For his latest series, ‘Sacrifice Your Body,’ New York based photographer Roe Ethridge took a trip to his mom’s hometown in Belgrade, Florida, gathering images that loosely suggest a relationship between mother and son. Here, a phone off the hook suggests a receiver dropped in surprise. (At Chelsea’s Andrew Kreps Gallery through March 29th).
Roe Ethridge, Yellow Phone, c-print, 34 ¾ x 45 7/8, 2013.
Invited to show at LA’s MoCA in 1997, Jorge Pardo built an off-site house as his exhibition (where he now lives with his family). His latest design-as-living space can be seen at Petzel Gallery, where ‘Spare Bedroom’ offers a sanctuary-like space-within-a-space reminiscent of bedroom-nooks built into lofts but with a stained-glass look suggesting something more like a choir loft. (In Chelsea through April 5th).
Jorge Pardo, Spare Bedroom, mixed media, 2014.
Beijing-based artist Xu Bing is a star of the Met’s excellent ‘Ink Art’ exhibition, which features important work by prominent Chinese artists of the past few decades who have maintained a link with China’s traditional calligraphic and painting traditions. Here, Xu’s Book from the Sky submerses visitors in a sea of Chinese characters (with over a thousand unique variations) yet comes to question tradition and the relay of information by the fact that all are illegible. (At the Metropolitan Museum of Art through April 6th).
Xu Bing, Book from the Sky, ca 1987-91, installation of hand-printed books and ceiling and wall scrolls printed from wood letterpress type; ink on paper.
Polish artist Pawel Althamer opens up his exhibition at the New Museum to contributions from the public by providing paint, paper and smocks to the many, many visitors who want to leave their mark. (On the Lower East Side through April 13th).
Pawel Althamer, installation view of ‘Draftsmen’s Progress’ at the New Museum, March 2014.
Brooklyn artist Beth Krebs’ provocatively surreal object – a suggestion of two half-exposed bodies conjoined erotically or otherwise and traversed by a mini-pathway or guideline for cutting – is part of a new body of work worth seeing at the Lower East Side’s Station Independent Projects (through April 6th).
Beth Krebs, Rift and Slip, fired clay, pastel and tape, 12 x 9 x 10 inches.
Chelsea newcomer Klein Sun Gallery is giving visitors who loved the debut of Chinese sculptor Li Hongbo’s paper sculptures a treat. Extended to March 22nd, the exhibition has been rehung with new, larger sculptures including these two female figures constructed of paper carefully glued together sheet by sheet then carved with hand tools by the artist.
Li Hongbo, installation view at Klein Sun Gallery, Chelsea, March 2014.
Rudolf Stingel paints the sublime in his latest body of work, but from a distance. Working from vintage, found photos of his birthplace – Merano, Italy – the artist faithfully copies distortions from the camera, marks of age from the prints and then leaves the canvases on the floor of his studio, building in physical and conceptual distance between his New York audience and the Alps. (At Gagosian Gallery’s 21st Street location through April 19th).
Rudolf Stingel, Untitled, oil on canvas, 132 x 180 ¾ inches, 2010.
The contrast between the two x’s in New York artist David Shaw’s ‘Gem’ – pristine vs weathered, dull vs glittering, -makes the eye bounce back and forth between these two seemingly casually placed sculptures, creating a lively show in Feature’s entryway gallery. (On the Lower East Side through March 23rd).
David Shaw, Gem, wood, aluminum, holographic laminate, rope; two parts, 135 x 60 x 3 inches each, 2013.
In one of Chelsea’s more cheerful shows of the moment, New York-based artist Dan McCarthy presents paintings of happy musicians accompanied by birds and ‘Facepots,’ one of which smiles through its tears. (At Anton Kern Gallery through March 22nd).
Dan McCarthy, installation view at Anton Kern Gallery, February 2014.
1960s Minimalism, though influential, isn’t best remembered for its humor. LA-based sculptor Lisa Williamson injects lightheartedness into her stream-lined shapes, suggesting giant wall-mounted hairpins or attractively colored surgical tools. (At Laurel Gitlen Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 15th).
Lisa Williamson, ‘Bump, Bob’ (on the right) and ‘Bump, Hairpin’ (on the left), both acrylic on powder-coated steel, 80 x 14 x 4 inches.
Using multiple silicone molds of flounders and a man, Lucy Kim pieces together a vibrantly colored, wonderfully mixed up image of a guy who appears to be ‘sleeping with the fishes,’ but is still posing semi-seductively with his rubbery, flattened thumb tucked into the waistband of his underpants. (At Lisa Cooley Gallery on the Lower East Side through March 15th).
Lucy Kim, He Left with the Flounders, oil paint, various plastics, spray paint on dibond panel, 64 x 48 inches, 2014.
Though New York artist Red Grooms created this gallery-filling installation replicating an alley near his downtown studio over twenty years ago – to bring some ‘quintessential New York funk’ to Marlborough Gallery’s London location – its shady hustle and bustle and maniacal truck driver still look contemporary. (At Marlborough Gallery’s Lower East Side location through March 23rd.)
Red Grooms, ‘The Alley,’ wood, foam, and mixed media, dimensions variable, 1984-5.
Many artists aim to get a reaction from their audience; New York artist Dove Bradshaw elicits one from her materials, applying chemicals to silver or water to salt, for example. In 1996, she began work on the piece pictured here, ‘Waterstone,’ by training a constant slow drip of water on limestone; it continues to the present day. (At Chelsea’s Corey Danese Gallery through March 15th).
