Gallery Goer is a weekly column featuring not-to-be-missed gallery shows on the LES. Have a fun, art-inspired week!

Opening May 19 at Dodge Gallery is Twisted Sisters, a highly eclectic show that includes painting, sculpture, video, installation, prints, mixed media and performance art. Curated by Kristen Dodge and Janet Phelps, the show features works by women artists whose subjects are women.

Summer Wheat-Scratchpad-Version Two

The body becomes a canvas for the artist to project whatever she experiences—from fury to whimsy, fantasy, repulsion, frustration, pride and any other state you might imagine. Xaviera Simmons’ Index One-Composition Two presents an assemblage representing a woman we can only imagine–a totem of sorts. It’s up to the viewer to decide who “she” is or if  “she” even exists.

Xaviera Simmons-Index One- Composition Two

The works in this show deftly depict the intrinsic variety of various emotional states and experiences as seen through the artist’s eyes. Through June 24.

Michael Bauer H.S.O.P. - Ambro Gardens - 49 at Lisa Cooley

Over at Lisa Cooley the German artist Michael Bauer presents his first solo show in New York, a group of paintings that reveal a complex mix of figurative and abstract elements. Bauer says his work portrays gangs, families, music bands and mobs—he doesn’t appear to have taken inspiration from Occupy Wall Street.

This Dali-esque work features subjects that wear lop-sided grins, sport  deflated genitalia and loosely defined limbs. They are submerged within the paintings, and the viewer is challenged to draw them out. It’s a challenge worth taking. A large foot or foot-like shape appears in each painting.

Bauer is known to have spent time experimenting with collage and drawing, which have added a lightness to the work in this show vs. previous work. According to the Saatchi Gallery, “Bauer uses the qualities of abstract painting as a deviation of representational portraiture, allowing the media to replicate the characteristics of physical matter.”

The H.S.O.P. is a reference to the Hudson River School of painting—nothing could be farther from the truth here and one wonders what Bauer means by it. The work is fun, dark and chaotic at once, all of which makes for the perfect reason to see them. Through June 17.

Upcoming and noteworthy: Hendershot Gallery’s (Re)(Print), a show featuring the works of some amazing street artists opening May 23. Dacia Gallery debuts the works of painter Barbara L. Bachner with a reception on May 17 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Bachner’s show “Circle of Life” features basic shapes and colors that are transformed into dynamic abstractions–through June 1.

Featured gallery picks:

Lisa Cooley/ 107 Norfolk St./ 212.680.0564

Wed.-Sun. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Dodge Gallery/ 15 Rivington St./ 212-228-5122

Wed.-Sat. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., SUN 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Tues. by appointment.

TLD contributor Tobi Elkin is a writer, editor and interviewer and former resident of the Lower East Side who delights in the neighborhood’s eclectic pleasures. A regular reader of The Lo-Down, her diverse interests include arts and entertainment, film, food and cultural critique. Visit her website at tobielkin.com.

My inaugural Gallery Goer column appeared today in the Lo-Down:

Lesley Heller Workspace at 54 Orchard is one of my favorite galleries in the neighborhood. This spacious and airy gallery features two shows—one by a solo artist in the front space—and a second, group show deeper into the gallery. Currently on view as a solo show is “Leviathan” by Jade Townsend, which offers two installations that are bound to provoke conversation and at the very least a “Wow, what was he thinking?”

Jade Townsend's "Leviathan" at Lesley Heller Workspace.

Townsend’s dramatic sculptures and installations draw on allegory and myth, leveraging both found and fabricated elements. At the get-go, visitors to the show are met with a foreboding image of a large body sans head. Even more striking, is a large abandoned truck that dead-ends into a video screen projecting images of drifters, rebels and other forlorn figures.

Jade Townsend's installation at Lesley Heller Workspace.

Are the decapitated head and past-its-prime truck meant to foretell a dark fate for humankind, or are they merely cultural artifacts, the detritus of living? It’s up to you to decide. Through May 25.

Untitled (Blue and Brown), Noam Rappaport at James Fuentes.

At James Fuentes, Swedish artist Noam Rappaport presents neat and spare and smartly painted canvasses some featuring large geometric shapes.  The shapes and configurations feel studied without being fussy. The canvasses easily drawn the viewer in, so much so, I wanted to touch them. Rappaport’s work has a textural feel to it, particularly the canvas-wrapped and framed panels in which the artist makes use of objects from previous projects.

In the appealing, Collection #8, the artist organizes diverse objects and materials into a cohesive whole. Rappaport’s Scandinavian aesthetic has all the clean and fresh you could ever want. Simple and lovely. Through June 1.

Collection #8, Noam Rappaport at James Fuentes.

At the spacious and inviting Woodward Gallery, the Japanese-born, Boston-based artist Kenji Nakayama spins an intricate tale using photo-realistic hand-cut multi-layered stencils. In his first solo New York show, Nakayama leverages these stencils along with spray enamel, acrylic and mixed media, to powerful effect. Nakayama’s background as a mechanical engineer is evident here as well as the influence of his move to the U.S. in 2004.

Shuttered Reality (White), Kenji Nakayama at Woodward Gallery.

Nakayama’s paintings tap into graffiti-esque elements—the artist is also an accomplished muralist—and mark his attempts to document the ordinary nature of everyday life.

CSX Rubric, Kenji Nakayama at Woodward Gallery.

The subject matter belies Nakayama’s labor-intensive art-making process–each hand-cut stencil painting can take months to complete. See for yourself, on view through July 7.

TLD contributor Tobi Elkin is a writer, editor and interviewer and former resident of the Lower East Side who delights in the neighborhood’s eclectic pleasures. A regular reader of The Lo-Down, her diverse interests include arts and entertainment, film, food and cultural critique. Visit her website at tobielkin.com.

Speak Now or Forever Lose Your Rights

I was leaving work on Friday April 20 and noticed an Occupy Wall Street protest taking place on the steps of Federal Hall on Wall St. The signs, poses, costumes, chants and masks were interesting. There was a drum circle and a lot of chanting. A lot of the people seemed to know one another. The police stood by in a horizontal line watching. There were a couple of arrests for blocking pedestrian traffic in the area. There was plenty of tension though. I liked this sign–it made me feel good to see it.

I never met a sunset I didn’t like or at least appreciate and marvel at in some way. The colors and configurations, streaks and layers are fascinating to me. I love looking at sunsets–anytime, anywhere. I will stop to look at them wherever I find myself. I caught this one in Litchfield, Conn. in early spring.