British artist Terry Haggerty’s updated Op Art never stops moving when you are in front of it. The simplest device – twisting and tapering the end of parallel lines – turns this installation in Sikkema Jenkins & Co’s back gallery into a dizzying experience. (In Chelsea through Nov 16th).
Terry Haggerty, forward/reverse, latex paint on walls, 2013.
New York based-Scandinavian artist Simen Johan’s latest photos from his ongoing series, ‘Until the Kingdom Comes’ are stronger than even, offering seamless images of animals inserted into landscapes that would be alien to them, as with these giraffes (shot in a U.S. zoo), whose heads are lost in the fog of landscapes from Turkey, Bali & Iceland. (At Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery through Dec 7th).
Simen Johan, Untitled #172, digital c-print, 2013.
‘Self Portrait as Afterparty’ continues Brooklyn-based painter Julie Heffernan’s ongoing quasi-self-portrait series, here in a post-apocalyptic scenario in which she eschews plates of spaghetti to gather sacks of game. An abandoned dinner, piles of rocks, some of which have smashed the chairs, and a picture of an exploding volcano suggest that the end of the world has come but this goddess-like survivor can fend for herself. (At Chelsea’s PPOW Gallery through Nov 16th).
Julie Heffernan, Self Portrait as After-party, oil on canvas, 2013.
You don’t have to be into fashion to appreciate the spectacle that is ‘The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier’ at Brooklyn Museum. A moving catwalk, mannequins with animated faces, and more turn the normally sleepy Brooklyn Museum into a carnival celebrating Gaultier’s extravagant, gender-bending vision, which germinated in childhood when he fashioned a conical bra for his teddy, some 30 years prior to his designs for Madonna’s ‘Blond Ambition’ tour. (At Brooklyn Museum through Feb 23rd).
Jean Paul Gautier, ‘Nana’ from 1957; ‘chest of drawers with integrated vanity,’ prototype, 1992; and “Black Swan Collection,” modele Saut de l’Ange, Haute couture fall/winter 2011-12.
Born in Arizona to Native American parents, raised by his adoptive German-American parents in Wisconsin and based on the Bowery for the past 23 years, Brad Kahlhamer still draws on his varied background in art that blends Native American iconography and a graffiti-like graphic sensibility in this haunting portrait of an apparition-like character. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 24th Street location through Nov 16th).
Brad Kahlhamer, The Way They Looked The Way They Lived, ink spray paint, acrylic and ballpoint pen on cloth, 2013.
For his latest New York solo show, New Jersey based artist Willie Cole turns a whimsical arrangement of women’s shoes into a towering, 6 foot tall bronze sculpture recalling a Yoruban deity; a literalized example of power dressing. (At Chelsea’s Alexander and Bonin Gallery through Nov 16th)
Willie Cole, The Sole Sitter, bronze, 2013.
Brazilian artist Marepe continues to use everyday materials, simply transformed to achieve big effects. In his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Anton Kern Gallery, he transforms two bikes into a stationary creature with human head and fish-like tail, a hybrid that suggests literal and figurative possibilities for forward movement. (Through Dec 14th).
Marepe, Cabeca Ciclica, bicycles and wood, 2012.
Leipzig-based painter Christoph Ruckhaberle’s stylized dance scene against a blue sky and green grass sets up a comparison with Matisse’s 1909 ‘Dance,’ but knowingly offers us subjects whose weightiness and modesty are grounded in the everyday, despite the peppy wallpaper. (At Chelsea’s Zieher Smith Gallery through Nov 16th).
Christoph Ruckhaberle, Untitled, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2013.
Ceramics are increasingly visible in Chelsea galleries this fall, particularly in a show of artists who use clay in innovative ways at Ricco Maresca Gallery. These sculptures by Carole Seborovski merge natural forms with abundantly decorated surfaces in intriguingly odd combinations. (Through Nov 16th ).
Carole Seborovski, Summer of Love (foreground), clay, medium/low fire glaze, platinum/gold luster, ceramic decals, and gold leaf, 2011.
Explaining that his carefully color-calibrated combinations of shapes are meant to evoke both fragmentation and interconnectedness, Philadelphia-based artist Odili Donald Odita applies his characteristic geometric abstractions directly to the walls creating an optical AND physical impact. (At Jack Shainman Gallery through Nov 16th).
Odili Donald Odita, Rain Forest acrylic latex wall paint, dimensions variable, 2013.
‘Souci’ (worry) was French conceptual artist Sophie Calle’s mother’s last word, uttered several years ago on her deathbed as she told her daughter not to worry about her. Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery is now showing a selection of Calle’s projects directly or indirectly relating to her mother, including one for which she traveled to the North Pole to bury her mother’s jewelry. While not as powerful as Calle’s last show, it’s a must-see for fans. (Through Nov 16th).
Sophie Calle, installation view of ‘Absence’ at Paula Cooper Gallery, Oct 2013.
Titled ‘The Connoisseur,’ this painting by New York based German artist Thomas Eggerer begs the question of what the central figure is so delicately gathering. Multiple outlines of the man suggest he’s involved in an ongoing process, while a fiery background and dark skies convey a sense of foreboding and urgency. (At Chelsea’s Petzel Gallery through Nov 9th.)
Thomas Eggerer, The Connoisseur, acrylic on canvas, 2012.
Art critic Blake Gopnik once called New York ceramic artist Arlene Shechet’s abstract sculptures ‘so bizarrely shaped they could be science-fair models of germs.’ The sculptures in the artist’s latest solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema, Jenkins & Co are just as quirky, conjuring natural and manmade forms and challenging us to puzzle them out. (Through Nov 16th).
