Shape and color appear to explode from Omar Rodriguez-Graham’s paintings, once again on view at newly reopened Marc Straus Gallery on the Lower East Side. Based on Renaissance or Baroque paintings by artists from Tiepolo to Ricci which the artist turns into digital abstract compositions then paints on canvas attached to shaped supports, the artist marries historical work with a distinctly contemporary sense of energy and movement. (On view through July 31st).
Berlin-based sculptor Isa Genzken loves New York. Years ago, she visited the city as a teen and has returned regularly, expanding her interest in the interrelation between buildings and other aspects of the urban fabric. Versions of her 26-foot-tall rose, a token of love, debuted on the façade of the New Museum and dominates MoMA’s currently closed sculpture garden. This iteration, installed permanently on the corner of Zuccotti Park and Trinity Place, winkingly adds ornament to the stripped-down modernist buildings in the area while continuing to express affection for the city on still-quiet downtown streets.
Aiming to send messages of “optimism, healing and love” the Art 2 Heart’s SoHo mural project has transformed SoHo’s boarded up storefronts. Here, on the corner of Spring and Greene Streets on panels over the John Varvatos store windows, artists remember those who’ve lost their lives to police violence and insist that Black lives matter. (On view until businesses reopen).
Last weekend’s biggest art opening didn’t take place in a gallery (they’re mostly still closed) but at LaGuardia Airport, where four artists including Danish artist Jeppe Hein have installed new work as shiny as Hein’s work at 303 Gallery last September (pictured here). Featuring steel balloons affixed to the ceiling and curvy benches designed to encourage conversation, Hein’s new installation strikes a celebratory mood that’s a little out of step with current concerns about flying during the pandemic but a worthy gesture of hopefulness for the future.
Bathrooms and all their bodily associations inspired this unforgettable life-sized porcelain and stoneware sculpture by Ann Agee. Another less private domestic object – folk art salt cellars from Florence, Italy – prompted the ceramic sculpture in the artist’s current online exhibition at ppowgallery.com. Merging the functional with the devotional, each artwork features a Madonna and child-like pairing but with a twist – the youngsters are girls. (Online at PPOW Gallery through June 27th).
