Saif Azzuz at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

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After traversing a mini-maze of metal barricades decorated with sharply cut outlines of foliage, visitors to Saif Azzuz’s installation in Tribeca at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery reach a painting of an idyllic scene representing downtown Manhattan prior to European arrival.  Inspired by his Yurok family’s connection to the land in California, Azzuz considers how access to and use of the land has shifted over time around what’s now Collect Pond Park, once downtown’s major source of drinking water and now an area occupied by Manhattan’s vast court buildings and jail.  (On view through March 25th).

Saif Azzuz, installation view of ‘Says Who,’ featuring (back wall) Under the willow tree (let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitter), acrylic on canvas, 96 x 160, 2022.

Berenice Abbott at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Right on the heels of a show of photographer Berenice Abbott’s Greenwich Village portraits and urban landscapes at Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery, fans of the iconic early 20th century New York City chronicler can enjoy the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition of images from Abbott’s 1929 album shot around town.  Freshly back from an eight year-long stay in Paris where she pivoted to photography and established her own successful studio, Abbott arrived in New York and enthusiastically fell to documenting the thriving city as she found it.  Also included in the Met’s show are works by Abbott’s contemporaries and her ‘Changing New York’ series from ’35-’39, including this view of a 9th Ave Automat. (On view on the Upper East Side through Sept 4th).

Berenice Abbott, Automat, 877 Ninth Avenue, gelatin silver print, 1936.

Hew Locke at PPOW Gallery

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Two ships appear to float in the center of PPOW’s Tribeca gallery space, their tattered sails and apparition-like figures on the cabins and crates suggesting that they’ve floated in from another place and time.  The sense of disorientation is key to Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke’s consideration of Guyana’s colonial past and its future as the country experiences an oil boom.  The dilapidated house on the deck of this ship is echoed in photographs on the wall of Guyanese houses that have seen better days; Locke adds acrylic renderings of water inundating the lower levels as a warning that human aspirations can be washed away by greater forces.  (On view in Tribeca through April 1st).

Hew Locke, The Relic, wood and mixed media, 88 5/8 x 98 3/8 x 24 ¾ inches, 2022.

Maya Brodsky at George Adams Gallery

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From the modestly sized to the tiny, Maya Brodsky’s realist paintings at George Adams Gallery draw audiences closer to inspect and appreciate detailed images of the artist, her young daughter and her grandmother.  Though several scenes of Brodsky’s daughter Eda in the hospital after being born are touching in their tenderness and most of the show’s paintings showcase beautiful light effects (sunlight or artificial light), the most moving paintings are of Dusya, Brodsky’s grandmother.  As Dusya rubs Maya’s foot or fastens the buttons of her own sweater, Brodsky renders her fine crown of straight white hair or her well-used hands with loving detail and a sense of gravity that feels profound. (On view in Tribeca through April 1st).

Maya Brodsky, Open/Close, oil on mylar mounted on panel, 5 5/8 x 5 ¼ inches, 2019.

Derrick Adams at FLAG Art Foundation

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Painter Derrick Adams has long been inspired by the sights and people of his Brooklyn neighborhood, from wig shops to the faces of his neighbors.  Recent work on view at the Flag Art Foundation in Chelsea continues this interest while announcing a new direction; inspired by movies, Adams adds another layer of narrative and visual power to over a dozen new works that continue his exploration of Black leisure and joy in everyday life.  One day while working on a photo shoot in a Brooklyn park, Adams observed a young Black couple installing and relaxing in a hammock.  The scenario struck him as cinematic and inspired this happy ode to life’s pleasures enjoyed by the couple, a squirrel, pigeons and even a public monument.  (On view through March 11th).

Derrick Adams, JUST, acrylic on wood panel, 95 x 71 7/8 inches, 2022.