Holland Cotter reviews Mor Faye: The Untitled Series, Works On Paper, 1969-84 at Skoto Gallery (through March 18) and Ernest Mancoba at Aicon Gallery (through April 8).
Cotter writes: “Stylistically, [Mor Faye’s] work is kaleidoscopic, the binder being its propulsive energy. This is fabulously inventive picture-making. I can easily imagine young painters delighting in it, and learning from it… [Ernest Mancoba’s] work at Aicon, all from after Cobra dissolved in 1951, thwarts easy cultural readings. In small oil paintings, abstract strokes and daubs of color coalesce into sketchy, featureless figures; in related ink drawings they resemble large-headed African sculptures. Other ink drawings are entirely abstract, made up cursive forms that, like characters from an imagery alphabet, spin and tumble across a page.”