Nora Correas in ‘Threads to the South’ at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art

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Titled after a line in a poem by exiled Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuna about how threads (textiles) connected her to her homeland, ‘Threads to the South’ at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art considers how fiber-based art has alluded to customs from grape harvests to quipus.  Here, Nora Correas’s 1981 undulating virgin wool floor sculpture ‘En carne viva (In the Raw)’ is abstract but evokes living forms; complex textures suggest earth or clay while shapes formed from horizontal lines resemble cocoons. Created as a response to Argentina’s military dictatorship, the piece and Correas’ other fiber-based work from the time is an expression of grief, ‘a scream’ explains the artist in a text alongside the work.  (On view in Tribeca through July 27th).

Nora Correas, En carne viva (In the Raw), virgin wool, 1981.
Nora Correas, En carne viva (In the Raw), virgin wool, 1981.

Beau Dick at Andrew Kreps Gallery

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Late hereditary chief and Kwakwaka’wakw master woodcarver Beau Dick’s current solo show at Andrew Kreps Gallery features carved wooden masks intended to be used in ceremonies as symbols of the spirit world.  Made between 1979 and 2015, the carvings reinvent traditional supernatural figures such as ‘Crooked Beak,’ seen here.  Made for a ceremony revoking the cannibal spirit and reinforcing correct behavior in an initiate, the mask also exists now to allow an appreciation of Kwakwaka’wakw spiritual practice.  (On view through May 11th).

Beau Dick, Kwakwaka’wakw, Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw First Nation Crooked Beak, red cedar, cedar bark, acrylic, 12 x 8 x 34 inches, 1994.

Lumin Wakoa at Harper’s Gallery

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Once small-scale and resolutely abstract, New York painter Lumin Wakoa’s latest paintings at Harper’s Gallery have grown explosively in size and dynamic allusion to the natural world.  Branching forms appear in many works, supporting abundant blossoms or snaking between zones of color that suggest the blinding sun, bright flowers or cool, blue oases. Here, intense yellow and orange flowers dematerialize into a mass of pleasurable tones while the work’s title, ‘Briefly Brilliant,’ suggests that there is a time limit on this glorious display. (On view in Chelsea through May 5th).

Lumin Wakoa, Briefly Brilliant, oil on linen, 82 x 70 inches, 2023.

Milano Chow at Chapter NY

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In the mid to late 19th century, property developers in Tribeca could style their buildings by selecting decorative elements from catalogues of cast-iron components.  Contemporary artist Milano Chow’s drawings of fictional building facades – made precise with the aid of a drafting tool – at Tribeca’s Chapter NY recall such foundry publications as well as architectural elevations, dollhouses, and images from art and architecture history books.  In contrast to practical illustrations, however, Chow adds intriguing details – partly drawn curtains, figures peeping out from windows and dramatically lit shop windows – to each scene.  Here, a figure standing recessed in a dramatically columned house exudes mystery, as if appearing in the opening scene of a detective story.  (On view in Tribeca through May 4th).

Milano Chow, Entrance with Statues, graphite, ink and photo transfer on paper, 15 5/8 x 10 ½ inches, 2024.
Milano Chow, (detail) Entrance with Statues, graphite, ink and photo transfer on paper, 15 5/8 x 10 ½ inches, 2024.

Philip Guston at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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In the late 60s, abstract artist Philip Guston stopped painting, then restarted his practice by building a new, figurative artistic vocabulary.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newly installed mezzanine gallery features solitary painted objects – a lightbulb, a shoe – on small canvases that demonstrate how the artist weighed up the meaning and import of everyday objects that he would later repeat. This untitled painting shows a partial view of the artist himself, apparently painted over and covering another image. Wide-eyed and looking straight at the viewer, Guston is only partially visible, but his wary stare speaks volumes about his desire to communicate.  (On view on the Upper East Side in the Met’s ‘Philip Guston: The Panel Paintings, 1968-72 which includes work from Musa Guston Mayer’s promised gift.)

Philip Guston, Untitled, acrylic on panel, 1968.