Mariah Dekkenga’s vibrantly colored untitled abstraction is a standout in The Hole’s ‘post-analogue’ painting group show on the LES. Developed in Adobe Illustrator and transferred to canvas by hand, Dekkenga’s paintings feature obviously hand-applied thick paint as well as blurs and gradients that suggest the digital. (Through May 24th).
Mariah Dekkenga, Untitled (6), oil and acrylic on linen, 32 x 64 inches, 2015.
Inspired by 17th jewelry from the court of ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV and 19th century nature illustrations, Australian/US artist Timothy Horn ups the ante on his brooch-like sculptures by creating them in extra large scale. Here, mirror blown glass ‘pearls’ the size of large eggplants hang among lichen in a piece over five feet tall. (At PPOW Gallery in Chelsea through May 23rd).
Timothy Horn, Tree of Heaven 5 (Lichen), nickel-plated bronze, mirror blown glass, 66 x 45 x 6 inches, 2015.
In contrast to Andy Warhol’s 1964 film ‘Empire,’ Lutz Bacher’s installation by the same name features a multitude of Empire State Building spires in full color, reflecting off of sheets of Plexi arranged around GreeneNaftali Gallery. While the piece feels like a celebration of the fact that there’s no ‘one New York,’ sandbags holding down the panels add a note of caution. (In Chelsea through May 9th).
Lutz Bacher, Empire, two channel digital video, color/sound, Plexiglas, sand, 43 min, 1 second, 2014.
With unconventional materials like the food-substitute Soylent, baby seats and dog chews, LA artist Nancy Lupo’s scupltures at Chelsea’s Wallspace are oddly attractive. (Through May 9th).
Installation view of Nancy Lupo at Wallspace, April 2015.
Titled ‘Outer Loop,’ Marlborough Gallery’s pairing of sculpture by Matthew Ronay and embroidered works by Tony Cox suggests that Chelsea gallery-goers haven’t yet seen it all. Cox’s cool-colored textiles suggest meditative abstractions while Ronay’s vibrant constructions defy description; together, their colorful wackiness charms. (Through May 9th).
Matthew Ronay, Stacked Ellipsoid Cairn with Pearl, basswood, dye, gouache, shellac-based primer, 28 ½ x 23 x 23 inches, 2015.
Iconic early performance artist Robert Whitman adapts the idea of the ‘talkie’ film to visual art in his latest series, ‘Soundies,’ for which he presents an image and an accompanying sound. The show is great fun, but would anyone want to live with a dripping tap, even as art? (At Pace Gallery’s 57th Street location through May 2nd).
Robert Whitman, Dripping Faucet, color photo, mp3 sound element, wall label, 2015.
Before she even set foot in Central Park to create a site-specific artwork commissioned by the Public Art Fund, Paris-based artist Tatiana Trouve poured over maps of the park’s utilities. Inspired by the many unseen arteries connecting the park’s lights, water supply and more, she measured all 212 pathways in the park, designating each with a separate spool on towering racks. (Through Aug 30th).
Tatiana Trouve, installation view of ‘Desire Lines,’ at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park, 60th Street and 5th Ave, through Aug 30th.
Washington DC-based artist Jonathan Monaghan’s ‘Pavilion’ births giant contemporary Faberge eggs with surfaces composed of luxury goods and upholstery, demonstrating how money begets money. (At Bitforms on the LES through May 3rd).
Jonathan Monaghan, The Pavilion, animated HD film, 3 min, seamless loop, 2014.
Since 2009, Brussels-based Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck has been painting black and white watercolors during the night, as a contrast to days spent in a busy studio making art that includes CGI animations, video, installation and more. Empty of people and highly atmospheric, the watercolors are a peaceful and evocative contrast to the digital realm. (At Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea through May 2nd).
Hans Op de Beeck, Seascape, Cloudy Sky, black and white watercolor on Arches paper in wooden frame, 51 ½ x 100 ¼ x 1 ½ inches, 2014.
Teenagers were a recurring subject for Russian-born New York photojournalist Nina Leen, who, as one of the first female contract photographers for LIFE magazine, photographed now-nostalgic images like this one of fashionable hair-dos for young ladies in 1947. (At Daniel Cooney Fine Art in Chelsea through May 16th).
Nina Leen, Popular Teenage Shoulder length Hairstyles, 12 x 10” vintage gelatin silver print, 1947.
Inspired by ceramic traditions from Islamic Fritware to Wedgewood figurines, New York artist Francesca DiMattio irreverently combines them all in towering ceramics that recall totemic human figures. (At Salon94 Bowery on the Lower East Side through May 7th).
Francesca DiMattio, (foreground) Fetish Sculpture, glaze on porcelain and stoneware, 87 x 20 x 20 inches, 2015. (background) Chandelabra II, glaze and luster on porcelain and stoneware, epoxy, steel frame, 120 x 96 x 96 inches, 2015.
Unwary gallery-goers are likely to think they’ve walked into Klein Sun Gallery during installation when they see Beijing & Sydney-based artist Shen Shoamin’s paintings propped against the wall and encased in bubblewrap. The plastic is an illusion, however, painted on over blurry images of Warhol-derived soup cans to create the artist’s own take on art-world consumerism. (Through May 2nd).
Shen Shoamin, Handle with Care No 10 and No 12, oil on canvas, each 35 x 23 ¼ inches, 2014.