Arlene Shechet, ‘Not to Mention,’ glazed ceramic, painted plywood base, 2013.
Brooklyn-based artist Alison Elizabeth Taylor is known for scenes of people in the landscape and decrepit interiors, all meticulously crafted from wood veneer. In her latest solo show at Chelsea’s James Cohan Gallery, she wields her signature technique and adds paint in service of depicting nature mangled by humans. (through Nov 30th).
Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Transparent Eye, wood veneer, shellac and oil on panel, 2013.
Italian artist Olivio Barbieri’s photographs of European mountain ranges are often breath-taking, but he takes something else away in his latest series, namely large sections of the mountain that he substitutes for snow-like areas of white. Barbieri explains that he’s interested in the hiker’s point of view, including ‘mirages and hallucinations.’ (At Yancey Richardson Gallery’s new 22nd Street location through Nov 2nd).
Olivio Barbieri, Alps – Geographies and People #11, archival pigment print, 2013.
Like British YouTube phenomena The Slow Mo Guys, German artist Martin Klimas recognizes the power of slowing down a dramatic event to stimulate our curiosity. Both have recently captured paint flying up from the surface of a speaker (the subject of Klimas’ show at Foley Gallery). But selections from Klimas’ previous body of work – depicting smashing figurines, on view in the back room – steal the show by adding the suggestion of accident and the happy intervention of chance. (At Foley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Nov 3rd).
Martin Klimas, Untitled (Pink and Green), pigment print, 2006.
Renowned American sculptor Richard Serra’s exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery’s 21st and 24th Street spaces in Chelsea opened this weekend, immediately proving to be the must-see shows of the moment. Though the 24th Street installation departs from his previous body of curving steel plates with its angular severity (watch for photos in upcoming days), the 21st Street place offers a single, huge, undulating steel installation that will delight fans of Serra’s more recent spiraling sculptures.
Richard Serra, installation view of ‘Inside Out’ at Gagosian Gallery, Oct 2013.
Inspired by a news story about a dolphin that swam into Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal and died the same day from the pollution, New York artist Alexis Rockman conjured this vision of the canal as a cauldron of contamination in which the strong adapt to survive. (At Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side through Nov 2nd).
Alexis Rockman, Gowanus, oil on wood, 2013.
One of the highlights for me of last weekend’s 2013 Fashion District Arts Festival was discovering Susan Siegel’s fantastical oil paintings of domesticated animals playing the role of well-appointed Gainsborough-like ladies and gents in lush natural settings. Siegel excels at giving her subjects subtly readable personalities in works that gently poke fun at the excesses of 18th century self-fashioning.
Susan Siegel, Solitary Goat (Blue), 30” x 24”, oil on canvas, 2011.
Seattle-based ceramic artist Akio Takamori’s sleeping women rest in round bundles on low pedestals, their eyes open slightly, seemingly observing us while we’re spying on them in their sleep. Colorful and curvy like Matisse figures, it’s as if drawings have materialized in three dimensions. (At Chelsea’s Barry Friedman Gallery through Oct 30th.)
Akio Takamori, Sleeping Woman in Red Dress with Orange Hair, stoneware with underglazes, 2013.
Brooklyn-based artist Angel Otero adds towers of ceramic and steel to a selection of his trademark textured paintings created with oil skins in his latest body of work at Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery. Lauded for suggesting ‘secrets unearthed,’ not ruins but ‘ideas to build on, models to live by,’ in a recent piece by The Village Voice’s Christian Viveros-Faune, Otero’s fired steel and glazed porcelain ‘Slot’ sculptures evidence a remarkable drive to alter his materials. (Through Nov 2nd).
Angel Otero, installation view, ‘Gates of Horn and Ivory’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Sept, 2013.
On the heels of a well-received show at Anton Kern Gallery, LA-based painter Jonas Wood presents giant plant paintings against a wallpaper of basketballs at Lever House this fall. This juxtaposition of sports and plants (each of which has been sampled from another source, including his own earlier paintings) brings together two of Wood’s interests and pits a speedy sport against the slower pleasures of horticulture. (At Lever House between 53rd and 54th Streets on Park Ave through Jan 4th).
Tonight is the public reception for Richard Serra’s most recent New York sculpture show at Gagosian’s 21st and 24th Street spaces in Chelsea. Glimpses like this one of the installation, which has been ongoing since Sept at least, suggest that the exhibitions will be as impressive as ever. (Through Jan 25th).
In a radical departure from his monochromatic paintings created by teams of assistants from ash collected from Buddhist temples, Shanghai-based artist Zhang Huan has created a series of oil paintings from his own hand of skulls meant to represent Tibetan Death masks. Titled ‘Poppy Fields,’ they at first resemble abstract swirls of bright color, which materialize into slightly cartoonish skulls on closer inspection. (At Pace Gallery, 534 West 25th Street, through Oct 26th).
Zhang Huan, detail from the ‘Poppy Field’ series, oil on linen, 2011.
Bali-based American artist Ashley Bickerton has long painted tropical paradise inhabited by corrupt, non-idyllic characters. Now, his nubile female stock character has morphed into a brightly made-up crone with a snaking tongue and necklaces of trash. As disturbing as she is, it’s a bold new direction for Bickerton, who ups the ante with even stronger contrasts between attraction and repulsion. (At Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side space through Oct 26th).
