David Shrigley at Anton Kern Gallery

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London-based Guardian art critic Adrian Searle calls British artist David Shrigley’s artwork ‘appalling, abysmal, and painfully dire,’ but likes it so much he has it tattooed on his belly. Shrigley’s off-beat sense of humor encourages such contradictory impulses, as does this cat pairing, which seems aimed at exploiting any viewer’s insecurities with charming hokeyness. (At Chelsea’s Anton Kern Gallery through Feb 16).

David Shrigley, ‘Cat (It’s OK, It’s not OK), acrylic on canvas stuffed with foam, 2012.

Maya Bloch at Thierry Goldberg Gallery

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Young Israeli painter Maya Bloch is making a splash on the Lower East Side with her liquidy portraits of anonymous characters. This one’s indirect gaze, sloping face and coiffure that looks more like geology than a hairdo suggests an ageless, ghostly presence. (At Thierry Goldberg Gallery through Feb 17th).

Maya Bloch, Untitled, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2012.


‘Monsalvat’ at Bureau Gallery

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Bureau Gallery’s exhibition space is so small (one of the tiniest in the city), it’s hard to find room to take a photograph of ‘Monsalvat,’ a sprawling exhibition of work by over fifty artists. Inspired by the Arthurian tale of the Fischer King, artist/curator duo Merkx & Gwynne recreate a version of the king’s castle here, complete with mystical relics (including the grail) crafted by stand-out young artists. (On the Lower East Side through Feb 17th).

Installation view of ‘Monsalvat’ at Bureau Gallery, Feb 2013.


Nari Ward at New Museum

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Nari Ward’s installation of 300 abandoned baby strollers culled from Harlem streets in 1993 is a far cry from the banks of stroller parking around the city’s more family-friendly neighborhoods today. Here, surrounded and entwined by flattened fire hoses (they were first displayed in an abandoned fire house) and displayed to the sounds of Mahalia Jackson’s ‘Amazing Grace,’ they’re emblems of a gritty, made-do urban existence. (At the New Museum’s Studio 231 space next door to the museum through April 21st)

Nari Ward, ‘Amazing Grace,’ installation view at Studio 231, New Museum, approx 300 baby strollers and fire hoses, 1993.


Zwelethu Mthethwa at Jack Shainman Gallery

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South African photograher Zwelethu Mthethwa’s mother had a hope chest, a custom made box gifted to her when she married and left her childhood home. Likened to a time capsule, women keep the chest their entire lives. In Mthethwa’s ‘Hope Chest’ series, we don’t get a look inside the boxes, but what we do see – the lives and circumstances of everyday South Africans – are just as fascinating. (At Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery through Feb 23rd).

Zwelethu Mthethwa, Untitled (Hope Chest series), digital c-print, 2012. Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery.