Hannah Whitaker at Marinaro

New York photographer Hannah Whitaker departs from her usual complex, multiple exposure images in recent straight photographs at Marinaro that employ grids and gradients to create what looks like a digital environment for a lone female character.  Here, a shaft of light illuminates a sliver of her model’s otherwise dark body, suggesting that we’re seeing a fragment of what’s before us.  Imagined as a sister to digital avatars like Siri or Alexa, Whitaker’s new figure questions who our AI characters are and why they’re designed as they are.  (On view in Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood through Jan 24th.  Masks and social distancing are required.)

Hannah Whitaker, Orange Eye, Slit, UV printed onto MDF with hand painted edges, 21 x 15 inches, 2019.

Sally Saul at Rachel Uffner Gallery

Sally Saul’s new ceramics at Rachel Uffner Gallery engage today’s difficult times with humor by bringing out the absurdity in some of our anxieties.  Here, waves defy nature to encircle one swimmer and finger-like peaks rise up in to threaten unwanted contact.  On the other hand, the small size and delicate nature of the waves make them look almost playful.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Jan 30th.  Masks and social distancing are required).

Sally Saul, Troubled Waters, clay and glaze, 12 ½ x 28 x 17 inches, 2020.

Otto Piene at Sperone Westwater

Though Otto Piene’s involvement with Group Zero, a post-war avant-garde group dedicated to exploring light and motion in art, ended when the group dissolved in the ‘60s, his experimentation with light continued into late career.  This stunning ceramic sculpture resembling a rainbow at Sperone Westwater is characteristic of his ‘heavy images,’ made by pushing metallic glazes through a screen onto clay before firing.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Jan 16th. Masks and social distancing are required.)

Otto Piene, Grosse Regenbogen (Ohne Titel), glaze on clay in three parts, 37 3/8 x 56 1/8 x 2 3/8 inches, 2014.

Elisa Sighicelli at Kaufmann Repetto

Ethereal forms appear to rise up in this photograph printed on satin by Turin-based artist Elisa Sighicelli, currently part of her two-artist show at Tribeca’s 55 Walker/Kaufmann Repetto.  Created by hanging sheets of plastic in front of her window and photographing them, Sighicelli’s images are clearly representational yet appear abstract as they invite shifting perceptions of space.  Printed on sheets of synthetic satin and hung in the gallery, they ripple slightly – just enough to create additional, 3D spatial depth.  (On view through Jan 23rd).

Elisa Sighicelli, untitled (3288), photograph printed on satin, 78.3 x 53.9 inches, 2020.

Alice Tippit at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

Judging by this standout painting from her current show at Nicelle Beauchene’s new Tribeca space, it comes as no surprise that painter Alice Tippit has cited Magritte as her ‘all-time favorite’ artist to come back to for his ‘sense of mystery.’  Though ‘Stall’ suggests a recognizable scenario – the mind wandering to happy places or at rest – its graphic, streamlined style embodies enigma.  (On view at 7 Franklin Place through Jan 16th. Masks and social distancing are required.)

Alice Tippit, Stall, 21 x 17 inches, oil on canvas, 2020.