Ashley Bickerton, MV1, aluminum, oil and acrylic paint, hair, cement, 2013 (foreground). Ashley Bickerton, m-DNA_eve1, oil and acrylic on digital print on wood, 2013 (background).
Chicago-based conceptual artist William Pope. L continues to consider how people separate themselves by race; in this wall of drawings, potentially offensive generalizations are neutralized by their opaqueness. (At Mitchell-Innes & Nash in Chelsea through Oct 26th).
William Pope. L, detail view of ‘Wall of Skin Set drawings,’ 2010 – 2013.
Famed British street artist Banksy arrived in Chelsea on the third week of his New York City ‘residency,’ presenting a two panel collaboration with Brazilian brothers Os Gemeos inspired by the Occupy movement. Featuring a grid of riot police joined by one person in a headscarf and a grid of masked or scarf-wearing people joined by one policeperson, it’s a straightforward juxtaposition that asks who is battling whom. The crowd loved it.
Like graphic design come to life, Sven Lukin’s minimal abstractions involve sensuous, curving lines moving in surprising ways. Here, an anthropomorphic, flesh colored line pushes into the gallery’s corner like it’s trying to hide, through the title, ‘SNUG,’ suggests it’s happy to do so. (At Robert Miller Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 26th).
Sven Lukin, SNUG, enamel on Masonite and wood construction, 85 x 75 x 6 inches, 2010.
From the largest pilgrimage towards water in the world (see the Kumbh Mela on left) to the petered out end of the rerouted Colorado River (next right) to the greening of the Arizona desert using pivot irrigation (next right), Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has spent the last few years documenting the human relationship to water around the world. In turns alarming and alluring, the photos are a powerful catalyst for safeguarding one of our most precious resources. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery through Nov 2nd).
Edward Burtynsky, installation view of ‘Water’ at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, Sept 2013.
Inspired by the tradition of Americans finding escape in wilderness living, northern Minnesota-based artist Aaron Spangler’s latest work suggests totems for the modern frontiersman. ‘Idol’ is based on the form of a boli, or sacred object, and Spangler’s abstract designs suggest a secret language between human and the divine. (At Horton Gallery on the Lower East Side through Oct 20th).
Aaron Spangler, Idol, carved and painted basswood with a touch of graphite, 2013.
Art applauds nature in Berlin-based American sculptor David Adamo’s hand-made, ceramic termite mounds. Called “exceptionally appealing as objects” by the New York Times, the mini-mounds are smaller than they’d appear in nature but invite wonder at insect engineering. (At Untitled Gallery on the Lower East Side through Oct 20th).
David Adamo, installation view of ‘David Adamo’ at Untitled Gallery, Oct 2013. Foreground: Untitled (Cathedral A), Zellan, 2013.
Chip Hughes’ meticulously rendered abstract painting, ‘Drinks’, on view at Lower East Side gallery Kerry Schuss, recalls quilting with its grid and wavy lines like piping. But amoeba-like organic shapes, cool colors and a slick of washed out color suggest watery worlds or blown-up microbiology. (Through Oct 20th).
Chip Hughes, Drinks, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, 2012.
Brooklyn-based Korean sculptor Heejung Cho makes architecture into art with her series of city buildings constructed of wood at Chelsea’s Gallery Ho. The perspective suggests a city that goes on forever, but the absence of people or other evidence of life give it an eerie emptiness. (At Gallery Ho through Oct 19th).
Heejung Cho, Two Point Perspective, plywood, wood and stain, 2013.
Chicago-based artist Ann Toebbe’s flattened perspective piques interest. Here, a TV room’s couch looks like a modernist collage while the rest of the furnishings – shelves lined with books, a rocking chair and pictures featuring nature – suggest homey Americana. (At Monya Rowe Gallery’s inaugural exhibition at a new Lower East Side space through Oct 20th).
Ann Toebbe, TV Room, gouache and cut paper on panel, 15 x 20 inches, 2013.
Black and white photos of art historical objects, delicately crafted works on paper, minimal sculptures with metallic accents and ubiquitous mirrors lend Berlin-based artist Claudia Wieser’s first solo show at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery a feeling of belonging to both a centuries old craft tradition and an elegant modernism. (At Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery through Oct 19th).
Claudia Wieser, installation view of ‘The Mirror,’ a solo exhibition with sculpture made in acrylic and/or ink on wood sculptures placed on digital prints in the foreground, all work 2013.
Six tons of dirt from the Yukon and a giant papier-mache bear – part of a solo show by Polish-American artist Joanna Malinowska – launch Canada Gallery’s much-awaited new LES space. Known to source objects from around the world (e.g. a liter of water from the Bering Straight and a sweater from Bolivian president Evo Morales in a previous piece), Malinowska gathers far flung references – intriguing if obscure – to the North American land. (At Canada through Oct 20th).
Joanna Malinowska and Michael Crockford, Falsely Humble (background), wood, papier-mache, 2013. Joanna Malinowska, 6 Tons of Yukon Dirt (foreground), soil from Yukon Territory, miner’s pan & bucket, 2013.
Southern Californian minimalist John McCracken’s retrospective exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery is better seen in person – where sleek objects like this one (hand-crafted from plywood covered in polyester resin & fiberglass) reflect the people, objects and light conditions surrounding them. But the color contrasts alone between the richly green ‘Minnesota’ in the foreground and the sky blue of ‘On Stream’ in this photo set the mind thinking of nature. (At the gallery’s 20th Street location through Oct 19th.)
