Ruth Asawa, Untitled (S.237, Hanging Six-Lobed, Interlocking Continuous Form), c. 1958, Private Collection © 2021 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy David Zwirner

Marking an ambitious exploration of the life and work of artist Ruth Asawa, David Zwirner in New York is currently presenting All Is Possible, an expansive exhibition curated by Helen Molesworth that situates the artist’s iconic looped- and tied-wire sculptures in the context of her extraordinary drawings and her lesser-known sculptural forms. Presenting viewers with one of the most comprehensive looks at this artist’s work to date, the show larger context illuminates an artist in pursuit of form as a means to reshape the act of seeing, and the role of art in daily life.

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Amy Lincoln at Sperone Westwater, via Art Observed

As the art world gradually returns to the pace and flow of the days before the chaos of the Covid-19 outbreak, the ADAA Art Show returns to New York for another iteration of its curation-first focus and studied, engaged relationships between exhibitors and artists. This year, liberated from the usual hustle and bustle of the weeks around the Armory Show, the fair offered an even stronger draw, welcoming a casual, meandering pace, with its gentle lighting and wide aisles, making for a more relaxed and exploratory atmosphere.The result, as last year, was a packed few days of the fair, as scores of New York collectors, dealers and art lovers came out in force.

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Mark Rothko, Untitled (1968), via Pace

Marking the first exhibition at its new London gallery, Pace has brought out a striking body of works by Mark Rothko, focusing in particular on the artist’s output during the final years of his life, specifically smaller works on paper that have rarely been seen in public, and which will serve as the first dedicated to the artist’s paper-based practice (more…)

Sarah Sze, Crisscross (2021), via Victoria Miro

Sarah Sze brings a new body of works to Victoria Miro in London this week, continuing her meticulous and studied treatment of the painted canvas across a selection of densely layered new works. The show, which opened this past month, brings an expanded sense of Sze’s work as a painter, and an elaboration of her already well-documented interest in intense visual fields, using her concept of the image in constant generation, evolution and degradation as a centerpiece of this show. (more…)

Anne Imhof, Natures Mortes (Installation View), via Aleph Molinari for Art Observed

German multi-disciplinary artist Anne Imhof creates environments that integrate painting, drawing, video, sculpture, and performance amidst large-scale architectural installations. Following the success of her previous exhibitions, including the performance Faust, for which she won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2017, Imhof takes over the Palais de Tokyo for her latest exhibition, Natures Mortes. This sprawling and multifaceted show is a meditation on the transience of time, on life and death, youth and desire. The ensemble of works in the exhibition echoes themes present in her previous body of work, reflecting an aestheticization of postmodern ennui in Imhof’s singular, dark, post-punk aesthetic. Going beyond the temporality of a vanitas or a memento mori, the show enters into a jarring dystopian connotation, creating a space where nature has literally died, and was replaced by a landscape of metal and glass, by a cold materiality and a dark sense of foreboding.

Anne Imhof, Natures Mortes (Installation View), via Aleph Molinari for Art Observed

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Jules de Balincourt, Old lost Horse (2021), via Praz-Delavallade

On view this month at Praz-Delavallade in Paris, the gallery presents The Greek Garden, a groups how show drawing on the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Gay Science, and using its tenants to explore notions of vanity, politics, spirituality and science. “The Greeks were superficial – out of profundity,” the text reads. “And isn’t it precisely what we are coming back to? – we spiritual adventurers, who have scaled the highest and most dangerous peak of today’s thought and looked round from up there, looked down from up there. Aren’t we, then, precisely, Greeks?”  (more…)

Tatiana Trouvé, March 23rd, The New York Times, USA; Le Soir, Belgium from the series From March to May (2020), via Gagosian

On view this month at Gagosian’s uptown exhibition space in New York, the gallery is presenting a never-before-seen body of work by Tatiana Trouvé produced in direct response to the pandemic era, drawing on the contemporary landscape to create a series of works that both trace time and reflect on the chaos of the past year. At the beginning of the COVID-19 quarantine in March 2020, Trouvé, isolated in Paris, began a series of daily drawings using inkjet-printed reproductions of various international newspaper front pages as her starting point. As the pandemic marched on, spreading instability and uncertainty throughout the world, Trouvé continued to work ever more methodically in graphite, ink, and linseed oil.

