Francis Upritchard’s medieval-looking characters ride, run, lunge and more as they engage in slightly ludicrous one-sided combat. Their expressions read as aloof, nauseous or perhaps both, which seems fitting for such convincingly-executed weedy warriors. (At Chelsea’s Anton Kern Gallery through August 9th)
Francis Upritchard, installation view at Anton Kern Gallery featuring ‘Rider,’ modeling material, wire, fabric, leather and shell buttons, 2012.
Guatamala City-based artist Dario Escobar’s sculpture ‘Obverse & Reverse (Cloud 11)’ may look like a scientific model, but this mobile of inside-out soccer balls offers a new take on the sport as ‘the beautiful game.’ (At Josee Bienvenu Gallery through July 18th).
Dario Escobar, Obverse & Reverse (Cloud 11), latex, leather, string and steel, 2013.
Martin and Erik Demaine, a father and son sculpture-making duo both teaching at MIT, printed Graham Greene’s 1954 short story ‘The Destructors’ on paper, then cut, scored and combined separate sheets to create these dynamic forms. (At Chelsea’s Guided by Invoices through July 13th).
Erik and Martin Demaine, 0363, Language Series, Destructors III, elephant hide paper, 2013.
This vegetable-strewn Steinway grand piano was the standout in Tanya Bonakdar Gallery’s otherwise spare summer group show, ‘ambient.’ It’s abundance is a foil to the hauntingly minimal musical piece ‘Natura Morta’ by Italian avant-garde composer and artist Walter Marchetti which experimental musician Alex Waterman played in the show’s first week. (In Chelsea through July 26th).
Walter Marchetti, Natura Morta, Steinway and Sons concert grand piano, selection of produce, 10-page handwritten manuscript of Walter Marchetti’s ‘Natura Morta,’ 1988.
Diversity is the message in Zach Feuer Gallery’s ‘Jew York’ summer group show featuring artists of Jewish descent; one of the standout pieces is kinetic sculptor Jon Kessler’s creepy ‘Magnum Opus,’ a noisy box with a rotating iPad set to show distorted portraits of onlookers. Powered by a mechanical kid turning a crank, this mish mash of high-tech/low-tech and fakery repulses and amuses. (In Chelsea through July 26th).
Jon Kessler, Magnum Opus, mixed media, 2012.
