Baseera Khan at Simone Subal Gallery

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

A broken column constructed of foam core and covered by custom handmade silk Kashmiri rugs in Baseera Khan’s current show at Simone Subal Gallery suggests an empire toppled, its segments like gears in a massive, defunct machine.  Instead of dominating visitors with its huge size though, the pillar entices thanks to its decorative patterns and appears mysteriously futuristic due to its liquid-looking resin core.  Fascinating remnants entice us to consider the historical past as complicated and unknown, suggesting new legacies for the future.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Dec 22nd).

Baseera Khan, installation view of ‘snake skin’ at Simone Subal Gallery, Nov 2019.

Li Songsong at Pace Gallery

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

Shortly after his grandfather died, Beijing-based artist Li Songsong began painting this portrait of him absorbed in a personal moment.  Using a thick oil painting technique that obscures detail, the artist explains that he nevertheless captured the essence of the man.  The takeaway for the artist was to observe how painting can embody truths that the artist himself may not even want to acknowledge.  (On view at Pace Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 21st).

Li Songsong, Civil Rather Than Military, oil on canvas, 82 11/16” x 8’ 6 3/8”, 2018.

Yayoi Kusama at David Zwirner Gallery

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

The line to enter Yayoi Kusama’s latest mirror-lined infinity room at David Zwirner Gallery stretches around the block, but you can walk right up to her infinity mirror, ‘Ladder to Heaven.’  Look up and visitors are presented with an endless (theoretical) climb or, conversely, a bottomless descent, suggesting that our fate is in our own hands.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 14th).

Yayoi Kusama, Ladder to Heaven, steel, LED lights, mirrored glass, honeycomb aluminum, and plastic, 154 xx 59 inches, 2019.

Peter Halley at Greene Naftali Gallery

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

Inspired by the city grid, jail cell windows, high-rise buildings and other structures designed to regulate and control human activity, Peter Halley’s Neo-Geo abstraction has exceeded into own regulatory bounds in a dramatic, maze-like installation at Chelsea’s Greene Naftali Gallery.  Up and down stairs, around blind bends and through an eye-popping assault of day-glo color, visitors find their way through an environment that feels as if we’d stepped into one of Halley’s paintings.  Here, a painting composed of stacked forms has an altar-like presence at the top of a vividly green staircase.  (On view through Dec 20th).

Peter Halley, installation view of ‘Heterotopia II’ at Greene Naftali Gallery, Nov 2019.

Tomma Abts at David Zwirner Gallery

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

Known since the 90s for exploring the myriad possibilities of geometric abstraction, Tomma Abts continues to innovate while adopting slightly larger, shaped canvases that showcase more boldly shape-shifting patterning.   Here, the bottom quarter of the painting appears to sheer away from the bent, folded and upward tilting bands above.  With a curving wave breaking the entire composition into new color sequences, Abts appears to embrace visual complexity for its own sake, offering viewers a pleasurably engaging visual experience.  (On view at David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 14th).

Tomma Abts, IV, oil on canvas, 34 ¾ x 25 1/8 inches, 2019.