John McCracken, Minnesota (in the foreground), polyester resin, fiberglass and plywood, 1989. On Stream (background left), polyester resin, fiberglass and plywood, 1998.
We knew that there was big money in the art world, but Kerry James Marshall makes it explicit with his installation of coins, constructed in brass. Though the value of the coins adds up to $.99, the piece’s title reveals that fabrication costs were approximately $136,000. And the selling price? The gallery “…would prefer to not have that published,” a position that reinforces Marshall’s point that culture and money are entwined, sometimes secretly. (At Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery through Oct 12th).
Kerry James Marshall, 99 cent piece (One hundred thirty six thousand dollars in change), cast resin with brass overlay, 2012.
Using colorfully printed Japanese paper, New York based Colombian artist Maria Berrio creates a collage homage to Gauguin’s ‘Ia Orana Maria,’ but lets nature take over in this imaginary garden bursting with flora and oversized fauna. (At Chelsea’s Praxis International Art through Oct 12th).
Maria Berrio, El jardin de mi corazon, collage with Japanese paper and watercolor.
LA-based artist Jonas Wood builds his paintings from photos, sourcing them in the digital. At the same time, his memories supply more details as in this painting of his father’s house in Boston in which the bird and flower paintings are depicted as Wood remembered them from childhood rather than how they actually are. (At Chelesa’s Anton Kern Gallery through Oct 19th).
Jonas Wood, Yellow Front Hall, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2013.
British artist Susie MacMurray is known for elegant sculptures and installations created by repeated use of one material or form. At Danese Corey’s new space on 22nd Street in Chelsea, she fashions household gloves into a regal dress, juxtaposing beautiful refinement and hard work (through Oct 12th).
Susie MacMurray, A Mixture of Frailties, household gloves turned inside out, calico and dress form, 2004/2013.
Out of a collaborative residency at Corning Museum of Glass and a joint interest in Buddhist Thangkas, glass artists Anna Booth & Nancy Cohen created ‘Between Seeing and Knowing,’ a wall installation made of glass that evokes the forms of composition of a painting. (At Chelsea’s Accola Griefen Gallery through Oct 12th).
Anna Boothe & Nancy Cohen, Between Seeing and Knowing, installation view, Sept 2013, Accola Griefen Gallery.
Barbara Takenaga’s latest abstract paintings continue to evoke the natural world in bold colors and mesmerizing patterns; here, a piece titled ‘Funnel’ suggests the strange lights and form of a deep sea creature crossed with a swing carousel at night. (At Chelsea’s DC Moore Gallery through Oct 5th).
Barbara Takenaga, Red Funnel, acrylic on linen, 2013.
Korean artist Sungsic Moon’s skinny characters look unsubstantial, but their range of emotional states – from mournful to ecstatic – is powerful. Here, a young woman walks the line between having and losing control as her fingers snap, arms pump, and her hair and scream look like she’s entering a primal state. (At Chelsea’s Doosan Gallery through Oct 4th)
Sungsic Moon, Dancing Girl, acrylic on paper, 2013.
These days, San Francisco street art legend Barry McGee is more likely to show his work in galleries and museums than outdoors, but his installation in the back room of Cheim & Read Gallery in Chelsea – a collection of around 400 elements bulging off the wall – pops with a white-cube defying energy. (Through Oct 26th).
Barry McGee, Untitled, 400 elements; ink, graphite, acrylic, screenprint, photographs on paper, found objects and frames, 2005-2013.
Julie Becker’s mixed media sculpture from 2000 brings a slice of LA into NYC by suggesting a block of West Sunset Blvd complete with weeds, a lost slipper and a drawing advertising a street art competition. It’s a quirky, anything’s possible kind of city view that’s fast disappearing from Chelsea. (At Chelsea’s GreeneNaftali Gallery through October 5th.)
Julie Becker, 1910 West Sunset Blvd, mixed media sculpture, 2000.
Known for meticulously hand-making sculptures inspired by his childhood drawings, German artist Martin Honert’s ‘Gang’ from 2002 accompanies new work at Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea. Do the cheeky boys with the shifty eyes exist just in the bigger boy’s imagination? Or is that bike really in danger of disappearing? (At Matthew Marks’ 502 West 22nd Street space through Oct 26th).
Martin Honert, Bande/Gang, steel, polyester and paint, 2002.
In a 200 year throw-back to the days when parts of Chelsea were Clement Clarke Moore’s apple orchard, Paul Kasmin Gallery has partnered with collector and real estate developer Michael Shvo to create an agrarian landscape on the recently closed Getty gas station on the corner of 24th Street and 10th Ave. Before the site is turned into a luxury condo, it will be populated by sheep sculpture by the late French artist Francois-Xavier Lalanne, making for one of the most head-turning exhibitions in Chelsea at the moment. (Through Oct 20th).
In the mid-80s, photographer Robert Polidori started photographing the palace of Versailles, focusing not on its opulence but on the realities presented by over 300 years of wear and tear. The story is told in the details, as in images like these details of well-used doorways, blown up into gorgeous, light suffused prints. (At Mary Boone Gallery, Chelsea through Oct 26th).
Robert Polidori, Door Detail, Attique du Midi, Versailles & Door Detail, Galerie Basse, Versailles, c-print, 2005/2013.
Brooklyn-based artist Derrick Adams’ grid of glittery men’s shirts and ties looks fabulous and conformist at the same time, recalling Fred Wilson’s early 90s guard uniforms that pointed out how uniformity leads to anonymity. A trophy-like chalice placed just out of reach on top of this wall-mounted sculpture seems to offer a lofty reward for someone who’ll step out from the crowd. (At Louis B. James on the Lower East Side, through Oct 19th).
