Shilpa Gupta at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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‘Uncontrollable Desirrs,’ ‘Between Places’ and ‘Until they Dsiappear’ are among the suggestive phrases that appear in Shilpa Gupta’s ‘StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream’ flapboard sculpture at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.  The sound of the board’s moving panels creates a sense of dynamism and anticipation as the text constantly changes, while the words themselves conjure unsettled feelings compounded by Gupta’s use of alternative spellings of select words.  In the show’s other works, Gupta speaks the works of jailed poets into bottles, capping them and arranging them in an ‘reimagined library’ and presents a sound installation of protest songs sung globally, a collective tribute to the power of words and the need to protect freedom of speech. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 16th).

StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream, motion flapboard, 35 min loop, 93 ½ x 5 x 9 ½ inches, 2021.

Martyn Cross at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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Titled ‘All Shall Be Well,’ after a record of visions experienced by a medieval English religious recluse, British painter Martyn Cross’ show of mystical new paintings at Marianne Boesky Gallery emphasizes the connectedness of humans and nature.  Here, in ‘You and I Are Earth,’ the link is literal, with a seascape manifesting in human form; in other paintings, a root system morphs into an old man and a giant eye appears in the clouds.  Fresh from a residency on England’s fossil-rich southern coast, a UNESCO World Heritage site known as the ‘Jurassic Coast,’ Cross merely scratches the surface of deep time but prompts viewers to recenter their thinking about our relationship with the earth. (On view through Dec 22ndin Chelsea).

Martyn Cross, You and I Are Earth, oil on canvas, 86 ¾ x 63 inches, 2023.

Ghada Amer at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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Inspired by Egyptian traditions of decoration on tents used for weddings or feasts, Egyptian-American artist Ghada Amer substitutes contemporary text for Islamic or calligraphic imagery in new work at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea.  Using applique, in which fabric is sewn onto other fabric, Amer incorporates feminist phrases and text into designs resembling QR codes.  Those these designs don’t scan, they open up histories of struggle for women’s rights via texts by late Egyptian feminist and activist Nawal El Saadawi or late Australian women’s liberation activist Joyce Stevens.  Here, the writing reads, ‘A woman’s voice is revolution.” (On view in Chelsea at Marianne Boesky Gallery through Dec 22nd.  Ghada Amer’s bronze series ‘Paravent Girls’ is on view at Tina Kim Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 9th).

Ghada Amer, A WOMAN’S VOICE,’ “A woman’s voice is revolution,” cotton applique on canvas, 82 ½ x 83 ½ inches, 2023.

Bo Bartlett at Miles McEnery Gallery

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Underexposed to art as a kid and inspired by American painters like Andrew Wyeth and Norman Rockwell, Bo Bartlett has continued in a vein of realism that presents tantalizing, slightly surreal narratives.  In ‘La Corrida’ or ‘The Bullfight,’ a highlight of Bartlett’s current solo show at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea, the toreador has fallen and the bull eyes the open gate from which the artist has perhaps dashed, leaving behind his jacket and materials.  Flecked with blood, the bull has been provoked and further disaster is coming; the absence of people leaves viewers to ponder the question of culpability.  (On view through Dec 9th).

Bo Bartlett, La Corrida, oil on linen, 88 x 120 inches, 2023.

Candice Lin at Canal Projects

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Candice Lin’s fantastical tale of a lithium factory worker reincarnated as a sex demon draws viewers in through an abundance of media including paintings on textile, adapted Korean fermentation vessels, video and workstations featuring ceramic computers, clocks and more in a bizarre but masterful exhibition at Canal Projects.  The installation – coproduced and commissioned by the 14th Gwangju Biennial and Canal Projects – is accompanied by a text detailing the story of a young woman who attempted to steal lithium to make a new life for herself and her lover.  Apparently killed in the effort, she finds herself in the body of a demon – inspired by spirits in Japanese, Chinese and Malaysian lore who are attracted to bodily fluids and functions – who makes her way back to the human realm to haunt the lithium factory and its workers.  Dehumanized by factory work performed to service our reliance on lithium, Lin’s worker ceases to be human, an outcome that serves as a warning to viewers.  (On through on Canal Street through Dec 16th).

Candice Lin, installation view of Lithium Sex Demons in the Factory, Canal Projects, Sept – Dec 2023.