Amy Yao: AZN Clam at 47 Canal

AZN CLAM, by Amy Yao and on view at 47 Canal, are a collection of wall-mounted sculptures and a site specific installation that tackle the definition of invasiveness through language. Using the specific example of non-scientific names given to invasive plants and animals, Yao wants to point out the inherent xenophobia and anxieties of foreign origins. The title of Yao’s exhibition is in reference to the Asian Clam that migrated to the Americas in the late 1900’s. 

Using: concrete, pvc pipes, clam shells, and plastic pearls, and recognizable shapes, Yao uses common materials in her sculptures to create familiarity through  natural and unnatural spaces that inhabit. The sculptures are shaped in swirls, stars, and hearts, and contain seashells invading the concrete, in reference to the invasive Asian Clam. Around a corner, Yao’s  installation room is  bathed in bright warm light, and is partially open to viewers. All you can see of the office is through a partially open door. In a very corporate looking office room with shelving and a round table with chairs surrounding it, the floor of the office floor is filled with pearlescent plastic balls. Aiming to address and poke fun at the pedestal some arts masters and their work are put on, the romantic energy of the room is in contrast with the common ball pit. 

Comparing the installation room to the sculptural pieces, the room feels disconnected. While it might have come from a similar train of thought to the concrete works and fits into Yao’s overall dialogue, the sudden change of medium and color palette has the ball pit room seeming like an entirely different artist and an afterthought. 

- Sarit Luftman
 

The Living Museum at FIERMAN

  

    

    FIERMAN’s show, featuring artists from the Living Museum at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, is one of those rare exhibitions that feels genuinely alive. The Living Museum has been around since the 1980s, offering space for psychiatric patients to make art freely—no pressure, no rules, just creative expression. This show brings those feelings of raw creativity to an established gallery space through a mix of paintings, drawings, collages, and sculptures made over the past 30 years.

    The show features a wide range of styles, mediums and approaches, however, it is tied together through a strong sense of individuality and uniqueness. For example, Christina Constantine’s paintings are bold, and seemingly spontaneous with large sweeps of color, whereas John Tursi seems to work with a more calculated approach. He utilizes intricate geometric shapes through use of spirographs and french curves. Though each piece tells a unique story, together they create a cohesive narrative of lesser featured artists. 

    That being said, the exhibition feels slightly cramped. The space at FIERMAN doesn’t quite give the works room to breathe. Each piece is packed with emotion and energy that I believe needs a little more room to shine. Regardless of the lack of space, the power of these works are expressed loud and clear. The show reveals how creativity often thrives in the most unexpected of places, and how the Living Museum continues to foster a creative safe-space for artists in psychiatric care. 

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 Earth and Cosmos at the Americas Society brings together the works of Beatriz Cortez and rafa esparza, exploring themes of migration, memory, and the movement of ancient knowledge across space and time. The exhibition merges ancient traditions with contemporary artistic practices, focusing on the transference of cultural artifacts and their impact on modern identities.

One of the key pieces, esparza’s Hyperspace: -100km + ∞ (2025), is a sculpture made from basalt and adobe, referencing the Olmec colossal heads and the journey of magma from the Earth’s crust to the surface in its use of basalt. The combination of raw materials and esparza’s family's connections to adobe-making infuses the piece with a deep connection to his ancestral land of Durango, Mexico.

Cortez’s Cabeza de Jaguar (Monumento #47) (2022) and Gift of the Artist to the Ancient Object Labeled as Human Head Emerging from Monster Jaws (2023) stand in contrast to Esparza’s earthy, grounded sculpture through their use of sharp, industrial steel. The jagged forms show the violence and fragmentation caused by colonial looting and displacement of Indigenous artifacts. 

While the exhibition succeeds in its use of materials and grounding abstract themes in tangible forms, it occasionally falls short in offering new insights about displacement and cultural preservation. The thematic focus on migration, memory, and colonial legacies, although important, feels somewhat familiar and expected given how frequently these subjects appear in contemporary art. For example, the use of 3-D printed replicas of artifacts, while visually compelling, does not offer a fresh perspective on cultural heritage or its complexities.

 

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 Exhibition Review: Beatriz Cortez x rafa esparza: Earth and Cosmos at the Americas Society

Earth and Cosmos at the Americas Society brings together the works of Beatriz Cortez and rafa esparza, exploring \themes of migration,memory, and the movement of ancient knowledge across space and time.The exhibition merges ancient traditions with contemporary artistic practices, focusing on the transference ofcultural artifacts and their impact on modern identities.

One of the key pieces, esparza’s Hyperspace: -100km + (2025), is a sculpture made from basalt and adobe,referencing the Olmec colossal heads and the journey of magma from the Earth’s crust to the surface in itsuse of basalt. The combination of raw materials and esparza’s family's connections to adobe-makinginfuses the piece with a deep connection to his ancestral land of Durango, Mexico.

