Michele Grabner at James Cohan Gallery

Handmade blankets rendered in bronze and boldly colored paintings based on the blankets’ patterns orient Michele Grabner’s latest body of work toward the domestic, the personal and the tactile. Each blanket’s form looks ghostly, harkening back to the bodies that used it to stay warm. As 2-D images on the wall, the cozy factor is replaced by a reference to the grid, the ubiquitous underlying principle to much mid-20th century art. Grabner suggests that context is key. (At James Cohan Gallery’s Chelsea location, through Jan 28th).

Michele Grabner, Untitled, bronze, 43 ½ x 20 x 12 ½ inches, unique, 2016.  Background painting:  Untitled, oil on burlap and canvas, 86 ½ x 120 inches, 2016.
Michele Grabner, Untitled, bronze, 43 ½ x 20 x 12 ½ inches, unique, 2016. Background painting: Untitled, oil on burlap and canvas, 86 ½ x 120 inches, 2016.

Nell Blaine at Tibor de Nagy

The vibrant colors and domestic setting rich with decorative details in this gorgeous still life by late New York painter Nell Blaine betray her captivation by 19th/20th century European painters like Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard. (On view in midtown at Tibor de Nagy Gallery through Jan 28th).

Nell Blaine, White Lilies, Pink Cloth, oil on canvas, 24 x 27 inches, 1990.
Nell Blaine, White Lilies, Pink Cloth, oil on canvas, 24 x 27 inches, 1990.

Samuel Levi Jones at Galerie Lelong

Using the covers of old encyclopedias, law books and African American reference books, Samuel Levi Jones makes collages on canvas that question what changes as time passes. Jones employs books as symbols of obsolescence to further represent how the ideas expressed therein can also run their course. (At Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong through Jan 28th).

Samuel Levi Jones, 101, deconstructed encyclopedias, law books and African American reference books on canvas, 49 x 60 inches, 2016.
Samuel Levi Jones, 101, deconstructed encyclopedias, law books and African American reference books on canvas, 49 x 60 inches, 2016.

Peter Coolidge at Peter Blum Gallery

Peter Coolidge’s photos of coal seams in Germany’s industrial Ruhr region glint seductively, appealing to some as abstract compositions formed by nature. Yet not far from the surface is the understanding of coal’s powerful role in pollution and climate change, turning this coalface sinister. (At Peter Blum Gallery on 57th Street through Feb 4th).

Peter Coolidge, Coal Seam, Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel #5, pigment inkjet print, 57 x 50 inches, 2013.
Peter Coolidge, Coal Seam, Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel #5, pigment inkjet print, 57 x 50 inches, 2013.

Rebecca Morris at Mary Boone Gallery

Abstract painter Rebecca Morris shows canvases controlled by a grid and, by contrast, images in which forms float freely in a selection of work at Mary Boone Gallery’s 57th Street location. In pieces like this untitled oil on canvas, Morris’ organizational strategy occupies a middle ground as recurring scallop-edged shapes nestle into each other, appearing to both advance towards us and recede. A white border flecked with black recalling ermine fur and a center that brings Dalmatians to mind create associations that drive contemplation. (On view through Feb 25th).

Rebecca Morris, Untitled (#12 – 13), 87 x 80 inches, oil/canvas, 2013.
Rebecca Morris, Untitled (#12 – 13), 87 x 80 inches, oil/canvas, 2013.