Mark Thomas Gibson at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

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

Mark Thomas Gibson’s new paintings at Sikkema Jenkins & Co feature hands, feet and legs but no full figures, a selective focus that ominously suggests multiple players unknown to us and perhaps to each other. White hands clasp in prayer, proffer a rope-bound fist or a broken wristwatch while a solitary Black hand holds a critical theory text by Achille Mbembe about democracy under threat.  All the while, menacing cartoonish whistles sound their warnings amid a leaking system of pipes in a cacophonous mele that seems about to explode. (On view through March 11th).

Mark Thomas Gibson, All A Go (Steampipes and Hands), ink on canvas, 66 1/8 x 86 ¼ inches, 2022.

Nicole Eisenman at Print Center New York

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Known as a painter, Nicole Eisenman’s forays into sculpture over the past few years have earned her accolades in gallery shows and the 2019 Whitney Biennial; now, her decade-long experimentation with printmaking is the subject of an informative and visually gratifying show at the Print Center New York.  Emphasizing process and creativity, a series of eight prints made during stages of the creation of the 2012 etching ‘Watermark’ illustrate her progress.  Here in the final version, Eisenman brings us into the intimacy of her family home, complete with her mother, father and her two children who read books at center.  We see the scene through Eisenman’s eyes as she eats from a bowl and looks out over a room alive with unspoken thoughts.  (On view through May 13th).

Nicole Eisenman, Watermark, etching and aquatint, ed of 25, printed and published by Harlan & Weaver, New York, 2012.

Spencer Finch at the Hill Art Foundation

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It’s impossible not to gaze out over 10th Ave or the greenspace of the High Line Park through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Hill Art Foundation’s gorgeous two-story Chelsea gallery space.  Spencer Finch – an artist who has made a career of simulating natural phenomena in gallery settings using a diverse range of media from photography to installation – reverses the outward look, inviting nature into the space. Inspired by Claude Monet’s desire to “paint air,” Finch has created an installation that recreates his direct observation of the light and color of the famous Impressionist’s garden in Giverny.  (On view through March 4th).

Spencer Finch, Painting Air, glass, hardware, wall painting, dimensions variable, 2012.

Chiharu Shiota at Templon Gallery

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The huge line to enter Chiharu Shiota’s exhibition at Chelsea’s Templon Gallery last weekend speaks to the capacity of the Berlin-based Japanese artist to mesmerize audiences with the scale and intense labor of installations that elaborate on her ongoing theme of human connectivity.  A temporary installation fills the gallery’s front room, acting as portal to the rest of the exhibition and a place to marvel at the seemingly simultaneously chaotic and orderly network the artist created by suspending book pages in a web of thick white thread stapled to walls and floor.  Titled ‘Human Rhizome,’ the piece references an underground network of roots; in Shiota’s interpretation, the written word acts as an unseen communication network. (On view through March 9th).

Chiharu Shiota, Human Rhizome, thread and book pages, installation, ‘23

Ramekon O’Arwisters in ‘Pollen on a West Wind’ at Jason Jacques Gallery

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The organizing principle for Jason Jacques Gallery’s group show of innovative ceramic sculpture is not a theme but a place – all participating artists connect in some way to the Center for Contemporary Ceramics at California State University at Long Beach.  Ramekon O’Arwisters’ relationship to CSULB is less conventional and his work alluring for his creative appropriation of failed ceramic forms abandoned there into fabulously colorful and dynamic sculptures.  Inspired by an encounter with broken ceramics during a residency at the San Francisco dump, O’Arwisters added the material to his textile practice, creating exuberant yet compact compositions that energize the show.  (On view in Chelsea through March 25th).

Ramekon O’Arwisters, Cheesecake #9, fabric, ceramics from CSULB ceramic program, beads, pins, 20h x 11w x 11d, 2019.