Late Sao Paola tapestry artist Norberto Nicola’s untitled hanging abstraction in Kasmin Gallery’s summer group show ‘Crossings’ is a standout among the varied and lively woven and textile-based works on view. Influenced by Magdalena Abakanowicz’s huge woven sculptural forms, Nicola developed his own hanging fiber artworks that rise up from the flat surface in various dynamic arrangements. (On view through Aug 9th).
Like his installation ‘Who is Queen?’ in MoMA’s towering atrium in 2021, Adam Pendleton’s current solo exhibition at Pace Gallery, titled ‘An Abstraction,’ immerses visitors in a structured installation of dynamic forms. Describing this show’s arrangement itself as an artistic decision, Pendleton designed a series of elegant, black triangular walls to support his abstractions, causing viewers to find their own paths – and interpretive experiences – through the gallery. Drawing on his ongoing elaboration on his concept of ‘Black Dada,’ for which he has assembled a reader, Pendleton’s work engages the early 20th century Dada art movement’s attempted avoidance of rational thought while considering the relationship of Blackness to European avant-garde practice. ‘An Abstraction’ foregrounds the physical experience of the viewer, offering vantage points from which to consider his language of abstraction and how we process meaning in the moment. (On view in Chelsea through Aug 16th).
Parallel to the panels of the folding screen to the right, the objects and people in Sally J. Han’s painting ‘Grandma’s Color Television’ (a standout in the summer group show ‘The Selves,’ at Nicola Vassell Gallery) lead the eye back into private, domestic space that suggests insights into the artist’s life. A glass dish in the foreground brings viewers to a young woman in a traditional Korean robe (Han was born in China and raised in Korea before moving to the US at age 17) and beyond to her grandmother, dozing in front of the TV. On the room’s back wall is a painting of a celestial body that recurs in Han’s work, in one earlier work hovering over the protagonist as she lies in bed. Children’s drawings on the wall nearby speak to creative production over time. Spare and tranquil, the environment suggests reflection; gorgeously colored clothing, a brightly lit space and ripe fruit on the screen and in the young woman’s hand speaks to the pleasure of the senses. (On view in Chelsea through Aug 9th).
Asya Geisberg Gallery’s summer group show ‘Cover Band,’ curated by gallery artist Gabriela Vainsencher, features artwork by fourteen artists whose work playfully engages with their artist forebears. Rebecca Morgan recasts Artemisia Gentileschi’s Penitent Magdalene as a self-portrait of the artist, bug-eyed and suffering from ailments including the effects of the ADHD medicine shortage. Elisa Soliven remakes and updates an intriguing square-bodied torso made by an unknown neolithic artist while here, 20th century German-Brazilian artist Eleanore Koch’s ‘Study for a Dreaming Palm Tree’ appears through a window of Lisha Bai’s hanging fabric work, as Bai retains but complicates Koch’s pared down style. (On view in Tribeca through Aug 16th).
Inspired by a 1964 short story by John Cheever in which the main character decides to swim home via a series of privately owned pools, FLAG Art Foundation’s summer group show, curated by Jonathan Rider, includes work by well over two dozen artists who picture mostly unpeopled pools and bodies of water. Here, Cynthia Talmadge’s ‘Pool,’ recalls winter days when the water is less inviting. Nearby, the sense of absence continues with Elmgreen & Dragset’s piece composed of two pairs of Calvin Klein men’s underwear nestled in two pairs of discarded 501 jeans and Zoe Crosher’s photos of sites where real or fictional people have gone missing. Martin Boyce’s faux leaves, scattered on the floor and titled ‘Evaporated Pools’, reinforce the out-of-season feel to a summer group show that goes against the grain of summer fun, instead conveying a contemplative quiet that offers its own pleasures. (On view in Chelsea through Aug 9th).
