Rome-based artist Giacinto Occhionero creates his atmospheric abstractions by applying orbs of spray paint to the back of Plexi, then adding layers of color. Here, he evokes both a moonlit night and a fiery sunset as seen from a terrace. (At Kristen Lorello Gallery through Dec 22nd).
Race cars and trucks were the late photorealist painter Ron Kleemann’s vehicle for exploring light and color in the world around him. Here, a surveyor’s tripod, a first responder’ pickup and a helicopter seem to merge together by virtue of their common color. (At Bernarducci Meisel Gallery on 57th Street through Dec 17th).
A wallpaper of surveillance cameras and the Twitter logo by artist/activist Ai Weiwei at Mary Boone Gallery’s Chelsea space refer to the consequences of his on-line criticism of the Chinese government. On a similar theme, a tree cobbled together from several once-majestic plants suggests disaster and endurance. (On view through Dec 23rd).
Shrunken and placed in a jar by the evil genius Braniac, the capital city of Superman’s home planet exists but just out of reach. Mike Kelly takes up the theme of past trauma as ever-present influence on the present in an installation of mixed media installations and lightboxes based on drawings of Kandor culled from comics. (At Venus Over Manhattan through January 28th).
Scrap metal, vividly colored steel tubing and shiny, black cylindrical disks compete for attention in Carol Bove’s ‘Polka Dots,’ now on view at Chelsea’s David Zwirner Gallery. Here, the show’s titular sculpture brings to mind the powerful forces required to bend steel while reveling in a burst of yellow and the smooth perfection of black ‘polka dots.’ (On view through Dec 17th).
