is to make eye contact with the child vs her assured mother as they occupy private space in a tender moment.  Nevertheless, the girl’s eye becomes the focal point of the painting, highlighting the power of her keen observation.  (On view in ‘Vernacular Interior’ at Hales Gallery in Chelsea through July 20th).

Tajh Rust, Idowu I, oil on PVC, 182.9 x 121.9 cm, 2019.

Claudia Martinez Garay in ‘Ilaciones’ at Timothy Taylor Gallery

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Young Peruvian artist Claudia Martinez Garay’s paintings on plaster in the form of squash associate identity with the products of the land, personality with nourishment.  Though gourds go through quick cycles of growth and decay relative to humans, this shape appears ancient, taking the mind back through distant human histories tied closely to the land.  (On view at Timothy Taylor Gallery in Chelsea through July 26th).

Claudia Martinez Garay, Untitled (head), plaster and watercolor, 5 7/8 x 5 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches, 2018.

Sharon Core at Yancey Richardson Gallery

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From a pastry case featuring a banana split crafted from burlap, plaster and paint to a monumental canvas hamburger, Claes Oldenburg’s sculpted foodstuffs are familiar favorite foods made alarming through their size and materials.   Photographer Sharon Core explores the attraction and repulsion of Oldenburg’s ‘60s classics (including the burger and ice cream) to great effect in her show at Chelsea’s Yancey Richardson Gallery by hand-crafting and photographing a selection of Oldenburg dishes using real food.  In contrast to perfectly-presented delectables commonly featured on social media, Core’s edible recreations of Oldenburg’s artworks initially attract, then repulse, questioning just what we want from food these days.  (On view through July 3rd).

Sharon Core, USA Flag, Fragment, archival pigment print, 40 x 50 7/8 inches, 2019.

Dana Powell at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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The pre-fireworks have already begun in anticipation of July 4th’s big celebrations, not just in NYC neighborhoods but in Chelsea at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, where Dana Powell’s ‘TBT’ recalls the thrills of unsanctioned pyrotechnics.  (On view in Chelsea through July 26th).

Dana Powell, TBT, oil on linen, 11 x 14 inches, 2019.

Josh Smith at David Zwirner Gallery

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‘Holiday,’ Josh Smith’s painting of the Grim Reaper, may represent a vacation in Edvard Munch’s world, but otherwise has more to do with livening up a typically drab comic convention.  A super-abundance of cute bats, Death’s multi-colored robe and a huge moon that’s more pretty-in-pink than bloody liven up a scene that should be darker than it is.  While this representation might not exactly make death look good, the makeover is worth thinking about.  (On view at David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea through July 19th).

Josh Smith, Holiday, oil on linen, 84 x 72 inches, 2019.

Scott Olson Abstractions at James Cohan

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Scott Olson’s new biomorphic abstractions at James Cohan Gallery’s Lower East Side location continue to tap into the language of early 20th century non-objective art, engaging the imagination with a pleasing play of color and form.  A rectangle of dark space at the bottom of the composition sets off what’s above – an array of shapes that tempt interpretation, guiding the eye along diagonally sloping paths toward imagery that resembles the stalks of plants or, above, a segmented area that suggests an arachnid or segmented fruit.  (On view through July 26th).

Scott Olson, Untitled, oil on linen with artist frame, 33 ½ x 23 ½ inches, 2019.

Sarah Cain in ‘cart, horse, cart’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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Using unconventional painting materials like the jewelry chains crisscrossing this canvas, LA-based artist Sarah Cain aims to prompt memories and evoke emotions in her viewers. Actually titled ‘Emotions,’ this painting simultaneously suggests a spill of paint, hanging fabric and fairground flags, blurring abstraction and representation and taking the mind several places at once.  (On view in Lehmann Maupin Gallery’s summer group show ‘cart, horse, cart’ in Chelsea through August 16th).

Sarah Cain, Emotions, acrylic and chains on canvas, 72 x 60 inches, 2018.

Kathia St Hilaire at Derek Eller Gallery

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Three children forge ahead into the unknown on a boat made of braiding hair packaging in this oil-based relief collage on canvas by Yale MFA candidate Kathia St Hilaire.  A standout in Derek Eller Gallery’s current group show, St Hilaire’s image features kids venturing forth under a blazing sun to navigate their own identities and paths in life.  (On view on the Lower East Side through July 3rd).

Kathia St Hilaire, detail of 100% Kanekalon, oil-based relief collage on canvas, kanekalon braiding hair, 54.5 x 42 inches, 2018.

Dylan Martinez in ‘Fire and Water’ at Lyons Wier Gallery

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Washington-based glass artist Dylan Martinez fools the eye with solid glass sculptures that appear to be plastic bags filled with water.  “Our desires often override our true perception of reality,” the artist explains, anticipating the strong urge to believe that there’s water inside each ‘bag’ when, in fact, it’s the reflections on the exterior that create an illusion of movement.  A standout in Lyons Wier Gallery’s ‘Fire & Water’ group exhibition, Martinez also amazes with glass sculptures resembling cross sections of a vase, undulating in space.  (On view in Chelsea through July 6th).

Dylan Martinez, Glass Water Bags, hollow and solid sculpted glass, 2019.

Terry Haggerty Mural at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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It’s risky to take too long a look at Sikkema Jenkins & Co’s gallery wall – British abstract artist Terry Haggerty’s mural can literally upend your balance as his painted lines appear to twist and bend in space.  The optical surprises continue in painted wooden panels that invite us to try to make out the multiple viewpoints depicted in each piece.  Whether you walk away with a headache or invigorated by the effort of wrestling with your perceptions, the show is worth engaging.  (On view in Chelsea through June 30th).

Terry Haggerty, Untitled, acrylic on wall, dimensions variable, 2019.

