Our favorite New York City gallery exhibitions opening this week are showcasing abstraction in paintings and mastery of liquid materials, textile work and postmodern imagery. Chelsea, Downtown, Midtown and Brooklyn galleries focus on contemporary artists unraveling and ravelling textiles; exploring the fluidity of the feminine; depicting New Mexico vegetation and wildlife; and pushing the boundaries of abstraction. Continue reading for our picks of highlights of the NYC gallery scene through June 24.
CHELSEA
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts: “Four Degrees of Abstraction”
June 21 through July 28, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 21, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts will present “Four Degrees of Abstraction,” a group show curated by Anne Brigitte Sirois.
Focusing on four contemporary artists, this group show features work of varying degrees of abstraction and investigates the artists’ iconographic relation with nature. Considering the hierarchical distinctions of pure abstraction as set forth by Clement Greenberg, the show contemplates the rules and boundaries of the abstract genre. Cora Cohen's work derives from the placement of culture within nature with a constantly changing active, unplanned energy; Morgan Everhart’s large abstractions feature flower imagery. Canadian artist Suzanne Oliver, in her first gallery exhibition in the United States, will show work that integrates elements of nature into her paintings, depicting imaginary landscapes detached from both tradition and representation. Chinese artist Xiaofu Wang will show abstract paintings inspired by the cinema of Ang Lee.
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is located at 529 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011. www.markelfinearts.com.
Click here for exhibition details.
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"Érosion du continent" by Suzanne Olivier, 2017. Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Kathryn Markel Fine Arts.
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Marlborough Contemporary: “Still Water, Circling Palms”
June 21 through August 3, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 21, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Marlborough Contemporary will present “Still Water, Circling Palms,” a solo exhibition of work by the Detroit-based artist Margo Wolowiec.
Ranging from modestly scaled to immersive panoramas, Margo Wolowiec’s works connect the real-time subjugation of women in a patriarchal system to the continued debasement of the environment. Using loom-woven cloth infused with images via a dye-sublimation transfer, Wolowiec’s works are constructed from amalgamations of images, forecast graphics and texts related to catastrophic storms and their aftermath.
Blending an ancient craft and modern technology, Wolowiec sources images to alter, crop and digitally collage before transferring them to partially woven polymer threads. These threads are then unraveled, re-woven and finally hand-stritched on stretched linen. While illuminating the vulnerabilities of social networks and drawing the line between climate change and its causes and broader implications for our society, Wolowiec’s works move between legibility and pure abstraction.
Marlborough Contemporary is located at 545 W 25th St, New York, NY 10001. www.marlboroughcontemporary.com.
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"To Be Titled" by Margo Wolowiec, 2018. Handwoven polymer, linen, dye sublimation ink, acrylic dye, 80 x 94 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Contemporary, New York and London.
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Marianne Boesky Gallery: “The Mechanics of Fluids”
June 21 through August 3, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 21, from 6 to 8 p.m. A panel discussion, moderated by art critic William J. Simmons and featuring Melissa Gordon, Lisa Oppenheim, and Eileen Quinlan, will take place at 5 p.m.
Marianne Boesky Gallery will present “The Mechanics of Fluids,” a group show focusing on the evolution of abstraction through the lens of feminist theory.
Curated by Brussels-based artist Melissa Gordon, the exhibition offers an alternative view of abstraction as compared to the traditional narrative of a largely masculine movement; instead, the focus here is on the fluidity of femininity. With critical dialogue on the longstanding narratives around the genre’s development, the show will chart a wide trajectory of approaches and techniques exploring formal experimentations and mastery of liquid materials.
Gordon, whose architectural intervention and work will be featured in the show, has examined long-held artistic histories, actions and symbols through a range of feminist perspectives and philosophies throughout her career. Chosen for their distinct creative and technical approaches as well as for their conceptual rigor, artists featured in the exhibition include Lynda Benglis, Elisa Breton, Helen Frankenthaler, Lisa Oppenheim, Josephine Pryde and more.
Marianne Boesky Gallery is located at 509 W 24th St, New York, NY 10011. www.marianneboeskygallery.com.
Click here for exhibition details.
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"INSPIRATION BEING ITSELF" by Josephine Pryde, 2012. Framed C-print, aluminum bike stand, padlock, and chain. 40 3/8 x 53 3/8 inches. Edition of 2, with 1AP. Courtesy of Simon Lee Gallery, London/Hong Kong.
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DOWNTOWN
Fridman Gallery: “Edge of Eden: Alina Grasmann”
June 20 through July 20, 2018
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 20, at 6 p.m.
Fridman Gallery will present “Edge of Eden: Alina Grasmann,” the German artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Alina Grasmann will present two bodies of work, “West of Eden” (2017) and “Paper Town” (2018), investigating notions of paradise, fiction, trickery and perception. Juxtaposing elements of other historical figurative paintings from within the the industrial architecture of Dia Beacon, the large-scale paintings of “West of Eden” decontextualize the imagery featured, including Van Gogh’s sunflowers and Dan Flavin sculptures, creating a sense of whimsy and fantasy among the space of the art historical canon.
