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.
