Alexi Worth and Joe Coleman exhibitions explore painting's boundaries through Renaissance and comic influences

Alexi Worth's exhibition at DC Moore Gallery presents paintings that test the limits of depiction through stylistic dualities. Works like "Beautiful Unfinishable Magazine" feature figures with one foot rendered classically and the other distorted, referencing both Renaissance Mannerism and contemporary artists like Lisa Yuskavage and John Currin. Worth explores subjects only painting can capture, such as the multiply reflected fingers in "Double Sip" depicting a first-date moment. His interest in photography's impact on painting appears in "Lenscap," which includes a detail from Titian's Adam and Eve. The show runs until October 7 at 724 Fifth Avenue. Joe Coleman's exhibition at Jack Tilton Gallery displays 33 panels combining comic book language with Renaissance devotional painting traditions. His gothic portraits, like "A New York Pirate (Albert Hicks)" and "Old Man Brown (John Brown)," surround subjects with vignettes from their lives and symbolic figures. The darkened gallery focuses light exclusively on the painted panels. Coleman's "Odditorium" installation features murder weapons and taxidermy. His work was included in the 2001 Hieronymous Bosch exhibition at Rotterdam's Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The exhibition continues until October 4 at 8 East 76 Street.