Studio neighbors here make neighboring shows, one (Planck) in Rachel Uffner’s ground-floor space, the other (Armacost) in the upstairs gallery. Both are called “Open Time,” and despite their placement in separate rooms, and solo treatment on the gallery’s website, it’s unclear whether it’s a two-man show, or two one-man shows, which is an interesting trick. The hanging for each is weird and coy, placing a few artworks high overhead. Planck shows both his floor-based, mixed media sculptures and his silicone-slathered oil paintings, which are bizarrely fleshy. Unlike earlier work, these focus more on space and less on text, with his illegible, handwritten notations almost invisible. Armacost presents paintings in oil and charcoal, along with hanging sculptures. Both artists draw the imagery of their two- and three-dimensional images across the expected dividing line of picture plane/object feeding the one on the other. The press release notes that “Open Time is synonymous with a window of opportunity or potential,” and they fulfill this, opening each show, each means of working and medium, each artist to the other.
Rachel Uffner: 170 Suffolk Street, 212 274 0064, on view through February 21 (see The List for gallery details)
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