Jennifer Guidi at Gagosian Gallery

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Jennifer Guidi wants to share ‘calm and joy’ in her vibrant landscapes and abstractions, she says of paintings now on view at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea.  Based on views of the hills in LA and in southern France where the artist recently exhibited at the Richard Rogers Drawing Gallery, Guidi uses her signature materials of sand on canvas to depict pleasingly smooth geological forms as a counter to explosive activity in the skies.  Starburst patterns appear in both representational and abstract canvases, spreading color and energy over the landscapes like a shower of beneficence.  (On view through March 2nd).

Jennifer Guidi, Let the Light Fall Gently, sand, acrylic, oil and rocks on linen, 60 x 48 x 1.5 inches, 2023.

Richard Mosse at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Even in the dark, Jack Shainman Gallery’s new Tribeca space looks stunning, its vast hall accommodating Richard Mosse’s film ‘Broken Spectre, an extraordinary warning-cry against ongoing environmental devastation in the Amazon.  Shown on a 60’ wide screen and toggling between ariel views of the landscape, on-the-ground footage of people involved in rainforest clearing, mining and agri-business, and microscopic views of minute ecosystems on the forest floor, Mosse catalogues the destruction using technology – multi-spectral video, infrared film and UV microscopy – that provides unique views of the environment.  Alarming and beautiful, Mosse’s film is the culmination of two years of work in the Amazon and, along with Ben Frost’s powerful soundtrack, is a persuasive argument for action.  (On view in Tribeca through March 16th).

Richard Mosse, installation of Broken Spectre at Jack Shainman Gallery, 2024.

Apollinaria Broche at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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To a soundtrack featuring readings from Charles Baudelaire’s ‘Flowers of Evil,’ Apollinaria Broche’s ceramic and bronze flowers strike gangly poses in her solo show at Marianne Boesky Gallery, exuding both wonky charm and maleficence.  Like an insect to nectar, viewers are drawn into the center of colorful ceramic flowers that feature tiny bronze sculptures – a winged horse, a contented-looking cat – of cavorting magical creatures.  More ominous figures – snakes, flies – appear as well, suggesting that the flowers inhabit a garden less welcoming than it first appears.  In this detail image of ‘I hid my tracks Spit out all my hair,’ skulls and daggers mingle with the seeds of this lush blossoming plant, summoning a specter of death and violence where it might least be expected.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 24th.)

Apollinaria Broche, (detail) I hid my tracks Spit out all my air, glazed ceramic, bronze, 63 x 21 x 18 inches, 2023.

Constanza Schaffner at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Constanza Schaffner goes eye to eye with a friendly lion, laughs with abandon and basks in the light in new, fantastical self-portraits at Luhring Augustine Gallery’s Tribeca space.  Here, the shadow of a large flower falling over Schaffner’s face adds complexity to her appearance while the light from another planetary orb illuminates from behind.  Alongside her, her hair transforms into swirling glyphs and her uncovered shoulders come alive in a multi-color pattern of yellow, peach and blue tones that take her far from traditional portraiture into a place of inventive freedom.  (On view through March 2nd ).

Constanza Schaffner, Un canto que atravieso, oil on linen, 90 x 70 inches, 2023.

Madeline Hollander at Bortolami Gallery

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Initially trained as a ballet dancer, Madeline Hollander incorporates movement into her artistic practice in surprising and delightful ways.  Her current solo show at Bortolami Gallery in Tribeca titled ‘Entanglement Choreography’ presents a grid of six mirrored pods on round pedestals which at first glance belie the magic of peering inside.  Each sculpture houses a tiny rotating dancing figure, abstracted like a Matisse nude, which at a certain angle appears to both float above the pod and be contained within it.  Nodding in the title to the notion in physics of quantum entanglement, when two separate particles demonstrate a connection with each other as if moving as if in a dance, Hollander’s partners manifest what Einstein called ‘spooky action at a distance.’ (On view in Tribeca through March 2nd).

Madeline Hollander, Entanglement Choreography VI (figs. 6, 12, 18, 24), 24 x 24 x 32 ½ inches, 2023.