Dove Bradshaw, Waterstone, limestone, separatory funnel, water, 12 x 12 x 12 inches, 1996 to present.
Between a five-foot wide wax mushroom (rear) and a scrappy dream-catcher, strings of yarn suspend dried mushrooms, hinting at psychedelic interpretations for Michele Segre’s intriguingly odd assemblages. (At Derek Eller Gallery in Chelsea through March 15th).
Michele Segre, Self-Reflexive Narcissistic Supernova, metal, yarn, thread, wire, plastic bags, plastic lace, papier-mache, photos, screws, acrylic, modeling clay, wood, beeswax, dried mushrooms, 2013.
In collaboration with woodworker Josh Finn, iconic Minimalist artist Robert Morris has been creating replicas of his 1960s sculptures. Currently on view at Chelsea’s Sonnabend Gallery, this gracefully curving form recalls Morris’ 1961 ‘Box for Standing,’ (a replica is included in the show), suggesting a more exulted place to position yourself, akin more to an art-filled niche than the ‘tub’ to which its title refers. (Through March 15th).
Robert Morris, Tub, alder, 80 ½ x 39 ½ x 20 inches, 2013.
Over a period of two years, Palestinian artist Emily Jacir visited Jerusalem’s Jewish National and University Library, surreptitiously phototographing books that once belonged to Palestinians, now labeled as ‘Abandoned Property.’ Lining the walls of Chelsea’s Alexander and Bonin Gallery, her photos highlight notations, insertions and other personal touches.  (Through April 5th).
Emily Jacir, ex libris, installation, public project and book, 2010-12.
Known for her unnerving, expressionist renditions of fashion models, New York painter Katherine Bernhardt steps into new territory with food-centric pattern paintings whose collective title, ‘Stupid, Crazy, Ridiculous, Funny Patterns’ accurately introduces their surprising, bold and humorous nature. (At the Lower East Side’s Canada Gallery through March 9th).
Katherine Bernhardt, Steaming Hot Coffee and Cigarettes and Pizza, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 2013.
Pocket Utopia on the Lower East Side and Hansel and Gretel Picture Gallery in Chelsea don’t just have their unusual names in common; they’re both showcasing work and happenings by Pocket Utopia founder and New York artist Austin Thomas. Thomas rescues and transforms paper, books and other aged materials; here, a book cover titled ‘Castle’ becomes a shelter, a tent, a minimal sculpture and a testament to a book well-used. (Through March 15th).
Austin Thomas, Castle, 20 x 14 inches, photographic print, 2014.
Once, LA-based artist Sarah Cain created work primarily in abandoned buildings. In her current site-specific installation at Galerie Lelong, she pushes painting far beyond the edge of the canvas, creating an eye-catching sprawl of color and form at the back of the gallery. (In Chelsea through March 15th).
Sarah Cain, hypnic jerk, site-specific installation, 2014.
Titled ‘Wonder,’ New York artist Kiki Smith’s latest solo show at Pace Gallery includes a magnified sculpture of hoarfrost (along with a rabbit), jacquard tapestries of a nude in a tree and soaring eagles all of which posit nature as a source of astonishment and pleasure. (In Chelsea at Pace’s 510 West 25th St location through March 29th).
Kiki Smith, installation view of ‘Wonder,’ in foreground, ‘Hoarfrost with Rabbit,’ stainless steel, 2014, at Pace Gallery, March 2014.
In a distinctly contemporary update on Sylvia Sleigh’s iconic ‘70s nude male, Robin F. Williams’ new show ‘Sons of Pioneers’ features men who seem to have opted out of the go-getter mentality of their fathers; non-aggressive poses suggest a passive ideology traditionally identified as female. (At Chelsea’s PPOW Gallery through March 15th).
Robin F Williams, Gold Panner, 72 inch diameter, oil on canvas, 2013.
Though she lives in New York, Lisa Sanditz’ attention is on the country, with a new series of paintings that consider food production and sculptures inspired by Arizona cactus farms. Here, fanciful rainbow cacti in muted colors face off through Styrofoam cups like those that farmers use to protect cactus branches from cold. (At Chelsea’s CRG Gallery through March 15th).
Lisa Sanditz, Rainbow, glazed ceramic, planters, cinderblocks, plywood, rocks, 20 x 22 ½ x 8 inches, 2014.
Late New York artist Candy Jernigan’s ’99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall’ brings to mind an apothecary’s shelves, though tags reading ‘Guinness Dark,’ and ‘Colt 45’ for example, suggest that these are more contemporary medicines, gathered from LES streets (along with the crack vials and cheez doodles in other artworks) in the 80s. (At GreeneNaftali through March 15th).
Candy Jernigan, ’99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall’ (detail), beer, glass vials, packing tags and Plexiglas shelves, 48 x 14 x 3 ½ inches, c. 1988-89.
Leslie Wayne’s new series ‘Paint/Rag’ demonstrates how it’s possible to make a painting made from paint alone. By troweling colors one on top of the other on a surface of wet paint, then folding the sheet, Wayne creates gorgeous drapes of solid color. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 24th Street location through March 22nd).
Leslie Wayne, Paint/Rag #31, oil on panel, 14 x 9 x 4 ½ inches, 2013.
