Working on the model of conceptual artists like On Kawara who famously used the mail to deliver art content, Berlin-based British artist Jonathan Monk devised this weekly letter as an art work in which he tries to guess the name of the mother-in-law of the work’s owner. (At Casey Kaplan Gallery in Chelsea through August 1st).
Jonathan Monk, Guessing your mother-in-law’s name, letter from the artist every Friday until he guesses correctly, 2003.
Though hard to photograph, David Kennedy Cutler’s impressive sculptures – created by molding tall sheets of Plexi with a heat gun and his own body – are impossible to miss in Lisa Cooley Gallery’s summer group exhibition. While manifesting a ghostly, physical presence of their own, they also co-opt the gallery’s lighting and use the show’s other works as backdrop. (On the Lower East Side through August 1st).
David Kennedy Cutler, installation view at Lisa Cooley Gallery, July 2014. Plexiglas sculptures from the series, ‘No More Right Now Forever.’
Brooklyn painter Nikki Maloof stands out in Zach Feuer Gallery’s summer group painting exhibition with this tongue-in-cheek homage to the summer sun, which has tattooed her skin with burns and melded her blond hair with the saturated yellow sky. (In Chelsea through July 26th).
Nikki Maloof, Burn, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches, 2013.
This arrestingly odd triptych by artist collaborators DAS INSTITUT presents a caricatured woman’s face in one image while giving the subterfuge away in the other two photos. Holding a donut decorated in the same pattern as her shirt, the model fixes us with an unnerving stare as if to question what part we play in making meaning from images. (At the Lower East Side’s On Stellar Rays through August 1st.)
DAS INSTITUT, When You See Me Again It Won’t Be Me (Green), 3 pigment prints, 19 ¼ x 42 ½ inches, 2014.
In 1960s south of France, a group of artists looking for alternatives to traditional ways of making art informally opted for abstract compositions favoring geometry and color. Canada Gallery on the Lower East Side showcases work that seduces with its handmade, colorful and rhythmic qualities. (Through July 20th).
Installation view of ‘Supports/Surfaces’ at Canada Gallery, June 2014.
