Katy Grannan's Portraits at Salon 94 Freemans Explore Ambivalence and Theatricality

Katy Grannan's portraits at Salon 94 Freemans exhibit a pervasive ambivalence, with subjects returning a gaze blending coyness and exhibitionism. Her images oscillate between extremes, building a visceral present through precision while succumbing to a remoteness from theatricality. Ellen Berkenbilt shows at Anton Kern, and Jane Freilicher at Tibor de Nagy. William Kentridge is featured at Marian Goodman, with Chris Martin at Michell-Innes & Nash. Grannan also appears at Greenberg Van Doren Gallery. In another body of work, tensions between intimate and public realms, and between information and interpretation, take on new meaning in what the artist terms an 'orchestrated theatrical disaster' of war. Despite references to classical, renaissance, and modernist genres, her paintings avoid nostalgia, emitting an arch contemporary emotion.