Poised like Venus lying in the grass or hiking semi-nude with a walking stick and an open flannel shirt, Pennsylvania-based artist Rebecca Morgan’s self-portraits are skillfully crafted, hilarious takes on rural stereotypes. Here, she changes gears, donning a ‘depression blanket’ to ward off the chill and the mental state her far-away look suggests. (At Chelsea’s Asya Geisberg Gallery through March 29th).
Rebecca Morgan, Depression Blanket, oil and graphite on panel, 28” x 22,” 2014.
Exposed in its confining crib, this body-sized stick of butter (actually beeswax) by American sculptor Robert Gober is perfectly formed but slightly repulsive. Scattered apples, meticulously crafted in wood are all-American (recalling apple pie or Johnny Appleseed) but suggest that temptations lurk from the earliest days of life. (At Matthew Marks Gallery’s 523 West 24th Street location).
Robert Gober, Untitled, wood, paint, beeswax, 50 ½ x 53 ¼ x 28 inches, 1993-2013.
Color Field painter Sam Gilliam’s unstretched canvas from 1970 is a standout in Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s current exhibition ‘Beyond the Spectrum: Abstraction in African American Art, 1950-1975’ for taking the space of a painting into the space of the gallery. Like a huge paint rag or a giant apron, this piece from 1970 evokes an object with use-value, hung momentarily on the wall. (In Chelsea through March 8th).
Sam Gilliam, One Thunder, acrylic on unstretched canvas, 70 x 23 x 11 inches, 1970.
Known for her lovingly painted renditions of architecture and industrial equipment created in a single, long sitting, Josephine Halvorson has turned her attention to her more immediate surroundings in her new Massachusetts home. Using paint to render a door covered with chipped paint, Halvorson’s knowing play with her material is a pleasure to experience. (At Sikkema Jenkins & Co through March 1st).
Josephine Halvorson, Woodshed Door, oil on linen, 70 x 35 inches, 2013.
Powered by small fans at the bottom of wall-mounted glass tubes, Ping-Pong balls play a solitary game as they whiz up and down in Ohio-based artist Erwin Redl’s mesmerizing installation at Chelsea’s Bitforms Gallery. (Through March 15th).
Erwin Redl, Levitate (thirty-one), suspended glass tubes, fans, Ping-Pong balls, microprocessor, 11 x 31 x 1 ft, 2014.
Iconic abstract sculptor Richard Tuttle has turned his focus to textiles in his exhibition at Pace Gallery’s 57th Street location, a prelude to his October 2014 commission for the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Here, a seemingly casually placed brown fabric at center sets off the texture and color of a branch at bottom while a colorful pattern of material roughly wrapped around a life-ring-like shape draws the eye in. (Through March 15th).
Richard Tuttle, Looking for the Map 10, fabric, branch, paint and plastic, 39” x 24” x 10 1/2,” 2013 – 14.
As a kid, LA-based British artist Kour Pour grew up watching his dad repair and work with carpets in his rug shop. He continues the tradition, after a fashion, by silkscreening carpets from auction catalogues onto canvas, then painting and sanding the images into something entirely new. (At Untitled Gallery through Feb 23rd).
Kour Pour, detail from ‘Kour Pour’ at Untitled Gallery Jan 2014, acrylic on canvas over panel, 96 x 72 inches.
Energy drinks, green tea tins and more consumer packaging form the basis of semi-retired fashion photography icon David LaChapelle’s latest series, ‘Refineries.’ Working with professional model builders, LaChapelle makes our consumption of fossil fuels – and the materials create from them – personal. (At Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery through March 1st.)
David LaChapelle, Land Scape Riverside, chromogenic print, 71 x 93 inches, 2013.
Montreal-born, Long Island City based sculptor David Altmejd once again excites the senses by filling Chelsea’s Andrea Rosen Gallery with one of his trademark vitrine-like sculptures. Throughout the sculpture, hands appear to manipulate various materials, suggesting the act of creation, while fake fruits and armies of ants bring to mind decay. (Through March 8th).
David Altmejd, The Flux and the Puddle, installation view at Andrea Rosen Gallery, Feb 2014, mixed media, 2014.
Roughly translated to ‘among other things,’ Mark Fox’s ‘Inter Alia’ assembles snippets of pop culture image and text in a sculpture that appears remarkably to hover next to the gallery wall. (At Robert Miller Gallery through Feb 22nd).
Mark Fox, Inter Alia, ink, marker, watercolor, pencil on paper with archival tape, 21 ½ x 16 ½ inches, 2013.
Inspired by early Christian and Mesopotamian building practices that imbued built structures with spiritual meaning, young Brooklyn-based artist Jeff Landman transformed timbers from a Pennsylvania barn into furniture-like platforms for transcendent experience for his first solo show at Tracy Williams, Ltd. (In Chelsea through Feb 22nd).
Jeff Landman, installation view of ‘Working on a Building,’ with ‘Bed,’ white oak, linen, 2013 in the foreground. Tracy Williams, Ltd., Feb 2014.
‘Eager,’ Allison Schulnik’s new stop-motion animation starts with restrained dancing figures and quickly ups the pace as nature itself joins in the dance with flowers bursting forth in bloom and swaying with exuberant fecundity. (At Chelsea’s ZieherSmith through Feb 22nd.)
Allison Schulnik, still from ‘Eager,’ clay-animated, stop-motion video, 8 min, 30 sec, ed of 5, 2014.
