Tankers arrayed like a minimalist piece of land art in this photograph by Victoria Sambunaris turn an otherwise drab landscape near Salt Lake City into study in form and function. Ringed by a barely visible mountains and spread out under voluminous clouds, the trains in their tight formation dominate the natural world in this image. (On view at Yancey Richardson Gallery through May 11th).
Part installation, part performance, Cameroonian-French artist Barthelemy Toguo’s ‘Urban Requiem’ begins with a room of charcoal drawings of African Americans killed by police and culminates in a gallery of heavy, wooden, torso-shaped stamps marked with messages. Against the back wall of the show, prints made using the stamps advocate for peace and respect for human life. The stamp in the foreground incites hope for ‘All the world’s futures.’ (On view at Galerie Lelong in Chelsea through May 11th).
A male authority figure crumbles as he leads three young women toward a shattered monolith in Arghavan Khosravi’s lushly painted ‘Mesmerized, Listen to the Big Brother’ at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea. Though eerily uniform and restrained by shackles connected to earbuds around their necks, the women are real and may free themselves as the illusion ahead of them breaks apart. (On view through April 27th).
North Carolina potter Jim McDowell channels the ceramic styles of enslaved craftsmen from the mid-19th century in face jugs with a message. ‘War Ends Nothing’ says the text written into the side of ‘War ‘n’ Peace’ on the left, while ‘Trayvon’ at center carries words that expresses anger at and healing after the death of Trayvon Martin. (On view at Cavin Morris Gallery in Chelsea through April 20th).
Nikki Maloof puts her audience right in the cage with these canaries while free pigeons cavort outside. Newspaper headlines on the pages papering the cage alternate between self-help and anxious messages while a dynamic twisting branch and electric colors of the yellow birds against a pink wall suggest pleasure and danger. (On view at Jack Hanley Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 21st).
