Located in the same room as the Queens Museum’s model of New York City’s water system, Duke Riley’s ‘That’s What She Said’ is a commissioned work warning against misuse of a precious natural resource. To the left, an Egyptian goddess creates the waters that flow down into a landscape destroyed by power plants and the indifference of its inhabitants. (Through Jan 1, 2017).
Sopheap Pich at Tyler Rollins Fine Art
Sopheap Pich’s bamboo and rattan flower is made of natural materials but resembles computer-generated imagery. In fact, this flower – from the cannonball tree – has personal meaning to the artist. It represents the tree that sheltered Buddha during his birth and is found near Buddhist temples and Pich’s home. (At Tyler Rollins Fine Art in Chelsea through Aug 26th).
Paul Outerbridge at Bruce Silverstein Gallery
Influential for his photographs of consumer culture items isolated and made strange, as well as his laborious tri-color Carbo printing technique, Paul Outerbridge is currently celebrated at Bruce Silverstein with a retrospective including this intensely colored cinematic homage to spring. (At Bruce Silverstein Gallery in Chelsea through Sept 17th).
Rokni Haerizadeh in ‘A Storm is Blowing From Paradise’ at the Guggenheim Museum
Painting over You Tube video stills, Iranian artist Rokni Haerizadeh morphs familiar imagery into a setting for mythological creatures inspired by Persian tradition. Here, a building echoes the Guggenheim’s spiraling form but is surrounded by emergency vehicles, one of which has partially changed into a fish. (At the Guggenheim, in ‘A Storm is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa’ through Oct 5th).
RongRong and inri at Chambers Fine Art
To make work for the 2012 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, photographers RongRong and inri packed up their family and moved from Beijing to rural Japan, creating timeless, ethereal black and white scenes shot in a 200-year-old house. (At Chambers Fine Art in Chelsea through Aug 20th).