February 14, 6-8pm: Printers Picks | A Look at Priorities and Processes

Why an artist makes and should make prints, how prints are made, and the business of print publishing have been the main topics of conversation over the last fifteen years of working with David Krut in New York City, Johannesburg and London. As printers and publishers, the company has a unique perspective on the creative process of artists, always being present for the decisions, the inspirations, and the heartaches. Above: Dread Scott, Peking University 1967 (2011)

This exhibition, curated by Master Printer Phil Sanders, is a selection of works produced in New York, some of which have not been seen in years while others are hot off the press. Their unifying factor is an unyielding pursuit of the artists’ intentions. The exhibition features work by Glen Baldridge, Deborah Bell, William Kentridge, Eddie Martinez, Sam Nhlengethwa, Sara Sanders, Dread Scott, Senzo Shabangu, James Siena, Diane Victor and many more. The digital accompaniment to the physical exhibition includes anecdotal information about the making and the meanings behind each work from the perspectives of the people involved in their creation.

Save the date, Sunday February 18^th at 10am: Join Phil Sanders for a live monotype demonstration and discussion in the gallery

Register

David Krut Projects, 526 West 26th Street, Suite 816, New York, NY Info

Thursday, February 15, 6-8pm: Jose Duran | Elena

Exploring the ancestral, colonial, and political codes layered in interior ornamentation, Dominican artist and designer Jose Duran’s ornate paintings are structured by both organic folds of drapery as well as sharp, jagged forms that resemble fractured stained-glass. Duran makes surprise shifts between the pictorial and abstract in his visual fantasies, adopting a dense Rococo style that emphasizes the theatrical while conjuring symbols of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Honoring his deceased mother Elena, as an anchor in his life and a pillar of her community, Duran furnishes an imaginary world where she can luxuriously inhabit his memory. Duran’s ornate scenes are also filled with details of the medicinal herbs healers would use to treat Duran throughout his youth in the Dominican Republic. Brought from Asia to Africa, then from Africa to the Caribbean, his ancestors found a way to transform plants that may be used to kill into natural remedies for survival. In these artworks where loved ones can rest in comfort, Duran bequeaths the splendors of colonial European trade back to the descendants of peoples who were enslaved to create them and sold to obtain them 

James Fuentes, 55 Delancey Street, New York, NY Info

Closing Saturday,  February 17: Last chance to catch Keeping Memories

This solo showing of works on paper by two artists makes a deep dive on the possibilities of color, texture, and nuanced views onto the subliminal of nature and human interactions. Karin Bruckner produces a series of abstract prints exploring ideas of memory and femininity through a process she relates to archeology. Using plates that hold the record of previous pulls and ghost impressions, the artist layers abstract vessel-like forms with organic shapes akin to to flora or water. Note: videos from the gallery can be seen on Instagrtam, @kbmatter. Above: Karin Bruckner [left] and Angela A'Court with works by Karin Bruckner. Below left: Pastel by Angela A'Court; below right: monotype by Karin Bruckner

Angela A’Court’s still-lifes hum with energy as bold colors and pronounced texture reveal lyrical studies of bouquets. A true colorist, the artist imagines each scene with large swaths of color that create a clarity of composition emphasizing color, form and texture.

Susan Eley Fine Art, 190 Orchard Street, New York, NY Info

Continuing through February 25: We Tried to Warn You | EnvironmentalCrisis Posters 1970-2020

This exhibition, which features 33 works spanning 50 years, pays homage to posters that have failed. The works have not failed in terms of design or technique, but rather because says curator Tim Medland, “they failed “to successfully modify behavior.” according to the museum’s own blurb for the exhibit. “Almost all of the environmental issues showcased in these posters remain or have worsened.” 

Writing in Forbes, Anne Quito said, “Curiously, the most influential ‘climate poster’ in history isn’t a poster at all, but a photograph. Taken aboard Apollo 8 by NASA astronaut Bill Anders in 1968, the first color image of Earth showed the fragility and a beautiful blue planet in deep space. ’Earthrise,’ as the photo is known, sparked environmental movements and became a recurring motif in environmental posters, including two in the exhibition: Milton Glaser’s ‘Give Earth A Chance’ (1970) Environmental Action Coalition and Gunter Rambow’s ‘All the Earth Speaks Up’ (1983) created for Germany’s Green Party.)”

Poster House, 119 W 23rd Street, New York, NY Info

Continuing through August 11 Coal + Ice

Asia Society is proud to present Coal + Ice, an immersive photography and video exhibition accompanied by a series of related programs. Coal + Ice visualizes the causes and consequences of the climate crisis and foregrounds creative solutions. Above: Installation view of David Breashears's Mount Everest, Main Rongbuk Glacier, Tibet, China, 2007. Photograph by Leah Thompson

Throughout the run of the exhibition, climate change will take center stage at Asia Society, including speaker events, performances, films, and more. Asia Society has joined forces with a network of partner organizations across New York City’s five boroughs to concurrently present exhibitions and events, expanding the conversation to inspire deeper engagement on how the climate crisis affects our global and local communities. 

Coal + ice is co-curated by Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas and international exhibition designer Jeroen de Vries, and led by Orville Schell, Asia Society Vice President 

Thursday, February 22, 6-8pm: Hellen van Meene | The Dissolve

In her sixth solo exhibition in New York, Dutch artist van Meene continues her exploration of female identity with 20 photographs made between 2016 and 2023. Many of her young subjects are on the cusp of adulthood, and van Meene highlights both the psychological tension and confusion often experienced during these transitional years. 

Van Meene’s subjects are often caught in dreamlike states or otherworldly situations. In one, a bride stands calmly as the train of her wedding dress ignites in a semicircle of flames. In another, a sitter cradles a fish like a baby, and in another, butterflies carefully position themselves on the subject’s face, neck, and chest. In the words of van Meene: “The girl's dreams go beyond her daily life, as she yearns to be a butterfly and take flight into the skies. Her untangled hair serves as a powerful symbol of freedom and flight, inspiring us all to chase our dreams and embrace our innermost desires.” Van Meene’s subjects appear detached and unflummoxed about their unusual situations, absorbing the ambiguity of being at the brink of adulthood, while caught in the liminal space between childhood and womanhood. Her unique visual language employs an exceptional use of natural, luminous light reminiscent of 17^th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.

Yancey Richardson Gallery, 525 West 22nd Street, New York, NY Info