Kiki Kogelnik at Mitchell-Innes & Nash

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As Pop art burst onto the US art scene in the early 60s, Austrian artist Kiki Kogelnik moved to New York and forged her own related path, imagining humans as robots, bombs as sculpture and later, models as aliens.  In this painting from 1979, Kogelnik morphed the fashion-forward woman of the day into a creature with glowing eyes and stylish garments, hair and skin in reptilian green tones.  Set against floating triangles, the women are as abstract as their backgrounds and ready to defy convention.  (On view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash in Chelsea through June 29th).

Kiki Kogelnik, City, oil and acrylic on canvas, 98 5/8 x 63 1/8 inches, 1979.

Leonardo Drew at Galerie Lelong

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Newly represented by Galerie Lelong, Leonardo Drew’s inaugural show at the gallery arrives with a bang with an installation that resembles a hovering mass of exploded material.  Like the artist’s recently opened outdoor work at Madison Square Park, the piece offers an unexpected blast of color unfamiliar to fans of Drew’s black, white and wood-colored wall sculptures while continuing to ponder themes of destruction and regeneration.  (On view in Chelsea through August 2nd).

Leonardo Drew, Number 215, wood, paint and sand, dimensions variable, 2019.

Frances Goodman in ‘Delicate Industry’ at Richard Taittinger Gallery

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‘Seething’ is the perfect word to describe the undulating mass of red and purple folds that writhe and twist in South African artist Frances Goodman’s ‘Seething Mass,’ a standout in Richard Taittinger Gallery’s current group show.  Composed of acrylic nails in colors that range from blood red to vivid magentas and purples, this abstract wall sculpture hangs near shields that resemble sharpened, painted fingernails.  In both cases, Goodman gives adornment dangerous potential.  (On view on the Lower East Side through June 30th).

Frances Goodman, detail of ‘Seething Red,’ acrylic nails, resin, foam, silicone glue, 51 ¼ x 102 3/8 x 9 inches, 2017.

Claudette Schreuders at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Human connection is the subject of ‘In the Bedroom,’ South African artist Claudette Schreuders’ latest show of wood sculpture at Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery.  Here, in ‘Guilty Bystander,’ Schreuders offers an intimate look at a pensive, uncomfortable character who is somehow implicated in an event that we don’t see, begging the question of whether one must be physically close to an activity to be involved.  (On view through June 22nd).

Claudette Schreuders, Guilty Bystander, jelutong wood, enamel and oil paint, 51 3/16 x 11 13/16 x 16 ½ inches, 2018.

Shara Hughes at Rachel Uffner Gallery

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Shara Hughes’ new paintings of lush, psychedelic flowers dominate landscapes so teeming with life it’s almost alarming.  Here, several colorful plants sprout blossoms supported by curvaceous stems resembling cursive script, as if new language was needed to describe this beautifully alien world.  (On view at Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 23rd).

Shara Hughes, My Organized Flare, oil and acrylic on canvas, 78 x 66 inches, 2019.

Tony Smith at Pace Gallery

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It comes as no surprise when pondering ‘Tau,’ currently installed at Pace Gallery’s 25th Street location, that sculptor Tony Smith began his career as an architect, building spaces designed to be experienced by bodies in motion.  Towering over visitors to the gallery’s 25th Street space, the sculpture’s sleek sophistication invites admiration from all angles.  (On view in Chelsea through June 22nd).

Tony Smith, (foreground) Tau, steel, painted black, 14’ x 21’ 6” x 12’ 4,” 1961-2 and (background) Source, steel, painted black, 9’ 5 ½” x 25’ 1/4” x 24’ 5 3/8,” 1967.

Rena Detrixhe at Spencer Brownstone Gallery

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Finely sifted red soil imported from Oklahoma becomes a patterned carpet in Rena Detrixhe’s first New York solo show at Spencer Brownstone Gallery.  Using a trowel to smooth down the dirt, then imprinting it with modified shoe soles, the Kansas-based artist considers the symbolic value attached to land in the mid-west while alluding to mankind’s impact on it.  (On view on the Lower East Side through June 16th).

Rena Detrixhe, Red Dirt Rug, sifted red soil, 20 x 10 feet, 2019.

Abdoulaye Konate at Blain Southern

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Inspired by his home country’s rich tradition of textile working, Malian artist Abdoulaye Konate employs colorful patterns, cut-out shapes and embroidery to depict a sea abundant with life.  As with many of his representational works, Konate alludes to social issues including the desertification of the country and the lack of access to clean water while he celebrates the beauty of its traditional fabrics and indigo dyes.  (On view at Blain Southern in Chelsea through June 15th).

Abdoulaye Konate, installation view of ‘Ocean, Mother and Life,’ textile, 118 1/8 x 229 7/8 inches, 2015.

Sanya Kantarovsky at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Sanya Kantarovsky’s hauntingly dark new paintings at Luhring Augustine Gallery in Chelsea channel Edvard Munch, James Ensor and Henry Matisse to fascinating but disturbing effect.  The green skinned woman at the center of ‘Needles’ may be in hooked up to an IV but the demon-like figure propping her up suggests suffering more than recovery.  (On view through June 15th).

Sanya Kantarovsky, Needles, oil and watercolor on canvas, 95 x 65 inches, 2019.

Elias Sime, Tightrope: Noiseless 18 at James Cohan

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Addis Ababa-based artist Elias Sime continues to turn discarded electronics into compositions that can suggest aerial maps or abstracted landscapes in his latest show at Chelsea’s James Cohan Gallery.  Computers made in China, sold in the US and discarded in Ethiopia make their way into artworks that implicitly question resource distribution and rampant consumption.  (On view through June 29th.)

Elias Sime, detail of Tightrope: Noiseless 18, reclaimed electrical wires and components on panel, 100 ¼ x 63 ¼ inches, 2019.

Josh Kline, Inundation at 47 Canal

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What happens to humanity if global warming leads to drastic sea level rise?  Josh Kline envisions the end of life as we know it in a provocative sculpture series featuring submerged cities and preserved specimens of everyday 21st century life at 47 Canal on the Lower East Side.  Inside lab hoods, preserved doll-house sized domestic and office environments suggest that what’s normal now may soon be a thing of the past.  (On view through June 9th).