Though Minimalist artist Dan Flavin’s fluorescent light tubing sculputres are well-known, his editioned work on paper is less often exhibited. At David Zwirner Gallery’s 20th Street Chelsea location, this scrolled handmade paper is a cylinder on a different scale but one whose color is as electric as his signature works. (Through March 1st).
Dan Flavin, untitled, double-sided color aquatint printed in violet and yellow on Twinrocker handmade paper, rolled and stitched, 7 3/8 x 30 x 8 1/8 inches, 1994.
Small and meticulously handmade, New York artist Lori Ellison’s untitled ink on notebook paper drawings on view at McKenzie Fine Art on the Lower East Side jettison high production values in favor of an absorbingly obsessive art practice. (Through Feb 16th).
Lori Ellison, Untitled, ink on notebook paper, 11 x 8 ½ inches, 2013.
Fans of Marilyn Minter’s super realist paintings – and their sullied glitz – will want to catch her early work included in the group exhibition ‘Bad Conscience’ at Chelsea’s Metro Pictures. Here, ‘Spill’ from 1976 conveys the ‘ugh’ feeling of encountering a spilled drink on institutional linoleum. (Through Feb 22nd).
Marilyn Minter, Spill, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches, 1976.
John Ahearn’s plaster sculptures have memorably captured moments of New York street life for decades. Chelsea’s Alexander and Bonin Gallery is showing Ahearn’s portrait sculptures from the 1980s, made in his South Bronx studio. Here, a couple share a tight embrace that suggests struggle as much as devotion. (Through Feb 22nd).
Luis and Virginia Arroyo, acrylic on plaster, 19 ¾ x 25 ¾ x 10 3/4, 1980.
Iconic Process artist Lynda Benglis excites the senses with a new selection of ceramic sculptures hand formed from tubes and slabs of clay. (At Chelsea’s Cheim & Read through Feb 15th).
Lynda Benglis, Untitled, glazed ceramic, 20 x 16, 12 inches, 2013.
Known for using evocative materials to create sculptural mediations on the African diaspora, Atlanta-based artist Radcliffe Bailey has upped the ante in his recent exhibition at Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery, where he’s exhibiting this startling taxidermied croc who appears to climb his way past memorial-like markers with dates and initials. (At Jack Shainman’s 24th Street location through Feb 15th).
Radcliffe Bailey, On Your Way Up, tarp, crocodile and steel, 120 x 106 x 10 inches, 2013.
If these photographs of farm workers holding tools of their trade look like they’re wearing masks, it’s due in part to artist Jackie Nicherson’s desire to make documentary photography that doesn’t exploit its subject. Instead, her recent series, ‘Terrain,’ shot on Southern and East African farms, zeros in on part-hidden individuals to focus attention one of Africa’s biggest industries. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 20th Street location through Feb 15th).
Jackie Nickerson, installation view of ‘Terrain,’ at Jack Shainman Gallery, February, 2014.
New York based artist Park McArthur’s installation of ramps she’s recently used – from a splintered board to a sturdy new ramp – to access art spaces and her residential building in downtown Manhattan tell a succinct and eye-opening tale of unintentional discrimination. (At Essex Street Gallery through Feb 23rd).
Park McArthur, installation view of ‘Ramps,’ at Essex Street Gallery, Jan 2014.
Titles like ‘Ministry of Hate’ (pictured here) and ‘Hill and Dale, Black-Ops’ reveal dark themes behind Sue Williams’ latest, vibrantly colored paintings. Each work in her solo show at Chelsea’s 303 Gallery includes abstracted representations of the WTC, comingled with bodies in an oblique comment on life during the War on Terror. (Through Feb 22nd).
Sue Williams, Ministry of Hate, oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 84,” 2013.
Bodies and furniture become one in New York artist Robert Fontinelli’s huge drawings, touching on materialism and how we define our personalities through design choices. Here in Feature, Inc’s front windows, two men merged with theater seats and each other suggest two identities becoming one. (On the Lower East Side through Feb 16th).
Robert Fontinelli, Twinks in Prouve Amphitheater Seats, 2014.
Working from collages and digitally manipulated photos, New York artist Angelina Gualdoni merges still life and abstraction to captivating effect. This painting pits a ghostly assemblage created from red and yellow color zones in the foreground against a silhouetted plant in tropical colors behind, neither of which seem to settle in their places. (At Asya Geisberg Gallery, through Feb 15th).
Angelina Gualdoni, Rooms, oil and acrylic on canvas, 47” x 52,” 2013.
For his first solo gallery show in New York since his retrospective at the Whitney Museum in fall ’12, New York based artist Wade Guyton returns to his signature style with digitally created, minimalist ‘paintings’ printed in an epic battle with his Epson printer. (At Chelsea’s Petzel Gallery through Feb 22nd).
Wade Guyton, Untitled, Epson UltraChrome K3 inkjet on linen, 2014 (one painting on each wall, both with the same title, materials and date.)
Working by the light of a lamp or with no artificial light at all, Milwaukee-based artist John Riepenhoff has created his night sky paintings in the city and country. Explaining that he can’t see much of what he’s doing while he’s painting, each is a surprise in the morning. (At Marlborough Gallery, Lower East Side through Feb 9th.)
John Riepenhoff, Plein Air (Isle of Eigg), acrylic on canvas, 2013.
Tempting and repulsive at the same time, this table loaded with cakes, fruit, petits fours and other delectables crafted from porcelain by young Brooklyn-based artist Jessica Stoller equate the female body with excess via eye-popping abundance. (At PPOW Gallery through Feb 8th).
