Our critic’s top gallery picks
ELENA SISTO: BETWEEN THE SILVER LIGHT AND ORANGE SHADOW
Sisto’s first solo show with the gallery serves as the final venue for the traveling museum exhibition of the same title. For the last three years, Sisto’s paintings have explored the formative years of young women artists. Most show three-quarter profiles of women against the backdrop of the studio or while partially hidden behind the canvas. These intimate depictions offer deep insight into the psychology of each sitter. Though abstracted, Sisto’s subjects maintain unique personalities and dispositions that hint at the possibility of narrative.
Through May 25, at Lori Bookstein Fine Art (138 10th Ave., btw. 18th & 19th Sts.). Hours: Tues.-Sat., 10:30am-6pm. Call 212-750-0949 or visit loribooksteinfineart.com.
GIOSETTA FIORONI: L’ARGENTO
Curated by Claire Gilman, this exhibition is Fioroni’s first solo show in North America. It features over 80 works by the Italian artist, dating from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. In her drawings, paintings, films, theater designs and illustrations, Fioroni responded to the increasingly commercial culture of her time. However, in contrast to the American Pop artists, her focus remained on hand-rendering images rather than deriving them from commercial advertisements. Born in 1932, Fioroni was the only female member of the Scuola di Piazza del Popolo — a group of artists that emerged in Rome during the 1960s. She continues to live and work in Rome.
Through June 2, at The Drawing Center (35 Wooster St., btw. Broome & Grand Sts.). Hours: Wed, Fri.-Sun., 12-6pm. and Thurs., 12-8pm. Call 212-219-2166 or visit drawingcenter.org.
Sara VanDerBeek
In her first solo show with the gallery, VanDerBeek presents new photographs and sculptures that explore the translation of memory into image and form. Her research stems from recent travels to Paris, Rome and Naples — where she explored archeological sites and museum collections of classical and neoclassical sculpture. Largely inspired by ancient female figures, VanDerBeek has created, among others, a group of photographs of large marble and metal female figures, colorized with blue and pink Plexiglas, that are seen opposite a colonnade of rectilinear modular forms.
Through June 8, at Metro Pictures (519 W. 24th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.-Sat., 10am-6pm. Call 212-206-7100 or visit metropicturesgallery.com.
DIKE BLAIR: SCULPTURE
Blair’s sculptures are assemblages. They are comprised of painted wooden shipping crates, which in the past have contained framed gouache paintings or objects like Noguchi lamps. While the abstract geometric aspects of Blair’s work evoke a range of modernist movements, including the De Stijl, it remains very much rooted in the here and now. Conceptually, these sculptures address notions of storage, furniture and the human body. They bring attention to the banal and transitory details of everyday life, feeling both personal and mediated.
Through June 2, at Feature Inc. (131 Allen St., btw. Delancey & Rivington Sts.). Hours: Wed.-Sun., 12-6pm. Call 212-675-7772 or visit featureinc.com
— BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN
