Allen Ruppersberg in ‘Context Message’ at Zach Feuer Gallery

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Allen Ruppersberg, 'What Should I Do?,' 1988, silkscreen on steel.
Allen Ruppersberg, ‘What Should I Do?,’ 1988, silkscreen on steel.

Allen Ruppersberg’s ‘What Should I Do?’ from 1988 poses a simple but often relevant question.  It relates to his ‘70s autobiographical project ‘The Novel that Writes Itself’ for which he sold the parts of individual characters to people he knew.  By the 80s, he hadn’t resolved the novel and in its place, began accumulating a series of short, unrelated texts like this one.   Though only a few words, it assumes a lot: that the speaker has an audience, agency and options.  With almost no means, this silkscreen on steel portrays a life in flux. (At Zach Feuer through August 3rd).

Hiroshi Sunairi at The Queens Museum of Art

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Hiroshi Sunairi, Elephant, 2010, pruned tree branches and mulch from Flushing Meadows Corona Park and Cunningham Park, Queens, twine.
Hiroshi Sunairi, Elephant, 2010, pruned tree branches and mulch from Flushing Meadows Corona Park and Cunningham Park, Queens, twine.

“Only Queens Museum would have a pile of decomposing tree trunks and branches out front instead of a piece of contemporary sculpture,” I thought outside the QMA the other day.  Signage quickly proved, however, that the pile is a sculpture titled ‘Elephant’ by NYU professor Hiroshi Sunairi, one of whose major projects has been worldwide distribution of seeds from trees that survived the Hiroshima bombing.  These trimmings come from Flushing Meadows/Corona Park trees, however, and take the rough shape of a reclining elephant (the trunks are its legs).  They not only take on the form of an animal known for its good memory, they create a new, mini ecosystem which, it’s hoped, will house new trees of its own.  Click here for an installation video, drawings, photos and more as the piece has evolved in the last two years.

Barbara Kasten at Bortolami Gallery

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Barbara Kasten, Construct XIII, 1982, Polaroid, 10 x 8 inches.
Barbara Kasten, Construct XIII, 1982, Polaroid, 10 x 8 inches.

Barbara Kasten’s photographed constructions from the mid ‘70s to the present at Bortolami add some welcome historical background to the recent vogue for abstract, set-up photography (think Sara VanDerBeek and Eileen Quinlan).  Mirrors and light create enticing spatial ambiguity in some constructs, but not this one from ’82, in which awkwardness enlivens the image.  A disappearing backdrop, hovering shapes, twisting light beams and tense wires lead the eye around an aesthetic obstacle course.

Mary Heilmann in ‘It’s Always Summer on the Inside,’ at Anton Kern Gallery

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Mary Heilmann, Mojave Mirage, oil on canvas, 2012.
Mary Heilmann, Mojave Mirage, oil on canvas, 2012.

‘It’s Always Summer on the Inside’ at Anton Kern Gallery features some pretty dark fare, from the Coke logo emblazoned with the word ‘blood’ to one of Joyce Pensato’s sinister Batman paintings, making Mary Heilmann’s ‘Mojave Mirage,’ a blessed burst of candy-colored happiness.  Her signature technique of adding extra canvas to the conventional rectangular shape works a treat as the sands of a flat desertscape suddenly swoop and swirl. (Through Aug 17th.)