Jessica Stoller, Still Life, porcelain, china paint, luster, mixed-media, 65 x 47 x 23 ½,” 2013.
Rotting fruits in bright hues, fiddlehead ferns, flowers, egg casings, leaves and other natural materials in various states of decay form the gorgeous palette and patterns of Tanya Marcuse’s new photo series at Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea. (Through Feb 22nd).
Tanya Marcuse, Fallen No 439 (seen here in detai)l, pigment print, 37 ¾ x 48,” ed 1/7, 2013.
Critics have unanimously praised Sarah Crowner’s colorful installation, ‘The Wave’ at Lower East Side Gallery Nicelle Beauchene, for chasing away the winter blahs with a gorgeous aqua-colored tile, stage-like floor. Here, Crowner quotes textile designs from Alexander Girard that enhance the folksy beauty of this installation. (Through Feb 2nd).
Sarah Crowner, installation view of ‘The Wave’ at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, Jan 2013.
Photos of anonymous women, taken from the early days of photography to the 1920s, line the walls of Jack Hanley Gallery as part of Dutch artist Mathilde Ter Heijne’s testament to the gradually improving status of women. On the back of each is a biography of a woman well-known in her time for advancing women’s causes. Visitors can take one away for inspiration. (On the Lower East Side through Feb 2nd).
Mathilde Ter Heijne, installation view of ‘Woman to Go,’ at Jack Hanley Gallery, January 2014.
Tara Donovan’s ‘Colony’ is a standout in Pace Gallery’s group exhibition, ‘Grounded,’ which gives the floor to artwork created to be displayed on the ground. Donovan’s signature premise – an accumulation of ordinary small things makes an excellent big thing – is now art-making orthodoxy, but no one does it quite like Donovan. (At Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location through Feb 22nd.)
Tara Donovan, Colony, pencils, 2004.
Sometimes using as much as a mile of thread, Stockertown, PA based artist Emil Lukas creates an ambiguous and intriguing sense of space in two-dimensional wall pieces like ‘Red Gas,’ seen here in detail. (At Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side through Feb 22nd).
Emil Lukas, Red Gas (detail), thread over wood frame with nails, 16 x 14 inches, 2013.
Known for fabric sculptures like those pictured here, LA-based artist Lara Schnitger is now allowing fans a more intimate appreciation of her work with a couture line – Sister of Arp. The clothes will, she says, “play with themes of motherhood, feminism, fashion and sculpture.” (At Anton Kern Gallery, Chelsea, through Feb 15th.)
Lara Schnitzer, installation view of ‘Sister of Arp’ couture clothing at Anton Kern Gallery, January 2014.
Known for his careful arrangements of consumer objects on shelves, New York artist Haim Steinbach samples readymades of a different kind in this text piece. Though the size of the greeting suggests it’s being offered at high volume, its punctuation implies a curtness lacking warmth. (At Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery through Feb 8th).
Haim Steinbach, ‘hello. again.’, text in matte black vinyl letters, dimensions variable, 2013.
Liz Glynn’s latest solo show is full of loot. Before visitors reach this suspended, damaged vessel, they pass Ming porcelain, Julius Caesar’s robes and more, all comically rendered in paper mache and suggesting alternate takes on history. (At Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery through Feb 8th).
Liz Glynn, Vessel (Ravaged, Looted and Burned,) hardwood with bronze and steel hardware, rope, 86 x 246 x 73 inches, 2013.
American photographer Andrew Moore’s latest series, Dirt Meridian, zeros in on the 100th meridian, a longitudinal line that has demarcated the start of the American West. In his haunting photos, Moore considers the area ‘lost in time,’ yet at the center of global forces including climate change, energy exploration and more. (At Chelsea’s Yancey Richardson Gallery through Feb 15th).
Andrew Moore, Homesteaders Tree, Cherry County, Nebraska, archival pigment print, ed 1 of 5, 46 x 58.25 inches, 2013.
Beijing-based artist Li Hongbo has applied the concept behind Chinese paper gourd decorations – made of paper glued together – to classical sculpture to shocking effect in his latest sculpture series at Chelsea newcomer Klein Sun Gallery. What at first appear to be marble sculptures reveal themselves to be flexible stacks of paper when activated by a gallery staff member. (Through March 2nd).
Li Hongbo, Bust of Marseilles, paper, 23 5/8 x 14 1/8 x 13 ¾ inches, ed of 2, 2012.
Based in LA, artist Anna Sew Hoy has more interesting purposes for trench coats than wearing them. This one, titled ‘Black Noir/beige tan’ recalls a line drawing or futuristic garb for a sci-fi thriller; but held aloft by two precious and strange objects – a resin, finger-shaped hook and a ceramic hanger – it evokes appealingly idiosyncratic storylines. (At Louis B. James Gallery on the Lower East Side through Jan 26th).
Anna Sew Hoy, Black Noir/beige tan, trench coat seams, glazed stoneware, and resin finger hook, 2013.
Titled ‘Du’ or the informal version of ‘you’ in German, German-born, Brooklyn-based artist Anke Weyer’s latest show of abstract oil paintings hint at human shapes and active figures. Here, ‘Sweat, Tears and Fire’ summons frenetic activity worth of Weyer’s dynamic style. (At Canada through Jan 26th).
Anke Weyer, Sweat, Tears and Fire, oil on canvas, 72 x 56 inches, 2012.
