Without cell phones at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers had to make do with paintings made after the fact. Not so in Mark Wagner’s imaginatively collaged ‘Wish You Were Here,’ in which he collages a scene from the back of the $2 bill with myriad fragments of $1 bills to portray George Washington through a different lens. (At Pavel Zoubok Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 15th).
In David Opdyke’s nimble hands, subtly altered vintage postcards meant to stoke civic pride instead provoke dismay in a new series on view at Chelsea’s Magnan Metz Gallery. Opdyke prophesies doom in drawings, textiles and animations themed on class warfare and a dysfunctional government. Here, an august Chicago High School experiences a surreal trauma inflicted by a giant pencil (Through Oct 22nd).
Jonas Woods’ monumental painting of late basketball player Dwayne Schintzius offers a tragic figure for contemplation. After a promising start in college basketball, health problems thwarted Schintzius’ career before he died due to complications of leukemia in his early 40s. At over seven feet tall, with a mullet hairstyle as renowned as his sports skills, Schintzius was a particular type of American hero; Woods prompts us to ask what kind with his over nine-feet-tall canvas. (At Chelsea’s Anton Kern Gallery through Oct 22nd).
Art audiences love experiential art (witness long lines at every Yayoi Kusama walk-in sculpture, the Rain Room, etc), so it’s somewhat surprising how few painters offer to envelop viewers in their work. Sarah Cain is not one of the reticent artists, however. Her installation, Dark Matter, at Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong covers the gallery floor in bold patterns on lino, competing with but also complimenting vibrant canvases that employ beads, pinwheels, string and more to take the composition off the canvas. (Through Oct 15th).
Lynn Katsafouros updates the Byzantine icon with this painting of a saintly woman with a resigned stoic look, surrounded by tiny birds and wearing what could be an artist’s smock. (At Prince Street Gallery through Oct 1st).
