Does anything say ‘elegant urban funky construction worker’ like a workman’s shirt with embroidered logo, workman’s jeans, a fur coat and a chicken bone necklace? This outfit from artist collective Bernadette Corporation’s mid-90s fashion label turns the street into a runway by merging everyday fashions with haute couture. (BC’s retrospective is in SoHo at Artists Space through Dec 16th).
Artist Mark Barrow and textile designer Sarah Parke (partners in art and life) turn the weave of a canvas into a work of art itself by devising loom patterns from red, green and blue thread to make a support. Barrow then applies additional paint to the surface in tiny dot patterns creating a kind of secondary artwork on top of the woven fabric. (At Elizabeth Dee Gallery, Chelsea through Dec 15th.)
Headless animals wander in and out of a bamboo cage-like structure while a giant deity collapses into pieces in Chinese-French artist Huang Yong Ping’s latest installation at Barbara Gladstone’s 21st Street gallery. The piece feels a little too eerie and apocalyptic for its cynical title, ‘Circus.’ (through Jan 19th.)
Four parallel rows of twenty-five Western Red Cedar timbers extend out from the walls of Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery in Carl Andre’s 1977 piece ‘Redoubt.’ As much as it suggests a stronghold, the piece also recalls architectural ruins on the order of Roman ruins near Hadrian’s Wall. (through Dec 15th).
This collage by Fred Tomaselli (seen here in detail), is hidden away in James Cohan Gallery’s back viewing room but has been a big attention grabber on tours lately, and no wonder. Its color, pattern and mesmerizing detail give your eyes (all 20 of them?) and brains a workout.