Naked feet running along the shore at night in this painting by Benjamin Degen at Susan Inglett Gallery could belong to cavorting friends or fleeing migrants. The lack of distinction is the point; Degen created his latest paintings “…in celebration of human movement” and in favor of choosing liberation over self-destruction. (On view in Chelsea through March 10th).
Bodies threaten to dissolve into abstract forms in intriguing new paintings of women by young Brooklyn-based artist Danielle Orchard at Jack Hanley Gallery. Here, a coy figure either hides behind a flower or is about to take it in hand as a microphone. (On the Lower East Side through March 11th).
Inspired by Robert Altman’s 1973 film ‘The Long Goodbye,’ Dave McDermott latest paintings consider the private investigator/protagonist who mucks through complicated and broken lives to do his job. This saucer-eyed cat – made of swirls of blue and red yarn lined up over hot pink paint – bears witness to humanity’s flaws. (On view at GRIMM on the Lower East Side through March 11th.)
Thornton Dial included an image of himself, banging a pan to bring people together to start a meal in the upper portion of this riff on William Merritt Chase’s Still Life with Watermelon. As seen in this detail of a larger painting, he included a second real frying pan filled with paintings of eggs positioned near lusciously colored fruits, suggesting the bounty that an artist can provide. (At David Lewis Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 18th).
Designers Amanda McGowan and Mattie Rivkah Barringer, who create garments under the name Women’s History Museum, explore a barely-there aesthetic partly inspired by their experience of tiny, ‘almost unintelligible’ Instagram images of clothing. Though this outfit looks like it may be worn by a fashion-conscious desert island cast-away, the mannequin’s position before a faux-cottage suggests a whimsical escapee from a fairy-tale. (On view at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise on the Lower East Side through February 25th).
