Even in moments of tenderness and connection, Aaron Gilbert’s dead-eyed characters are shaped by the difficulty of their circumstances. In this painting titled ‘Conspirators,’ currently on view at PPOW Gallery, these men’s tired expressions suggest they’re not just sharing a story or chatting but hatching a desperate plan. The scene recalls Charles White’s 1942 painting of two working men in close conversation that was recently on view in the Whitney’s Mexican muralist show. But while White’s men engage with feeling about the news or activism; Gilbert’s operate with little conviction and less hope. (On view through May 1st with work by Martin Wong in Tribeca. Masks and social distancing required.)
Hangama Amiri at Albertz Benda
Growing up in Kabul and in Central Asia, recent Yale grad Hangama Amiri was drawn to bazaars and their abundance of textiles, as well as her uncle’s tailor shop. Now in the US, Amiri has sourced similar materials from Afghan-owned businesses to create cloth collages picturing products and places in South Asian diasporic communities now on view at Albertz Benda Gallery. “Fabric as a medium really is associated with memory,” she explains in a statement released by the gallery, “…fabric captures smell, and time, lot of bodily attachments – we are all wearing fabrics. It is also a fragile medium, so it really touches and resembles all those notions of memory I am talking about and it really reconnects with what I am trying to convey in my art”.
Carrie Moyer at DC Moore Gallery
Colors pop and merge into the background while shapes seem to hover on the surface of Carrie Moyer’s latest paintings at DC Moore. These tensions – which define Moyer’s practice – are made more provocative in her most recent work by the addition of more representative elements, like the tassel-like floral bells dotting the surface of this painting, ‘Hell’s Bells and Buckets.’ Moyer notes that in some recent work, her palette has ‘downshifted,’ or adopted a chromal sobriety found to either side of the central flow of form in this painting. Far from creating a subdued painting, however, the effect is to heighten excitement at the shifting forms at center. (On view in Chelsea through May 1st. Masks and social distancing required.)
Play: American Game Boards, 1880-1940 at Ricco/Maresca
Are vintage game boards art? Ricco/Maresca’s current exhibition of American game boards from the late 19th century to 1940 aims to show that the boards are more than functional objects and are in fact ‘cousins of modern art.’ Having dealt in the boards for years but never dedicated a show to them, the gallery is now exhibiting parcheesi, backgammon, halma, checkers, Chinese checkers, mills, and solitaire boards that resemble mystical diagrams or architectural renderings. This well-used checkers board comes alive with a combination of color and geometry that will keep the eyes moving along with the game pieces. (On view through May 1st. Masks and social distancing required).
‘Claes & Coosje: A Duet’ at Pace Gallery
Right after the giant fork holding spaghetti and a meatball, the monumental sculpture ‘Dropped Bouquet’ is an immediate draw in Pace Gallery’s new show of collaborative work by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen from the 80s onward. Surrounded by lighthearted works evoking music (including canvas violas, lutes and a trumpet) and flying neckties and pieces of pie, the flowers elicit delight with their cheery color and disorienting scale. (On view in Chelsea through May 1st. Masks, social distancing and appointments are required.)