Derrick Adams, He Him, They, Them, tempera, painted faux brick paneling, glitter, textured spray, 2008.
San Francisco-based artist Andrew Schoultz alters Morgan Lehman’s white cube gallery by papering the walls with sections replicating building bricks. It’s the perfect backdrop for pieces that picture natural and man-made disasters, including this acrylic and collage image of a tornado demolishing a red brick building. (At Chelsea’s Morgan Lehman Gallery through October 12th).
Andrew Schoultz, Tornado (Up in the Air), acrylic, collage, graphite, and string on wooden panel, 2013.
A New York Observer critic recently likened Caetano de Almeida’s vividly colored geometric abstractions to an open window, adding that viewing them was ‘like flying.’ Come check out their physical effect on the Oct 12th open group tour. (At Eleven Rivington Gallery on the Lower East Side through October 13th).
Caetano de Almeida, Agudos, acrylic on canvas, 2013.
In the latest iteration of a project started in the early 80s, Allan McCollum has invited Joshua Tree, California based artist Andrea Zittel to collaborate on a show of his ‘plaster surrogates,’ or plaster casts that stand in for paintings. Here, Zittel sketches out a rough landscape of hills and desert colors in an avant-garde twist on landscape painting. (At Pezel Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 5th).
Allan McCollum, installation view of ‘Plaster Surrogates Colored and Organized by Andrea Zittel,’ at Petzel Gallery, Sept 2013.
Having moved from New York City to Massachusetts, Michael St John titles the paintings in his latest solo show at Andrea Rosen Gallery ‘Country Life.’ The resulting images, which employ collage and trompe l’oeil, are cheeky ruminations on what the differences between city and country life may be. (Through October 5th).
Michael St. John, ‘Country Life,’ acrylic, collage/assemblage, polymers, 2013.
Known for his sobering photographic visions of modern Africa (including his reknowned hyena keeping minstel series), South African photographer Pieter Hugo’s new photo series ‘Kin’ brings him closer to home as he depicts South African citizens whose lives have been marked by the legacy of Apartheid. (At Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery through Oct 19th).
Pieter Hugo, Mimi Afrika, Wheatland Farm, Graaff Reinet, digital c-print, 2013.
Dutch artist Michael Raedecker’s latest solo show summons opulence and decay in equal measure with his signature, embroidered paintings depicting chandeliers, suburban homes and palm trees. All are painted in silver and blue colors that walk the line between elegant and dreary. (At Chelsea’s Andrea Rosen Gallery through Oct 5th).
Michael Raedecker, Blink, acrylic and thread on canvas, 2012.
Brooklyn-based artist Ruby Sky Stiler takes the seated nude to a new level with her ten-foot tall female figure. Carved from foam, its stepped form nevertheless suggests weighty ancient architecture embellished with images of power-wielding women. (At Nichelle Beauchene on the Lower East Side through Oct 6th)
Ruby Sky Stiler, Seated Woman, foam, acrylic resin, thermal adhesive, 2013.
When iconic Minimalist/Conceptualist artist Sol Lewitt moved to Italy in the 70s, his palette veered dramatically toward the colorful, evident here in what the New York Times has called ‘2,448 sq ft of visual sumptuousness.’ The huge installation is one of the approximately 1,200 wall drawings the artist conceived of in his lifetime, and is an arresting blast of color and form. (at Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery through October 12th.
Sol LeWitt, installation view of ‘Wall Drawing #564: Complex forms with color ink washes superimposed,’ (1988) Paula Cooper Gallery, Sept 2013.
Considering the profuse detail of the 2-D collages, floor covering and pencil-studded ceiling of his installation at Chelsea’s Lyons Wier Gallery, it comes as no surprise that Greg Haberny was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. The frustration of a childhood defined by medicines and misdiagnoses comes through loud and clear. (Through October 5th).
Greg Haberny, installation view of ‘Burn all Crayons’ at Lyons Wier Gallery, Sept 2013.
Is it a serpent? A leg in fishnet stockings? A feathered neck? None of the above? New York based German artist Charline von Heyl’s latest paintings at Chelsea’s Petzel Gallery come loaded with associations for viewers willing to engage the myriad suggestions. (Through October 5th)
Charline von Heyl, Pancalist, acrylic on canvas, 2012.
During a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, Penelope Umbrico photographed cameras from the museum’s collection and printed them, applying Photoshop’s ‘Old Style’ filter, and creating this rather forelorn selection of specimens which rest under a projection of a mountain (used as a subject by Ansel Adams) photographed using hundreds of filters available on dozens of smartphone apps. (At LMAK Projects on the Lower East Side through Oct 20th).
Penelope Umbrico, 136 Mini Film Cameras in the Smithsonian Institution History of Photography Collection with Old Style Photoshop Filter, archival pigment prints on Hahnmuhle Photo Rag paper, 2013.
Chelsea and 57th Street gallery Marlborough Gallery has now put an anchor down in the Lower East Side, launching a new space at 331 Broome with the lightheartedly delicious ‘Pizza Time,’ a show dedicated to the slice. It includes this collage by Catherine Ahearn that marries painting and photo as serendipitously as olives and mushrooms. (Through Oct 6th)
Catherine Ahearn, Untitled (pizza 3), multi-media, 2011.
