Long strands of clear and white plastic beads by late artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres are an austere version of the usually colorful plastic beading hung in homes. Here in the huge, Spartan spaces of David Zwirner Gallery (which marks joint representation of the artist with Andrea Rosen Gallery with this show), the curtain has the sobering effect intended, heightening our awareness of passing from one state to another. (On 20th Street in Chelsea through June 24th).
A devotional sculpture of Mary melds with the body of an anonymous girl in this provocative sculpture by northern Italian artist Gehard Demetz. Though each figure looks fragmented, the merger seems neither violent nor ecstatic (along the lines of Bernini’s Saint Teresa.) Instead, the girl is absorbed by the inner life shared with the saint. (At Jack Shainman Gallery through June 3rd).
Roni Horn once said that glass can convey ‘the most ideal expression of color.’ In two same-but-different cast-glass sculptures at Chelsea’s Hauser & Wirth Gallery, a tranquil, blue form immediately invites visitors to draw near and marvel at the reflections of light on the water-like surface of a substance that is neither fully liquid nor solid. (On view through July 29th).
After his recent travels to Central and South America, Berlin-based artist Julius von Bismarck returned with study specimens in the form of dried plants and a snake that have been heated in a huge, custom-built oven and flattened in a 50-ton hydraulic press. Backed on shaped stainless steel, the tongue-in-cheek souvenirs present botanical investigation as art. (On view in Chelsea at Marlborough Contemporary through May 20th).
Working from his own detailed photographs, Chinese artist Xiaoze Xie, transforms images of books on dusty library shelves into atmospherically lit bridges to the past. Oil paintings from his latest solo show at Chambers Fine Art in Chelsea include this New Testament translation from Oxford University, wrapped volumes from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu and tomes from the Morgan Library in New York. (On view through June 17th).
