Matthew Fisher at Shrine Gallery

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Matthew Fisher’s graphically pared down beach scenes at Shrine Gallery are as carefully arranged as a store-front display, puffy clouds even resembling cut-out, stage-set backgrounds.  Although the paintings suggest precise arrangements by an unseen hand, Fisher’s perspective is shaped by the understanding that nature predates and will survive humanity.  Here, ‘The Subject of a Dream’ features a dark void, presumably representing the earth, in which a fish and shell have been extracted from their natural context and offered as symbols for place.  Floating in space and outlined in a white border that further sets them apart, Fisher’s apparition makes the beach and its inhabitants strange, forcing a reevaluation of their existence in time and place. (On view in Tribeca through Aug 4th).

Matthew Fisher, The Subject of a Dream, acrylic on canvas, 2023.

Woomin Kim in ‘Beach’ at Nino Meier Gallery

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Curious crustaceans, a creepy-cute sea creature in the form of a cat and plenty of sandy beach landscapes feature in Nino Meier’s two-gallery summer group show ‘Beach,’ but Woomin Kim’s textile is a standout for its texture and color, a reference to the Korean markets that inspire her fabric collage.  Places for shopping, meeting friends and, here, enjoying seafood, Kim’s market scenes celebrate a beloved institution. (On view through Aug 5th).

Woomin Kim, Shijang: SusanMul (seafood), fabric, 2022.

Kent O’Connor at Mendes Wood DM

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LA based artist Kent O’Connor’s paintings of carefully arranged objects are less still lives than just ‘objects on a table,’ explains Mendes Wood DM Gallery, where the artist is also showing portraits, landscapes from a residency in Alberta.  The fruit, animal head and bottle in ‘Zebra Between Two Objects’ are carefully chosen and arranged but difficult to connect or interpret; the painting is nevertheless eye-catching for its dramatic lighting and the sense that the zebra is in motion, rearing upward, despite being immobile. The head’s precarious balance– which we’d more likely encounter oriented vertically on a wall, not horizontally as here – along with a placid, almost peaceful expression and the bubblegum pink table frame are unexpected elements that keep the eye moving around this unusual and arresting interior scene.  (On view through Aug 5th in Tribeca).

Kent O’Connor, Zebra Between Two Objects, oil on linen, 2022-23.

Jana Euler in ‘Suncrush’ at Greene Naftali Gallery

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Known for large paintings of plug sockets, phallic sharks rearing out of the ocean depths, surreally distorted human figures, multi-horned unicorns called ‘Morecorns’ and other uncanny imagery, Frankfurt and Brussels-based painter Jana Euler addresses power, gender and sexual relations with humor.  In the group exhibition ‘Suncrush’ at GreeneNaftali Gallery in Chelsea, Euler’s ‘Closed Circuit,’ connects a washing machine and a Canon camera by a flexible, fabric lens that joins the circular forms on the front of each device.  Each of the improbably joined devices suggest viewing – through a lens or window – but while the assumption is that the camera will be trained on something interesting, the washer recalls the banality of housework.  Together, the two elements of the painting suggest the coexistence of, or perhaps battle between, a tool’s potential for excitement vs drudgery.  (On view through July 28th).

Jana Euler, Closed Circuit, oil on canvas and artist’s frame, 60 ½ x 96 inches, 2023.

Graham Anderson at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery

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Like an orderly stack of oranges in the supermarket, Graham Anderson’s new paintings at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery in Tribeca are both organic and curving, arranged with rigid geometry, just one contrast of many that generates visual interest and tempts exploration.  Some paintings feature a sheet of orange spheres – so orderly they appear stamped out – alongside circular forms with green leaves and shading that suggests natural citrus fruits.  Most contain areas of pointillist painting in orange, blue and white color that contrasts flat monochrome orange spheres with no shading.  In this painting, that dotted surface breaks up to reveal a background devoid of natural referents.  Christmas ornaments, planets, fruit, punctuation, billiard balls and more come to mind in a strange space ripe for invention.  (On view through July 29th).

Graham Anderson, Reflected Fortune, oil and acrylic on canvas, 26 x 18 ½ inches, 2023.