Josh Kline, detail view of Inundation, lab hood, glass, urethane paint, light box, reinforced steel, color filter gel, blackout fabric, contents: glass, silicone, dollhouse miniatures, fabricated miniatures, objects cast in epoxy resin, cyanoacrylate glue, silicone epoxy, 89 ¾ x 48 x 33 inches, 2019.

Todd Gray at David Lewis Gallery

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Coretta Scott King speaks in a photo held by a silent man who himself is superimposed over an elaborate ornamental structure in this photo collage by Todd Gray.  Liberation and the legacy of oppression, particularly of European colonization in Africa and the architectural expressions of wealth it allowed in Europe, come head-to-head in new photo collage by Todd Gray at David Lewis Gallery on the Lower East Side. (On view through June 16th).

Todd Gray, Coretta, two archival pigment prints in artist’s frames and found frames, UV laminate, 51 ½ x 67 x 3 ½ inches, 2019.

Meghann Riepenhoff at Yossi Milo Gallery

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Whether she’s boldly charging into the Pacific Ocean or gingerly stepping into a placid pond to expose a cyanotype, Meghan Riepenhoff continues to generate fascinating and beautiful cameraless images of water.  For this multi-panel work, the artist dipped her prepared photo paper into Utah’s Great Salt Lake, sprinkled on salt from the ground and allowed the work to dry, propped in the sun.  (On view in Chelsea at Yossi Milo Gallery through June 22nd).

Meghann Riepenhoff, Littoral Drift #1170 (Polyptych, Great Salt Lake, UT 08.25.18, Lapping Waves at Shoreline of Antelope Island), six dynamic cyanotypes, approx. 88 x 42 inches, unique, 2018.

Helen Pashgian at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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California Light and Space artist Helen Pashgian’s striking acrylic columns are both warm and austere, drawing visitors to Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery in closer to see the mysterious, barely visible shapes within.  Calling them ‘presences,’ Pashgian acknowledges that each distinct body has a character that can be perceived by alert viewers.  (On view through May 24th).

Helen Pashgian, (foreground) Untitled (orange), (background) Untitled (green), formed acrylic with acrylic elements, 2009.

Elsa Sahal at Natalie Karg Gallery

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Curvy harlequins and female clowns populate French artist Elsa Sahal’s latest solo show of ceramic sculpture at Natalie Karg Gallery on the Lower East Side.  Inspired by Picasso’s actors in diamond-patterned clothing, these two truncated figures enact a choreography that could be read as erotic or menacing.  (On view through June 15th).

Elsa Sahal, Harlequins Duo, glazed ceramic, 34 5/8 x 27 ½ inches, 2019.

Lorna Simpson at Hauser & Wirth

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In the Arctic, ‘so much believed to be white is actually – strikingly – blue,’ writes award-winning American poet Robin Coste Lewis in a text applied to the wall at the entrance to Lorna Simpson’s solo show at Hauser & Wirth.  Titled ‘Darkening’ and featuring monumentally scaled paintings combining text and images from Ebony magazine, the AP and National Archives, the new work pictures bodies and icy landscapes commenting on, as Simpson has explained, ‘inhospitable conditions and how to survive those conditions.’  (On view in Chelsea through July 27th).

Lorna Simpson, Blue Turned Temporal, ink and screenprint on gessoed fiberglass, 102 x 144 x 1 3/8 inches, 2019.

Frank Stella Abstract Sculpture at Marianne Boesky

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Frank Stella’s latest abstract sculptures are as colorfully exuberant as ever, presenting viewers at Marianne Boesky Gallery with plenty to peruse.  Derived from digital processes, the twists and turns of shiny aluminum components take sculpture beyond the handmade.  (On view in Chelsea through June 22nd).

Frank Stella, Plan de la Tour Mirrored Relief, paint on aluminum, acrylic, 157 x 189 x 41 inches, 2018.

Robert Longo at Metro Pictures

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Resembling a disco ball and wrecking ball, Robert Longo’s dramatic 1.5 ton sculpture ‘Death Star’ draws viewers into Metro Pictures in Chelsea to discover a sphere covered with 40,000 inert assault rifle bullets.  Referring to the number of deaths by gun violence in the US in 2017, the number has more than doubled from those included in a similar piece by Longo from 1993.  (On view through May 25th).

Robert Longo, Death Star 2018, approximately 40,000 inert bullets (brass, copper, lead) welded to the frame; steel I-beams; steel chain, 254 ½ x 254 ½ x 144 inches, 2018.

Paola Pivi at Perrotin Gallery

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The word for Italian born, Alaska-based artist Paola Pivi’s installation of multi-colored, feathered baby bears at Perrotin Gallery on the Lower East Side is ‘cute.’  Explaining that the installation was inspired by her adopted son’s “energy, life and positivity,” Pivi developed a series of bears playfully fighting, doing acrobatics and generally looking to inspire ‘awwwws.’  (On view through June 8th).

Paola Pivi, installation view of ‘We Are the Baby Gang’ at Perrotin Gallery, April 2019.

Elise Engler at Frosch and Portmann Gallery

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Having painted every block on Broadway and drawn every object she owns, New York artist Elise Engler is no stranger to the long-term project.  Her most recent obsession – creating a daily visual record of radio news headlines since November 2015 – has resulted in a dense installation of images on the walls of Frosch and Portman Gallery on the Lower East Side.  A somber recording of natural disasters, political intrigue and more, the assembled works testify to troubled times.  (On view through May 19th).

Elise Engler, installation view of ‘Diary of a Radio Junkie: 1237 Days of Waking up to the News,’ April 2019.