To some, Leslie Hewitt’s conceptual photography will be maddeningly vague, to others, enticingly elusive. Propped against the wall as if it were an object or sculpture, it displays one book with its spine facing us – James Baldwin’s essays on race, ‘The Fire Next Time.’ This incendiary text rests next to a cooling lemon, an art historical symbol of mortality and moderation. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea, through Oct 5th).
Leslie Hewitt, Untitled (Perception), Still Life Series, digital c-print in custom maple frame, 2013.
New York artist Adam Marnie presents a mediated flash-back with his solo show at Chelsea’s Derek Eller Gallery by removing the bottom two feet of drywall from the gallery’s walls, recalling the scene after Hurricane Sandy last October. Nearby interlocking cubes recall 60s minimalist ideas about art being a physical experience; but what happens to interpretation if the physical space of the gallery is altered by disaster? (Through Oct 5th).
Adam Marnie, Inward Object I, maple, wood putty spray paint, 2013.
Brian Adam Douglas’ surreal, Neo Rauch- like images of anonymous characters intently engaged in their individual tasks are intriguing, but are even more amazing for being constructed entirely of paper. Though his solo show at Chelsea’s Andrew Edlin Gallery was inspired by mankind’s ability to rebuild after natural disasters, here each character experiences a momentous occasion of his or her own. (Through Oct 26th).
Brian Adam Douglas, The Memory of You is Never Lost Upon Me, cut paper on birch panel with UVA varnish, 2011.
British artist Phil Collins set up a phone booth in a German homeless shelter and offered its guests a deal – in exchange for free local and international calls, they allowed the artist to record their conversations and commission songs from the transcripts. At Tanya Bonkadar Gallery, visitors are invited to listen to the results in individual sound booths. (In Chelsea through October 19th).
Phil Collins, installation view of ‘my heart’s in my hand and my hand is pierced, and my hand’s in the bag, and the bag is shut, and my heart is caught,’ sound installation, 2013.
Inspired by BODIES: The Exhibition, Brooklyn artist Matthew Day Jackson created his own five-vitrine exploration of the human anatomy at Hauser & Wirth Gallery’s 18th Street space. In the context of the larger show, which includes dramatic landscapes and references to astronauts and Hiroshima, the artist seems to wonder how one frail form could wield great power. (Through Oct 19th)
Matthew Day Jackson, installation view of the sculptures: Skeleton, Veins, Nerves, Muscles, Bartholomew, all 2013, Sept 2013.
While much of the art world slumbered through August, some galleries remained open, including 57th St area Gering Lopez Gallery, which features this subtly energetic 10 x 40 foot wall painting in which swirling lines resemble but belie the intimacy of fingerprints. (Through Sept 7th)
Linn Meyers, This Familiar Place, ink and acrylic paint on wall, 2013.
Andra Ursuta’s giant marble nose begs the question of what Ozymandias-like character would deserve such a large portrait sculpture and what went wrong, leaving only the nose behind. It’s a highlight of the High Line’s group exhibition ‘Busted,’ which reimagines public portrait sculpture. (Through April 2014).
Andra Ursuta, Nose Job, white marble, wheelbarrow, variable dimensions, 2013.
Swept-back hair and blocky shades give this graceful dancer a back-to-the-future vibe that’s complicated by the possibility that she’s a street mime, a mannequin or neither. (Featured in the group exhibitions ‘Busted’ on Chelsea’s High Line through April 2014.)
Frank Benson, Human Statue (Jessie), bronze, acrylic polyurethane, 2011.
The title of Swiss New Yorker Olaf Breuning’s ‘The Humans’ in City Hall Park showcases human character types in a series of six figures, from a fulsome female to a kingly clown, while also inviting real live humans to pose or clown for the camera in what’s turned out to be a major magnet for picture takers. (Through December 13th).
Olaf Breuning, ‘The Humans,’ marble, bronze, 2007.
Anyone ready to harvest squash from their garden in the coming weeks will appreciate British artist Sarah Lucas’ mother of all zucchini at City Hall Park, one of two gigantic cast concrete sculptures titled ‘Florian’ and ‘Kevin’ that summarize excess in vegetable form. (Through December 13th).
Sarah Lucas, Florian and Kevin, cast concrete, 2013.
New Yorkers used to seeing abandoned and decrepit bikes are likely to get a kick out of Polish artist Alicja Kwade’s twisted racer in City Hall Park. Like her curving wooden door that we saw on Lower East Side tours last Feb/March, she took the original apart, reformed it and pieced it back together to create an object of whimsy and wonder. (Through December 13th).
Alicja Kwade, Journey without Arrival (Raleigh), stainless steel, aluminum, rubber, plastic components, 2012/13.
British sculptor Gary Webb mixes high and low references with his 22’ high aluminum sculpture ‘Buzzing It Down’ at City Hall Park, which nods equally to elegant modernism a la Brancusi’s Endless Column and plastic preschool linking toys. (Through December 13th).
Gary Webb, ‘Buzzing it Down,’ cast aluminum, paint, 2012.
In a more intimately-scaled followup to Swiss-American artist Ugo Rondinone’s powerful installation of stone characters at Paula Cooper Gallery this spring, the artist revives his recurring clown figure as a performer at City Hall Park. Even asleep, this character is imposing and mysterious with his colorful nylon costume, collar of feathers and thick shawl. (Through December 13th).
Ugo Rondinone, dog days are over, performance, 1996/2013.
