Ryan Preciado at Canada Gallery

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

Inspired by the Pope’s mitre, Chumash tradition, California car culture and much more, young west coast designer Ryan Preciado presents furniture at Canada Gallery that conveys comfort, pleasure and sturdiness.  Like Matt Conners’ abstract paintings in the adjoining gallery, color and structure dominate our sensory experience.  Practical and welcoming, Preciado’s approach to design was impacted by watching his sister squirm to get comfortable on the family couch.  (On view in Tribeca through March 5th).

Ryan Preciado, Pope Cabinet, plywood, MDF, urethane enamel, 70 x 48 x 20 inches, 2021.

Rachel Rose at Gladstone Gallery

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

Rachel Rose’s recent sculptures at Gladstone Gallery juxtapose blown glass and large rocks or, in this case, a wood burl shaped like an egg, to contrast two vastly different natural materials and represent a ‘moment of radical shift.’ The show’s centerpiece, a film titled ‘Enclosure,’ also considers a rupture that continues to impact relations between humanity and nature today. Via the fictional story of a band of thieves who set out to defraud English rural communities of their land, Rose examines how, from the 17th century onward, the Enclosure Acts in England allowed consolidation of large tracts of land, taking them out of collective ownership and putting them into the hands of powerful interests. (On view on 21st Street in Chelsea through Feb 26th).

Rachel Rose, Burl Egg, burl egg and blown glass, 2021.

Haroon Mirza at Lisson Gallery

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Known for artwork that favors experience over objects, Haroon Mirza was inspired by a mind-boggling proposal which he has made into the central concept behind his current exhibition at Chelsea’s Lisson Gallery.  Introduced in a British sci-fi novel from the 30s and advanced in the 60s by the physicist Freeman Dyson, the Dyson Sphere is a series of orbiting platforms erected around a star to harvest solar energy.  Mirza creates a mini version at the center of the gallery; a ring of solar panels collects energy from the halogen lights at center, providing energy to power various artworks around the gallery, including a terrarium of hallucinogenic cacti and a simple machine that plays a set of drums.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 12th).

Haroon Mirza, installation view of ‘For A Dyson Sphere,’ Lisson Gallery, February 2022.

ASMA at Deli Gallery

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

In Greek mythology, Narcissus broke hearts and in turn had his own heart broken by falling in love with his reflection in a pool of water.  Related imagery appears throughout Mexico City-based duo ASMA’s current show at Deli Gallery in Tribeca, along with a sculpture of the flower that Narcissus was said to have turned into upon his death.  Working in a variety of materials including platinum silicon and cast bronze, the artists ponder this posthumous transformative act, considering life between fixed states.  Here, a wall-mounted bronze bust of a male torso skews upward and to the side, as if being tugged out of conventional space and time.  (On view through Feb 19th).

ASMA, It seeks, is sought, it burns and it is burnt, cast bronze, 27 ½ x 24 ½ x 2 inches, 2021.

Mark Ryan Chariker at 1969 Gallery

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

Mark Ryan Chariker’s atmospheric paintings at 1969 Gallery are an intriguing anomaly, situating contemporary characters wearing fashions inspired by European art history in historic-looking settings.  In most paintings, none of the elongated, Mannerist characters seem to be saying a word, but each appears to play a role in an understated drama or fateful moment.  Here, in a painting titled ‘Burning Ceremony,’ five figures demonstrate varying degrees of disregard for an unidentifiable flaming object in a huge dish.  Lackadaisical and lacking conviction, their ritual suggests a culture adrift. (On view through Feb 26th.  Proof of vaccination and masks are required).


Mark Ryan Chariker, Burning Ceremony, oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches, 2021.