Matthew Hansel in Post Analogue Studio at The Hole NYC

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17th century Dutch still life painters delighted in the effect of light hitting rich fabric or shiny glass; contemporary Brooklyn artist Matthew Hansel is into optical delights of a different sort as he mimics digital distortion in oil and flashe paint.  Included in The Hole’s continuing investigation of how digital techniques have impacted non-digitally created art, this shaped painting throws a little fun-house mirror effect into a traditional momento mori.  (On view on the Lower East Side through May 19th).

Matthew Hansel, The Tide That Left and Never Came Back, oil and flashe paint on linen mounted on panel, 30 x 44 inches, 2019.

Peter Blake at Garth Greenan Gallery

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Did Warhol just like Campbell’s soup?  Was Roy Lichtenstein simply enamored of blonds?  American pop art thrives on its ambiguous criticality towards consumption and mass media marketing, but iconic British pop art icon Peter Blake’s enjoyment of contemporary culture feels less ambiguous.  In a noteworthy show at Garth Greenan Gallery, for which a portion of Blake’s London studio has been packed up and reinstalled in Chelsea, the artist’s portraits of wrestlers, clowns, musicians and Marilyn-like woman are a tribute to the more and less famous.  (On view through May 18th).

Peter Blake, Mary Lin Monroe Fabulous Texan MM, acrylic, enamel and assemblage on board, 16 x 8 ¾ x 1 ½ inches, 2019.

Firelei Baez at James Cohan Gallery

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Under a recreation of the night sky as it appeared at the start of the Haitian Revolution, Firelei Baez presents a dramatic installation at James Cohan Gallery’s Lower East Side space featuring empowered female figures who assert their presence in the gallery and in history.  Wearing a tignon that refers to the 18th century legal requirement for African-diasporic women to cover their hair, this casually posed yet regal figure lacks a mouth yet speaks with her eyes.  (On view through June 16th).

Firelei Baez, installation view of A Drexcyen Chronocommons (To win the war you fought it sideways) at James Cohan Gallery on the Lower East Side, April 2019.

Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Amid a mass of vibrant color, a solitary eye peeks out from beneath a pattern that recalls decorative fencing in this photo by Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery. The barrier, created by meticulously making tiny tears in the surface of a photo, deflects our gaze, shielding the subject protectively.  (On view in Chelsea through May 11th).

Paul Anthony Smith, A Sense of Familiar, unique picotage on inkjet print, colored pencil mounted on museum board, 40 x 60 inches, 2018.

Raqib Shaw Paintings at Pace Gallery

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Raqib Shaw’s richly imagined scenes at Pace Gallery are dominated by the verdant Kashmiri landscape and a tribe of cavorting and lounging peacock-headed characters, who echo the poses of picnicking Parisians lounging in a park in Manet’s 1862 painting Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe.  Intricately painted in vibrant enamel colors, Shaw’s new paintings are a feast for the eyes. (On view in Chelsea through May 18th).

Raqib Shaw, detail of ‘From Narcissus to Icarus (After Dejeuner sur l’herbe),’ acrylic liner and enamel on birch wood, 60 5/8 x 71 5/8 inches, 2019.

Jorge Palacios at Danese Corey Gallery

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Titled after the Japanese dolls that return to an upright state if knocked over, Spanish artist Jorge Palacios’ sculpture ‘Okiagari-Koboshi’ is so strikingly shaped, it’s viewers eyes that will keep returning.  Resembling a muscle-bound arm extending a slender fist or an oversized 3-D piece of punctuation, the tension between slim and full organic forms offers many interpretations. (On view at Danese Corey Gallery in Chelsea through May 4th).

Jorge Palacios, Okiagari-Koboshi, accoya wood, 65.75 x 47.25 x 39.375 inches, 2018.

Alicja Kwade, ParaParticular at 303 Gallery

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Starting with a 3D scan of a boulder, Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade gradually transforms the large rock into a sphere and a square, morphing through different materials along the way and separating each phase by a mirror.  At rear, a steel framework supports three more stones, identical in mass and weight but shaped and positioned to look otherwise.  Kwade’s intention – to challenge viewers to question what they perceive – results in a puzzling and provocative exhibition.  (On view at 303 Gallery in Chelsea through May 18th).

Alicja Kwade, installation view of ‘ParaParticular’ at 303 Gallery, April 2019.

Vivian Suter at Barbara Gladstone Gallery

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From her studio on a former coffee plantation in rural Guatemala, Argentine-Brazilian artist Vivian Suter created the large-scale paintings currently hanging from the ceiling, covering walls and extending to the floor at Gladstone Gallery’s 21st Street location.  Inspired by nature and literally created outdoors, sometimes in conjunction with the elements, Suter aims to subordinate art to the power of nature.  (On view in Chelsea through June 8th).

Vivian Suter, installation view at Gladstone Gallery, April 2019.

Victoria Sambunaris at Yancey Richardson Gallery

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Tankers arrayed like a minimalist piece of land art in this photograph by Victoria Sambunaris turn an otherwise drab landscape near Salt Lake City into study in form and function.  Ringed by a barely visible mountains and spread out under voluminous clouds, the trains in their tight formation dominate the natural world in this image.  (On view at Yancey Richardson Gallery through May 11th).

Victoria Sambunaris, Untitled (Tankers), Salt Lake City, chromogenic print, 40 x 56 inches, 2018.

Barthelemy Toguo at Galerie Lelong

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Part installation, part performance, Cameroonian-French artist Barthelemy Toguo’s ‘Urban Requiem’ begins with a room of charcoal drawings of African Americans killed by police and culminates in a gallery of heavy, wooden, torso-shaped stamps marked with messages.  Against the back wall of the show, prints made using the stamps advocate for peace and respect for human life.  The stamp in the foreground incites hope for ‘All the world’s futures.’  (On view at Galerie Lelong in Chelsea through May 11th).

Barthelemy Toguo, Installation view of ‘Urban Requiem’ at Galerie Lelong, April 2019.

