LA painter Theodora Allen’s first New York solo show features medieval shields as frames for plants with medicinal or harmful uses. Here, the hallucinogenic Jimsonweed materializes on the support like a ghostly presence, pointing to the non-tangible world of experience. (On view at Paul Kasmin Gallery’s 515 West 27th Street location through March 9th.)
Josh Sperling describes his shaped canvases as “simple, beautiful, and fun” in a recent Perrotin Gallery video that touts the pleasures of looking. He can add ‘huge’ to describe fifteen-foot tall Hocus Pocus, a centerpiece of his current show at the gallery. Evoking flowers or ripples from raindrops in water, the assemblage of eighty-four separate paintings is pure enjoyment. (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 16th).
A tattoo of Popeye battling a squid inspired the cartoon-themed body art on this pensive pensioner, an invented character by Rodney Graham. Standing on the balcony of his ‘Vancouver Special’ sporting a rebellious rockabilly style, the character – played by Graham – stands out amid the trappings of middle-class culture. (On view at Chelsea’s 303 Gallery through Feb 23rd).
Art magazine covers inspired Marlon Mullen’s latest body of work, a series of paintings on view at JTT Gallery that revamp the eye-catching images on the country’s best-known art publications. From his studio at the NIAD Center for Art & Disabilities, Mullen here refines a unique vision that injects vivid color, graphic boldness, and some whimsy into a reworking of a 2014 ArtNews cover featuring Yemeni photographer Boushra Almutawakel’s image of a woman wearing a U.S. flag as headscarf. (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 17th).
Eleanor Ray’s sunny Texas, Wyoming and Utah landscapes at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery are an enticing alternative to dreary mid-winter New York City. Despite their size (c. 6.5 inches high), the tiny oil paintings communicate wide open spaces suffused with light; here in ‘Wyoming Window,’ the silhouette of a window next to a view from another window turns the sun into an almost tangible presence in the room. (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 10th).