Cortez’s Cabeza de Jaguar (Monumento #47) (2022) and Gift of the Artist to the Ancient Object Labeledas Human Head Emerging from Monster Jaws (2023) stand in contrast to Esparza’s earthy,grounded sculpture through their use of sharp, industrial steel. The jagged forms show the violence andfragmentation caused by colonial looting and displacement of Indigenous artifacts. 

While the exhibition succeeds in its use of materials and grounding abstract themes in tangible forms, itoccasionally falls short in offering new insights about displacement and cultural preservation. The thematicfocus on migration, memory, and colonial legacies, although important, feels somewhat familiar and expectedgiven how frequently these subjects appear in contemporary art. For example, the use of 3-D printed replicasof artifacts, while visually compelling, does not offer a fresh perspective on cultural heritage or its complexities.

Danka Latorre, Current Season 472-02

REVISED. Cy Twombly’s Landscape Abstractions and the Fragility of Nature

Cy Twombly’s Landscape Abstractions and the Fragility of Nature

Gagosian Gallery

Cy Twombly’s Untitled paintings from 1981–1986, created in Bassano in Teverina, Italy, mark a profound shift in his engagement with nature and abstraction. Rendered in lush greens and layered with fluid gestures, these works evoke the sensory immediacy of earth, air, and water—an elemental trinity at the heart of both nature’s rhythms and human experience.

The sense of light, speed, and moisture shifts between the drawings, creating a dynamic atmosphere. People often seek a connection with nature, projecting their own experiences onto the landscape, while the painter uses the landscape not just as subject matter, but as a medium to explore perception and emotion. The abstract drawings invite curiosity; as the viewer moves around the works, the quatrefoil-shaped frames act like portals, subtly changing the viewer’s perspective with each step. The spatial arrangement of the four paintings reflects a journey through the same landscape, each canvas offering a different atmospheric condition—like varying degrees of fog. This progression is not linear but fluid, echoing the ever-changing nature of both the environment and human perception.

The broader cultural significance of these works lies in their subtle commentary on humanity’s growing disconnection from the natural world. Though abstract, the paintings suggest a quiet plea for reconnection—where the liquidity of paint mirrors the ebb and flow of the natural forces that sustain life. In this way, Twombly transforms abstraction into a poetic form of environmental reflection, inviting viewers not only to see the landscape, but to feel its diminishing presence in contemporary life. The works resonate with a collective awareness shaped by modern society—a shared sense that nature, once central to human experience, is now increasingly distant or overlooked.

Marshmallow Laser Feast: “Entwined” (Revised)

Exhibited by Bitforms Gallery, “Entwined” is Marshmallow Laser Feast’s first solo US show. Displaying digital natural landscapes, the works show the artist’s vision of the connection between humans and the natural environments around us. At the entrance of the gallery space, mounted is Breath Cycles. Depicting a pair of lungs inhaling and exhaling, the shape fluctuates between human lungs and the twisting organic branches. 

Entering through a heavy curtain, we are brought into a cyber-forest. Each of the digital works feature visuals of forests, trees, and vegetation, pulsing visually and audibly to a beat. The tree trunks, large and filling the screen, are a captivating sight. Made from tiny dots of color, the digital rainforests and branches are in a constant state of minuscule movement, keeping the digital format from feeling stagnant and sterile. Screen sizes ranging from an entire wall to a foot diameter circle, the effect is captivating. Each piece of work is a portal to another world.

The exhibit explores the connections and similarities to functions of the human cardiovascular system to those of plants, and how our inner workings are very similar interlocked. Using the simple action of breath, the lightly pulsating and rhythmic qualities of the digital art pieces guides the viewer to breathe along with the beat, evoking the unconscious connection between human life and the vegetation around us. 

- Sarit Luftman

REVISED: Alexis Trice; "Deep Sea Swallow Me"

 Alexis Trice’s Deep Sea, Swallow Me, currently on view at Long Story Short Gallery, takes viewers on an emotional journey into the heart of the ocean. Through her powerful use of color and texture, Trice explores the way water mirrors our emotions in her paintings—how it holds both beauty and danger, light and shadow. The pieces evoke a sense of constant change, like the shifting tides or the layers of memory that accumulate over time. It’s a stunning exploration of how our feelings evolve, much like water - flowing, transforming, and sometimes, sinking deep below the surface.

Standout pieces included Salt of the Earth and I Had a Dream I Was Crying, which depict long-haired dogs crying pearly tears into seashells floating above oceanic bodies of water. There’s something incredibly moving about the imagery—those tears, both delicate and weighty, with their pearly sheen, are a hopeful symbol of how emotions, even the most painful ones, can crystallize into something enduring. It’s like watching grief or loss transform into something that stays with you, just like a memory. These works, along with the rest of the show, leave you thinking about the rhythms of time and how everything—emotions, memories, even the ocean—moves in cycles. Trice's exhibition isn’t just a visual experience but a transformative one, inviting you to dive into the depths of what lies beneath the surface.