Carol Bove at David Zwirner Gallery

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

Crushed tubular steel in an electric orange color provocatively juxtaposes and compliments salvaged sheets of rolled steel in Carol Bove’s dramatic sculptural installation at David Zwirner Gallery.  Titled ‘Chimes at Midnight’ after a 1965 Orson Wells film in which two characters speak of mortality, the sculptures’ industrial materials summons the past while soft, malleable-looking orange segments speak to a future in formation.  In its reckoning between past and present, the sculptures continue Bove’s engagement with history in her current sculptural commission on the façade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  (On view at David Zwirner Gallery).

Carol Bove, installation view of Chimes at Midnight at David Zwirner Gallery

Gerhard Richter at Gagosian Gallery

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

Six towering oil on canvas abstractions by Gerhard Richter, currently on view at Gagosian Gallery, are a second chance to take in a highlight of the Met’s short-lived Richter retrospective last spring.  Collectively titled ‘Cage Paintings,’ they pay homage to composer John Cage, whose chance-based music Richter listened to as he created the series in 2006.  Made by pulling a squeegee across painted canvas, the paintings juxtapose the artist’s carefully developed technique with the inevitable unforeseen results of his painting method.  (On view in Chelsea through June 26th).

Gerhard Richter, installation view of ‘Cage Paintings’ at Gagosian Gallery, April 2021

Arghavan Khosravi at Rachel Uffner Gallery

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

Beautiful women and lush gardens contrast oppressive symbols like balls and chains or large metal keys in Arghavan Khosravi’s latest paintings at Rachel Uffner Gallery.  Here, ‘Patiently Waiting,’ features an explosive device with ambiguous consequences if used – will freedom or destruction result?  Similarly, Khosravi’s gardens can be read in contradictory terms as commentary on life in her home country, Iran.  The gallery explains, they “…represent the possibilities for respite afforded by private life or the image of utopian paradise promised by religious fundamentalism.”  (On view on the Lower East Side through June 5th).

Arghavan Khosravi, Patiently Waiting, 2021, signed and dated verso, acrylic and cement on cotton canvas wrapped over shaped wood panel, wood cutout, polyester rope, 53 1/2 x 58 1/8 x 12 inches.

David Hammons at The Drawing Center

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

The US flag is shelter and garment for the individual depicted in this 1969 body print/screenprint by David Hammons, now on view in a powerful show of Hammons’ meticulous body prints at the Drawing Center.  Made by applying oil to his skin, pressing his body to paper and applying powdered pigments, the print is one of many that incorporate the US flag to question its meaning for Black communities.  (On view in SoHo through May 23rd.  Appointments, masks and social distancing required.  Admission charges waived).

David Hammons, Pray for America, screenprint and pigment on paper, 1969.

Katharine Bradford at Canada New York

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

Katherine Bradford’s new ‘Mother Paintings’ at Canada New York depict women caring for sick family members, offering the comfort of a lap and waiting for a school bus, but her signature abstract style upends traditional representations of moms.  By avoiding identifying details, she creates symbolic characters and instead directs our focus to the vivid fields of color that make up what might otherwise be mundane scenes.  Here, in ‘Mother Joins the Circus – Second Version,’ a mom is taken away, inducted into a new aspect of life by mysterious characters who literally turn things upside down.  (On view at Canada Gallery through May 15th).

Katherine Bradford, Mother Joins the Circus – Second Version, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 inches, 2021.