Hugo McCloud likes to work with his hands. He’s a builder who thinks about making sculptures the way certain philosophers think about knowledge, as a process. There is no absolute, no certainty; the way the material transforms guides his approach to working with it.
Charrière’s current ambit is diametrically opposed to the preservationist idea of nature articulated by the American Transcendentalists and neo-Luddites. This is not to say pessimism has won over. The exhibition prods at the ritualistic relationship between man and nature, veering closer to the ideas of the nineteenth-century German Romantics than those of current, activist environmentalists.
Renowned American painter Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977) returns with his signature portraits inspired by recent visits to Cuba. On view from April 28 through June 23 at Sean Kelly Gallery, HAVANA features new oil paintings, works on paper, and a three-channel film that explores the evolution of Black performance culture in Cuba. Known for his vibrant use of color and spotlight on the global African Diaspora, Wiley fixates on themes of circus, celebration, and carnival, placing subjects in lush compositions alongside multihued patterns.