At just smaller than 30 x 23 inches, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones’ new lithographs in the entry space of Nicelle Beauchene Gallery are smaller than the artist’s vibrant, pattern-driven paintings in the main space, but more intense and rewarding. Powered by the motion of the curving, androgynous bodies that contort to fit into the picture’s confined space, each print conveys the energy and rhythms of dance. (On view in Tribeca through Nov 23rd).
Mary Ellen Bartley’s photographs are not about the objects she pictures; blue-toned hardcover books are shot in ways that challenge spatial perception, for example, while a stack of paperbacks with multi-colored edges becomes a geometric abstraction. These transformations of ordinary objects into unique and thought-provoking arrangements of color and form connect Bartley with work by 20th century Italian artist Giorgio Morandi, who famously spent decades painting images of vessels as he explored the possibilities of representation. Begun during a residency at the Casa Morandi in Bologna and interrupted by the onset of the pandemic, Bartley’s new work at Yancey Richardson Gallery features books from Morandi’s library. Like Morandi, Bartley delays our reading of each picture’s components, sometimes by obscuring its components in a way that excites interest in the contents of the volumes and the possibilities of perception.
Typically, Fiona Rae’s ambiguous painted forms suggest real-world objects but elude identification. Further complicating the work, both gestural and geometric abstraction appear on the same canvas, a surprising combination geared to upend our expectations. Her latest work at Miles McEnery Gallery distills these artistic strategies into paintings featuring distinctly formed clusters of organic and geometric shapes set against a spare white background. Titles reveal that each grouping is a word from a phrase taken from a written source, from pop music to Shakespeare. This airy assemblage reads, ‘I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe,’ a line from the movie Bladerunner expounding on futuristic technological marvels. (On view in Chelsea through Nov 26th).
Curious to know what African cultures were part of his ancestry, New York artist Yashua Klos took a DNA test that unexpectedly ended up reconnecting him with his large Detroit-based family. New work now on view at Sikkema Jenkins Gallery includes a handsomely presented row of masks that merge a welding mask – symbol of Detroit’s automobile industry and part of his own family’s history – with various masks influenced by African examples. Klos considers each a symbol of ‘invocation and protection’ and torches the exterior as a transformational act akin to activating the mask’s power. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 3rd).
“I continuously shift my attention to things that bother or frighten me,” Lucas Samaras wrote in a statement from 1966. These two angled chairs, covered in geometric patterns with yarn and resting on a bed of pins, signal discomfort and precarity despite their attractive colors. Part of 125 Newbury’s inaugural show in Tribeca, titled ‘Wild Strawberries’ after a surreal and disturbing scene in Ingmar Bergman’s film by the same name, the chairs suggest a threat that’s unclear but palpably present. (On view through Nov 19th).