Arghavan Khosravi in ‘Four’ at Yossi Milo Gallery

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A male authority figure crumbles as he leads three young women toward a shattered monolith in Arghavan Khosravi’s lushly painted ‘Mesmerized, Listen to the Big Brother’ at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea.  Though eerily uniform and restrained by shackles connected to earbuds around their necks, the women are real and may free themselves as the illusion ahead of them breaks apart.  (On view through April 27th).

Arghavan Khosravi, Mesmerized, Listen to the Big Brother, acrylic, cement and colored pencil on found wood block printed fabric and mounted on wood panel, 52 ¼ x 39 ¼ inches, 2019.

Jim McDowell at Cavin Morris Gallery

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North Carolina potter Jim McDowell channels the ceramic styles of enslaved craftsmen from the mid-19th century in face jugs with a message.  ‘War Ends Nothing’ says the text written into the side of ‘War ‘n’ Peace’ on the left, while ‘Trayvon’ at center carries words that expresses anger at and healing after the death of Trayvon Martin.  (On view at Cavin Morris Gallery in Chelsea through April 20th).

Jim McDowell, War ‘n’ Peace, ceramic, fired in a wood burning kiln; made of high fire clay, glazed with Malcolm Davis shino and embellished with china teeth, 8.5 x 8.5 x 8 inches, 2014.

Nikki Maloof at Jack Hanley Gallery

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Nikki Maloof puts her audience right in the cage with these canaries while free pigeons cavort outside.  Newspaper headlines on the pages papering the cage alternate between self-help and anxious messages while a dynamic twisting branch and electric colors of the yellow birds against a pink wall suggest pleasure and danger.  (On view at Jack Hanley Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 21st).

Nikki Maloof, Canaries, oil on canvas, 70 x 88 inches, 2018.

Amanda Baldwin at Thierry Goldberg Gallery

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The back glow behind the woman in Amanda Baldwin’s ‘Blushing Orchid’ and the neon-like outline of flowers against the wall suggest that the artist has a paintbrush in hand and her mind in the digital realm.  The surreal, collage-like effect of pairing a realistic eye with Photoshop features or delicate blooms with blanched fern fronds deliberately juxtaposes the pleasure of looking in the digital and analogue realms. (On view at Thierry Goldberg Gallery through April 28th.)

Amanda Baldwin, Blushing Orchid, oil on canvas, 53 x 42 inches, 2019.

Sopheap Pich, Dyad at Tyler Rollins Fine Art

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This nearly ten-foot high bamboo and rattan sculpture by Sopheap Pich is a standout in the second iteration of the Cambodian artist’s two-part solo show at Tyler Rollins Fine Art in Chelsea.  Inspired by a Louis MacNeice poem about reconciling opposites, Pich suggests seed pods and lungs with a piece that is 2-D, 3-D and larger than life.  (On view through April 19th).

Sopheap Pich, Dyad, wood, bamboo, rattan, wire, 117 ¾ x 65 ¼ x 12 ¼ inches, 2019.

Jia Aili at Gagosian Gallery

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Worlds collide in Beijing-based artist Jia Aili’s huge, apocalyptic paintings at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea.  An ominous, oval-shaped portal appears to generate flashes of lightning and cause a disruption in space and time while to the left, a puffy, cloud-like figure shoots up toward a mysterious black orb.  Whether this is an alien-invasion or some kind of terrestrial catastrophe, the drama is deeply absorbing.  (On view at Gagosian Gallery’s 21st Street location in Chelsea through April 13th).

Jia Aili, Frozen Light, oil on canvas, 125 3/16 x 100 13/16 inches, 2017.

Luis Flores at Salon94 Bowery

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LA based artist Luis Flores deliberately employs the feminized craft of crochet to create self-portraits which undermine the concepts of masculinity he learned as a boy from his male relatives.  Here, he fights with himself in an installation featuring a series of wrestling moves enacted by his body doubles and observed by his passive and skeptical wife. (On view at Salon94 Bowery on the Lower East Side through April 20th).

Luis Flores, Tornado, yarn, AAA t-shirt, Levi’s jeans, Vans shoes and socks, 57 x 69 x 36 inches, 2019.

Susan Jane Walp at Tibor de Nagy Gallery

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Vermont-based painter Susan Jane Walp cites early Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca and 20th century great Giorgio Morandi as influences on her painting style.  Accordingly, Walp’s carefully tilted pummelo and spoon exude alertness, suggesting the objects depicted are literally poised for a diner.  A cropped wine cork, pewter jug and glass egg cup extend off the canvas to allude to a wider spread of items in this measured yet rich array.   (On view at Tibor de Nagy Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 14th).

Susan Jane Walp, Pummelo with Spoon, oil on linen, 10 ¼ x 10 inches, 2014.

Michael Sailstorfer at Galerie Perrotin

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Berlin-based artist Michael Sailstorfer’s tear-themed show at Galerie Perrotin aims to convert sadness to fun.  Here, a rickety farm building is destroyed by wrecking balls in the shape of teardrops (cables were removed post-production). Elsewhere, the artist prepares tear-shaped lumps of coal for burning and morphed Bavarian beer bottles into tear-shapes with the help of a glass-blower.  (On view on the Lower East Side through April 13th).

Michael Sailstorfer, Tranen, video, 2015.

Isaac Julien at Metro Pictures Gallery

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Based on the life of Frederick Douglass, the most photographed American man of the 19th century, British filmmaker Isaac Julien’s new ten-screen installation ‘Lessons of the Hour’ brings Douglass’ remarkable life and oratory talents into focus at Metro Pictures Gallery.  Here, actors play the role of Douglass and his wife traveling by rail, echoing and contrasting his escape via train as a young man to freedom in New York. (On view in Chelsea through April 13th).

Isaac Julien, The North Star (Lessons of the Hour), glass inkjet paper mounted on aluminum, 63 x 84 inches, 2019.