Fourteen arresting sculptures from the past 10 years by Daisy Youngblood at McKee Gallery include ‘Venus,’ one of several sensitive and dynamic renderings of primates. (In the 57th Street gallery district, through May 30th).
Daisy Youngblood, Venus, low-fire clay and hair, 2007.
Brooklyn sculptor Eric Fertman takes portraiture in a new direction with quirky biomorphic figures that make the digestive tract, for example, fun to think about. Even the tilting ‘Broken Man’ in the foreground appeals to the eye as he enacts an electric-yellow death dance. (At Susan Inglett Gallery in Chelsea through April 25th). Eric Fertman (foreground, yellow)
Broken Man, ash, paint, plywood, stain, steel, 75 x 40 x 36 inches, 2105.
Inspired by both somatic movement, which conceives of movement from within the body, and Latin American votive offerings, Janine Antoni’s new work features body parts from inside and out, presented as free-standing objects of spiritual value. (At Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine Gallery through April 25th).
Janine Antoni, to compose, polyurethane resin, ed of 3 and 1 artist’s proof, 35 x 20 x 24 inches, 2014.
The color, transience and fragility of flowers inspires British painter Lucy Mackenzie; here, a drawing of late summer flowers in colored pencil on paper is a last hurrah for summer. (At Nancy Hoffman Gallery in Chelsea through May 2nd).
Lucy Mackenzie, September Flowers, colored pencil on paper, 4 ¾ x 4 ¾ inches, 2015.
How much uniqueness is possible in uniform, corporate culture? Japanese artist Tomoko Sawada makes herself surprisingly malleable in photos that mimic job application ID photos. The master of disguise works wonders within narrow parameters…which one would you hire? (At Pace MacGill on 57th Street through April 25th).
Tomoko Sawada, Recruit/Grey, one hundred chromogenic prints hinged to board each image and paper, 2 x 1 5/8 inches mount, 27 3/8 x 23 ½ inches, 2006.
One day while cleaning, artist Pieter Schoolwerth exclaimed in frustration, ‘This vacuum sucks!’ This unintended truism launched the idea for a show – can a vacuum do anything other than suck? Schoolwerth’s paintings and installation at Miguel Abreu Gallery show humans sucked into another dimension, speaking from the void and holding a vacuum hose like a mic. (Through May 3rd).
Pieter Schoolwerth, installation view of ‘Your Vacuum Blows, which Sucks,’ at Miguel Abreu Gallery, March 2015.
Admiringly called ‘expertly constructed, aggressively psychedelic and curiously weird’ recently by the New York Times, Steve DiBenedetto’s latest abstract canvases flirt with representation but elude it, hinting at a half-understood world beyond. (At Derek Eller Gallery through April 25th).
Steve DiBenedetto, Catholic Deli, oil on linen, 60 x 72 x 1.375 inches, 2012 – 15.
For creepy, nothing quiet matches young French artist Renaud Jerez’s bug-eyed, chicken-footed, PVC skeleton at James Fuentes Gallery on the Lower East Side. Similar sculptures in the New Museum’s Triennial, cobbled together and slightly burnt characters, suggest post-apocalyptic survivors. (Through April 26th).
Renaud Jerez, TJS 1, burnt PVC pipe, aluminum, cotton, string, satellite cable, web cams, duct tape, plastic tubing, polyester and denim clothing with rubber feet, 79 x 29.5 x 32 inches, unique, 2015.
Laylah Ali’s new ‘Acephalous’ series features her signature creatures – slim cartoonish humans with something insect-like about them – but with heads and bodies separate. Here, a sympathetic mermaid/insect in green engages with a desperate-looking head-with-tail in a mysterious yet captivating exchange. (In Chelsea at Paul Kasmin Gallery through April 25th).
Laylah Ali, detail of Untitled (Acephalous series), gouache, acrylic, watercolor, and pencil on paper, 14 x 56 inches, 2015.
Liu Wei’s three sculptures of fortress-like cities made of carved books, are high on towers of bedrock that appear to be splitting apart, suggesting both destruction and crystalline growth. (At Lehmann Maupin on the Lower East Side through April 18th).
Liu Wei, Library II-II, books, wood, iron, and hardware, 2013.
Endlessly inventive abstract painter Thomas Nozkowski’s new show of work at Pace Gallery’s 510 West 25th Street space was partly inspired by walks he’s taken upstate. This untitled oil painting could reference a frozen puddle or light seen through a configuration of rocks…the artist leaves it up to us. (Through April 25th).
Thomas Nozkowski, Untitled (9-46), oil on linen on panel, 22” x 28,” 2014.
Laura Lancaster was inspired to paint from old photos in which she couldn’t tell herself apart from her twin sister. For her debut show in New York, the Newcastle, England-based artist culled images from found home movie reels, pictures that are still energized by uncertainty. (At Sargent’s Daughters on the Lower East Side through April 19th).
Laura Lancaster, untitled, oil on board, 51 x 90 inches, 2015.
Ann Agee’s residency at the Kohler factory in Sheybogan, Wisconsin in 1992 inspired a life-sized china replica of a bathroom. Here, she has recreated ‘Lake Michigan Bathroom’ in porcelain, presenting the taboo topic of bodily functions with meticulous craft. (At Chelsea’s PPOW Gallery through April 18th).
Ann Agee, Lake Michigan Bathroom (II), porcelain and stoneware, 98 ¾ x 121 ½ x 22 inches, 2014.
