Kelly Akashi at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Kelly Akashi’s poetic assemblages of sculpture in glass, stone, bronze and rammed earth at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery heighten awareness of her materials and processes while juxtaposing human concepts of time with comparatively vast measures of time on earth and in the universe. Here, the glass sphere titled ‘Cosmic Axis,’ brings to mind the axis around which the earth rotates while also alluding to the connection between heavenly and terrestrial realms.  Surrounded by photos of distant nebula taken by telescopes, the sculpture feels especially present in the space of the gallery, its delicacy contrasted by a large concrete pedestal and enhanced by cherry blossoms on top that extend into the space of the sphere. (On view in Chelsea through June 10th).

Kelly Akashi, Cosmic Axis, Flame-worked borosilicate on rotating cast concrete pedestal, 77 x 22 x 22 inches, 2022-23.

Tim Gardner at 303 Gallery

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A gold panner in moonlight, a lone boy at a scenic outlook and a camper van headed into the mountains were some of the evocative but lonely subjects of Canadian artist Tim Gardner’s last solo show at 303 Gallery, created during the days of pandemic isolation.  His new watercolor and ink paintings at 303 have subtracted humans from the picture entirely, instead featuring horses, police bikes (minus riders) and flowers.  While the bikes beg the question of where the humans are, Gardner’s horses and flowers have a powerful and lively presence of their own. Here, a cluster of tulips sways in unison, a welcome pronouncement of the arrival of spring and nature’s beauty.  (On view in Chelsea through May 25th).

Tim Gardner, Untitled (garden), watercolor and ink on paper, 11 x 13 ½ inches, 2023.

Hayal Pozanti at Timothy Taylor Gallery

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Although it’s their vibrant color that leaps out, Hayal Pozanti’s oil stick paintings of the natural world rely on shape to reinterpret the landscape as a conduit to emotional states.  Over many years, Pozanti has devised her own language of forms, here rendered in curving and organic masses as blushing, enormous pink flowers. Via her new, large-scale paintings at Timothy Taylor Gallery’s new Tribeca location, the artist not only celebrates her recent move to the Vermont countryside but explores how intense color can release strong feeling. (On view through May 27th).

Hayal Pozanti, Magic Music We Make With Our Lips, oil stick on linen, 2023.

Ho Jae Kim at Harper’s Gallery

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Ho Jae Kim’s new paintings at Harper’s Gallery in Chelsea manifest a divine light perceived just beyond reach through archways or stage backdrops.  As he was preparing work for this show, this young Brooklyn-based artist’s step-father ended his own life, prompting Kim’s desire to help his family heal and appreciate the beauty of life.  Inspired by Dante’s vision of supernatural light as he ascended from the Inferno to Purgatory in ‘The Divine Comedy,’ Kim announces the arrival of hope through floods of bright color that counter the literal deep waters surrounding the marooned character in this painting.  (On view through May 6th).

Ho Jae Kim, Day 19: Wilson, oil, inkjet transfer, enamel and paper on canvas, 2023.

Clare Rojas at Andrew Kreps Gallery

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The title of Bay Area artist Clare Rojas’ show at Andrew Kreps Gallery, ‘Go Placidly,’ captures the quiet and restrained feel of paintings featuring a reserved, dark-haired woman.  It also casts an ominous pall on this painting, ‘They Were Both Stuck Inside,’ in which it appears that a woman who has fallen from a ladder (perhaps in an interaction with the bird in the background) has ‘gone’ in a final way.  Complicated by a tiny mosquito which has landed on the woman’s leg, the painting’s narrative – perhaps best explained by a book on the back table titled ‘The Same Old’ – suggests that sometimes the unexpected arrives in a profoundly impactful way.  (On view through May 6th).

Clare Rojas, They Were Both Stuck Inside, oil on linen, 60 x 43 1/8 inches, 2022.