Jennifer Steinkamp at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

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A field of fruit appears perfect until it begins to move and collide, revealing soft surfaces that bespeak rot below a flawless exterior.  Titled Impeach I, this animation by Jennifer Steinkamp began life as an LA billboard and now exists as a selection of constantly moving, morphing and reforming fruit.  (On view at Lehmann Maupin Gallery’s 22nd Street Chelsea location through April 13th).

Jennifer Steinkamp, Impeach 1, video installation, dimensions variable, 2019.

Carlos Vega at Jack Shainman Gallery

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From persecuted religious figures to the first recorded female sculptor in Spain, Spanish artist Carlos Vega’s portrait paintings bring to light histories of remarkable women who refused traditional gender roles.  Here, Vega switches from mortals to marvel at the divine with an image of Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity.  (On view at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea through March 30th).

Carlos Vega, Lakshmi, acrylic on canvas, 79 5/8 x 45 ¾ x 2 ½ inches, 2019.

David Weiss at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Before late Swiss artist David Weiss joined forces with Peter Fischli to become the charmingly eccentric duo Fischli and Weiss, he traveled widely, drawing as he went.  Also inspired by underground comics, Weiss produced drawings like this tongue-in-cheek take on Giacometti’s famously reduced figure, currently on view at Matthew Marks Gallery’s 24th Street location. (On view through April 6th).

David Weiss, Untitled (Giacometti), watercolor, ink and graphite on paper, 9 3/8 x 6 ½ inches, 1978.

Andisheh Avini at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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External architecture comes indoors at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea, where Iranian-American artist Andisheh Avini has installed two domed forms.  Born and raised in the US but inspired by his Iranian heritage, Avini provocatively arranges these two quasi-readymades (the domes are crafted and painted by hand) to suggest danger via their pointed spires, around which visitors are invited to step. (On view in Chelsea through April 6th).

Andisheh Avini, Untitled, acrylic, brass, foam, resin and wood, two works, each approx: 8 x 10 feet, 2019.

Kiki Smith, Sun at Pace Gallery

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A cross section of a tree turns into a bosom in Kiki Smith’s bronze sculpture, ‘Sun,’ a highlight of new work at Pace Gallery that pulls human bodies into close contact with nature.  This sculpture’s golden patina recalls gilded, divine bodies while revealing its origins in a majestically-sized tree that nurtures.  (On view on 24th Street in Chelsea through March 30th).

Kiki Smith, Sun, bronze, 32 x 48 x 24 inches, 2018.

Daniel Rozin Installation at Bitforms

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Ceramic fragments resembling cracked mud ripple like water in response to visitors’ movements at Bitforms on the Lower East Side, creating a surprising and delightful effect, despite the worrying allusion to a parched environment. Part of Rozin’s new series of mechanical mirrors – interactive artworks that respond via motion sensor to a visitor’s movements which Rozin has created since the late 90s – the new mirrors inhabit a darkened gallery, creating a theatrical feeling that heightens the senses. (On view through March 17th).

Daniel Rozin, Cracked Mud, ceramic fragments, custom software, motors, control electronics, motion sensors, light fixture, 4 x 132 x 132 inches, 2019.

Nicholas Buffon, Bethesda Fountain at Callicoon Fine Arts

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Central Park is bursting with color and life in this acrylic painting by New York artist Nicholas Buffon, currently on view on the Lower East Side at Callicoon Fine Arts.  Featuring the Bethesda Fountain’s ‘Angel of the Waters’ by queer sculptor Emma Stebbins, the painting calls attention to and celebrates sites important to LGBTQ communities around the city.  (On view through March 24th).

Nicholas Buffon, Bethesda Fountain, acrylic and carbon transfer on Bristol paper, 20 ½ x 13 ½ inches, 2018.

 

 

Erik Olson at Bravin Lee

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Inspired by views of distant galaxies via NASA’s Hubble Telescope, Canadian painter Erik Olson launched a series of paintings that bring his characteristic bright color and expressive forms to outer space.  Including paintings made with DS black, a light absorbing coating material, Olson’s show at Bravin Lee expresses wonder at and appreciation of our world and beyond.  (On view in Chelsea through March 16th).

Erik Olson, Earth (Night View), oil, acrylic and flashe on canvas, 71 x 82 ¾ inches, 2018-19

Jen Liu at Simone Subal Gallery

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Female legs become soft beakers in Jen Liu’s painting of a luxuriously gold-toned world populated by detached body parts, currently on view at Simone Subal Gallery on the Lower East Side.  A floating head connects by thin gold wire to the legs, while giant fingers reach in from the side to manipulate events.  A nearby video featuring a hot dog factory manned by cadres of female workers aims at “resolving the inequities of wealth and resource distribution through the factory-produced hot dog.”  (On view through March 24th).

Jen Liu, PSCS Gold Loop: Shoe Tubes, acrylic ink, acrylic gouache, and gold acrylic on paper, 70 x 51 inches, 2017.

Wilmer Wilson IV at Susan Inglett Gallery

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Thousands of staples obscure and decorate the surface of a photo mounted on wood by Philadelphia-based artist Wilmer Wilson IV at Susan Inglett Gallery.  Hiding the besuited figures barely visible below, the staples create an antsy rhythm, reflect light and deflecting viewers’ gaze. (On view in Chelsea through March 16th).

Wilmer Wilson IV, Host, staples and pigment print on wood, 48 x 192 x 2 ¼ inches (diptych), 2018.

Judy Pfaff at Miles McEnery Gallery

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From melted plastics to acrylic paint on paper from old Indian ledgers, Judy Pfaff’s use of traditional and non-traditional art materials continues to set her exuberantly colored new assemblages apart.  Now on view at Miles McEnery Gallery, her new riotous new creations are dominated by circular and organic forms. Part of a series of pieces title ‘Quartet,’ they find harmony in difference.  (On view through March 9th in Chelsea).

Judy Pfaff, detail of ‘Quartet + 1, photographic inspired digital image, aluminum disks, acrylic, melted plastic, 102 x 120 x 26 inches, 2018.