“Paper Town,” a series of 40 small-scale oils on paper depicting Agloe, NY, a “copyright trap” created by mapmakers. Devoid of people and depth, with houses engulfed in alien flora, the works create a subtle spectacle between place and longing. With the vegetation of both series creating a horizon line to link them, the works teeter on the fleeting margin between artifice and reality.
Fridman Gallery is located at 287 Spring St, New York, NY 10013. www.fridmangallery.com.
Click here for exhibition details.
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"West of Eden 12 (for Karin Kneffel and Gerhard Richter)" by Alina Grasmann, 2018. 100 x 150 cm. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist and Fridman Gallery.
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Sperone Westwater: “Alexis Rockman: New Mexico Field Drawings”
June 21 through August 3, 2018
Sperone Westwater will present “Alexis Rockman: New Mexico Field Drawings,” the artist’s third solo show with the gallery.
In quiet, delicate field drawings, Alexis Rockman will continue his study of flora and fauna, focusing on life forms that are native to the New Mexico region. Rockman, whose work was recently exhibited at SITE Santa Fe, worked with experts from organizations like the Department of Agriculture and the Institute of American Indian Arts, as well as a state historian, a Native American botanist and a Pueblo artist. Based in ardent activism and extensive scientific research, Rockman’s work makes use of pigments derived from New Mexico soil to depict creatures like bison, the dinosaur apatosaurus, the New Mexican meadow jumping mouse and endangered fauna such as the Holy Ghost ipomopsis.
Sperone Westwater is located at 257 Bowery, New York, NY 10002. www.speronewestwater.com.
Click here for exhibition details.
RELATED: “Alexis Rockman: East End Field Drawings”
MIDTOWN
Sean Kelly: “Ravelled Threads”
June 22 through August 3, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 21, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Panel Discussion: Saturday, June 23, at 2 p.m. Mariane Ibrahim in conversation with Alexandra Karakashian, Aboubakar Fofana, Lawrence Lemaoana, and Zohra Opoku
Sean Kelly will present “Ravelled Threads,” a thematic exhibition of recent works by 10 artists from Africa.
Utilizing weavings, embroidery, fabric for textiles, performances and installation, the artists create diverse and complex work influenced by their varied geographical, political and gender-specific narratives. Serving simultaneously as functional and artistic material, cloth in Africa has a critical role as a signifier, storyteller and recorder of history. Dispensing with functionality, the works position themselves within traditional methodologies firmly in the realm of artistic expression.
Reflecting personal, political and social concerns, the varied compositions express socio-political resistance, address issues of assimilation and family lineage, ponder issues of cultural or sexualty identity and explore myth. Challenging the popular misconception of the unitary Africa in terms of visual, intellectual and sartorial forms of expression, the artists use material to denounce post-colonial agency and unravel homogeneous conceptions of what African patterns look like. The show will feature the work of Igshaan Adams, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Ayan Farah, Aboubakar Fofana, Alexandra Karakashian, Abdoulaye Konaté, Lawrence Lemaoana, Senzeni Marasela, Zohra Opoku and Athi-Patra Ruga.
Sean Kelly is located at 475 10th Ave, New York, NY 10018. www.skny.com.
Click here for exhibition details.
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"Composition en jaune" by Abdoulaye Konaté, 2018. Textile, 105 1/8 x 129 1/2 inches. © Abdoulaye Konaté. Courtesy: Primo Marella Gallery, Milan and Sean Kelly, New York.
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BROOKLYN
Fisher Parrish: “The Ashtray Show”
June 22 through September 9, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, June 22, from 7 to 10 p.m.
Fisher Parrish Gallery will present “The Ashtray Show,” an exhibition of original small works by more than 80 contemporary artists and designers.
Commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Fisher Parrish Gallery, the show is also the fourth in a series of exhibitions focusing on the home and the objects that reside therein. The ashtray, an absolute object from mid-century-modern deskscape made relevant again by the legalization of marijuana, will be interpreted by artists including Huy Bui, Anton Könst, Clemens Kois, Rebecca Morgan, Bari Ziperstein and more. From clearly designed, functional works to more conceptual explorations of a specific function, the artists in the show push their own disciplinary boundaries and allow for a deeper understanding of the object.
Fisher Parrish is located at 238 Wilson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11237. www.fisherparrish.com.
Click here for exhibition details.
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"Ashtray" by Tom Sachs, 2018. Mixed media, 20 ½ × 12 ½ × 12 ¾ inches. Image courtesy of Tom Sachs Studio.
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NYC Gallery Scene - Highlights publishes weekly with exhibitions selected by Hamptons Art Hub staff. This edition was selected by Kathryn Heine and written by Genevieve Kotz. Click here to visit our Gallery Guide to find more exhibitions on view.
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