Robin F. Williams in ‘Xenia: Crossroads in Portrait Painting’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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

Enormous, reptilian eyes and rough-hewn features give Robin F. Williams’ female characters – named Siri and Alexa – a memorable boldness that runs contrary to the perky helpfulness of their digital namesakes.  Titled ‘Siri Defends Her Honor,’ this painting casts Apple’s assistant into the role of a mob boss’s wife as played by Uma Thurman in an iconic scene from ‘Pulp Fiction,’ examining constructed AI personalities via female roles in cinema.  (In ‘Xenia:  Crossroads in Portrait Painting’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea, on view through Feb 15th).

Robin F. Williams, Siri Defends Her Honor, oil and acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60 inches, 2019.

Dan Walsh at Paula Cooper Gallery

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

The painting furthest from the door is the first to attract attention at Paula Cooper Gallery’s show of recent work by New York abstract artist Dan Walsh.   Glowing like a tower-top beacon, a stylized ziggurat resembling the pinnacle of the Empire State Building lures visitors into minimalist painting by a self-styled ‘maximalist.’ (On view in Chelsea on 26th Street through Feb 15th).

Dan Walsh, Expo III, acrylic on canvas, 110 ¼ x 110 ¼ inches, 2019.

Christina Nicodema at Hollis Taggart Contemporary

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

It’s hard to look away from New York artist Christina Nicodema’s vividly colored paintings, packed with brightly plumed birds, a dramatic mandrill baring its teeth and piles of edibles designed to entice.  Like a contemporary interpretation of traditional Dutch genre painting, the images bring together plants and creatures from different environments in a celebration of excess, but Nicodema’s addition of porcelain, a painted egg and a cake dangerously ablaze with candles hints at the costs of luxury and human desires.  (On view at Hollis Taggart Contemporary through Feb 22nd).

Christina Nicodema, detail from The Tower of Babel, Mandrill, oil and archival ink on canvas, 55 x 55 inches, 2019.

‘Taking Stock of Power’ at the Walther Collection

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After encountering a box of photos of the Berlin Wall taken by East German border guards in the mid-60s shortly after the wall was erected, photographer Arwed Messmer and writer Annett Groschner turned their research toward the topography of the 140km long structure, resulting in the sobering images now on view at Chelsea’s Walther Collection.  Thirty years after the fall of the Wall, the photos speak to a failed effort at social control.  This grid of ladders left behind in successful escape attempts, are an uplifting element in a show that otherwise expresses the grim realities of the wall. (On view through April 25th).

Detail from ‘Ladders,’ selection from 20 archival pigment prints, 1966/2016.

Viola Frey in ‘The Circle’ at Nancy Hoffman Gallery

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Late California-based sculptor Viola Frey’s huge standing man is a highpoint of the Whitney’s current exhibition rethinking the presence of craft in fine art; three tondos by the iconic artist at Nancy Hoffman Gallery are a more human-scaled exploration of humanity.  This strikingly colorful, theatrical character whose face resembles a tragedy mask, holds a circular form that appears to be a plate or similar artwork, suggesting a tongue-in-cheek portrait of an artist.  (On view in ‘The Circle’ through Jan 30th).

Viola Frey, Untitled (Mask with Pink and Orange Arms), ceramic, 26 inch diameter, 2001-02.