Susie MacMurray’s stately ‘Medusa,’ dignifies the maligned mythological character by refashioning her imposing figure in a beautiful surface of tiny, interlocked copper rings. (At Chelsea’s Danese Corey Gallery through May 21st.)
Chadwick Rantanen at Essex Street
Light up wall decorations, picture frames and clocks are the hosts for Chadwick Rantanen’s unusual art project, which takes the form of adaptors that allow one battery to be used in place of another. With adaptors in the form of bees sticking out the back of this clock, the device is forced to keep its kitschy face to the wall. Resistance to tackiness and artistic innovation become the subject matter. (At Essex Street through May 16th).
The Propeller Group at James Cohan Gallery
Vietnam-based artists The Propeller Group make a surprising connection between brass bands in New Orleans and Vietnam in a mesmerizing video created for the New Orleans biennial, Prospect 3. Here, a funeral band wades into the Mekong Delta, making an elaborate journey as they accompany the dead toward the afterlife. (At James Cohan Gallery on the Lower East Side through May 15th).
Strauss Borque-LaFrance at Rachel Uffner Gallery
Titled ‘post-paintings,’ as if they’re pioneering a new art form after painting, Strauss Bourque-LaFrance’s wall sculptures are in fact made from 2 x 2” posts and cropped pictures from the New York Post newspaper. Colored like a quilt and featuring snippets of Post sports coverage, this piece evokes all-American pastimes. (At Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through May 16th).
Chloe Sells at Julie Saul Gallery
Working between London and Botswana, American artist Chloe Sells shoots the natural beauty of the Okavango Swamps, then uses screens, overlays and hand painting in the darkroom to create unique prints with what the artist calls a ‘dreamy effect.’ (At Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea through June 11th).