Japanese artist Tomoo Gokita’s stark black and white portraits of anonymous women (sometimes accompanied by male companions with zig-zag patterned heads) belies their ambiguous identities. ‘Sham Marriage’ deliciously includes a hand-like shape pointing off-stage. (At Chelsea’s Mary Boone Gallery through March 1st.)
Tomoo Gokita, Sham Marriage, 90” x 72,” acrylic gouache, charcoal, gesso/linen, 2013.
Grids of black, hanging chains, squares of painted, cast concrete and slender brass poles leaning against the wall demonstrate New York artist Davina Semo’s affinity for both gritty and slick industrial materials. With titles suggesting interpersonal relationships (‘What is it one person can offer another’ hangs on the back wall in this picture), Davino creates an idiosyncratic style at once personal and distant. (At Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery through Feb 15th).
Davina Semo, installation view of ‘Ruder Forms Survive,’ at Marlborough Gallery, January 2014.
This portrait of Marillyn A. Hewson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation by Scottish artist Michael Fullerton comes with a wall text briefly summarizing positions she’s held at the company. Political commentary seems inevitable but apart from a hint in the title of this conventional-looking portrait, ‘The Mistress,’ is up to our interpretation. (At Greene Naftali Gallery through Feb 8th).
Michael Fullerton, The Mistress, oil on linen, 2014.
New York based artist and avid surfer Emilio Perez is known for dynamic abstractions resembling landscapes or water. In his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Galerie Lelong, Perez’s 40 foot long, untitled painting on Masonite carries the eye around the corner on what looks like a long gush of water or fabric. (Through Feb 1st).
Emilio Perez, Untitled, stencil painting on masonite, 9 x 40 feet, 2013.
Brooklyn’s McCarren Park – equally popular among Williamsburg hipsters and brawling youth – has been renovated to the tune of millions in recent years; New York artist Marc Glanzglass’ beautifully austere steel fence titled, ‘McCarren Fence,’ acknowledges the preciousness of the place as well as its divisions. (At Mitchell Innes & Nash in Chelsea through Feb 1st).
Marc Ganzglass, McCarren Fence, steel, 2013.
Alex Prager has explained that living in LA, she doesn’t have a lot of experience with crowds. Her latest body of photos and her film ‘Face in the Crowd,’ makes a break with the norm though as Prager directs actor Elizabeth Banks and hundreds of other actors on constructed sets as they play out scenes of crowd dynamics from the thrilling to the terrifying. (At Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery through Feb 22nd).
Alex Prager, still from ‘Face in the Crowd’ at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, January, 2013.
Vancouver photographer and filmmaker Stan Douglas continues a theme from his last show – the influence of Afrobeat on the NY music scene of the 70s – with his latest film ‘Luanda-Kinshasa,’ on view at Chelsea’s David Zwirner Gallery. Watching the video in its entirety – and music lovers may want to – could take six hours as the scenes run in non-sequential loops. (Through Feb 22nd).
Stan Douglas, still from Luanda-Kinshasa, Jan 2013, David Zwirner Gallery.
New residential buildings are springing up on 10th Ave like weeds, making this billboard-sized domestic scene by LA artist Jonas Woods strangely appropriate. The personality of each plant is enhanced by quirky pots – most of which resemble creations by Wood’s wife, ceramic artist Shio Kusaka. (On the High Line at 18th Street through Feb 3rd.)
Jonas Woods, Shelf Still Life, print on vinyl, 25 x 75 feet, 2013.
Italian-born artist Domenico Zindato works on each of his meticulous paintings outdoors, at his home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Inspired by his trips to India and Morocco, Sufi music and more, Zindato’s colorful, pattern-rich scenes invite entrée into a magical, alternate universe. (At Chelsea’s Andrew Edlin Gallery through Jan 18th).
Domenico Zindato, detail of Untitled, ink and pastel on paper, 2009.
Known for her faux naïve painting style, Dutch artist Lily van der Stokker offers art customers an added bonus – socks, too! (At Koenig & Clinton in Chelsea through Jan 18th).
Lily van der Stokker, Complicated Cheap and Socks, acrylic on wood, 2012.
San Francisco-based photographer Michael Light – known for his aerial photographs of the American West – needs considerable distance not just to capture the natural and manipulated landscape but to fit in a train so long it seems like part of the environment. (At Danziger Gallery through Jan 18th).
Michael Light, Union Pacific Freight Train Heading West, Near Rock Springs, WY, pigment print, 2007.
This swashbuckling Puss in Boots was created on 36 former library card catalogue cards, sourced from eBay by New York artist Matthew Weinstein. One of the topmost cards originally directed readers to a commentary on Dante’s Divine Comedy. Now it plays host to a new creation. (At Carolina Nitsch Gallery through Jan 18th).
Matthew Weinstein, piece from ‘The Splendid Outcast,’ featuring card catalogue cards re Dante’s Divine Comedy, ink on paper, 2013.
Has this couple managed a mind-meld between her warm personality and his cool-colored tranquility? Or do they remain at opposite ends of a spectrum? Titled ‘The Anniversary,’ this embroidery on a found photograph by British artist Julie Cockburn grants suggestive new lives to forgotten pasts. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 25th).
Julie Cockburn, The Anniversary, hand embroidery on found photograph, unique, 2013.
