Leila Heller Gallery compliments the Guggenheim’s current ‘Visionaries’ exhibition with a show featuring artworks by early 20th century ‘non-objective’ painters, including mature works by German avant-gardist Rudolf Bauer. Though this painting from the ‘30s brings to mind a planet on the left and the built environment to the right, Bauer’s focus was art as expression of the spirit. (In Chelsea through March 4th).
Warren MacKenzie at Driscoll Babcock Galleries
Minnesota-based nonagenarian ceramic artist Warren MacKenzie means for his creations to be used. A selection of work at Driscoll Babcock Galleries, including this attractive arrangement of cups and bowls, holds out the idea of living with beautiful things. (In Chelsea through Feb 25th).
Rafael Gomezbarros in ‘Naturalia’ at Paul Kasmin Gallery
Paul Kasmin Gallery and Sotheby’s Gallery team up this month to bring the vanitas still life and memento mori up to date in an impressive exhibition of Dutch genre painting and contemporary art touching on the theme of life’s brevity. Columbian artist Rafael Gomezbarros’ smarm of ants – constructed with cast human skulls – opens the show with a bang. (At Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea through March 4th).
Paul Sharits in ‘Infected Foot’ at Greene Naftali Gallery
Paul Sharits’ painting ‘Infected Foot III’ doesn’t regard the pain of others; we’re looking down at the purple, throbbing mass as if it’s our own. Beads and glistening cords of paint look as if they’d be part of a cheerier composition; instead, they add to the surprise of a rogue body part that threatens to bring down the whole. (At Greene Naftali Gallery through Feb 25th).
Sohei Nishino at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
Sohei Nishino’s charmingly idiosyncratic maps of cities around the world track the Japanese globetrotter’s exploration of metropolitan architecture and populations. Each bricolage results from hundreds of images shot at various vantage points around a given city. In this detail from Nishino’s New Delhi diorama map, the crowds and traffic encroach on the India Gate war memorial, though it retains a space and aura of its own. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through March 4th).