It’s going to be hard to appreciate major late 20th century minimalist Daniel Buren’s characteristic indoor painted installations after seeing his gorgeous pavilion in City Hall Park, which allows visitors to literally walk into fields of color and interact with spaces projected by the sun onto the ground and pavilion floor. (Through December 13th).
Daniel Buren, Suncatcher, powder-coated steel, glass, vinyl, 2013.
LA sculptor Evan Holloway uses one of art history’s most iconic artworks, a 4.5 inch high fertility goddess from approximately 22-24,000 BC, as decorative inspiration for a huge, slender bronze ring in City Hall Park. The shifts between a tiny but fulsome female on a huge but slim ring are provocative and amusing; you’ll also get a rare glimpse of the sculpture’s back view. (Through December 13th).
Evan Holloway, ‘Willendorf Wheel,’ bronze, 2013.
One of the city’s best exhibitions of the moment isn’t in a gallery…the Public Art Fund’s exhibition ‘Lightness of Being’ at City Hall Park brings together an outstanding array of sculpture that surprises with its materials, sizes or concepts. This week, we’ll check it out, starting with this distorted tractor by Australian-American artist James Angus, which not only looks odd in its über urban environment, but is given another twist by digital distortions in the manufacturing process. (Through December 13th).
James Angus, ‘John Deere Model D,’ painted steel, painted cast iron, 2013.
Brooklyn-based artist Orly Genger is known for sculpture and installations involving knitting, but she outdoes herself in Madison Square Park with an installation made by knotting 1.4 million feet of nautical rope collected on the East coast and arranged in undulating waves around the park’s trees. (Though Sept 8th).
Orly Genger, ‘Red, Yellow and Blue,’ installation view at Madison Square Park, nautical rope & paint, July 2013.
The roughly cut blocks of Allyson Vieira’s sculptures resemble the caryatids of Greek architecture but in an updated, futuristic way. We enjoyed versions made with drywall at Laurel Gitlen Gallery on last March’s Lower East Side tour, but it’s perfect to see them outdoors in proximity to a Greek-style façade at Brooklyn’s Metro Tech Center. (Through Sept 16th).
Allyson Vieira, ‘Weight Bearing V, Weight Bearing VI, Weight Bearing VII,’ 2012.
As New York galleries take a break in the final weeks of summer, New York Art Tours heads to the city’s parks and public places to enjoy our lively public art scene. Here’s a sculpture that several of you mentioned when we toured Jeff Koons’ show of giant balloon dog sculptures this spring. Koons’ ‘Balloon Flower’ outside of 7 WTC in downtown Manhattan is a hit with kids on this sunny summer day.
Jeff Koons, Balloon Flower, mirror polish stainless steel with transparent color, installation view in park of 7 WTC, July 2013.
Jennifer Cohen’s ‘White Line’ is as poised as a ballerina en pointe, but its meaning is given an extra charge by being included in Yancey Richardson Gallery’s summer group show titled, ‘Desire,’ which showcases work by female artists adopting a female gaze. (In Chelsea through August 23rd).
Jennifer Cohen, White Line, bronze, copper tubing, plaster and paper pulp, 2013.
Jackie Gendel’s bathers cast hard stares or fall into melancholy sleep, their prone bodies acting as stand-ins for dunes under a darkening sky. (At Chelsea’s Morgan Lehman Gallery through Aug 23rd).
Jackie Gendel, At the Beach, water dispersed pigment and vinyl on canvas, 2013.
The sobriety and simplicity of Imran Qureshi’s Roof Garden installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a sharp contrast to previous Met roof projects (like the Starn brothers’ climbable bamboo labyrinth in 2010). Partly in response to deadly bombings in Lahore, Qureshi paints the roof’s floor and walls with blood-red paint splatters and beautifully rendered floral motifs. (At the Met through Nov 3rd.)
Imran Qureshi, installation view of ‘The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi,’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2013.
A dark geometric shape appears to do battle with two biomorphic entities in Elizabeth Murray’s 1982 canvas at Chelsea’s Cheim & Read Gallery. Part of an exhibition showcasing abstract painting in the 80s, its attention-grabbing drama and size (over ten feet tall) excite the imagination. (Through Aug 30th).
Elizabeth Murray, Sentimental Education, oil on canvas, 127 x 96 inches, 1982.
Known for crafting historical art and furnishings as if they’d been partly destroyed, Brooklyn artist Valerie Hegarty has astoundingly transformed several rooms in the Brooklyn Museum’s Cane Acres Plantation Dining Room to look as if disaster has struck, turning a gentile space into a riot of gunshot holes, destroyed food and flapping crows. (In the 4th floor Period Rooms at the Brooklyn Museum through Dec 1st).
Valerie Hegarty, installation view of ‘Valerie Hegarty: Alternative Histories’ at the Brooklyn Museum, July 2013.
Bruce High Quality Foundation (an anonymous collective of Brooklyn artists) show off their light-hearted but ambitious practice at the Brooklyn Museum, including these vitrines housing crudely recreated selections from the Met’s Greek and Roman galleries. The installation recalls the age-old student practice of perfecting one’s art by copying in museums though these renditions of the Met’s ancient masterpieces are decidedly folksy and imperfect. (Through Sept 22nd).
‘The Greek and Roman Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,’ Play dough, cardboard, wood, acrylic, polystyrene foam, 2013.
Working to music (including like Patti Griffin’s ‘One Big Love,’ after which the series was titled) and restricting her painting to shaped surfaces like this draped rag, New York artist Leslie Wayne explains that she was seeking to capture the ‘eureka moment,’ when inspiration takes over and a piece ‘works.’ (At Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery through Aug 17th).
