After his recent travels to Central and South America, Berlin-based artist Julius von Bismarck returned with study specimens in the form of dried plants and a snake that have been heated in a huge, custom-built oven and flattened in a 50-ton hydraulic press. Backed on shaped stainless steel, the tongue-in-cheek souvenirs present botanical investigation as art. (On view in Chelsea at Marlborough Contemporary through May 20th).
Working from his own detailed photographs, Chinese artist Xiaoze Xie, transforms images of books on dusty library shelves into atmospherically lit bridges to the past. Oil paintings from his latest solo show at Chambers Fine Art in Chelsea include this New Testament translation from Oxford University, wrapped volumes from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu and tomes from the Morgan Library in New York. (On view through June 17th).
Walead Beshty’s exhibition at Petzel Gallery opens like a revenge drama on uncooperative office equipment, with this sculpture composed of a monitor, skewered by a steel pole and spewing out its interior components. Rather than commenting on frustration or alienation with technology, however, Beshty’s piece expresses his ongoing interest in exposing behind-the-scenes aspects of conceiving of, creating and displaying art. (On view through June 17th).
Iconic Brazilian Neo-Concretist Lygia Clark explored the experience of space in both two and three dimensions, in paintings and her famous bicho (critter) sculptures that could be handled and manipulated. At Luhring Augustine Gallery in Chelsea, 2-D pieces, like this study for a modulated surface, suggests the organic world with tones that allude to earth and sky. (On view through June 17th).
Rachel Harrison’s latest solo show at Greene Naftali Gallery seems to step away from the overt politics of her most recent shows, instead questioning the value and role of art (as presented in an imagined conversation between several famous artworks featured in a gallery handout). In this piece, what appears to be a bald eagle in a bandana is held at gunpoint, a symbol of power reduced to a captive state as the color of money dominates. (In Chelsea through Jun 17th).
