Installation shot, from “David Row: There and Back.” Left: “Pooka” (2014, Oil on canvas, 84 x 148 inches). Right: “Concentric Blues” (2013 Oil on canvas, 67 x 116 inches).
DAVID ROW: THERE AND BACK
Row’s first New York solo show in years features stunning shaped canvases and related works on paper. While their unusual polygonal form is new for the artist, the compositions still reflect his signature abstract vocabulary. For decades, Row has employed heavily worked layers of lush oil paint to gradually form intriguing networks of marks, lines and curvilinear bands. Still rooted in this tradition, these paintings also reveal a new sense of clarity and dynamism. While saturated, they are primarily monochrome, highlighting their overall geometric as well as graphic quality. The shaped canvases of Ellsworth Kelly and Leon Polk Smith are aesthetic reference points — but Row proves that he has a hand and eye that are clearly his own. It is exciting to see his work properly featured again, coming back with a splash.
Through March 29, at Loretta Howard Gallery (525-531 W. 26th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.-Sat., 10am-6pm. Call 212-695-0164 or visit lorettahoward.com.
KATHERINE NEWBEGIN: VACANT
For the past nine years, Newbegin has photographed vacant spaces of leisure, travel and transitional occupancy. She tracked down numerous gigantic Soviet-era hotels for example, which were built by the government for nation-building purposes and which were often used as a reward for the best workers of the Soviet Union. Since then, they have become obsolete relics. All of the spaces Newbegin photographs still reflect traces of the human activities that have taken place in them. It is this glimpse of realities past that provides these pictures with a distinct eerie quality.
March 16-April 20, at Lesley Heller Workspace (54 Orchard St., btw. Hester & Grand Sts.). Hours: Wed.-Sat., 11am-6pm, Sun. 12-6pm. Reception: March 16, 6-8pm. Call 212-410-6120 or visit lesleyheller.com.
image courtesy of the artist & gallery.
“Green Face Jug” (2014, Glazed Earthenware, 9.5″ x 6″ x 5.5″).
REBECCA MORGAN: NO CHURCH IN THE WILD
Morgan originally hails from a small Pennsylvania farm town, and her paintings and cartoon-drawings depict the culture clash she encountered after moving to New York. Her characters often reflect the stereotypes of crude and uncultured rural redneck Appalachia. Devoid of romance, her paintings reflect both a constant critique and defense of rural living.
Through March 29, at Asya Geisberg (537B W. 23rd St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.-Sat., 11am-6pm. Call 212-675-7525 or visit asyageisberggallery.com.
LESLIE WAYNE
Wayne manipulates the medium of painting by approaching oil paint as a sculptural material. She often scrapes, folds, cuts and builds up her surfaces, creating works that take on three-dimensional textures. The tactile quality of her work evokes the experience of geology and natural phenomena. Her relationship to landscape is rooted in memory, especially in the light, colors and geography of the West.
Based in midtown Manhattan, Wayne approaches her subject as an opportunity to depict visual manifestations of physical forces: compression, subduction and morphogenesis. These are not pictures of nature in the traditional sense, but lyrical contemplations of movement and instability.
Through March 22, at Jack Shainman (524 W. 24th St, btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.-Sat., 10am-6pm. Call 212-645-1701 or visit jackshainman.com.
CORRECTION
In the Feb. 27 edition of The Villager, photos of Leslie Wayne’s work appeared, with incorrect descriptive text. We regret the error.
