Mernet Larsen at James Cohan Gallery

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

Mernet Larsen continues to break with traditional Western linear perspective in new, irresistibly cheeky canvases at James Cohan Gallery that pay homage to Russian constructivist El Lissitzky.  Larsen explains that decades ago, she broke a taboo by imagining that the early 20th century avant-gardist’s abstractions could be read figuratively.  She takes things a step further here, turning El Lissitzky’s circles bisected by long rectangles into an astronaut floating in front of a planet or a restaurant table attending by a plank-like waiter bearing cocktails.  (On view in Tribeca through Jan 23rd .  Masks and social distancing are required).

Mernet Larsen, Astronaut: Sunrise (after El Lissitzky), acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 49 ½ x 49 inches, 2020.

John Edmonds at Brooklyn Museum of Art

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

At first glance, one figure dominates John Edmonds’ photograph ‘Two Spirits,’ a standout in his gorgeous solo show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.  However, a soft area on the model’s light-bathed right shoulder and the shifting finger and thumb of his left hand testify to the film’s double exposure, a technique that adds to the abundant doubling taking place in the image. While the title is a term referring to nonbinary people, and Dan masks traditionally can shift identity when worn in performance, Edmonds brings to mind a third doubling by citing Ibeji, the Yoruba deity associated with twins.  (On view through Aug 8th.  Masks, social distancing and advance tickets required).

John Edmonds, Two Spirits, archival pigment photograph, 2019.

Beth Lipman at Nohra Haime Gallery

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

Enticing to the eye but lacking color, Beth Lipman’s glass sculptures at Nohra Haime Gallery replicate sumptuous still life arrangements but deny the satisfaction of seeing them clearly.   Created from black or clear glass, the details of the sculptures can be hard to discern.  The effect is deliberate, intended to provoke low-level frustration that might prompt viewers to question the desire to consume. (On view in Chelsea through Jan 16th).

Beth Lipman, detail of Scale and Gazing Ball, glass, wood, metal, paint, adhesive, 64 x 42 x 32 inches, 2020.

Ian Davenport at Kasmin Gallery

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

A cascade of color greets visitors to Kasmin Gallery’s cavernous 27th Street gallery in the form of British artist Ian Davenport’s large-scale poured paintings.  Inspired by the gorgeous colors he once encountered in a field of bluebonnets, the artist planned sequences of poured lines of paint that would translate a natural vision into a powerful, mediated experience of color.  (On view in Chelsea through Jan 9th).

Ian Davenport, Spring (Bluebonnet), acrylic on aluminum (six panels with additional floor section), 129 7/8 x 236 ¼ x 39 3/8 inches, 2018.

Hung Liu in ‘Prayers to Urns’ at Nancy Hoffman Gallery

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

As a new year approaches and many hope for better times ahead, west coast painter Hung Liu marks time in a personal and captivating way in two new paintings at Nancy Hoffman Gallery.  Every twelve years, at the start of the Chinese zodiac and in the Year of the Rat in which she was born, the artist creates a self-portrait paired with an important symbolic animal or object.  In 2020, the most recent year of the rat, the artist marks her 72nd year with an image of herself draped in and masked by the US flag, a contrast to the red scarf she wears in her 1972 portrait as she lived through China’s Cultural Revolution.  To the right, she repeats a five-stroke Chinese character to recall the prisoner’s act of marking time in strokes on the wall.  (On view through Jan 2nd in Chelsea.  Masks and social distancing are required.)

Hung Liu, Ray Year I: Counting Down, oil on linen, mixed media on wood, 64 x 100 inches, 2020.