Tatiana Trouvé, April 3rd, The Star, Kenya, from the series From March to May (2020) via Gagosian

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Not Vital at Alma Zevi (Installation View)

On view at ALMA ZEVI through November 6 is SNOW & WATER & ICE by Swiss artist Not Vital. As Vital’s first solo exhibition at the Venice gallery, it coincides with the artist’s solo show in Andrea Palladio’s Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore, organized by the Benedicti Claustra Onlus, on the occasion of this year’s Architecture Biennale.

Not Vital at Alma Zevi (Installation View)

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Paul Thek, Untitled (Meat Piece with Chair) (1966), via Alexander and Bonin

Offering a rare opportunity to view a series of resonant historical works by artist Paul Thek, Alexander and Bonin is currently presenting a selection of works by the artist that span a range of pieces from the 1960’s into the later years of his career. Exploring the artist’s evolving aesthetic concerns and range of media and techniques, the show presents Thek’s work in relation to changing societal contexts and political situations.  (more…)

Sam Moyer, Ester (2021), via Kayne Griffin Corcoran

Artist Sam Moyer brings a body of new works to bear on Kayne Griffin Corcoran this month, continuing her investigations into scale, balance, and weight, with particular attention to the physical experience of space and the effects of natural light. (more…)

Alicja Kwade, Day Density (Installation View), via kamel mennour

On view this month, and just in time for the proceedings of FIAC, kamel mennour gallery opens a show of new work by artist Alicja Kwade, underscoring the artist’s continued exploration of time, space, chemistry, geology and biology. Through a range of sculptures, hanging works and floor installations, the artist explores the materials of physical reality, oftentimes seeking to use each one as a way to look beyond the whole. (more…)

Robert Mangold, Pace Gallery, all images by Aidan Chisholm for Art Observed

Having concluded opening hours yesterday at the Grand Palais Éphémère, a temporary installation erected at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, FIAC opened its doors to the public today, beginning a run of days at the site that once more bring contemporary and modern art to the French capital.  The first outing of the fair since it shuttered last year during Covid-19, and the first since Brexit was fully implemented, this year’s edition saw the Parisian event taking on a new role at the forefront of the European art market.

Gary Simmons, Hauser and Wirth

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Mark Grotjahn, Untitled (Backcountry Capri 54.37) (2021), via Blum & Poe

Mark Grotjahn brings a body of new work to bear at Blum & Poe this month, continuing the artist’s expressive exploration of the potentials for abstraction and gesture. Bringing a series of paintings unified under the title Backcountry, the artist’s work continues to explore a range of geometric iterations and variations on canvas.  (more…)

Harold Ancart, Untitled (2021), via David Zwirner

Marking the first exhibition to focus exclusively on the artist’s sculptural work, David Zwirner is presenting a selection of new sculpture by artist Harold Ancart at the gallery’s Paris exhibition space, a show that also marks the artist’s first solo exhibition in the French capital. The show, which compiles a set of new sculptures from a series begun in 2017, the exhibition focuses in particular on swimming pools, cast in concrete, and painted with rich layers of color that recall art-historical, architectural, and everyday influences.

Harold Ancart, Untitled (2021), via David Zwirner

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Rob Pruitt, Studio Calendar 2020 (2020), via 303 Gallery

Marking his first solo exhibition with 303 Gallery, Rob Pruitt returns to New York with a body of new works assembled under the title These Are the Days of Our Lives. Serving as a fitting reflection on the passage of time, social memory and the tumultuous, unforeseen changes of the past two years as they have unfolded across political and public realms, the show makes for a unique and insightful look into Pruitt’s studio practice and ongoing body of work.  (more…)

