John Szarkowski, MoMA’s photography director for nearly 30 years, called Lee Friedlander’s nude photos, “… the most unblinkingly, unreservedly candid descriptions of other people’s bodies that serious photography has produced.” Pace Gallery proves his point with a show of photos from the late 70s to the early 90s that practically interrogate female bodies in their intensity. (On 57th Street through Dec 22nd).
Photographer Lee Friedlander returns to his roots by shooting reflective store windows with a 35mm camera in his latest series, titled ‘Mannequin.’ Here, a building’s façade tries to impose its grid on a Dolly-Parton-haired good-time girl while a curtain and rod at the top complicates ideas of public and private space. (At Pace/MacGill Gallery, 57th Street through Dec 22nd).
Andy Warhol’s Cow Wallpaper and Silver Clouds, originally created for a solo show at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1966, reunite in the final room of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s ‘Regarding Warhol’ exhibition for a jolt of interactive fun. Join Merrily on Sunday, Nov 18th (10am – 11:30am) for a small group tour of this blockbuster show. (Space is limited to six participants. $40pp. To make a reservation, please email merrily@newyorkarttours.com.)
Though not many of Olafur Eliasson’s projects are going to measure up to the impact of his past large-scale artworks (creating waterfalls on New York City’s East River or a sun in the Tate’s Turbine Hall), his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery features this simple but mesmerizing display of three fountains, lit by strobes, which turn moving water into seemingly static sculptures. (through Dec 22nd).
Judy Pfaff’s new sculptures, on view at Chelsea’s Ameringer McEnery Yohe Gallery, channel Lynda Benglis’s neon colors and puffy forms, Louise Bourgeois’ or Yayoi Kusama’s profusion of phallic protrusions, and the commanding presence of a more recent wall-mounted Frank Stella. Yet the profusion of optical seduction is typical Pfaff, as seen in pieces like ‘The Path to the Center was Clearly Marked’ (2012), an over 7ft wide tour de force created from honeycomb cardboard, pigmented expanded form, melted plastics, fluorescent and incandescent light. (Through November 10th.)