Leslie Wayne, One Big Love #63 (Paint/Rag #5), oil on panel, 2011.
Anne Chu lifts her chubby cherub straight out of 18th century Rococo painting, then gives it a makeover. Decorative splashes of paint and a flag bearing an indistinct face question this putti’s celestial purpose. (At Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery through Aug 16th).
Anne Chu, Putti with Flag, ceramic, stone, fabric, metal, 2001.
For many artists, being offered an exhibition in a Chelsea gallery would feel like winning the lottery. For his first show at Andrew Edlin’s Chelsea gallery, New York artist David Jelinek takes the daring step of filling the space not with his own creations but with a symbol of hope aroused and then dashed – a scattering of discarded losing lottery tickets strewn on the gallery floor. (Through Aug 17th).
David Jelinek, installation view of ‘Money Down,’ at Andrew Edlin Gallery, July 2013.
Charlotte Posenenske permanently gave up art making for sociology in 1968, just a year after creating the plans for this modular sheet metal sculpture that could be configured in a variety of ways. Here, the piece resembles a ventilation shaft that questions the necessity of use value in art while fetishising industrial design. (At Miguel Abreu Gallery on the Lower East Side through Aug 17th).
Charlotte Posenenske, Series D Vierkantrohre (Square Tubes), sheet steel, dimensions and configuration variable, 1967/2009.
If it isn’t obvious that New York artist Aric Obrosey’s paper artwork ‘Hand Production Lines’ involves a lot of work, hand cut motifs repeated to form lace-like chains come together to depict a giant work glove. Created for the Museum of Art and Design’s ’09-’10 exhibition featuring cut paper artworks, the piece involves a mind boggling amount of detail and took nine months to complete. (At McKenzie Fine Art on the Lower East Side through Aug 17th).
Aric Obrosey, Hand Production Lines, cut paper, 41 ½ x 59 ½ inches, 2009. Photo courtesy of McKenzie Fine Art.
Viewers have to look at just the right angle down a long, thick piece of Plexiglas to spy Hank Willis Thomas’ minstrel, a photo of a man painted half black and half white, then literally doubled by the material. Like similar characters photographed by the artist, a seemingly clear cover obstructs a clear view, a metaphor for how perceptions of race can obscure identity. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 24th Street space through Aug 17th).
Hank Willis Thomas, ‘Invisible Man,’ Plexi block and a digital c-print on aluminum, 2013.
Further to yesterday’s post, another standout at Matthew Marks Gallery is this quilt by legendary (and pseudonymous) quilter Rosie Lee Tompkins. Titled ‘Three Sixes,’ it follows Tompkins’ practice of making her quilts as a prayer for a loved one; in this case commemorating three relatives’ birthdays that involve the number six. (At Matthew Marks Gallery’s 522 W. 22nd St space through Aug 16th).
Rosie Lee Tompkins, Three Sixes, polyester double-knit, polyester knit, broadcloth, ottoman, poplin, wool jersey with muslin backing, 1987.
American folk tradition inspired Matthew Marks Gallery’s summer group show ‘Roving Signs,’ which includes this editioned sculpture by Rachel Harrison that conjures apple picking over Apple Macs and can-do crafting over mass consumption. (At Matthew Marks Gallery’s 522 W. 22nd St space through Aug 16th).
Rachel Harrison, Apple Multiple, artificial fruit and sewing pins, 2008.
In his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine Gallery, British artist William Daniels continues to walk the line between abstraction and representation in new paintings for which he constructed, photographed, then painted arches made of aluminum foil. (Through Aug 16th).
William Daniels, Untitled, 42 3/8 x 41 ¾ inches, oil on board, 2013.
On two cold, grey sheets of lead, Spanish-born artist Carlos Vega depicts a tree bearing lively fruit represented by used postage stamps – icons drawn from a diverse array of cultures and times. (At Jack Shainman’s 20th St location through Aug 17th).
Carlos Vega, detail of ‘Ivory Tower,’ stamps and oil paint on lead, 2012.
Is this vacationer’s vacant stare an expression of total relaxation or haunting anxiety? Sketchy hands and underdeveloped legs put the focus on this man’s shadowy head and torso in ‘Another Side of Bad Blake,’ a drama wrapped in a portrait by Brooklyn painter Daniel Heidkamp. (At Chelsea’s Morgan Lehman Gallery through Aug 23rd.)
Daniel Heidkamp, ‘Another Side of Bad Blake,’ oil on canvas, 2012.
British artist Brian Griffith’s teddy bear tent is hands down one of the most fun sculptures on view in Chelsea right now. You can’t go inside the tent and weenie roasts aren’t allowed, but the piece does suggest a very imaginative band of travelers. (At David Zwirner Gallery‘s 525 W. 19th Street location through Aug 9th).
Brian Griffiths, The Body and Ground (Or Your Brittle Smile), canvas, scenic acrylic paint, rope, webbing, fiberglass pole, metal poles, vintage travel souvenir patches, net fabric, tarpaulin, duct tape, tread, string, sand, and fixings, 2010.
Brooklyn-based artist Virginia Overton combines the city and country in her untitled project next to Chelsea’s High Line park by parking a pickup truck with a bricked in bed and a scene of flying ducks in the back window on the top of an Edison ParkFast stack. (Next to the High Line at West 20th Street through Aug 8).
Virginia Overton, Untitled, pickup truck, bricks, 2012.
