Leslie Wayne at Jack Shainman Gallery

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Known for fashioning sheets of oil paint into sculptural forms or collaging oil skins into 2-D works, Leslie Wayne turns her medium in a new direction with curiously-shaped canvases at Jack Shainman Gallery.  Tall, narrow panels 7 feet high and less than 2 feet wide with names like ‘Rush,’ ‘Summer Slope’ and ‘Low Tide,’ at times suggest core samples of the earth and are accompanied by another series of realist paintings featuring aerial views of the landscape set in special frames that mimic airplane windows.  Titled ‘This Land’ after Woody Guthrie’s classic folk song, the show was inspired by Wayne’s 2021 flight across the Western US and offers views of the landscape, distant or abstracted, that step away from divisions and conflict represented by place.  (On view in Chelsea through August 2nd).

Leslie Wayne, Summer Slope, oil on wood, 84 x 16 ¾ x 3 ½ inches, 2023.
Leslie Wayne, (detail of) Summer Slope, oil on wood, 84 x 16 ¾ x 3 ½ inches, 2023.

Stephen Shore at 303 Gallery

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Known for banal yet memorable photos like his 1973 image of a diner table set with pancakes, a glass of milk and a half cantaloupe, Stephen Shore’s images of rural and small-town America are now iconic documents of life in the later 20th century.  Shore’s latest body of work from his ‘Topographies’ series at 303 Gallery has been shot by drone, allowing him to pull away from his subjects and picture interactions between the built environment and nature.  In one image, a pipeline crosses a road in upstate New York creating an artful X on the landscape while in other scenes, crossroads dominate sparsely populated communities and single-lane roads stretch on into eternity in developments that represent the imposition of human will on the landscape.  Here, Shore juxtaposes majestic mountain views in Montana with a gleaming trailer in the foreground to consider contemporary fantasies of living on the land.  (On view in Chelsea through July 3rd).

Stephen Shore, Brisbin, Montana, July 30, 2020 45 30.659555N, 110 36.520175W, UV curable ink on Dibond aluminum, 24 x 32 inches, 2020 (printed 2024).

Beatriz Morales at Praxis Art

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Berlin and Mexico City-based artist Beatriz Morales’s monumental hanging fiber artwork ‘Quimera’ dominates Praxis Art’s Chelsea gallery like a living wall of color and undulating form.  The cascading agave fibers that give the artwork such dynamism nod to Mexico’s history with this material prior to the introduction of synthetics and are dyed with natural substances native to the country.  Described as ‘3D brushstrokes’ by the gallery, the fiber bunches join abstractions on the jute surface that suggest eyes, ancient wall paintings, maps and more.  (On view in Chelsea through July 5th).

Beatriz Morales, Quimera, agave fiber, natural dyes, ink, acrylic and cotton embroidery on jute, 106 ¼ x 192 7/8 inches, 2024.
Beatriz Morales, (detail of) Quimera, agave fiber, natural dyes, ink, acrylic and cotton embroidery on jute, 106 ¼ x 192 7/8 inches, 2024.

Charles Ray at Matthew Marks Gallery

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Just three sculptures, varying in scale and material, yet all in white-toned materials make up LA-based sculptor Charles Ray’s current show at Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea.  To the rear of the gallery, a nearly 9-foot-tall woman constructed of handmade paper steps out of her pants.  Towards the front of the space, two slightly larger than life-size supine nude male figures made from marble lie dead on a platform while on a nearby pedestal rests a small, crashed car, hand-crafted from hundreds of pieces of paper.  Though apparently unrelated, the three sculptures suggest that one could be doing something as ordinary as getting dressed one moment and encounter an accident or even death the next.  Titled 8FLU100 after Ray’s own license plate and referring to a crash suffered by the artist, the car is both testament to the fragility of life and statement about art’s role in processing reality.  (On view through June 29th).

Charles Ray, 8FLU100, paper, 7 7/8 x 11 ¾ x 23 ¾ inches, 2024.

Jennie Jieun Lee in ‘Channeling’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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Inspired by visitations from a spiritual entity, late self-taught British artist Madge Gill produced drawings of anonymous female figures surrounded by patterns; selections of her work from the ‘40s and ‘50s ground Nicelle Beauchene Gallery’s vibrant 3-person show in Tribeca.  Bright, patterned paintings by Chelsea Culprit and lushly glazed ceramics by Jennie Jieun Lee add color and, in the case of Lee’s sculpted heads, introduce decidedly otherworldly figures with appealingly ambiguous identities.  (On view through June 29th).

Jennie Jieun Lee, Red Face, slipcast porcelain, glaze, stoneware stand, 10 x 8 x 8 inches, stoneware stand 2 x 6 x 6 inches, 2024.