150 drawings of writers, artists, intellectuals and cultural leaders by Mexico City-based artist Pedro Reyes fill the expansive walls of Lisson Gallery’s 24th Street location. These and large stone sculptures carved from Mexican volcanic stone are art as ‘sanctuary,’ explained Reyes in a recent interview, adding, “…These are the things we are fighting for.” (On view through April 15th).
Daily for the past twenty years, New York artist Yuji Agematsu has walked the city streets collecting refuse and reforming it into artful accumulations and arrangements. Here, he has allowed lollipops to melt and deteriorate before arresting them in precise moments of decay that still recall the joy of a freshly unwrapped piece of candy while fast forwarding to the end of that pleasure. (At Miguel Abreu Gallery through April 2nd).
Romare Bearden’s ‘The Evening Meal of Prophet Peterson’ is a standout in Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s current show of collage in American art. Combining multiple images for the faces of the main male and female characters at an abundant dinner table, Bearden invites speculation on the many facets that make up a man or woman. (In Chelsea through April 1st).
Annabeth Rosen’s curious cluster of bud-like forms titled ‘Roil,’ is a standout in this west-coast sculptor’s first solo show at Chelsea’s PPOW Gallery. Like the oil paintings behind it, the piece suggests a 3-D fingerprint or a living form that has gathered itself together from many parts to present a formidable mass. (On view through March 25th).
In Roe Ethridge’s tableau, juicy red apples are more of the poisonous, Snow White variety than the kind used to make all-American apple pie. Coupled with scattered cancer sticks and the words ‘American Spirit’ – a nod to two iconic photos titled ‘Spiritual America’ that criticized aspects of US culture –Ethridge’s assortment of objects is less innocuous than it first seems. (At Andrew Kreps Gallery in Chelsea through April 8th.)
