Mickalene Thomas is having her moment in New York, with gallery shows at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in Chelsea and on the Lower East Side while her retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum continues. This landscape, now on view on the Lower East Side and titled ‘Vertical View of Jardin D’Eau’ was inspired by Thomas’ residency at Monet’s residence and garden at Giverny, home of his famous water lilies. (At Lehmann Maupin Gallery through Jan 5th).
Though it looks like a mini-version of a Doug Wheeler Light & Space installation crossed with a urinal and an abstracted cleavage, this wall indentation (designed by architecture firm Diller, Scofidio & Renfro) is the receptacle for an artwork that is scent alone. It is one of twelve concoctions on display in the Museum of Art & Design’s ‘The Art of Scent’ and is called L’Eau d’Issey after designer Issay Miyake, who commissioned a scent that would suggest water. (Through Feb 24th, 2013).
For a decade, Trenton Doyle Hancock’s busy, messy and captivating collages told the tales of his invented creatures – the Mounds and the Vegans. He leaves those characters behind in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s James Cohan Gallery, but not before making this disconcerting self-portrait in which his eye and mostly removed face emerges from the open maw of a screaming, striped Mound. (through Dec 22nd)
London-based artist Alice Channer’s sculpture ‘Backbone’ makes the best use of stirrup pants ever. Cast in polyurethane resin and paired with aluminum bars, they elegantly slink across the gallery floor towards two huge vertical banners featuring elongated shampoo bottles. (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 23rd).
Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi’s window installation at Chelsea’s Lombard-Freid Gallery remains from pre-Hurricane Sandy, though his installation of politically attuned drawings made directly on newpaper front-pages had not yet opened when this photo was taken – exactly three weeks after the storm. It’s a poignant plug for critical thinking.