George Condo’s Picassoid jumbling of classic Condo facial features on the left and a sketchy blond Ab Exp muse on the right make an arresting couple at the entrance to Skarstedt’s Chelsea gallery. They’re also an amusing counterpart to the current Picasso show down the block at Gagosian Gallery. (In Chelsea through Dec 20th)
George Condo, Double Heads on Blue and Silver, acrylic, charcoal, pastel on linen, 78 x 110 inches, 2014.
By dividing Ramiken Crucible’s small Lower East Side space into narrow compartments littered with dingy Pepsi cans and wall mounted urethane furniture casts, LA artist Kaari Upson creates a claustrophobic habitat that’s grungy while also strangely tidy. A puffy urethane door and doorstop at the entrance recall the harmless oddness of Claes Oldenburg sculpture. (At Ramiken Crucible through Dec 14th).
Kaari Upson, Untitled, aluminum, 200 aluminum cans, 2014 (foreground). Kaari Upson, Door Stop, urethane, pigment and cement, 2014 (background).
Resting on their stately pedestals like exhibits at the Met, late Viennese sculptor Franz West’s candy-colored abstract sculptures may strike a serious pose but still exude nose-thumbing absurdity. (At David Zwirner Gallery’s 20th Street location through Dec 13th).
Franz West, Untitled (10 Sculptures), papier-mache, plaster, polyester, gauze, paint, plastic, metal and wood in eleven parts, dimensions variable, 1990-1997.
Known for distorting photographic images with liquids, Sara Greenberger Rafferty pushes the idea further in her latest solo show at Rachel Uffner Gallery by layering prints, acrylic and Plexi in images that juxtapose youth and decay. Here, a blurry image of a young woman (hung as if lurking or hiding in the stairwell) recedes behind a skeletal figure. (On the Lower East Side through Dec 21st.)
Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Untitled, acrylic polymer and inkjet print on acetate on Plexiglas and hardware, irregular size: 164.5 x 60.3 x 1.3cm, 2014.
This small detail from a paper cut tiger’s face by Beijing-based Wu Jian’an astounds with its detail. Created in unlikely colors, the pastels lend the tiger a dream-like appearance, in keeping with the esoteric imagery. (In Chelsea at Chambers Fine Art through Dec 20th).
Wu Jian’an, detail of ‘Faces – Tiger,’ hand dyed and waxed paper-cut, cotton thread, paper, 66 ¼ x 53 ¼ inches, 2014.
