Ragnar Kjartansson at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson’s 9-screen installation at Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine has been a hands-down ‘Chelsea Gallery Tour’ favorite lately.  Kjartansson and a band of musician friends occupy different rooms in a 200 year old Hudson River mansion as they perform a 53 minute song, which fades away but sticks in the memory as the group exits the house and trails away over green hills. (Through March 16th).  

Ragnar Kjartansson, ‘The Visitors,’ installation view, Nine channel HD video projection, 2012.

Patricia Piccinini at Haunch of Venison

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Australian artist Patricia Piccinini has said that anxiety and wonder are at the heart of her bizarrely intriguing human-animal hybrid creatures, which explains why this fleshy fish is simultaneously repulsive and fascinating.  Titled ‘Eulogy,’ the piece suggests both a connection between this businessman and toxic waters that spawned this mutant and an individual’s personal loss. (At Haunch of Venison, Chelsea, through March 2nd).  

Patricia Piccinini, ‘Eulogy,’ silicon, fiberglass, human hair, clothing, 2011.

Keith Sonnier at Mary Boone Gallery

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In Keith Sonnier’s ‘Ba-O-Ba’ series, lines of neon connect geometric glass shapes and bathe the surrounding space in color.  Placed on the floor against the wall, the pieces originally served as performance sets that would include the performers’ bodies as a further reflected element. (At Mary Boone Gallery’s Chelsea space through Feb 23rd).  

Keith Sonnier, ‘Ba-O-Ba II,’ neon, glass/transformer, 1969.

Jessica Jackson Hutchins & Anna Betbeze at Mitchell-Innes & Nash

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Jessica Jackson Hutchins’ blobby anthropomorph nestles in a spray painted chair while Anna Betbeze’s burnt, torn and cut Flokati rug on the wall behind acts as perfectly alien décor in this otherworldly group show at Chelsea’s Mitchell-Innes & Nash.  (Through Feb 23rd).  

Jessica Jackson Hutchins, ‘Hand,’ spray paint, ceramic, chair, 2012 (foreground).  Anna Betbeze, ‘Lava,’ wool and ash, 2012 (background).

Allen Ruppersberg on 18th Street and 10th Ave – High Line Art

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West-coast conceptual art legend Allen Ruppersberg is known for adopting LA’s colorful roadside signage (popular for advertising garage sales, etc) for his text-based artwork.  Here on 10th Ave and 18th Street in Chelsea, he commands a huge sign of his own to present a series of (romantic?) meditations on relationships between ‘me’ and ‘you.’  (Presented by High Line Art/Friends of the High Line through Feb 28th).  

Allen Ruppersberg, You & Me, print on vinyl, 25 x 75 feet, 2013.