Inspired by Surrealist Meret Oppenheim’s performance ‘Cannibal’s Feast,’ Japanese photographer Michiko Kon’s food-based sculptural creations from the 90s fascinate and disturb in equal measure. This photo, currently on view at Robert Mann Gallery, showcases a boot crafted from ark clam shells and a real fish head. By evoking luxury goods popular in pre-crash 90s Japan and creating them in perishable materials, Kon updates the vanitas genre for more recent times. (On view through Oct 19th).
David Benjamin Sherry’s photos depict familiar-seeming western landscapes but in colors that force viewers to ask what they’re seeing. Man’s impact on the environment comes to mind, as does the emotional value of portraying these spaces in vibrant pink or purple or yellow tones. In his latest series, ‘American Monuments,’ Sherry shot locations newly threatened by having their protected status removed to allow resource extraction. (On view at Salon94 on the Lower East Side through Oct 26th).
Egyptian artist Wael Shawky talks of crafting history as a medium, referencing existing texts, historical paintings, poems and more to conjure a new creative product. His latest show at Lisson Gallery takes inspiration from histories of the Arabian peninsula from the 17th century to the present, particularly considering the rapid development of the region’s cities. Here, a glass structure and a giant palm tree act like beacons atop two hills, situated on a larger blue/green structure alluding to traditional thick-walled Najd architecture in a striking installation alive with opaque allusions. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 19th).
Inspired by women’s lives in her parent’s native Nigeria, US born artist Wuru-Natasha Ogunji’s considers the daily task of carrying water in her video, ‘Will I still carry water when I am a dead woman?’ Featuring several masked women walking the residential streets of Lagos dragging gold-colored water containers, viewers witness the toll exacted on the bodies of the exhausted and drenched participants. (On view at Fridman Gallery through Oct 12th).
The Haas Brother’s zany show of comical, beaded sculpture at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery announces the duo’s foray into the fine art world. Having made a hit in the design community for the past decade with otherworldly furnishings, the twins collaborated on the new work with collaborators, Monkeybiz, to present an assortment of odd creatures and eccentric plant-life in a brilliantly painted, eye-popping setting. (On view through Oct 26th).
