A stack of imposing, black steel frames by abstract painter Sean Scully fills the atrium-like space of Cheim & Read’s small side gallery – the first piece encountered when entering the show. By contrast, ‘Colored Stacked Frames,’ (seen here) in the furthest gallery radically alters the somber mood of the show, injecting vibrant color into Scully’s normally restrained palette. (In Chelsea through May 20th).
Dominated by dominoes and colorful concentric circles with a cent sign at the middle, this painting by Mission School artist Chris Johanson suggests that life is a game, with cents and/or sense at the center. Scenes from everyday life – a bedroom, a suburban storefront – look like they could easily disintegrate into the surrounding abstraction at any moment. (At Mitchell-Innes and Nash in Chelsea through May 13th).
CGI and hand painting merge in Matthew Stone’s uncanny portrait. Part of The Hole Gallery’s ‘Post-Analog Painting II’ show, this image questions to what extent painting is influenced by the digital. (On view on the Lower East Side through May 14th).
Dawn Clements isn’t bothered about artful arrangement of the still life objects she paints, yet each object’s deliberately placement gives them all equal weight, from a smiley face made of fruits and a banana, to lip balm, rubber bands and a small belt buckle. (At Pierogi Gallery on the Lower East Side through May 7th).
Known for his meticulously hand-rendered small sculptures that allude to objects without resolving into specific things, Matt Hoyt again reveals a body of work at Bureau, Inc. that resembles unexplained archaeological finds. This untitled stand-alone piece suggests Rorschach tests, a pelvic-bone or vertebra, without closely resembling any of these. (At Bureau, Inc. on the Lower East Side through April 30th).
