As a young man, Melvin Edwards chose a career in art over football, but explains that the physicality of the sport remained in his sculpture. He explores a more critical consideration of the game in Goal Line Stance, a steel sculpture from 2017 that stands out in Galerie Lelong’s current show – an exhibition prompted by NFL players’ protests against social injustice (On view through Feb 17th in Chelsea).
Medieval-looking characters converse at table in Zach Bruder’s arrestingly anachronistic painting, which pictures the Middle Ages in an abstracted or folksy 20th century painting style. Substituting detail and realism for expressive forms, Bruder cloaks a familiar-seeming scene in an alien appearance. (On view at Magenta Plains on the Lower East Side through Feb 11th).
Still life paintings by Tom Wesselmann at Gagosian Gallery are literally the biggest show of the moment in Chelsea. At over 27 feet long, this arrangement of sun glasses, lipstick and more from 1973 was meant to represent the objects a woman might leave by a bedside table. (On view through Feb 24th).
Miami-based artist Kelley Johnson’s latest solo show opens with 2-D paintings and advances to artworks that literally fly off the wall thanks to PVC rods zinging outward. This piece, titled ‘Wall Kite,’ is grounded at the moment, but appears to be ready to launch upward. (On view at Freight and Volume Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 4th).
Yves Klein’s use of nude female models – daubed in his signature blue paint – as live paintbrushes increases in political incorrectness as the years go by. Now, Addie Wagenknecht has joined the ranks of artists who’ve responded with their own takes on Klein’s iconic objectification. Engaging a Roomba to paint as it skirted her nude body, Wagenknecht creates expressionist canvases with an algorithm and robot. (On view at Bitforms on the Lower East Side through Feb 11th).