This sculpture, one of iconic German artist Joseph Beuys’ best known works and part of an exhibition of his multiples from the collection of Reinhard Schlegel, taps into Beuys’ story of having been shot down in his plane in WWII, then rescued by Tartars who wrapped him in fat and felt. The iron runners connect man to earth, felt symbolizes warmth and security, while the disk of fat refers to energy. (At Mitchell-Innes & Nash through April 18th).
Joseph Beuys, Sled, sled, fat, felt, belts, torch, sled: 41 x 34 x 110cm, 1969.
When humans talk about nature, it’s to promote ends that may have little to do with the natural world, argues Brooklyn artist Marc Handelman in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema, Jenkins & Co. Binders filled with images from corporate reports that portray forced compliance (e.g. cleanups) as a willing choice join whimsical paintings like these to question real motivations behind discussions of the environment. (Through April 11th).
Marc Handelman, Dear Stakeholder, oil on canvas, 87.5 x 61.75 inches, 2014.
Does affordable art exist in Chelsea anymore? ‘Twenty by Sixteen,’ a group exhibition of paintings at Morgan Lehman Gallery by 40 artists – many well-known – in 20” x 16” format offers something for everyone with all work under $11,000 and many pieces under $5,000. (In Chelsea through May 2nd).
Installation view of Twenty by Sixteen at Morgan Lehman Gallery with works by Amy Lincoln (far right) and Barbara Takenaga (middle), April 2015.
Stockholm-based artist Anton Alvarez has turned Salon94’s Freeman Alley space into his studio this month to construct new works using his ‘thread wrapping machine.’ Pictured here with an assistant, Alvarez (rear) guides an object into the machine’s opening, allowing glue coated thread (each a different color) to wrap around and create a pattern. (Through May 9th – see Salon94.com for a schedule of Alvarez’s studio hours).
Anton Alvarez, installation view of ‘Wrapsody,’ at Salon94 Freemans, April 2015.
Bodies morph into nearly unrecognizable emanations in Sascha Braunig’s new group of oil on linen paintings, including ‘Feeder,’ in which an artificial life form both emerges from and feeds from a pattered background. (At Foxy Production through April 18th).
Sascha Braunig, Feeder, oil on linen over panel, 31 x 16 inches, 2014.
Known for intricate drawings and paintings organized by patterns and rules he devises for himself, New York artist James Sienna crosses over into sculpture for his latest show at Pace Gallery. Though he’s made 3-D work for decades, it’s his debut sculptural exhibition and includes objects of wonder and beauty, like this cherry wood configuration that scales up models made with toothpicks and grape stems. (At 508 West 25th Street through April 25th)
James Sienna, Just Read the Instructions, cherry wood, 47 3/4” x 68 1/2” x 59 3/4,” unique, 2013.
With typical humor, illustrator and New Yorker cartoonist Ros Chast updates the painted egg tradition with a colorful rendition of an anxious Frida Kahlo; in the egg to the left, a giant sign reading ‘buy this’ hints at the commercialism of the holidays. (At Danese Corey in Chelsea through April 18th).
Ros Chast, installation view of ‘Eggs,’ eggshell, dye and polyurethane, approx. 2.25 x 1.625 inches, 2010-13.
Inspired by and titled after the final line in Martinique Surrealist Suzanne Cesaire’s ‘The Great Camouflage,’ Sam Durant locates an all-seeing eye over the Atlantic Ocean, a passageway between ‘old’ and ‘new’ worlds, questioning who ‘sees’ whom and how accurately. (At Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea through April 25th).
Sam Durant, “…the great game of hide and seek has succeeded, it is them because, on that day, the weather is most certainly too blindingly bright and beautiful to see clearly therein,” globe, acrylic (painting Steve Nunez), 32” diameter, 2014.
The dramatic centerpiece of Dale Chihuly’s show of recent work at Marlborough Gallery’s 57th Street space combines burnt logs, glass ‘reeds’ and neon light in a scenario that evokes nature but with overtly man-made objects and forms. Sapphire lights and the juxtaposition of sharp and round shapes both draw in and confound the eye. (Through April 11th).
Dale Chihuly, Sapphire Neon with Burned Logs and Neodymium Reeds, neon lights, burned wood and hand blown glass over stainless steel rods, 96 x 252, 180 inches, 2015.
The first U.S. solo show of acclaimed Chinese portraitist Mao Yan opens with this young man, Xiao Dai, staring up and out at us from a smoky grey environment with a confident look and defensive posture. Mao’s models are usually drawn from his circle of family and friends, but could this figure’s cautious gaze be a stand in for Mao’s own feelings on his debut? (At Pace Gallery’s 534 W. 25th Street location through April 4th).
Mao Yan, Xiao Dai, oil on canvas, 51 3/16 – 35 7/16,” 2013 – 2014.
Celebrated Romanian painter Victor Man is known for courting the unknowable in his paintings, creating a sense of mystery. In this painting, the oddness is profound. Abstract hair meets meticulous realism on the face, a youthful face contrasts a mature neck and the third eye keeps things in constant movement. (At Chelsea’s Barbara Gladstone Gallery through April 18th).
Victor Man, Grafting/or Lermontov Dansant Come Saint Sebastien, oil on wood, 8 ½ x 6 3/8 inches, 2014.
In the digital age, Alison Rossiter is an artist who still finds plenty to explore in the analogue photography world. Using expired photo papers (some of which date back to the 19th century), Rossiter pours or dips liquid developer on the papers, putting them together in austerely beautiful constructions like this one. (At Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery through April 4th).
