ART AROUND TOWN THIS SPRING

As the weather begins to soften and the days grow longer, spending time visiting galleries can be among the most rewarding ways to spend a few free hours you might have in New York during the Spring-time. Here is a selection of the shows we recommend seeing; a hand-full of exhibits presenting emerging to mid-career artists, peppered with notable encounters at some of the cities blue-chip galleries.

Arcmanoro Niles
My Heart is like Paper: Let the Old Ways Die
March 8 -  April 28, 2019
Rachel Uffner Gallery - 170 Suffolk St, New York

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Arcmanoro Niles presents a new series of paintings with the Lower East Side’s Rachel Uffner Gallery. Interested in personal journey’s and how those around him deal with heartbreak, disappointment and even trauma, Niles’ paintings portray subjects in states of deep reflection, in a meditative state of flux. While heavily influenced by classical compositions in historical painting and portraiture, the artist subverts traditional tropes by removing natural colors; blacks, whites, and browns, and instead incorporates a uniquely bright color palette over orange and blue ground.  As we follow a group of glowing subjects caught in a series of private moments, the resulting narratives that play out within the confines of his canvasses prompt the viewer to examine human coping mechanisms.

Arcmanoro Niles, The Nights I Don't Remember, the Nights I Can't Forget, 2018, oil, acrylic and glitter on canvas, 72 x 70 in / 182.9 x 177.8 cm. Courtesy of Rachel Uffner Gallery.

Arcmanoro Niles, My Heart is Like Paper, 2018, oil, acrylic and glitter on canvas, 75 x 50 in / 190.5x127 cm. Courtesy of Rachel Uffner Gallery

Louis Fratino
Come Softly To Me
April 18 - May 24, 2019
Sikkema Jenkins & Co. - 530 W 22nd St

Sikkema Jenkins & Co. presents Come Softly to Me, the first solo exhibition of works by Louis Fratino. Born in Annapolis in 1993, Fratino’s paintings are deeply intimate portrayals of himself, lovers or his friends and family members. Drawing on the deeply entrenched art historical lineage of figure painters such as Matisse, Picasso and Fernand Léger, Fratino’s pictorial language is soft and intimate and uniquely his own; mining the possibilities and beauty of human connection.

Louis Fratino, Metropolitan, 2019, Oil on canvas, 60 x 94.75 in (152.4 x 240.7 cm). Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Peter Linde Busk
The Generous Gambler
April 18 – May 26, 2019
Derek Eller Gallery - 300 Broome St, New York

Derek Eller Gallery hosts The Generous Gambler, a solo exhibition of new works by renowned Danish artist, Peter Linde Busk.

Working primarily in mosaic and collage, Busk composes intricate and monumental wall reliefs composed of cardboard, glass, paper, wood, and an array of other recycled material and detritus. Reminiscent of Spolia architecture, Byzantine chapels, and Art Brut, Busk’s work is characterized by this living and constantly changing ecosystem of readily available materials that constantly feeds his practice, providing a sense of freedom combined with meticulousness and constraint. Departing from his usual toned down palette, this new body of work marks a shift towards a more vibrant, inviting world of bright pink and yellow harlequin checkers filled with emerging figures of clown-like knights, fallen dandies and kings.

Peter Linde Busk, Oh England, My Lionheart, 2019, various kinds of treated wood, plaster, fired and glazed ceramic, colored glass, gold leaf, cardboard, paper, staples, glass rods, acrylic, canvas, stain, printing ink, porcelain, terra puzzolane, copper woodblock prints, on board, 53.15 x 41.34 x 4.72in, 135x105x2 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Derek Eller Gallery 

Peter Linde Busk, And Ever I Shall be the Same to You, as You Will be the Same to Me, 2019, fired and glazed ceramics, various kinds of treated wood, various kinds of fabric, cardboard, paper, linen, color pencils, plaster, stain, gold and silver leaf, reconditioned copper etching plates, porcelain, natural stones, copper leaf, paintbrushes, glass rods, colored glass, on board, 74.8x59x3.94in / 190x150x10cm. Courtesy of the artist and Derek Eller Gallery 

Julie Curtiss
Wildlife
April 25 – June 15, 2019
Anton Kern Gallery - 16E 55th St, New York


Paris-born, New York-based artist Julie Curtiss presents her first solo exhibit with Anton Kern Gallery. Wildlife is a series of wildly imaginative and meticulously rendered paintings, sculptures and gouaches that draw inspiration from nature, tropes of femininity and scenes of New York City.

Julie Curtiss, The Mirror, 2019, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 16x18in. Courtesy of the artist

Julie Curtiss, Woman in High Heels, 2019, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 32 x 58in. Courtesy of the artist.

Jonas Wood
April 24–July 19, 2019
Gagosian Gallery - 555 West 24th St, New York

Jonas Wood paints every day objects, scenes and seemingly mundane interiors that reflect a vision of the contemporary world. Translating the world into pure colour and line, Wood negates expectations of scale and vantage point and breaks pictures down into complex compositions of geometry, pattern and colour. Imbued with subject matter defined by his personal affinities and experiences, Wood combines art historical references with images of the objects, interiors and people that comprise the fabric of his daily life. The exhibition showcases a series of large-scale paintings of his trademark architectural interior and exterior scenes, the artists largest series of pots and ceramic vessels to date (drawing heavily on the work of Matisse) and works on paper.

Jonas Wood, Still Life with Wood Panels, 2018, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 82x82in / 208x208cm. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery.

Jonas Wood, Red Pot with Lute Player #2, 2018, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 86x90in / 218x228cm. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery.

Keiran Brennan Hinton
Close At Hand
April 28 - June 16, 2019
1969 Gallery - 103 Allen St, New York

What fragments of a persons life are imprinted within the domestic spaces in which they lived? Aged 27, Keiran Brennan Hinton presents a deeply observational and meditative body of work painted during a 3-month residency at the James Castle House, in which he imagines the footprints of the artist that still linger. “Castle’s presence is palpable and still evident in the shed where he made his work,” Brennan Hinton says. “I wanted to make paintings that reconstructed what I felt inhabiting his home and studio for a full summer.”

Keiran Brennan Hinton, In the Light, 2019, oil on canvas, 58 x 50 in. Courtesy of 1969 Gallery. 

Keiran Brennan Hinton, House Where Nobody Lives, 2019 oil on linen 58h x 50w in. Courtesy of 1969 Gallery