Chris Martin’s expansive vision encompasses astrophysical orbs, aluminium, and constellations choreographed with bursts of glitter, all unified by an unswerving brushstroke (Top Photo). Chris has beautifully repped transcendental American art for forty years, creating fantastical landscapes and skyscrapers. Based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and upstate New York, the artist’s bucolic imagery reflects an effortlessly urbane sophistication.
Undulating kelly green, crimson and yellow stripes of the large diptych “Staring Into the Sun 748 Russell Hill Road “(2024) are the background for an otherworldly star whose linear spiky rays bisect the resplendent striated flag, bordered by a sliver of blue horizon. Small scattered cutouts contain collaged images, from rural vistas to Rococo painting fragments. “Dark Matter” (2024) is a massive obsidian night, sparkling with deliberate constellations.
Of the one small oil on a found painting, “Mushroom Cabin”, Chris says,” There’s a miniature painting of a house. That was something I had made years ago and then was sold to a lovely man at the Armory Show. I asked if I could loan that back for this show. I summarized the feeling of this show. A psychedelic immersion of landscape.”
A collaged version of a painting introduces this performative exhibition, grids filled with writing, photographs, and sketches. With these transportive works, I managed to forget the recent approval of the violent, misogynistic Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Or, as a friend said, “Speed of Light” is a welcomed “antidote to the hellscape.” Thank you, Chris and Timothy Taylor, for a momentary and much-needed reprieve.
Chris Martin “Speed of Light” Timothy Taylor until Feb 22
“Stevenson’s ethereal sculptures take some effort to properly see. The paint comes as a surprise, for example. But I love the variety of shapes and how they conjure natural forms without explicitly representing anything.” So says Arsenal director Marc Mayer of Sarah Stevenson’s current show.
From diagrams, Stevenson meticulously recreates three-dimensional shapes: an ovoid, cones, and a floating sphere. These gossamer sculptures embody transparency and containment, composed of fishing lines, thread, and wire. The more you observe, the denser and lovelier these natural-based forms become.
Widely exhibited in Canada, the UK-born Stevenson lives and works in Montreal. Her sculptures, almost embodying radiograph drawings brought to life, explore the boundaries of dimensionality, figuration, and abstraction. Her first New York show is memorable and mystical.
Sarah Stevenson at Arsenal Contemporary Art New York until March 8
The street-facing corner vitrines of Anton Kern abound with an opulent, exacting aquatic underworld, richly detailed and conjured by the magical hands of master ceramicist Roxanne Jackson. Amid winter, an oceanic fantasy commences with “Salvaged Vessel”, a two-foot Romanesque handled urn replete with corals, molluscs and ancient cracks. This beautiful barnacled jar is encrusted with an imaginary history that suggests a history of pirate bounty, mythical creatures and saline deterioration. The slow revolution reveals layers of luminous glazes.
A life-sized diorama of a bisected she-beast commands one entire window. “Crystal” melds a dragon and serpent adorned with unicorn horns and udders. Nuanced, layered surfaces replicate the silver-scaled skin of aquatic creatures. “Unknown Giants” abounds with individual and quirky treasures, from an all-seeing eye centred in an anemone to “Sirena’s Hand” grasping taloned fingers that are both glamorous and monstrous.
An alchemist of clay and colour, Roxanne Jackson creates her feminist mythology of a watery world that beckons, enchants, and fascinates the viewer while flirting with folkloric fears.
Roxanne Jackson’s “Unknown Giants” at Anton Kern Windows until 1st March.
In her first NYC solo show, Na Kim continues a painting series based on a simplified portrait, presenting a female face that resembles that of the Korean-born artist. The abstracted faces are reduced to elegantly diminished features, as calmly intimate as they are emotionally reflective. Formerly posed against monochromatic backgrounds, the latest series uses an unexpectedly rich palette, highlighting the faces in shards of light and shadow.
Seductive sweeps of sunset orange, celestial blues, and deep greens anchor the faces, some bathed in striations of light, some crowned with haloed hair.
The untitled images depict a vulnerable nude, a figure submerged in dark waters, and a woman whose hypnotic gaze is heightened by an unexpectedly radiantly hued background.
Na Kim “Memory Palace” Nicola Vassell Gallery until Feb 22
And a shout to Uman “A Fascinating Woman” at Hauser and Wirth Zurich until May 23. In her first Swiss solo show, Uman presents new jewel-toned paintings and works on paper.
Her iconic melding of figuration and abstraction is heightened by haunting meditative patterns, geometric forms, circles, and round mirrors.
The Somalian-born artist has lived in Kenya, Denmark, and New York City and now lives and works in upstate New York. Her practice references her East African heritage, the contemporary counterculture of New York, and the pastoral atmosphere where her work is created. I did not have the good fortune to see the show in person, but Uman’s vibrant, fresh imagery continues to mark her as one of the most original artists of her generation.