Jordan Kasey, The Play at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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Like Fernando Botero’s swelling human figures, Jordan Kasey’s monumental painted bodies transport viewers out of the everyday.  Kasey’s figures, however, have the ponderous heaviness of stone enlivened by a sometimes-electric color palette, a dynamic that gives her massive paintings unique energy.  (On view at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 17th).

Jordan Kasey, The Play, oil on canvas, 66 x 72 inches, 2018.

Georg Baselitz, Willem de K at Gagosian

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Iconic 20th century German painter Georg Baselitz pays homage to artists who’ve inspired him in a new series of portrait paintings at Gagosian Gallery.  Presented in Baselitz’s characteristic upside-down format, figures from Tracey Emin to Willem de Kooning (pictured here) hover against black backgrounds in an ethereal glow that suggests a ghostly background presence in the mind of the artist.  (On view through March 16th).

Georg Baselitz, Willem de K, oil on canvas, 64 15/16 x 39 3/8 inches, 2018.

Kathy Ruttenberg at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art

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Kathy Ruttenberg’s signature human/animal hybrids debuted on New York City streets this winter as large-scale sculptures in the Broadway malls project, a public art project located between 64th and 157th Streets on Broadway.  This macquette for a sculpture on 157th Street, currently on view at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, brings her storytelling back to an intimate scale as a human-bodied stag pursues a quixotic romance with a confined mermaid.  (On view on 57th Street at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art through March 8th).

Kathy Ruttenberg, Fishbowl Maquette, ceramic, acrylic, wood, plaster, 20 x 24 x 26 inches, 2016/18.

Richard Slee at Hales Gallery

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British ceramic artist Richard Slee’s ongoing installation of ceramic hammers and tools with wooden handles is a thought-provoking jumble of tongue-in-cheek contradictions, starting with the impossibility of using any of these tools for actual labor.  Like Pete Seeger’s famous intention to ‘hammer out love,’ the concept is more convincing than the reality, as suggested by this abandoned pile.  (On view at Hales Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 23rd).

Richard Slee, Hammers, 2010 – ongoing, glazed ceramic with wood hammer handles, wood stain, rubber, metal and found additions in 325 parts.

Ellen Berkenblit in ‘Samaritans’ at Eva Presenhuber Gallery

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Ellen Berkenblit’s snarling big cat dominates Eva Presenhuber Gallery’s basement, where the group show ‘Samaritans’ assembles painting, sculpture and photography that spin strange tales.  Above the animal, pipes spew blue clouds while below (or in the distance?) a truck dumps a load of materials.  Trapped in the middle of human endeavors, this powerful creature bares its teeth.  (On view in the East Village through March 2nd).

Ellen Berkenblit, Captain of the Road, oil and paint stick on linen, 57 x 76 inches, 2018.

Theodora Allen at Paul Kasmin Gallery

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LA painter Theodora Allen’s first New York solo show features medieval shields as frames for plants with medicinal or harmful uses.  Here, the hallucinogenic Jimsonweed materializes on the support like a ghostly presence, pointing to the non-tangible world of experience.  (On view at Paul Kasmin Gallery’s 515 West 27th Street location through March 9th.)

Theodora Allen, Shield (Jimsonweed), oil and watercolor on linen, 26 x 20 inches, 2018.

Josh Sperling at Perrotin Gallery

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Josh Sperling describes his shaped canvases as “simple, beautiful, and fun” in a recent Perrotin Gallery video that touts the pleasures of looking.  He can add ‘huge’ to describe fifteen-foot tall Hocus Pocus, a centerpiece of his current show at the gallery. Evoking flowers or ripples from raindrops in water, the assemblage of eighty-four separate paintings is pure enjoyment.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 16th).

Josh Sperling, installation view of Hocus Pocus, acrylic on canvas (84 elements), 15 x 18 feet, 2018.

Rodney Graham, Tattooed Man on Balcony at 303 Gallery

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A tattoo of Popeye battling a squid inspired the cartoon-themed body art on this pensive pensioner, an invented character by Rodney Graham.   Standing on the balcony of his ‘Vancouver Special’ sporting a rebellious rockabilly style, the character – played by Graham – stands out amid the trappings of middle-class culture.  (On view at Chelsea’s 303 Gallery through Feb 23rd).

Rodney Graham, Tattooed Man on Balcony, two painted aluminum lightboxes with transmounted chromogenic transparencies, 109 5/8 x 64 5/8 x 7 inches, 2018.

Marlon Mullen Paintings at JTT Gallery

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Art magazine covers inspired Marlon Mullen’s latest body of work, a series of paintings on view at JTT Gallery that revamp the eye-catching images on the country’s best-known art publications.  From his studio at the NIAD Center for Art & Disabilities, Mullen here refines a unique vision that injects vivid color, graphic boldness, and some whimsy into a reworking of a 2014 ArtNews cover featuring Yemeni photographer Boushra Almutawakel’s image of a woman wearing a U.S. flag as headscarf. (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 17th).

Marlon Mullen, untitled, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, 2017.

Eleanor Ray at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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Eleanor Ray’s sunny Texas, Wyoming and Utah landscapes at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery are an enticing alternative to dreary mid-winter New York City.  Despite their size (c. 6.5 inches high), the tiny oil paintings communicate wide open spaces suffused with light;  here in ‘Wyoming Window,’ the silhouette of a window next to a view from another window turns the sun into an almost tangible presence in the room.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 10th).

Eleanor Ray, Wyoming Window, June, 2018, oil on panel, 6 ½ x 8 inches.

Richard Deacon at Marian Goodman Gallery

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Flowing water, curling strands of cable and licorice come to mind when encountering Richard Deacon’s dynamic steamed wood sculpture ‘Under the Weather #2.’  Appearing to both hang down from above like a Sheila Hicks fiber installation and rise up from the floor like a rearing snake, the piece is energized by its contradictory suggestions of slackness and tense energy.  (On view on 57th Street at Marian Goodman Gallery through Feb 16th).

