April Chelsea Afternoon

Elena Sisto at Lori Bookstein Fine Art - The Mistress of Black
Bookstein Gallery Link

Like Manet and Velasquez, deep, rich color where one thinks there is none

The green book jacket is such a spring surprise in this painting

More blacks

Venetian or Indian red undertone - so lovely with the violet

There is a fine density in the paintings, both from the oil medium and attention to detail, that veers from almost realistic to a combination of the observed and the gestural. 

This painting, by the front desk, is one such example.

At David Zwirner, Raoul de Keyser.
Zwirner Gallery Link

Off-handed, charming, but canny and knowing, as well.

Beautiful overall painting

That balances bright and dull greens

Some other, very small (14 x 12?) paintings on the far wall in the second gallery

Including this charcoal beauty

One has the feeling of the painter musing, which has been mentioned in the press, but the compositions do speak to sustained observation

Raoul de Keyser

A gorgeous Sterling Ruby at Skarsdedt, in the David Salle-curated show Nice Weather
Skarsdedt Gallery Link

Detail - cloth on cloth (the flesh tone is a visibly woven surface, more like a muslin)

Cecily Brown bumping up the scale from her 2014 show of small paintings (Secret Gardens) at Macaroni

Cecily Brown, Detail - in Nice Weather

Chris Martin - this is simply a gorgeous painting, big and lush with all of my favorite materials, fluorescent and glitter

Rashid Johnson, distressed surfaced portraits

Rashid Johnson, detail

Sterling Ruby, Lucy Dodd and Cecily Brown - installation view

Mary Weatherford. These are simple, but elegant paintings.

Rashid Johnson portrait on the way out of this excellent show.

Jennifer Bartlett, paintings from 2007-11 at Paula Cooper
Paula Cooper Gallery Link

I confess to being a long time, ardent Bartlett fan, and enjoy her take on the grid via 'trainer' brushes used for decorative painting

The four separate brushes on one handle add a hallucinatory effect to straightforward landscapes and revel in the application of marks, consistent with her work

The landscape subject matter is seemingly benign, a vehicle for paint, but I have always sensed the  tenor of danger within

Detail

She is painting her homes

And skies

An early work from the series, 2007. So glad Paula Cooper is showing this work again.

Gary Stephan at Susan Inglett. Susan Inglett Gallery Link
One image only, as the gallery was small and two artists were exhibiting. Though I enjoyed the premise and tongue-in-cheek relationship between painting and sculpture, the placement of the sculpture in the middle of the floor was profoundly annoying. The pantings were more developed and would have benefitted from an emptier space.

Barclay Hendricks at Jack Shainman. Formally,  the exhibition at Studio Museum remains his recent best.

Melissa Meyer's calligraphic paintings at Lennon, Weinberg - my favorite, black on titanium buff and pale yellow ground