Hank Willis Thomas at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Race is “at the nexus of so many social currents and tensions,” wrote a Daily Beast reporter while engaging a 2015 exhibition by Hank Willis Thomas.  Yet Thomas’ polished stainless steel sculpture Nexus (in the foreground of this photo), now on view in his solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery, models colorblind mutual aid in the form of two individuals grasping hands.  Elsewhere, a bronze sculpture of two clasped hands in different colored patinas titled ‘Loving,’ celebrates a mixed-race marriage while the show’s largest piece, ‘Embrace’ depicts Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King’s arms enfolding each other.  A neon piece spelling out Thomas’ oft repeated phrase (honoring his murdered cousin’s last words) ‘Love Over Rules’ reinforces the artist’s message.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 29th).

Hank Willis Thomas, Nexus (in detail in the foreground), polished stainless steel, 96 inches tall, 2022.

Sturtevant at Matthew Marks Gallery

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In a 1971 letter, American artist Sturtevant declared her art practice not as anti-art but anti-great artist.  Her trademark practice of making artwork resembling pieces by renowned artists including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and here, Robert Gober, upends expectations and interpretation when artwork easily recognizable to an art-savvy audience turns out to be something else.  In that moment of realization, she explained, “you’re either jolted into immediately rejecting it, or the work stays with you like a bad buzz in your head.” A selection of six pieces from the ‘60s to 2014 at Matthew Marks Gallery includes a reconsideration of Robert Gober’s own meditation on doubling.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 22nd).

Sturtevant, Gober Partially Buried Sinks, plaster, wood, wire lathe, enamel paint, and artificial grass, sinks: 24 1/8 x 23 7/8 x 2 ¾ inches, platform: 2 x 322 7/8 x 208 5/8 inches, 1997.

Jesus Raphael Soto in ‘WAVE’ at Marlborough Gallery

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Experiencing one of late Venezuelan kinetic artist Jesus Raphael Soto’s signature sculptures of hanging plastic cord in 1969, critic Guy Brett remarked that the participant’s ‘physicality was diffused,’ suggesting that moving through the piece breaks down the barrier between bodies and environment.  With or without visitors mingling among the threads in this piece in Marlborough Gallery’s summer group show of abstract and kinetic art, Soto’s installation challenges perception as it morphs from solid to ephemeral, suggesting a work always in flux.   (On view in Chelsea through Sept 10th.)

Jesus Rafael Soto, Penetrable Azul de Valencia, wood and pigmented plastic, unique, 108 5/8 x 366 1/8 x 108 ¼ inches, 1999.

‘Ghana boy’ tunic in ‘The Clamor of Ornament’ at the Drawing Center

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Featuring multicolor embroidery and emblems from urban life, ‘Ghana boy’ tunics like this one currently on view at the Drawing Center were worn by Malian workers who’d migrated to Ghana’s coastal cities.  The garments might depict tools of a trade (e.g. a barber’s scissors), fashionable clothing or vehicles (motorbikes to airplanes) and speak to the experience of the wearer.  On view in the Drawing Center’s wide-ranging design exhibition ‘The Clamor of Ornament:  Exchange, Power and Joy from the 15th century to the present,’ this tunic demonstrates self-fashioning between cultures.  (On view in SoHo through Sept 18th).

“Ghana Boy” style tunic (back), unknown artist, Mali, cotton cloth with multicolor embroidery, c. 1960s-70s.
“Ghana Boy” style tunic, unknown artist, Mali, cotton cloth with multicolor embroidery, c. 1960s-70s.

Nicole Eisenman’s ‘Abolitionists’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Nicole Eisenman’s monumental painting ‘The Abolitionists in the Park’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery in late spring/early summer was a highlight of Chelsea gallery tours; you can see it again in the Met Museum’s permanent collection, a recent acquisition thanks to the Green Family Art Foundation Gift.  At over 10 feet tall, it towers over visitors, inviting us into a scene of protesters gathered outside City Hall in downtown Manhattan during the summer of 2020.  Featuring an array of characters, from figures in shades of blue eating pizza to an entirely red-toned figure lounging in front, Eisenman meets and disrupts expectations of large-scale history painting while taking the genre up to the present moment. (On view in the Mezzanine gallery).

Nicole Eisenman, The Abolitionists in the Park, oil on canvas, 127 x 105 inches, 2020-22.