Anni Albers at David Zwirner Gallery

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

Commissioned for the art-filled Camino Real Hotel in Palanco, Mexico, this vibrant felt hanging by Anni Albers epitomizes the energy expressed by her repeated use of triangles in asymmetrical compositions.  Recently rediscovered, it’s a standout in a collaborative exhibition with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and David Zwirner Gallery, a show that asserts Albers’ importance not just to 20th century weaving and textile-based work but to experimentation within the modernist idiom.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 19th).

Anni Albers, Camino Real, felt, 116 x 105 ¾ inches, 1968.

Risue Mishima at Luhring Augustine Gallery

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

Japanese-Italian artist Ritsue Mishima describes glass as ‘a form of light.’ In her stunning show of twenty-five glass sculptures at Luhring Augustine Gallery – her first in New York – Mishima creates dynamic and still forms that bring to mind sea life and other natural wonders.  (On view through Oct 26th in Chelsea).

Ritsue Mishima, INCONSCIO, blown glass, 17 ½ x 16 ½ x 11 7/8 inches, 2019.

Madeline Donahue at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects

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

A mother’s body becomes a playground for her baby, whose sense of curiosity and play ignores boundaries in Madeline Donahue’s humorous paintings at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects.  Shifts in scale turn a mom into a giant as baby uses her hair like climbing rope; in other pieces, Donahue creates curving or angular geometric compositions from the antics of her exploring offspring.  Through it all, the paintings charm with their sense of humor, patience and stoicism.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Oct 5th).

Madeline Donahue, Untitled, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches, 2019.

Doron Langberg at Yossi Milo Gallery

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‘Emotional and empathetic’ painting has been New York painter Doron Langberg’s goal since he saw a show of Lucian Freud’s paintings as a kid.  His first solo show at Yossi Milo Gallery is a tour de force of sensitively conceived, often monumentally-scaled portraits of friends and family at ease, enjoying leisure time or intimacy. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 19th).

Doron Langberg, Devan, 24 x 18 inches, oil on linen, 2019.

Amy Sherald at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

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

Inspired in part by Charles C. Ebbet’s iconic staged photograph of Rockefeller Center ironworkers eating lunch on a suspended girder, Amy Sherald’s portrait of an anonymous young man pictures him at home in the air, his mind on other things.  Poised as if about to speak, Sherald’s subject points to the possibility and promise of communication.  (On view in Chelsea at Hauser & Wirth Gallery).

Amy Sherald, If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it, oil on canvas, 130 x 108 x 2 ½ inches, 2019.