David Hammons in Subliminal Horizons at Alexander Gray Associates

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

David Hammons’ untitled bottles from the mid-80s are a standout in Alexander Gray Associates’ summer group show, which features artists of color who have a relationship to the Hudson River Valley.  Evoking messages cast adrift in bottles or carefully constructed ships in bottles, each curious form invites and eludes easy interpretation.  A white lightning bolt suggests magically captured electricity, a fish somehow survives in a glass enclosure and the zippers from the flies of pants become living insects, a series of transformations that invite wonder.  (On view through Aug 14th).

David Hammons, installation view of untitled bottles from 1985, Alexander Gray Associates.

Karyn Olivier at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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

Shirt sleeves, pant legs, scarves and other clothing fragments peek out intriguingly from between layers of red brick at the entrance to Karyn Olivier’s current solo show at Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.  On the reverse side of this floor to ceiling wall, the rest of each garment hangs in a mass collage of color and pattern Titled ‘Fortified,’ the piece suggests a barrier erected and made strong by the people.  (On view in Chelsea through July 30th).

Karyn Olivier, Fortified, bricks, used clothing and steel, 144 x 240 x 30 inches, 2018-2020.

William J. O’Brien in ‘A Thought Sublime’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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

Inspired by unschooled art and experimentation, artist and School of the Art Institute of Chicago ceramics professor William J. O’Brien presents a cluster of 42 ceramic spheres celebrating nonconformity and variety in Marianne Boesky Gallery’s summer group show.  Titled ‘Earth, Water, Fire, Wind & Space, Pt. 1,’ the installation is literally grounded yet aims to take the mind beyond the everyday.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 6th).

William J. O’Brien, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space, Pt. 1, ceramic, dimensions variable, 42 ceramics, 2021.

Chloe Chiasson in ‘Fragmented Bodies II: Fluidity in Form’ at Albertz Benda

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

In Albertz Benda’s summer group exhibition, ‘Fragmented Bodies II:  Fluidity in Form,’ fluidity defines identity.  Chloe Chiasson’s Target Practice, a shaped painting that is part of the wall and leaps off of it, features a group of young men who defy stereotypes of masculine rural behavior.  Perched on a wooden fence with beer cans used for target practice, one man’s ‘Daddy’ tattoo, another’s earring and scattered daisies upend expectations.  (On view in Chelsea through July 31st).

Chloe Chiasson, Target Practice, oil, acrylic, resin, wool, denim, aluminum, lantern, wood, nails, hot glue, graphite, glitter, neopixels, cigarette butts, matches, bobby pin, sticky note, page from book, washers, ink on shaped canvas, 104 x 130 x 60 inches, 2021.

Ricardo Brey in ‘Re: Bicycling’ at Susan Inglett Gallery

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

Susan Inglett Gallery’s excellent summer group exhibition, co-curated by David Platzker of Specific Object and Alex Ostroy of the cycling apparel brand Ostroy, celebrates the bike as revolutionary object.  From a late 19th century French poster depicting a woman in long dress enjoying the freedom of the road to Rodney Graham’s bike-powered, rotating psychedelic collage, the exhibition extols the power of the bike to take people in new directions.  Here, Ricardo Brey’s standout mixed media sculpture ‘Joy,’ connects bikes to heavenly paths and celestial orbits.  (On view through July 23rd).

celestial orbits. (On view through July 23rd).
Ricardo Brey, Joy, mixed media, 14 3/16 x 25 ¼ x 31 ½ inches, 2018.