Scott Hug, Understanding Global Warming: 59% Great Deal, 21% Fair amount, 20% Only a little/ Not at all (March 5-8, 2009), 2009, wood and latex paint, 60 x 60 x 5 inches

John Connelly Presents has very interesting work by the artist Scott Hug on view through October 24th. Hug’s work makes “critical assessments of contemporary consumer culture through a process that dissects our obsessions with public opinion.” Hug presents pie charts in bright colors based on Gallup poll information. He collages these colorful abstracted charts onto National Geographic images distancing us from the “natural world.” Also on view are large scale abstracted pie charts that Hug feels have become “objects of glamour that many adhere to, study, and follow with near religious fervor, resembling mandalas and secret signs.” In the back of the gallery is a computer program that shuffles 360 of the collage works on the screen. Using sounds of a Roulette wheel, the images stop momentarily and then move on “searching for the next contemporary moment.” As the press release explains this show, “is illustrative of how our fascination with real-time interpretation of statistics has become more important than deep analysis–as soon as a survey is made it is already reduced to an aesthetic, only to be replaced by a new interpretation of data the next day.”

 David Kennedy Cutler ,

No More Right Now Forever, 2009

On view close by is work by David Kennedy Cutler at Derek Eller Gallery. The gallery space is filled with ethereal sculptures made from transparent plexiglass. The artist uses heat guns to mold the 8 x 4 foot sheet of plexi to the form of his body. They remind one of classical marble sculptures from the Renaissance with their movement and scale.

Perry Rubenstein has a group show up through Halloween to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the gallery. Five artists were selected and have monumental works on view. The first work that struck me is Richard Woods’s Door (Red) that you enter to see the exhibition. With elements of animation and construction the piece is whimsical. As is Zilla Leuteneggar’s work, Bathroom in which the door is slightly ajar. As the viewer peeks into the space they can see the reflection of a shadow behind a shower curtain in the mirror above the bathroom sink. There is also a sound component of a shower running to add to the experience. Also on view is a piece I first saw and wrote about at the beginning of the summer by Teresa Margolles. It was a piece on Governor’s Island curated by Creative Time. The cinderblock wall is covered in bullet holes from drug-related shootings in her home country of Mexico. To see images check out:

http://www.perryrubenstein.com/exhibitions/2009-09-22_the-law-of-fives-5th-anniversary-exhibition/ 

Leo Koenig’s new project space has something for everyone with works on view by veterans like Bernd and Hilla Baecher, Jo Baer and Pat Steir but also interesting work by emerging artists. Note that it is only open Thursday-Saturday in the fall.

Mark di Suvero, Hartnett Grasses, 2008, Stainless steel, 33 x 35 1/2 x 16 1/2 in.

Paula Cooper’s space on 23rd Street has an exhibition of Mark di Suvero small sculptures which I very much enjoyed. Though he is best known for his monumental works, these pieces made of steel, titanium, and stainless steel are on a much more human and intimate scale and are almost playful in their lightness and movement.