Alison Rossiter, From the series Splits, Haloid Military, expired October 1957, processed 2015 (#3), four gelatin silver prints, 24” x 20” each element, unique.
‘How Iraqi Are You?’ asks the title of Iraqi born, San Francisco-based artist Hayv Kahraman’s current solo show of paintings at Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery. Based on a 12th century text about everyday Iraqi life, Kahraman’s paintings loosely tell stories from her own life, including this piece, which refers to her experience of having been smuggled out of Baghdad to Sweden. (Through April 4th).
Hayv Kahraman, Kachakchi, oil on linen, 79 x 108 x 2 inches, 2015.
New York artist Yuken Teruya continues to craft amazingly meticulous works on paper from unlikely materials, including a series of floral growths from the front pages of the New York Times in his latest solo show. Here, a plant rises from a photo accompanying an article about illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest. (At Josee Bienvenu Gallery through April 11th.)
Yuken Teruya, Minding My Own Business (The New York Times, October 19, 2013), 9 newspapers, wire, glue, 2 x 12.5 x 12.5 inches, 2013-2015.
Young Brooklyn artist Lauren Luloff equates human bodies and surrounding vegetation in pieces like ‘2 Jenns in the Forest’ in her show ‘Water Vessels’ at Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery. Using bleach on bedsheets, she creates ghostly images assembled as fragments on the stretcher. (Through March 28th).
Lauren Luloff, 2 Jenns in the Forest, bleached bedsheets and fabric, 111 x 118 inches, 2015.
The FLAG Foundation’s ‘A Secret Affair’ is one of the best shows of the moment in Chelsea, and one of the most appropriately titled, given that it’s tucked away high on the 9th and 10th floors of the foundation’s 545 West 25th Street exhibition space. Curated by Louis Grachos from Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman’s collection, rooms like this one show off the quality of the collection as well as the Fuhrmans’ penchant for sculptures of couples. (Through May 16th).
Installation view of ‘A Secret Affair: Selections from the Fuhrman Family Collection,’ at the FLAG Art Foundation, including work by Louise Bourgeois (foreground), Yinka Shonibare (left), Juan Munoz (middle), Maurizio Cattelan (back), March 2015.
Known for stunning backlit photos of bawling kids and anthropomorphized animals, New York/LA photographer Jill Greenberg takes a departure with her latest photos of paintings she’s made just for the camera. Like a painting, each image is unique and perfectly captures the lush possibilities of her material. (At Chelsea’s ClampArt through March 28th)
Jill Greenberg, ‘140814 Painting 58016,’ unique archival pigment print, 58 x 77 inches, 2014.
A selection of small sculptures made by kinetic installation artist Jon Kessler and given as gifts over the years to family and friends, now presented at Salon94 Freemans, is a change of pace but no less zany than the artist’s major works. (On the Lower East Side through March 28th).
Jon Kessler, Keeper of the Key, mixed media, 13 x 8.5 x 5 inches, 2013.
LA artist David Korty’s shelf-paintings assemble a set of shapes that combine both positive and negative cut-outs, brushstrokes and patterns, all basic components of the artist’s toolbox. (At Wallspace through March 28th).
David Korty, Blue Shelf #38, ink, paper, pencil, silkscreen and paint on canvas, 79 x 93 inches, 2015.
Titled ‘Playground,’ this piece by architect turned modernist sculptor Tony Smith was inspired by ancient mud-brick buildings. Two public installations of the sculpture in Beverly Hills, CA and Rochester, NY entice visitors to go through the opening but in New York, visitors to Chelsea’s Matthew Marks Gallery are invited to appreciate at a little more of a remove. (Through April 18th).
Tony Smith, Playground, steel, painted black, 64 x 128 x 64 inches, 1962.
Calling it ‘the strongest expression of grief he has ever seen,’ Alfredo Jaar is showcasing an image by the late Dutch photojournalist Koen Wessing as part of his latest NY solo show. Wessing’s image depicts the reaction of two Nicaraguan women to news that their father has been killed in the revolution in 1978. Gradually, their images disappear in an increasingly bright blast of light, often used by Jaar as a metaphor for blindness. (At Galerie Lelong through March 28th).
Alfredo Jaar, Shadows, installation with LED lights, aluminum, video projection and six lightboxes with black and white transparencies, 2014.
Brazilian artist Thiago Rocha Pitta’s new videos track minute, artist-introduced changes to tiny segments of the landscape in Argentina. Here, a cascade of sand runs like a never-ending hourglass. (At Marianne Boesky Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 22nd.)
Thiago Rocha Pitta, Temporal maps of a non sedimented land #1, video, 2.33 min, 2015.
Major Leipzig school artist Rosa Loy’s painting ‘Comfort’ loudly signals spring with giant snowdrops and rebirth with the strange orb emerging from a central figure who may have just risen from a hole in the ground. (At Friedman Benda Gallery through March 28th).
Rosa Loy, Trost, casein on canvas, 63 x 82.75 inches, 2009.
Using colorful corrugated thermoplastic, British artist Matthew Darbyshire has recreated often-seen items in Airbnb listings, making an otherwise unlikely connection between Michelangelo’s David and an old industrial radiator. (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 29th).
Matthew Darbyshire, CAPTCHA No. 24- David (foreground), multi-wall polycarbonate, silicone and steel armature, 78.7 x 31.5 x 23.5 inches, 2015.