Nairy Baghramian, Side Leaps (Installation View), via Marian Goodman

Presenting a series of new works at Marian Goodman’s London Projects exhibition space, Nairy Baghramian’s Side Leaps brings a new series of enigmatic sculptural interpretations to the British capital. This is the first time that this body of work has been exhibited in the UK, with several drawings never having been seen previously, and showcases Baghramian’s use of sculpture and form as a starting point for conversations on space and perception.  (more…)

Simone Leigh at Hauser & Wirth, via Art Observed

After a long hiatus and the challenges posed in the wake of months of crippling pandemic lockdowns, the Frieze Art Fair has returned to Regent’s Park in London for its annual run, bringing with it over 160 international galleries and a range of projects and talks that underscore its continued vitality in the world of contemporary art. The full first edition back in the British capital since the fair was forced to cancel its 2020 edition due to Covid-19, this year’s opening was a return to form, filling its exhibition halls with a range of diverse works and artists from around the globe. (more…)

Ibrahim Mahama,  (2019-2021), via White Cube

Marking his third show with White Cube, artist Ibrahim Mahama brings together a body of new works addressing the passage of time, the notion of obsolescence and the potential for regeneration. The Ghanian artist, whose work often incorporates materials from the everyday landscape of his home in Tamale, touches down at the gallery’s Bermondsey exhibition space for Lazarus, a show that draws reference from the biblical story of a miracle resurrection and one of Mahama’s works on view, a group of suspended sculptures formed from armatures made of metal rebar and draped with tarpaulin, which together take on the form of cloaked figures or large bats. Haunting and ethereal, the work challenges framings of economic and cultural history in his home country and abroad.  (more…)

Anish Kapoor, Blackness From Her Womb (2021), via Lisson

On view now at Lisson Gallery in London, Anish Kapoor presents a new series of paintings, an element of his practice that has rarely been seen, exploring the intimate and ritualistic nature of his work. Created over the past year, the show provides a poetic view of the artist’s recent preoccupations, while delving into his more expressive and visceral modes of practice. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with the artist’s show at Modern Art Oxford. (more…)

Issy Wood, What if you showed up (detail) (2021), via Carlos Ishikawa

Marking the latest entry in a body of work that has long evaded easy classification, painter Issy Wood has opened a show of new works this month at Carlos/Ishikawa, continuing her exploration of the painted canvas as a site for the juxtaposition of realities, memories and figments of the imagination. (more…)

Ron Nagle, Pink Flamenco (2021), via Matthew Marks

Ron Nagle is known for his intimately scaled sculptures made of ceramic elements that are slip-cast, fired, and embellished with epoxy and other synthetic materials that allow him to expand his forms beyond the limits of clay. Evoking otherworldly landscapes or surreal architectural arrangements, Nagle’s inventive works elicit a vast range of associations. A new exhibition of the artist’s work is now on at Matthew Marks in New York. (more…)

Jack Pierson, Stay (1992), via Regen Projects

Spanning the full width and breadth of his career, Regen Projects is currently presenting a selection of works by the artist Jack Pierson, underscoring his ongoing and extensive practice, and its engagement with themes of memory, desire, longing, beauty, despair, loss, and glamour.Arranged as a poetic, achronological, and comprehensive installation, Less and more tracks Pierson’s diverse yet idiosyncratic practice. (more…)

Helen Marten, Horizontal Weather (2021), via Sadie Coles

Currently on view at Sadie Coles HQ‘s Kingly Street location, artist Helen Marten presents a body of new works that continue her investigation of a space shaped by participants and her pieces simultaneously, the show here draws on the ancient philosophical metaphor of “the body politic”, taking the allegory of a single individual body into a raging grammatical city, a contemporary projection of systems, agency and the digestion of ideas. (more…)

Rashid Johnson, Untitled Totem (2021), via David Kordansky

On view in Los Angeles this month, artist Rashid Johnson has brought forth a selection of new works at David Kordansky that continue his exploration of a wide range of media and formats. The show, which includes new paintings, bronze sculptures, works on paper, and the debut of a new 35mm film will occupy all three of the gallery’s exhibition spaces. (more…)