Richard Deacon, Under the Weather #2, steamed wood, 136 ¼ x 45 x 35 3/8 inches, 2016.

Charles Long, Paradigm Lost at Tanya Bonakdar

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While sketching a tree stump in an area of trees lost to climate change near his home, California sculptor Charles Long was inspired by the devastation caused by patriarchal culture to merge a cross section of the dead plant with that of a human penis.  Strangely humanoid, the transection is rendered in a huge scale at the back of Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, a plaintive and comedic monument to loss.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 9th).

Charles Long, installation view of ‘Paradigm Lost’ at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, January 2019.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, God Made My Face at David Zwirner

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

James Baldwin’s intellectual legacy and his powerful impact on contemporary culture is the subject of David Zwirner Gallery’s current group exhibition, or ‘collective portrait,’ of the late writer and thinker.  By displaying the work of other artists alongside documents and ephemera related to Baldwin, curator Hilton Als considers how the writer may have continued to make art had his career developed differently after the seminal ‘The Fire Next Time.’  In one of the show’s highlights, Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s collaged photo draws on images from Nigerian and U.S. West Coast cultures, creating a provocative hybridity. (On view in Chelsea on 19th Street through Feb 16th).

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nyado: The Thing Around Her Neck, acrylic, photographic transfers, color pencil, charcoal and collage on paper, 81 ½ x 81 ¾ inches, 2011.

Jeanette Mundt in ‘The Rest’ at Lisson Gallery

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Jeanette Mundt’s vivid red poppies look anything but innocent in this painting, testifying to the power of the plant as a drug.  Painted from an on-line source, inspired by Van Gogh’s poppies and including a hidden image of a reclining woman, this rich and seductive image speaks to the possibility of multiple sources to reconfigure as a meaningful image.  (On view in ‘The Rest’ at Lisson Gallery through Feb 16th).

Jeanette Mundt, Heroin, oil on linen, 40 x 36 inches, 2018.

Claudia Comte Solo Show at Barbara Gladstone

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Swiss artist Claudia Comte makes walls the focus of her latest solo show at Chelsea’s Barbara Gladstone Gallery, nodding to US politics, cave paintings and installations like Sol LeWitt’s rule-based wall drawings.  Destined to be popular on Instagram as selfie-backdrops, the show reinforces Comte’s wish to make art not just for the art world elite but for everyone.  (On view on 24th Street through Feb 16th).

Claudia Comte, back wall: The Morphing Scallops (black on white) and right wall: Half Circles in a Grid (black on white) acrylic wall painting, dimensions variable, 2019.

James Siena, Spoolstone at Pace Gallery

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Fans of James Siena’s rule-driven abstract paintings have new lines of enquiry to follow as the artist experiments with a canvas support (vs enamel on aluminum) and expands his normally intimate scale to sizable new works at Pace Gallery.  (On view through Feb 9th in Chelsea).

James Siena, Spoolstone, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 36 x 48 inches, 2017.

Jorge Mendez Blake in ‘Borders’ at James Cohan Gallery

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Borders are front and center in U.S. politics and at James Cohan Gallery where Jorge Mendez Blake’s ‘Amerika’ bisects the main exhibition space, arresting both visitors’ thoughts and physical progress through the show.  Mid-way along the base of the wall, Mendez Blake has placed a copy of Kafka’s ‘Amerika,’ the troubled tale of a European immigrant to New York, intimating that migration is a fraught undertaking from start to finish.  (On view at James Cohan Gallery’s Chelsea and Lower East Side spaces through Feb 23rd).

Jorge Mendez Blake, Amerika, bricks, edition of ’Amerika’ by Franz Kafka, 72 7/8 x 11 7/8 x 400 inches, 2019.

Fatemeh Baigmoradi in ‘GRACE’ at Laurence Miller Gallery

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Iranian-born artist Fatemeh Baigmoradi’s burnt photographs recall her father’s attempt to avoid arrest by burning his photos of events that tied him to an oppressed political minority after the Islamic Revolution in Iran.  The artist connects the resulting images – characterized by beautiful halos of color – to a Persian painting tradition that painted a glow around the heads of featureless holy figures.  Her installation, seen here in detail, is a standout in Laurence Miller Gallery’s ‘GRACE’ exhibition, a multi-faceted and fascinating exploration of gender, race and identity.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 22nd).

Fatemeh Baigmoradi, installation view of selected works from the series ‘It’s Hard to Kill,’ 2017 at Laurence Miller Gallery, January, 2019.

Charles White at David Zwirner Gallery

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Charles White called painting his weapon in fighting racism and poverty in the United States.  His painting of a sharecropper from 1947-48 demonstrates the difficulty of that life and the resilience of the farmers.  Part of an exhibition highlighting White’s last mural – a celebration of the achievements of educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune – the work exhibits White’s commitment to representational art (when abstraction was becoming the new norm) in service of social change.  (On view at David Zwirner Gallery through Feb 16th).

Charles White, Sharecropper, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 1947-1948.

Josef Albers at David Zwirner Gallery

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Just months before color theorist, abstract art pioneer and teacher Josef Albers passed away, a book titled ‘Sonic Design’ paid homage to his mid-century abstractions that could be discussed in musical terms.  In particular, his series of shapes outlined against a dark background appeared simple but, like music, shift over time in how they might be read, with planes receding at one moment and coming forward the next.  The book delighted Albers and inspired David Zwirner Gallery’s current show, which brings together select pieces of glass work from Albers’ time at the Bauhaus in Germany, paintings from his iconic ‘Homage to the Square’ series and more, to consider how color, shape and sound might relate. (On view through Feb 16th).

Josef Albers, Structural Constellation, machine-engraved plastic laminate mounted on wood, 17 x 22 ½ x 7/8 inches, c. 1950.