Peter Blake at Garth Greenan Gallery

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

Did Warhol just like Campbell’s soup?  Was Roy Lichtenstein simply enamored of blonds?  American pop art thrives on its ambiguous criticality towards consumption and mass media marketing, but iconic British pop art icon Peter Blake’s enjoyment of contemporary culture feels less ambiguous.  In a noteworthy show at Garth Greenan Gallery, for which a portion of Blake’s London studio has been packed up and reinstalled in Chelsea, the artist’s portraits of wrestlers, clowns, musicians and Marilyn-like woman are a tribute to the more and less famous.  (On view through May 18th).

Peter Blake, Mary Lin Monroe Fabulous Texan MM, acrylic, enamel and assemblage on board, 16 x 8 ¾ x 1 ½ inches, 2019.

Firelei Baez at James Cohan Gallery

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

Under a recreation of the night sky as it appeared at the start of the Haitian Revolution, Firelei Baez presents a dramatic installation at James Cohan Gallery’s Lower East Side space featuring empowered female figures who assert their presence in the gallery and in history.  Wearing a tignon that refers to the 18th century legal requirement for African-diasporic women to cover their hair, this casually posed yet regal figure lacks a mouth yet speaks with her eyes.  (On view through June 16th).

Firelei Baez, installation view of A Drexcyen Chronocommons (To win the war you fought it sideways) at James Cohan Gallery on the Lower East Side, April 2019.

Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery

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

Amid a mass of vibrant color, a solitary eye peeks out from beneath a pattern that recalls decorative fencing in this photo by Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery. The barrier, created by meticulously making tiny tears in the surface of a photo, deflects our gaze, shielding the subject protectively.  (On view in Chelsea through May 11th).

Paul Anthony Smith, A Sense of Familiar, unique picotage on inkjet print, colored pencil mounted on museum board, 40 x 60 inches, 2018.

Raqib Shaw at Pace Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest Show, Inside ViewPosted on Comments are Disabled

Raqib Shaw’s richly imagined scenes at Pace Gallery are dominated by the verdant Kashmiri landscape and a tribe of cavorting and lounging peacock-headed characters, who echo the poses of picnicking Parisians lounging in a park in Manet’s 1862 painting Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe.  Intricately painted in vibrant enamel colors, Shaw’s new paintings are a feast for the eyes. (On view in Chelsea through May 18th).

Raqib Shaw, detail of ‘From Narcissus to Icarus (After Dejeuner sur l’herbe),’ acrylic liner and enamel on birch wood, 60 5/8 x 71 5/8 inches, 2019.

Jorge Palacios at Danese Corey Gallery

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

Titled after the Japanese dolls that return to an upright state if knocked over, Spanish artist Jorge Palacios’ sculpture ‘Okiagari-Koboshi’ is so strikingly shaped, it’s viewers eyes that will keep returning.  Resembling a muscle-bound arm extending a slender fist or an oversized 3-D piece of punctuation, the tension between slim and full organic forms offers many interpretations. (On view at Danese Corey Gallery in Chelsea through May 4th).

Jorge Palacios, Okiagari-Koboshi, accoya wood, 65.75 x 47.25 x 39.375 inches, 2018.