Kayode Ojo at 52 Walker

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“If you look at the work, it is actually posing for you,’ explained New York artist Kayode Ojo in a past video describing his elegantly spare sculptural installations, now on view at 52 Walker in Tribeca.  Having studied photography before becoming known for in-the-round artworks, Ojo now creates arrangements of fast-fashion clothing, accessories and other objects sourced via on-line shopping that elicit admiration and desire.  By titling each artwork with the text originally used to sell each it, Ojo centers his practice squarely in conversations about consumption while transporting each piece into the realm of luxury art object.  (On view in Tribeca through Jan 6th).

Kayode Ojo, Comfort, New Orleans 4-Light Clear Unique/Statement Geometric Chandelier with Crystal Accents, 84 x 72 x 16 inches, 2023.

Shilpa Gupta at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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‘Uncontrollable Desirrs,’ ‘Between Places’ and ‘Until they Dsiappear’ are among the suggestive phrases that appear in Shilpa Gupta’s ‘StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream’ flapboard sculpture at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.  The sound of the board’s moving panels creates a sense of dynamism and anticipation as the text constantly changes, while the words themselves conjure unsettled feelings compounded by Gupta’s use of alternative spellings of select words.  In the show’s other works, Gupta speaks the works of jailed poets into bottles, capping them and arranging them in an ‘reimagined library’ and presents a sound installation of protest songs sung globally, a collective tribute to the power of words and the need to protect freedom of speech. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 16th).

StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream, motion flapboard, 35 min loop, 93 ½ x 5 x 9 ½ inches, 2021.

Martyn Cross at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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Titled ‘All Shall Be Well,’ after a record of visions experienced by a medieval English religious recluse, British painter Martyn Cross’ show of mystical new paintings at Marianne Boesky Gallery emphasizes the connectedness of humans and nature.  Here, in ‘You and I Are Earth,’ the link is literal, with a seascape manifesting in human form; in other paintings, a root system morphs into an old man and a giant eye appears in the clouds.  Fresh from a residency on England’s fossil-rich southern coast, a UNESCO World Heritage site known as the ‘Jurassic Coast,’ Cross merely scratches the surface of deep time but prompts viewers to recenter their thinking about our relationship with the earth. (On view through Dec 22ndin Chelsea).

Martyn Cross, You and I Are Earth, oil on canvas, 86 ¾ x 63 inches, 2023.

Ghada Amer at Marianne Boesky Gallery

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Inspired by Egyptian traditions of decoration on tents used for weddings or feasts, Egyptian-American artist Ghada Amer substitutes contemporary text for Islamic or calligraphic imagery in new work at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea.  Using applique, in which fabric is sewn onto other fabric, Amer incorporates feminist phrases and text into designs resembling QR codes.  Those these designs don’t scan, they open up histories of struggle for women’s rights via texts by late Egyptian feminist and activist Nawal El Saadawi or late Australian women’s liberation activist Joyce Stevens.  Here, the writing reads, ‘A woman’s voice is revolution.” (On view in Chelsea at Marianne Boesky Gallery through Dec 22nd.  Ghada Amer’s bronze series ‘Paravent Girls’ is on view at Tina Kim Gallery in Chelsea through Dec 9th).

Ghada Amer, A WOMAN’S VOICE,’ “A woman’s voice is revolution,” cotton applique on canvas, 82 ½ x 83 ½ inches, 2023.

Bo Bartlett at Miles McEnery Gallery

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Underexposed to art as a kid and inspired by American painters like Andrew Wyeth and Norman Rockwell, Bo Bartlett has continued in a vein of realism that presents tantalizing, slightly surreal narratives.  In ‘La Corrida’ or ‘The Bullfight,’ a highlight of Bartlett’s current solo show at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea, the toreador has fallen and the bull eyes the open gate from which the artist has perhaps dashed, leaving behind his jacket and materials.  Flecked with blood, the bull has been provoked and further disaster is coming; the absence of people leaves viewers to ponder the question of culpability.  (On view through Dec 9th).

Bo Bartlett, La Corrida, oil on linen, 88 x 120 inches, 2023.