New York: Imagining the Future Amid Alejandro Cardenas’s Profound, Brood ing Canvases

Though one of my favorite turns of phrase, our recent "wintry mix" is also my least favorite to actua

Jan 27, 2021 • View in browser

Though one of my favorite turns of phrase, our recent “wintry mix” is also my least favorite to actually slog through. Luckily, Alejandro Cardenas’s bright stripes and zigzags conjure an otherworldly respite, while Marsha Pels’s sculptures pack a 1-2 punch that are less forgiving but altogether engrossing.John Yau also meditates on Martin Puryear’s moving, intricate sculptures, now on view and online for just a few more days. – Dessane Lopez Cassell, Editor, Reviews

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Alejandro Cardenas’s Brooding Canvases

Alejandro Cardenas, "If this were to continue" (image courtesy the artist and Almine Rech; photo by Matt Kroening)

The artist Alejandro Cardenas created each piece in his new show ALEXANDRIA amidst the ravage of the pandemic and wildfires that engulfed Los Angeles in 2020, and it shows.In the show, bright stripes and zigzags pop against sprawling environments, telegraphing both impressive depth and intense seclusion. The allusions all feel like simulacra of the moment.

Latest Reviews

Marsha Pels’s Sculptures Offer Little Solace Pels’s work evokes a blinking unease, posing questions about the nature of power in the arenas of sex, war, and religion. Cassie Packard

Martin Puryear’s Open Questions To focus on Puryear’s devotion to craft and the handmade is valid, but now seems too narrow a view. John Yau

What's Happening?

MoMA chairman Leon Black announced Monday that he will step down as CEO of his multi-billion dollar private equity firm, Apollo Global Management, following an investigation into his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Hours before the end of his presidency, Donald Trump unleashed a blitz of presidential pardons to 143 people, including the art dealer Helly Nahmad. Urban artist Adrian Wilson, known for his clever interventions in public spaces, gave a most fitting goodbye to the nation’s 45th president in his very own native New York.

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