Etel Adnan at Galerie Lelong

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

Etel Adnan’s ‘Danse Nocturne’ is a standout in her current show of painting and tapestry at Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong, its bold lines and saturated color communicating a vibrant energy that reaches right across the gallery space.  Abstracted landscapes, starting with an image of an olive tree at the gallery’s entrance, suggest a joyful experience of nature rendered in a rich material – wool tapestry.  Adnan has explained that that an artist’s materials are like a co-author, conveying meaning in a unique way; here, tapestry mediates the work’s expressionistic immediacy and conveying a considered appreciation of natural beauty. (On view through Dec 19th.  Masks and social distancing are required).

Etel Adnan, Danse Nocturne, wool tapestry, 67.5 x 99.8 inches, 2019.

Martin Puryear at Matthew Marks Gallery

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

History looms large in succinct and powerful sculptures by Martin Puryear at Matthew Marks Gallery that include a huge civil war cap with a cannon hidden inside and a classical fluted column supporting a stylized shackle – a monument to Sally Hemings.  Here, a precariously situated wagon reimagines the vehicles the Boers used to move into South Africa’s interior in the 19th century.  Titled ‘New Voortrekker,’ after the term the Boers used for themselves, the sculpture’s wagon features a spiral staircase with a mirror at its base, as if to offer ascending/descending settlers a different view of themselves.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 19th. Masks, social distancing and appointments are required).

Martin Puryear, New Voortrekker, ash, American cypress, maple, mirror, 2018.

Melissa Brown at Derek Eller Gallery

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

Real and virtual space combine in provocative ways in Melissa Brown’s new paintings at Derek Eller Gallery.  Inspired by routines that have been upended by the pandemic, Brown pictures include familiar New York haunts like the Met Museum but with digital distortions, and interior scenes that feature screens or mirrors to suggest portals into other worlds.  Here, a hand shifts two balls around in front of the window of an empty train overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset – a frenetic activity in a strangely quiet place.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Dec 19th.)

Melissa Brown, Commute, flashe, oil, acrylic on DiBond, 72 x 54 inches, 2020.

Derek Fordjour at Petzel Gallery

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

Derek Fordjour’s tour de force exhibition at Petzel Gallery includes two dramatic sculptural installations, a puppet show performed twice daily and two distinct bodies of collaged 2-D work, each as powerful as the next.  Continuing to address themes of systemic racism in the US, Fordjour was prompted by George Floyd’s death to directly address Black grief, mourning and the specter of death in several powerful paintings.  He also returns to his signature themes of performance and games to consider the complex lives of Black performers in the spotlight.  The synchronized swimmers in this image join marching bands, dancers, jugglers who occupy ambiguous identities as they keep the show on the road.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 19th.  Masks and social distancing are required.)

Derek Fordjour, Cadence, acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil paste, foil and glitter on newspaper mounted on canvas, 2020.

Anna Ostoya at Bortolami Gallery

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

Anna Ostoya’s oil paintings of bodies in motion leap, surge forward, jump and float, each canvas presenting a different manner of group movement.  This activity and the presence of protesters in other works in her show at Tribeca’s Bortolami Gallery lends a Futurist-like energy and an urgency to her abstracted scenes.  “I’m trying to get Slap to look violent and fragile and to pull all of the contrasting colors together to slap the eyes,” explains Ostoya in a succinct explanation of this work’s dramatic impact.  (On view through Dec 19th.  Masks and social distancing are required).

Anna Ostoya, Slap, oil on canvas, 75 x 60 inches, 2020.