YZ Kami at Gagosian Gallery

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Son of a portrait painter, Iranian artist YZ Kami grew up speaking the language of portraiture, but as his art practice matured, the identity of his sitters became less important.  Now on view at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea, enigmatic paintings of subjects known only to us by a name or descriptive identifier in the title represent specific individuals at close range who nevertheless feel as if they’re at a remove.  Indistinctly painted contours, a deliberate softening of outlines, give each character a sense of existing at another point in time, perhaps as a memory.  Downcast eyes suggest that the inner life is the subject of these intriguing but elusive paintings.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 25th).

Isaac in Purple Shirt, oil on linen, 58 ½ x 36 inches, 2022.

Carrie Schneider at Chart Gallery

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Mariah Carey’s head dominates Carrie Schneider’s solo show at Chart Gallery in Tribeca; smiling and nodding, it is featured in a large 16mm color film projection, a still image and two impressively huge photos printed on paper rolls that total 400 feet in length.  Sampled from an interview in which Carey says in response to a question about Jennifer Lopez, ‘I don’t know her,’ Schneider’s work explores how a few seconds of footage can become a meme with an unending digital lifespan and how an evasion on Carey’s part resulted in a cascade of attention.  Schneider’s super-abundance of abstract imagery created via multiple exposures in a specially built camera generates its own kind of optical noise, a visual art parallel to celebrity culture.

Carrie Schneider, Voice’s Owner (I don’t know her), two unique chromogenic photographs made in camera, 20 x 4800 inches, installation dimensions vary, 2023.

Cannupa Hanska Luger at Garth Greenan Gallery

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Only a year and a half ago, Cannupa Hanska Luger’s standout show at Garth Greenan Gallery presented costumes and video that posited Native American practices of adaptability in the environment as a model in a world increasingly effected by climate change.  Luger’s back again already with a strong new body of work that reminds viewers of Native American ingenuity via a series of paintings in the form of large-scale tipis, which the gallery calls ‘spaces of resistance.’  Decorated with graphics reminiscent of art painted on WWII airplanes – large eyes and a set of shark teeth – the tipis are ironically not tools to alter or possess the land but instead to remain mobile within it.  (On view through Feb 25th).

Cannupa Hanska Luger, Blood Lust, acrylic on canvas and mixed media, 109 x 190 inches, 2022.

Rachel Eulena Williams in ‘My Way: A Gathering’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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Strips of painted and dyed acrylic canvas are reassembled in this dynamic composition by Rachel Eulena Williams in ‘My Way: A Gathering’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in Tribeca.  Featuring work by Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers and younger Black female artists in touch with their artistic forebears’ legacy, this group exhibition is a visual feast of pattern and color.  (On view through Feb 18th.)

Rachel Eulena Williams, Fall Scrap Flag, acrylic on canvas, dye canvas and polyester, 68 x 73 inches, 2022.

Mikey Yates in ‘The Midnight Hour’ at The Hole

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Young Kansas City based artist Mikey Yates, whose ‘Summer Walker’ is a standout at The Hole’s current night-themed group exhibition, paints tranquil scenes that include a family making art together at the dining room table and women chatting at night on a rooftop.  Such scenes – whether populated by solitary people or multiple individuals – argue the pleasures and importance of domestic life.  Though the individual in this painting walks alongside a highway in relative isolation, light from the streetlamp, a yellow hydrant and glowing neon sign in the distance create a sense of well-being and purpose.  (On view through Feb 18th).

Mikey Yates, Summer Walker, oil, acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 40 x 30 inches, 2022.