New York artist Kehinde Wiley turns the tables on canonical western art history in paintings which substitute contemporary characters of African descent for European figures. Here, in a centerpiece of Wiley’s current Brooklyn Museum exhibition, a young man plays the role of odalisque. (Through May 24th).
Kehinde Wiley, installation view of ‘Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic,” Brooklyn Museum, February, 2015.
Iconic French designer and architect Jean Prouve’s 1956 Villejuif Demountable House – designed for a school in Villejuif in south Paris – fills a side room at Gagosian Gallery’s 24th Street Chelsea location, turning it into a chic platform to show off sculpture by the late John Chamberlain. (Through April 4th).
Installation view of ‘Chamberlain/Prouve’ (in collaboration with Galerie Patrick Seguin) at Gagosian Gallery, 555 W. 24th Street, March 2015, including Jean Prouve, Villejuif Demountable House, metal, wood, aluminum and glass, 11.5 x 35 x 29 ft, 1956.
Titled ‘Morning Glory,’ this installation of hand-cast acrylic light sculptures by visual artist and landscape designer Paula Hayes is devoid of actual plant life (vs the terrariums and gardens for which Hayes is known) but trapeze-like hangers cleverly suggest fast-growing vines. (At Salon94 Bowery through March 21st).
Paula Hayes, installation view of ‘Morning Glory,’ at Salon94 Bowery, Feb 2015.
Isamu Noguchi’s red ‘Octetra’ sculpture from 1968 is a standout for color alone in Pace Gallery’s current exhibition of the 20th century modernist’s sculpture. Designed for a playground, it was inspired by Noguchi’s regard for his friend Buckminster Fuller’s notion of the tetrahedron as the primary building block of nature. (At Pace Gallery’s 508-510 West 25th Street location through March 21st).
Isamu Noguchi, Octetra, cement, paint, 8’ 7 ½ inches x 9’ 10” x 8’ 7,” 1968.
When a New York Times critic praised 18th century Spanish painter Luis Melendez’s intensely realist still life paintings at the National Gallery of Art in ’09, he was captivated by Melendez’s stunning ‘near-photographic verisimilitude.’ In her photographic homage to Melendez, New York photographer Paulette Tavormina closes the gap between painting and photo with assemblages of fruit, vegetables, meats and various kitchen items that extoll the beauty not only of Melendez’s work but of the bounty of the natural world. (At Robert Mann Gallery through March 21st).
Paulette Tavormina, Still Life with Jamon Iberico, after L. M., archival pigment print, 26 x 48 inches, 2014.
More than many vehicles, pick-up trucks seem loaded with sentimental value. Alone in Matthew Marks Gallery’s large 24th Street gallery, this machine-carved, solid stainless steel replica of a baled truck by Charles Ray feels like a monument to a memory. Ray’s exacting sculptural process – involving model making and scanning – took six years, giving the sculpture even more import. (Through April 18th).
Charles Ray, Baled Truck, solid stainless steel, 33 x 50 x 118 inches, 2014.
Referred to as ‘pressed flower’ sculptures, several crushed Fiat 500s are a colorful draw in designer Ron Arad’s first solo show at Paul Kasmin Gallery’s West 27th Street gallery, along with his gridded 3D car in the foreground. Fascinated by flattened objects (he has a collection which includes toys and soda cans), Arad likens the cars to action painting in sculptural form. (Through March 14th).
Ron Arad, installation view of ‘In Reverse’ at Paul Kasmin Gallery, Feb 2015.
The star of Subodh Gupta’s exhibition at Hauser & Wirth is this fountain, titled, ‘This is not a fountain,’ apparently in deference to Magritte’s pipe and Duchamp’s notorious 1917 urinal. Like those works, it begs the question of what’s original and what’s a copy. A constant flow of recycled water cascades over an accumulation of pots and pans used in daily life in India simultaneously suggesting individual lives and the sameness of a common culture. (In Chelsea through April 18th).
Subodh Gupta, ‘This is not a fountain,’ old aluminum utensils, water, painted brass taps, PVC pipes, motor, 2011-13.
Against video of sunsets shot on a Rauschenberg residency in Florida, numbers flash in anticipation of the 18 minutes prior to sunset in veteran video-artist Charles Atlas’ latest solo show at Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine Gallery. Titled ‘The Waning of Justice,’ the show decries the current political state of the country with help in the back gallery from legendary drag performer Lady Bunny. (Through March 14th).
Charles Atlas, installation view of ‘The Waning of Justice,’ at Luhring Augustine, Feb 2015.
California artist Marlon Mullen reduces the world to blocks of color and general forms, conveying the gist of his source material – ads and images in art magazines – in striking simplicity. (At JTT Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 15th).
Marlon Mullen, Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches, 2012.
Titled ‘Marker’s Mark,’ Julia Dault’s solo debut at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery is all about process. One of her signature sculptures, created by bundling together rolled pieces of Formica and Plexiglas reflects a huge painting in gorgeous pastel hues, marked with a brayer roller in a creative mix of hand-made and mechanical processes. (Through March 21st).
Julia Dault, Untitled 38, 8:45am – 12:30pm, Feb 19th 2015, Formica, Plexiglas, Everlast boxing wraps, string, 2015.
