Indian artist Tallur L.N.’s huge sculpture is a standout in Chelsea on two counts: it courts religious reflection and you can hit it. Visitors are invited to pick up one of several nearby hammers and pound a coin into a log supported by a giant Buddha sculpture while making a wish. I’ve heard of the audience being invited to complete an artwork, but a divinity? (At Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery through May 11th).
Tallur L.N., Chromathophobia, wooden log, granite and hammered coins, 2012.
Ryan Humphrey brings street life inside by making art from signage, brass knuckles, music and more in a show that includes paintings in the guise of caution tape, available by the piece or all together. A comment on desensitization or just plain desensitization? (At DCKT Contemporary on the Lower East Side through May 12th).
Ryan Humphrey, Tapes, acrylic on canvas, seven parts, 2013.
Israel-born, New York based artist Guy Ben-Ari makes his New York exhibition debut with a show that speaks to our access and remove from contemporary events. Here, hands hold a tablet showing an act of self-immolation caught on camera and witnessed by mostly passive spectators which include the tablet owner and finally, us. (At Scaramouche Gallery through April 28th)
Guy Ben-Ari, An Act of Protest Viewed Through a Tablet Device, oil on panel, 2013.
Over the past few years, Kara Walker has moved away from her signature antebellum figures seen in silhouette enacting various barbarisms on each other. In the back galleries of Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins, they return with vigor and malice, begging the question of what’s changed since they made Walker’s name in the mid-90s. (Through May 22nd).
Kara Walker, Wall Sampler 1, cut paper and paint on wall, dimensions variable, 2013.
In the late 60s, Richard Nonas was working as an anthropologist when he had an epiphany in the park one day while playing with his dog. Picking up pieces of wood, he was struck by their relationship to each other and began a career in making sculpture whose construction was plain to see but which resulted in what he calls an ‘unexpected inexplicable result.’ (At James Fuentes on the Lower East Side through April 21st).
Richard Nonas, Untitled (from the Cherrytree Split Series), cherry wood, 2012.