Cesar’s process art fills Upper East Side gallery Luxembourg & Dayan in a mini-retrospective ongoing until the end of this month. Here, ‘Compressions’ of heavy-duty fabrics that bring that bring to mind commerce (jute sacks) and work clothes (corduroy) contrast a shiny plastic ‘Expansion’ which seems to exist for visual pleasure. (Through Jan 31st).
Cesar. On walls: three Mural Compressions (Jute Sack, Wool Blanket & Corduroy – all 1976.) On floor: Expansion N35/15, polyester reinforced with fiberglass, mauve lacquer, 1972.
Twice a day, a New Museum employee starts up and moves a motorcycle to maximum speed, its rear wheel causing a huge, cast-iron flywheel to spin for over two hours after the performance ends. Chris Burden’s contraption – The Big Wheel from 1979 – contrasts the freedom of an individual on a bike with an industrially sized wheel, visibly demonstrating both labor and energy harnessed. (On the Lower East Side through Jan 12th).
Chris Burden, The Big Wheel, three-ton, eight-foot diameter, cast-iron flywheel powered by a 1968 Benelli 250cc motorcycle, 1979.
From 1944, the year of his first solo show in New York, Hans Hoffman’s ‘Seated Woman’ imported a sense of movement, bold colors and a Cubist approach to the human body to the budding New York School. (At Ameringer McEnery Yohe Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 25th).
Hans Hoffman, Seated Woman, oil on panel, 1944.
“The whole surface of the world is a potential drawing,” said LA artist Ingrid Calame in a recent interview. “How do you represent something as huge as the world?” Calame answers her question by mapping a small section of the world and making it feel large. For this room-sized installation, Calame visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pits, tracing the stains and tire tracks and reproducing them here in a blaze of electric colors. (At Chelsea’s James Cohan Gallery through Feb 8th.)
Ingrid Calame, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pits, #4, #7, #9, #26, #32, #33, #35, #37, #39, #40, as installed: 13’ 5 ½” x 41’ 9” x 30’, pigment on wall, 2013.
Built from materials reclaimed from shipwrecks off Florida’s Key West, this pigeon coop houses birds trained by New York artist Duke Riley to fly from Havana to Key West bearing cigars in carefully crafted slings. Grids of painted bird portraits detail the fates of the participants, who were named after filmmakers who had brushes with the law, or historical smugglers. (At Chelsea’s Magnan Metz Gallery through Jan 11th).
Duke Riley, installation view of ‘See You At the Finish Line,’ at Magnan Metz Gallery, Dec, 2013.
Idiomatic phrases like ‘jumping through hoops’ or ‘afraid of her own shadow’ inspired London-painter Sophie von Hellerman’s latest solo show at Chelsea’s Greene Naftali Gallery, which includes this huge canvas installation, ‘Throwing Stones in a Glass House.’ In her signature, washy style (pigments are applied directly to unprimed canvas), von Hellerman presents characters who don’t look like they could do much harm with stones resembling mud-clumps, but who conjure unease nonetheless. (Through Jan 4th).
Sophie von Hellerman, Throwing Stones in a Glass House, pigment and acrylic emulsion on canvas, 2013.
This monumental, eight-part painting may be an abstraction, but it was inspired by the winter colors of southern Bavaria, where artist Sean Scully spends time. (At Chelsea’s Cheim & Read Gallery through Jan 11th).
Sean Scully, Night and Day, oil on aluminum, 110 x 320 inches, 2012.
How could an avant-garde mid-century painter keep up with the trends in abstract minimalism while still making representational work? This clever 1967 canvas by Sylvia Plimack Mangold has the artist looking down for an answer and finding a ready-made grid of wood – a Minimalist-approved material – that has an inherently physical relationship to the viewer. (At Alexander and Bonin Gallery through Jan 4th.)
Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Floor 1, acrylic on canvas, 1967.
The elegant simplicity of Modernist art icon Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures is on display at Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery, where the gallery has partnered with the Brancusi Estate to showcase five posthumously created cast bronze sculptures. Based on a Hungarian artist who modeled for Brancusi several times, this sculpture of Mllm Pogany displays the otherworldly charm of her saucer-like eyes, hands folded against her head and cascades of hair down her back. (Through Jan 24th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Mademoiselle Pogany II, polished bronze, 17 5/8 x 11 3/8 x 11 7/8 inches, 1925-2006.
In her large-scale vitrines, German artist Josephine Meckseper brings together a replica of Brancusi’s endless column, underwear modeling mannequins and more to question how appropriating historical and contemporary artifacts can create new meaning. (At Andrea Rosen Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 18th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Josephine Meckseper, Title TBD, pigment prints on anodize aluminum, acrylic on wood, concrete, aluminum, bronze and stainless steel in stainless steel and glass vitrine, 2013.
Most prominent in post-war in France for his ‘accumulations,’ the artist Arman was also an avid collector of art from other cultures. Paul Kasmin Gallery’s select show of pieces from Arman’s African collection features this mask from the Makonde of Tanzania, a type worn by young men in their initiation ceremonies. (In Chelsea through Jan 11th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Face Mask: likomba, Makonde, Tanzania, wood, teeth, fiber, 24 x 10 x 9 inches with base. From the collection of Arman.
Jack Shainman Gallery brings together sculptures from the past twenty-six years by major Spanish artist Susana Solano this month, including these evocative rattan forms, which suggest miniaturized housing (foreground) or a gargantuan thimble (back). (In Chelsea through Jan 11th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Susana Solano, Bura III (foreground), rattan, 2004-2005. Bura II (background), painted iron and rattan, 2001-2005.