Marking the 20th anniversary of Nancy Graves’ death, a show at Mitchell-Innes & Nash of sculpture and paintings from the 80s based on maps of the ocean floor or the surface of the moon evidence a respect for nature and a drive to experiment with form. The exhibition also includes the camel sculptures that made her name in the late 60s/early 70s. (In Chelsea through March 7th).
Nancy Graves, installation view at Mitchell-Innes and Nash, Feb 2015.
Is Lamar Peterson sick of painting? As he clutches his stomach in apparent discomfort in this tongue-in-cheek self-portrait, the artist appears to have taken in too much from the dishes of paint littering his bed. His sheets navigate the borders between hard-edge abstraction and messy representation, creating an amusing portrait of the artist uncomfortably inhabiting both styles. (At Chelsea’s Fredericks & Freiser Gallery through March 14th.)
Lamar Peterson, Satin Sheets, oil on canvas, 85 x 57 inches, 2014.
Inspired by a hermit living in the Maine woods with only a radio to hear news of the outside world, Dutch artist Jasper de Beijer created, then photographed paper dioramas depicting major world events from his memory rather than from documentation. Here (seen in detail), de Beijer recalls the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in all its terror. (At Chelsea’s Asya Geisberg Gallery through March 14th).
Jasper de Beijer, 12-26-2004 (from Mr Knight’s World Band Receiver’), c-print, 45×25” x 71,” 2014.
Esko Mannikko, Untitled, from the series Organized Freedom, archival pigment print in artist’s frame, 37 x 53 inches, 2012.
New York-based German photographer Vera Lutter continues to makes beautiful, ghostly images with room-sized camera obscura, capturing scenes like this of an ephemeral Empire State Building in contrast to more stolid brownstones in the foreground. (At Gagosian Gallery’s 976 Madison Ave address through March 7th).
Vera Lutter, Empire State Building, II: November 28, 2014, unique gelatin print, 91 x 56 inches, 2014.
Louise Nevelson, Untitled, broom, dustpan, metal, paint and wood on board, 63” x 48” x 7 ¾’, 1985.
Maayan Strauss, installation view of ‘Seven Sinks’ at Andrea Meislin Gallery, Feb 2014.
Ori Gersht, detail of ‘On Reflection, Material E22 (After J. Brueghal the Elder), edition of 6 + 2AP, 96 x 73 ½ inches, c-print mounted on Dibond, 2014.
Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #992: Left Panel: 10,000 straight red lines; center panel: 10,000 straight yellow lines; right panel: 10,000 straight blue lines. The lines are of any length or direction. Red, yellow, blue markers. Dimensions variable. Foreground: Carl Andre, Dracut, 11 Western red cedar timbers, each 36 x 12 x 12 in, 1979.
Claudia Comte, installation view of ‘No Melon No Lemon’ at Barbara Gladstone Gallery, Feb 2015.
Though one of Alexander Calder’s better-known mobiles hangs above, it’s this sheet metal llama that catches the eye at Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea. Included in an exhibition which partially recreates a groundbreaking show of New York art curated by Henry Geldzahler in 1969, its flat monochrome links it to surrounding minimal abstractions by Warhol, Noland, Flavin and more. (Through March 8th).
Alexander Calder, Moon Faced Llama (blue and red), painted sheet metal, 1971.
Dutch artist Erik Van Lieshout recreates newspaper protests of demonstrations between Dutch-nationalists and Muslim factions in Holland in vinyl and charcoal at Anton Kern Gallery. A provocateur who The Guardian recently called ‘The Ali G of Art’ for his disregard for social convention, Van Lieshout’s drawings impressively channel the aggression and adrenaline of street confrontation. (In Chelsea through Feb 28th).
Erik Van Lieshout, Untitled, charcoal, acrylic and vinyl on paper, 59 1/8 x 107 7/8 inches, 2014.
Saya Woolfalk continues to imagine life in a utopic community of culturally hybridized beings with her new series of colorful sculpture, video and collage at Chelsea’s Leslie Tonkonow Artworks & Projects. In this lush corner installation, a meditating figure in fantastical priestly garb holds minerals that supposedly release the power of greater empathy. (Through Feb 28th).
Saya Woolfalk, ChimaTEK: Virtual Reality Station, mixed media installation with video, 108 x 91 x 19 ½, 2015.
Seventeen taxidermy molds of foxes, deer and caribou by iconic conceptual artist Bruce Nauman are poised like an acrobatic troupe but are more creepy than entertaining. Nauman ups the discomfort by keeping them hairless to suggest that they’ve experienced an unnamed brutality. (At Gagosian Gallery’s 821 Park Ave location through Feb 21st).
Bruce Nauman, Animal Pyramid, polyurethane foam, iron, wood, and wire, 144 x 84 x 96 inches, 1989.
This gorgeous reflecting pool by Japanese artist Noriyuki Haraguchi – an update on his iconic versions from the 70s – is the picture of serenity in the pristine upstairs gallery of Chelsea’s Fergus McCaffrey Gallery. Contrary to appearances, though, the pool is full of spent machine oil, a symbol of our attraction to a natural resource with not-so-beautiful byproducts. (Through Feb 21st).
Noriyuki Haraguchi, Oil Pool, steel, spent motor oil, 24 x 12 feet.
A cup shatters, a golfer swings and a bullet pierces balloons in photos by late scientist Harold Edgerton, who made time freeze with the aid of an electric strobescope. This image of three bursting balloons demonstrates three stages of destruction with arresting beauty. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co through March 7th).
