Ella Kruglyanskaya at Bortolami Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Latvian American artist Ella Kruglyanskaya’s fashion-aware female figures in her current solo show at Bortolami Gallery look as if they’ve been sketched in motion though they’re painted in oil on linen.  ‘Beyond Good and Evil,’ a monumental rendering of a hair clip, doesn’t have quite the same on-the-fly quality but it does look as if it could scramble off the canvas at any moment.  Openings resembling eyes and prongs that look like legs turn a simple accessory into something unexpectedly menacing.  (On view at Bortolami in Tribeca through Dec 18th).

Ella Kruglyanskaya, Beyond Good and Evil, oil on linen, 62 x 66 inches, 2021.

Whitfield Lovell at DC Moore Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

A portrait of a portly businessman paired with a model train engine, a corseted woman with theatrical tassels attached to the sides of her likeness and other drawings of men and women in 19th century dress by Whitfield Lovell at DC Moore Gallery are made more intense and vibrant by their red background. In the new series titled ‘The Reds,’ Lovell continues to pair drawings of individuals with found objects that enhance our understanding of the sitter’s identity.  Here, a young man is surrounded by a hovering halo of stars prompting viewers to question how this individual’s identity relates to country.  (On view through Dec 18th).

Whitfield Lovell, The Red XIV, conte on paper with attached found objects, 45 ¾ x 34 inches, 2021.

Emily Eveleth at Miles McEnery Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Emily Eveleth has pointed out that the object in her painting is not necessarily the subject, a consideration that continues to apply to her ongoing series of donut paintings at Miles McEnery Gallery.  Though more or less obviously desserts, Eveleth’s donuts are lit to suggest intimate bodies or ooze jam in ways that hint at trauma.  Titled after books published by the Parisian firm Olympia Press and shaped to resemble book format, each canvas speaks volumes. (On view in Chelsea through Nov 27th.)

Emily Eveleth, Boudoir, oil on panel, 26 x 18 inches, 2021.

M.C. Escher at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

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Just as a tiny shift in perspective can cause a straightforward transparent cube to morph into an impossible cube, M.C. Escher’s architecture in this 1958 print is believable on first glance, until matching up columns to arches proves otherwise.  The lithograph is one of 75 artworks on view in Bruce Silverstein Gallery’s exhibition of the Dutch printmaker’s work from the ‘30s to late career. Inspired by the impossible cube, a version of which is being held by a seated man on the lower terrace, Escher delights viewers by confounding us.  (On view in Chelsea through Nov 20th).

M.C. Escher, Belvedere, lithograph, printers proof, 18 ¼ x 11 5/8 inches, 1958.

Robin F. Williams at PPOW Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Women have been pictured as merging with the natural world throughout art history, but not quite in the subversive and sometimes sinister way that Robin F. Williams pictures the spritely athletes that populate her latest paintings at PPOW Gallery.  Using oil, airbrush, poured paint, marbling and staining, Williams creates bodies that both compliment and stand out from their environments.  Here, in a piece titled ‘Speak of the Devil,’ two characters with glowing, inhuman eyes reveal hands with flattened fingertips that match the tone of nearby leaves suggesting intriguing hybrid identities.  (On view in Tribeca through Nov 13th.  Masks required.)

Robin F. Williams, Speak of the Devil, acrylic on canvas, 57 x 57 inches, 2021.