Even inside a gallery, these pristine glass sculptures by American artist Roni Horn subtly change as the light from the skylights passes through them. Their title references dreams while their surfaces resemble pools; they’re objects to transport you. (At Hauser & Wirth Gallery through Jan 11th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Roni Horn, Untitled (“A dream dreamt in a dreaming world is not really a dream…but a dream not dreamt is.”), solid cast glass with as-cast surfaces, 10 parts, unique (series 5), 2012.
In Eleven Rivington’s brightly lit Lower East Side space, Brooklyn painter TM Davy presents a series of small, candle lit paintings. Studies from life made in and around his home, their intimate nature belies their bright, public display. (Through Jan 5th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
TM Davy, from the series ‘Candela,’ oil on linen, 10 x 8 inches
Had your grandmother gotten inventive with displaying her glassware, it might look something like Tony Feher’s ‘Parlor Trix.’ Known for simple installations made using every day materials, Feher delivers more visual delights in his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co. (Through Jan 18th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Tony Feher, Parlor Trix (detail view of installation), glass, galvanized steel wire and chrome-plated steel chain, 2013.
Only the birds and Jesus are left at the Better Donut Drive In, in one of American photographer Michael Eastman’s photos of seen-better-days small town America. Nostalgia, sadness and hope come together in a picture with themes as powerful as its color contrasts. (At Barry Friedman Gallery through Jan 11th. Check the gallery’s website or call ahead for holiday season opening hours).
Michael Eastman, Jesus Donut, digital C-print, 60 x 48 inches, 2008.
London-based artist Raqib Shaw turns the martyrdom of Sebastian into high drama in this painting of the saint bound with flowering vines and besieged by a cloud of beastly cherubs. Even the blood-red poppies are as threatening as they are beautiful. (At Pace Gallery through Jan 11th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Raqib Shaw, St Sebastian of the Poppies, oil, acrylic, glitter and rhinestones on Birch wood, 60,” 2011-12.
Visitors expecting more of Christian Marclay’s enormously popular video work will get a shock from his latest solo show – a selection of paintings in which silkscreened, Roy Lichtenstein-like cartoon text meets Abstract Expressionist splashes of color. (At Paula Cooper Gallery through Jan 18th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Christian Marclay, Actions: Whaak Plop Plooch Sooosh (No 4), screenprint and acrylic on canvas, 2013.
Low lighting, almost black paintings, homemade lava lamps and furniture made of pretzel shapes give New York artist Catharine Ahearn’s solo show at Ramiken Crucible the feeling of a cartoonish robbers’ den in Bavaria. For sheer inventiveness, it’s a standout on the Lower East Side gallery scene. (Through Dec 22nd).
Catharine Ahearn, Couch, rebar, aquaresin, acrylic, salt, 2013; and Lamp, rebar, aquaresin, acrylic, salt, 2013.
Mariano Sardon not only gives us portraits, he tells us how we look at them. The Buenos Aires-based Argentinian artist shows a picture of a face to viewers while a camera records their eye movements. The information from many viewers is then mapped onto the face, which is drawn before our eyes following the sequences of the gazes. (At Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 21st).
Mariano Sardon, from the series ‘150 Gazes looking around them,’ digital video, 2012.
In her latest show at LES gallery Reena Spaulings, Brooklyn-based artist K8 Hardy moves away from her signature subversive fashion photos toward sculpture made from found and scavenged materials. Her sense of fun remains, however, as seen with this intentionally (?) narcissistic mirror and a twerking stick figure. (Through Dec 22nd).
K8 Hardy, Twerk Team (foreground sculpture), wood liquid latex, acrylic paint, plastic tubing, synthetic fabric and (against wall) Kate, tinted glass mirror, 2013.
Brooklyn and Austin-based artist Jeff Williams both makes and unmakes his sculpture, applying muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide to decay the steel slats of this cutting board, sourced from an artist residency at Skowhegan. In the background, a giant steel clamp pinches wooden beams in a crushing embrace. (At Jack Hanley Gallery through Dec 21st).
Jeff Williams, installation view of NEW/USED/WET/BROKEN at Jack Hanley Gallery, November 2013.
Technology makes Shinichi Maruyama’s ‘Nudes’ series modest; by layering thousands of frames together, the New York-based Japanese photographer diverts attention from the body to the motion of a dancer. (At Bruce Silverstein Gallery through Dec 21st).
Shinichi Maruyama, Nude #8, archival pigment print, 2012.
This unassuming little painting by Berlin-based American artist Ryan McLaughlin conjures a cruise line advertisement for or by kids, a water conservation poster or some other public service message. It’s simple, earnest and charming. (At Laurel Gitlen Gallery on the Lower East Side through Dec 22nd.)
Ryan McLaughlin, Wasserbetriebe, oil on canvas on MDF, 25 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches, 2013.
Placed end to end and titled ‘Copy Me,’ two identical cast steel sofas by German conceptual artist Rosemarie Trockel are oddly and improbably long. Their oxidized patina creates a homey color but their material makes them uninviting, a fact that seems to be acknowledged by a protective plastic cover only casually placed over the sofas. (At Barbara Gladstone Gallery through Dec 21st).
Rosemarie Trockel, Copy Me, cast steel and plastic, 31 ½ x 165 3/8 x 28 inches, 2013.
