A rosebush and clusters of rebar suggest beauty and a nascent building project in Cuban-born artist Enrique Martinez Celaya’s ‘The Brave.’ The text at top reads, ‘…a dream that can keep us asleep all night,’ compounding the surreal quality of this simultaneously barren and lush scenario. (At Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea through April 22nd.)
Who she is or what she’s fighting for is unclear in young Munich-based artist Leonard Hurzlmeier’s ‘Rebellion,’ but it’s obvious that the subject is moving forward apace. Hurzlmeier’s bold paintings find fun in full-bodied female figures who engage the world head-on. (At Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 23rd).
Marble moves in surprising directions in UK artist Kevin Francis Gray’s new sculpture, first executed in clay in London and then hand-carved with a team of master sculptors in Italy. Now at Pace Gallery in Chelsea, Gray’s seated nude bears abundant evidence of the artist’s hand and his desire to arrest a state of unfinish, perhaps destruction. (On view at Pace Gallery’s 24th Street address through April 22nd).
New York painter Jennifer Coates conflates consumption of art and food in new paintings featuring donuts, bagels, TV dinners and more. At center, this towering stack of pasta, cheese and sauce melts into an abstract painting evoking bubbling lava or a swirling face, playfully signaling the fetishistic power of food. (At Freight and Volume Gallery through April 16th).
Italian artist Quayola revisits the subject of Laocoon, the ill-fated Trojan priest in ancient Greek mythology, in an arresting sculpture that combines a digital, geometric rendering of the priest’s head with a realistic representation. Coated in oxidized iron powder, the sculpture appears both aged and new. (At Bitforms Gallery on the Lower East Side through April 9th).
