A sandblasted garden sculpture decorated with bronze sausage is a gratifying opener at Marlborough Gallery for fans of Tony Matelli’s offbeat humor and meticulous craft. But it’s the inverted, nude Adam and Eve sculptures in the back gallery that make the show unmissable. (In Chelsea through June 20th).
Tony Matelli, Warrior (detail), concrete and painted bronze, 55 x 21 x 17 inches, 2015.
Titled after actions including ‘pitch,’ ‘slide,’ ‘cram,’ and ‘swap,’ Lee Lozano’s paintings from the mid 60s merge serene minimal abstraction with forceful angles and directional lines that give each canvas suggestive power. (At Hauser & Wirth through July 31st).
Lee Lozano, Lean, oil on canvas, three parts, 78 ¼ x 123 ¼ x 1 5/8 inches, 1966.
‘All I’m doing is putting Brancusi’s Endless Column on the ground instead of in the sky,’ explained Minimalist sculpture Carl Andre in reference to ‘War & Rumors of War,’ a sculpture composed of 90 Australian hardwood timbers. The piece opens Paul Kasmin Gallery’s exhibition of two elegant Brancusi sculptures and works by the major American mid-century artists they inspired. (In Chelsea through June 20th).
Carl Andre, War and Rumors of War, 90 Australian hardwood timbers, overall: 35 ½ x 149 x 138 inches, 2002.
Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles creates an awkward space for viewers, who are invited to climb onto a platform of wooden eggs under a canopy of bullets. Titled ‘Amerikkka,’ the piece’s extra consonants suggest racial discord in a loaded and fragile environment. (At Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong through June 27th).
Cildo Meireles, Amerikkka, 20,050 painted wooden eggs and 31,695 bullets, 158 x 236 x 118 inches, 1991/2013.
New Delhi-based photographer Pablo Bartholomew’s photos of 1970s counterculture in Bombay, New Delhi and Calcutta include plenty of languid hanging out, none as charming as this sunny scene with friends. (At Thomas Erben Gallery in Chelsea through June 20th).
Pablo Bartholomew, Hanging out at Sunder and Ammu’s with Poli, Sheena, Jai and the kids, Calcutta, 1978, silver gelatin print, 1978.