Strapped for cash to buy art supplies after a trip to Africa in the early 80s, Al Taylor started fashioning sculptures from material found on the street, transferring his usual work on paper and canvas to three dimensions. Cans & Hoops – fashioned from plastic hula hoops, tin cans & wire – allows his 2-D drawings to come alive in real space. (At David Zwirner Gallery, through Oct 27th).
With over 200 solo shows to his credit, Chuck Close is one of America’s best known artists, and he’s still pushing the boundaries of his craft. His latest solo show at Pace Gallery’s 534 W. 25th Street space features oil paintings, watercolors made with a printer and other works, including this portrait of artist Kara Walker made with oil and a felt hand stamp. (Through Dec 22nd.)
Mickalene Thomas’s ‘Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe: Les trois femmes noires,’ rethinks Manet’s 1863 original by substituting three black women for Manet’s two men and a nude woman. Manet’s version was rejected by the Salon, while Thomas’s rhinestone bedecked beauties headline her current show at the Brooklyn Museum (Through Jan 20th.)
Further to yesterday’s post, Ai Weiwei’s activism continues at Mary Boone’s Chelsea gallery with ‘Forge’ an installation of twisted pieces of rebar. Though the print and carefully arranged, twisted pieces of metal on the floor appear to be calligraphic abstractions, they’re created from pieces of metal retrieved from shoddily constructed schools that collapsed in the 2008 earthquake, killing thousands of children. (Through 21st.)
In Chinese, ‘river crab’ sounds like a euphemistic term used to describe censorship, so when artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei learned in 2010 that his newly built studio was to be demolished by the local government, he hosted a protest feast at which 10,000 river crabs were served. This installation of 2,500 handmade ceramic crabs at Mary Boone Gallery’s Fifth Ave & 57th Street space recalls that event and demonstrates WeiWei’s insuppressible resistance. (Through Dec 21st.)