Harold Edgerton, Bullet Through Three Balloons, gelatin silver print, 30 x 48 inches, 1959, printed 1989.
This mildly racy painting by young German artist Leonhard Hurzlmeier of a dentist getting ready in the morning gives pause for thought – is she demonstrating extreme skill or incredible awkwardness? (At Rachel Uffner Gallery through Feb 22nd).
Leonhard Hurzlmeier, Zahnarztin bei der Morgantoilette (Dentist Getting Ready), oil on canvas, 38.4 x 27.2 inches, 2013/14.
British artist Jonathan Callan’s serene white mountain range encases a selection of books on nature (including ‘All About Lions,’ and ‘Bird Neighbors’) in plaster, suppressing knowledge of nature in favor of imitating it. (In ‘The Suspended Line’ at Josee Bienvenu Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 28th).
Jonathan Callan, Range, paper and plaster, 33.85 x 21.25inches, 2012.
For his biggest New York solo show to date at Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side, fashion designer turned artist Helmut Lang continues to work with industrially shredded garments from his archive, which were accidently destroyed by fire. Strange creatures, birch trees and industrial processes come to mind in these mediated organic forms. (Through Feb 21st).
Helmut Lang, installation view of Untitled sculptures in resin, pigment and mixed media, 2010-2013 or 2012–2013.
Game show contestants and reality TV personalities are the subject of John Miller’s paintings and this sculpture at Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea. Moments of supposedly ‘real’ emotion accompany paintings of empty, dramatically tacky game stages, conjuring a bizarre world of fakeness. (Through Feb 28th).
John Miller, Public Display, 68 x 58 x 58 inches, acrylic/wood, formica, 2013.
Pulling source images from the web, young Brooklyn artist Nolan Simon copies them to canvas, framing each one with painted, trompe l’oeil masking tape like an analogue version of open windows on a computer screen. While the technique doesn’t radically update collage, Simon has an eye for intriguingly odd juxtapositions. (At 47 Canal on the Lower East Side through Feb 15th).
Nolan Simon, Commonwealth, oil and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches.
Chinese art group ‘Polit-Sheer-Form Office’ asks what that collectivity means today in China in light of trends toward individualism and consumption. Here, in a painting at their Queens Museum show, they riff on Cultural Revolution propaganda posters that featured happy workers gathering around Mao, substituting themselves cheerfully tucking into a communal dish. (Through March 18th).
Polit-Sheer-Form Office, Polit-Sheer-Form-16, oil on canvas, 2007.
Brooklyn-based artist KATSU is known for semi-abstract paintings created by drone; here at The Hole, a cluster of ceramic drone sculptures periodically disappears in a cloud of vape-generated smoke. (On the Lower East Side through Feb 22nd).
KATSU, Ceramic drone swarm, ceramic stoneware, 15 x 15 x 3 inches, 2014-2015.
How would life continue after an apocalypse? British artist Mike Nelson’s latest show at Chelsea’s 303 Gallery imagines a scenario in which a group of survivors on the North Sea coast build sculpture from washed up trash to recreate what they haltingly remember. This serpent, tattered flags and various totems speak to an unstoppable urge to establish a bulkhead and mediate the unknown. (Through Feb 21st).
Mike Nelson, detail from the installation ‘Gang of Seven,’ found materials collected from the North West Pacific Coast (feathers, tires, rocks, driftwood, Styrofoam, metal rods and chains, pylons, clothing), dimensions variable, 2013.
This tranquil domestic interior is too cute, with its matching mugs by the fire, two dogs, two laptops and beautiful beach view. But the scene might not be as cozy as it looks – Ann Toebbe’s latest painted, handcut paper collages depict domestic interiors from friends’ and family members’ past marriages. (At Monya Rowe Gallery on the LES through Feb 22nd).
Ann Toebbe, Remarried, gouache, acrylic and cut paper on panel, 16 x 20 inches, 2015.
Nature inspires LA-based artist Jennifer Nocon’s gorgeous ceramic and felt installation Sky Diamond, the centerpiece of her solo show at Chelsea’s Tracy Williams, Ltd. Stylized cloud illustrations on ceramic cloud shapes give forth blood-red, kelp-like jets of rain, making for a fascinating and slightly disturbing phenomenon. (Through Feb 14th).
Jennifer Nocon, Sky Diamonds, hand-dyed wool felt, ceramic clay, glaze, gold thread, 100 x 316 inches, 2014.
French artist Anita Molinero is known for destroying vibrantly colored, plastic consumer goods by melting them. Here, pale green Styrofoam trays remain intact but pierced, supported by cradling metal arms and a backed by a chunk of concrete. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery through Feb 14th).
Anita Molinero, Untitled, 16 ½ x 12 ½ x 15 inches, 2014.
Over one hundred dental casts of the same smile create a grid in this slightly creepy, subtly funny 3-D painting by Massachusetts-based painter Lucy Kim at Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side. With cartoon-like swirls of red curls and sesame seeds connoting freckles, this character – with her super abundance of toothy grins – charms and repulses at the same time. (Through Feb 15th).
Lucy Kim, detail of Tomorrow, Tomorrow (Leeza Smiles), oil paint, acrylic paint, urethane resin, polyurethane glue on dibond panel, 36 x 45 inches, 2014.
Optical illusion is Suzanne Song’s stock-in-trade, whether she’s painting a false corner into a gallery corner or making an acrylic on canvas painting that looks like the happy result of a mid-century minimalist casually making art on the beach. The illusion of folding, layering and a gritty surface and keep the eye moving this piece at Chelsea’s Mixed Greens. (Through Feb 14th).
Suzanne Song, Centerfold, acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches, 2014.
Behind a pleasantly printed pastel sheet strung across one corner of the gallery, a quirky little donut-bodied character by young British artist Jonathan Baldock instructs (according to the title) ‘How to Open Your Third Eye.’ (At Nicelle Beauchene Gallery on the LES through Feb 8th).
Jonathan Baldock, Screen with Peep-holes, muslin, acrylic, thread, 105 ½ x 141 ½ inches, 2014. And Jonathan Baldock, How to Open Your Third Eye, felt, wadding, silk thread, ceramic polymer, 23 ½ x 12 x 6 inches, 2015.
Copenhagen-based painter Tal R’s latest solo show at Chelsea’s Cheim & Read features lounging female acquaintances rendered in his characteristic toned-down vibrant palette. Abstract sculpture, multiple patterned rugs, and a purple-haired model in this picture suggest an update on Matisse’s exoticism. (Through Feb 14th).
Tal R, Jacobe Smoking, pigment and rabbit skin glue on canvas, 48 x 34 5/8 inches, 2013.
Inspired by James Turrell sculptures, in which the audience looks upward through a ceiling aperture to view the sky as art, LA artist Diana Thater devised this projection on the ceiling of David Zwirner Gallery as an homage to the dung beetle, a creature which looks to the stars to guide its ecologically critical activity. (In Chelsea through Feb 21st).
Diana Thater, Science, Fiction, installation for two video projectors, media player, and lights, overall dimensions vary with installation, 2014.
As far as family portraits go, this one is by far one of the strangest I’ve seen, as a matron with a knife in her hair touches a carp’s tongue and father stands by cradling a skull while two boys look on. Wiharso has explained that in his work, tables are meant as meeting places and sites for negotiation; as such, this family has a lot to work through. (At Marc Straus on the Lower East Side through Feb 8th).
Entang Wiharso, Inheritance, graphite, resin, color pigment, thread, steel, life-size installation, 2014.
Brooklyn-based Danish artist Joachim Koester channels the wild west in a distinctly avant-garde way in his absorbing video installation, The Place of Dead Roads, in which dancers dressed as grubby gunslingers move around an eerie boarded-up space as if locked in a tense shootout, all without weapons or an obvious enemy. (At Chelsea’s GreenNaftali through Feb 14th).
Joachim Koester, The Place of Dead Roads, HD video installation, color, sound, 33:30 min, 2013.
New York artist Titus Kaphar disrupts each of his works, cutting figures out of a canvas to consider the impact of absence, whiting out and redrawing figures or peeling back a layer of canvas to literally reveal a back story. Here, a colonial-era man’s portrait is shredded and stretched to shatter any illusion of a tidy personal narrative. (At Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery through Feb 21st).
Titus Kaphar, Stripes, oil on canvas and nails, 59 ½ x 51 x 1 ½ inches, 2014.
Man-made objects and nature come together in surprising ways in this sculpture by New York artist Sarah Braman, as a cube recalling modernist architecture perches atop a massive tree stump (nature sacrificed?). A table and houseplant complete this pretty assemblage which points to the domestic realm as a place where nature is potted for pleasure and convenience. (At Jack Hanley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 8th).
Sarah Braman, Underthunk, welded steel, color gels, glass, tree stump, house plant, aluminum, 65 x 35 x 70in, 2014.
Robert Kushner’s latest paintings at DC Moore include this gorgeous rendition of a fern, which blends modernist stripes with Japanese-style gold leafing and complex surface texture in a radiant homage to the natural world. (In Chelsea through Feb 14th).
Robert Kushner, Fern, oil, acrylic and gold leaf on linen, 84 x 60 inches, 2014.
It could be the outer space carpet or the thickly painted pastel-colored smiley face on this painting, but it’s hard to be sober in young LA artist Devin Troy Strothers’ latest solo show at Marlborough Chelsea. Here, basketball literally becomes an art form as little players in mid-dunk decorate the eyes and smile of this goofily-grinning abstract painting. (Through Feb 14th).
Devin Troy Strother, Devin Troy Strother x Rob Pruitt x Cory Arcangel x Walead Beshty x A Sad Face x 10 Michael Jordans, ink jet, air brush, acrylic, oil varnish, painted paper on birch panel, 84 x 60 x 2 inches, 2014.
Using telephone cable and pipes from local construction sites, Al Taylor created this sculpture on site for an exhibition in Denmark in 1997. Here, the cables read like colorful and jittery lines connecting solid objects whose shapes suggest the entire piece might literally begin to move. (At David Zwirner Gallery, 20th Street location through Feb 14th.)
Al Taylor, Full Gospel Neckless (Dog Act), P.E. plastic tubes, rubber wheel chocks and plastic-coated copper telephone cable, 27 ½ x 206 x 64 inches, 1997.
Greer Patterson’s new tropical landscape paintings at Marlborough Gallery were inspired by scenes from his Hawaiian shirts; the pool with two remote-controlled boats installed in the basement also uses materials at hand to create pleasant place. It’s not the Central Park boat pond, but on a cold January day, it’s nice to dream. (At Marlborough Gallery, Broome Street, through Feb 15th).
Greer Patterson, Partners in Crime, round metal frame pool with remote controlled boats, 30 x 144 x 144 inches, 2014.
