On view through this week at Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago is a new solo exhibition by Hans Hemmert titled, “this preparation of readiness for keeping oneself open to the arrival or absence of the god.” Hemmert is an artist who has become known for his humor infused philosophical works that reside in ideas of space, physicality, religion and the state of being. The artist has also developed a signature use of the color yellow, which often appears as an amorphous blob in his work. For his current exhibition with Kavi Gupta, Hemmert presented several yellow fiberglass sculptures along side other light and text sculptures, video animations and drawings. The works mix religious references with that of pop-culture, such as the piece “I am the way, the truth and the life [14:6]. I am the vine and you are the branches [15:1]” which shows John the Evangelist morphing into a boom box. Hemmert currently lives and works in Berlin, and studied at the Hochschule der K√ºnste Berlin and at St. Martins School of Art in London. This year, the artist exhibited with Stadtische Galerie Nordhorn in Germany, and last year exhibited “ego sum via” with Carlier/Gebauer in Berlin.

Opening this weekend at Samson Projects in Boston, Massachusetts, is a series titled “Self Portraits” by artist Gabriel Martinez. For this exhibition, the artist’s “self portraits” are not of himself, as the title would suggest, instead he conducted several photo sessions with supposed heterosexual men who he lends his camera equipment to photograph their feet at the point of sexual climax. The artist initially presented the series in 1998 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where he displayed over a 100 images. The work is an attempt to redirect and record the intimate act of pleasure as it relates to the gay male gaze, and to open the imagery to larger social concerns. Martinez lives and works in Philadelphia and received his MFA in Photography from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University in 1991. He has exhibited and performed at White Columns in NYC, Exit Art, NYC, and Institute of Contemporary Art in Pennsylvania. For the exhibition, Samson projects as developed a catalogue with an essay by Richard Torchia.

Dutch artist Folkert de Jong is currently exhibiting in his first New York solo exhibition “Les Saltimbanques,” with the James Cohan Gallery. Since attending the Rijksakademie for Visual Arts in Amsterdam, the artist has reached international acclaim for his figurative sculptures that often depict historical scenes which are manipulated to reveal both humor and the grotesque simultaneously. Through using the material of industrial Styrofoam and polyurethane foam that artist is able to sculpt large crude works, whose material handling further underscores his investigation of both a historical and contemporary landscape. For his current exhibition, the artist has departed from his previous ‘pseudo monuments’ and has taken a more subdued approach to render his subject of the Harlequin. De Jong’s characters are influenced from Picasso’s Rose Period works, with particular references to Picasso’s “Family of Saltimbanques” (1905). Of his work, the artist has stated, “With my life-size, figurative sculptural installations I want the public to become aware of the mechanism of sublime emotion, and how much we are being manipulated by mass media with this mechanism in order to influence our critical opinion.”

De Jong was born in the Netherlands in 1972. He co-founded Space For Artists in Amsterdam, and in 2003, was a finalist for the Prix de Rome for sculpture. The artist has recently completed the exhibitions “Der Falsche Prophet”, Peres Projects, Berlin, “Gott Mit Uns”, Lever House, New York and “Medusa’s First Move: The Council”, Chisenhale Gallery, London.

Artist Francesca DiMattio’s paintings are rooted in architectural structures and the still life, yet explode with movement due to the deconstruction and fragmentation of these otherwise familiar and stable objects. Scale is very important in a DiMattio painting, as the artist attempts to engulf the viewer within the imagery, furthering the illusion of space both through scale and through the flattening of the objects rendered. Open through next week is “Unhinged,” new paintings by the artist at LAXART in Los Angeles. For this exhibition, the artist continues explore these activated surfaces that now occupy a narrow gallery, literally consuming the space. DiMattio received her BFA from Cooper Union in 2003, and her MFA at Columbia University in 2005. Since graduation, the artist has completed exhibitions at Salon 94 in NYC, Frederick Snitzer in Miami, and Marvelli Gallery also in NYC.

New York-based artist Dannielle Tegeder recently opening the exhibition “7(x) = 20x + x5d-1 + (Yellow)”, at the Gregory Lind Gallery in San Francisco. The seven new works on paper are based on a diagrammatic method of illustrating space which results in a geometric materiality that is concrete and stable. The artist combines linear patterns with hard edged painting to create the illusion of space and speed on the work’s surface. Tegeder received her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and since exhibited in PS1/MoMA, the New Museum, The Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in (MCA) Chicago. The artist has also completed a residency program with Smack Mellon in NYC and has been the recipient of grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and The Yaddo Foundation.

Opening this weekend at L.A. Louver Gallery in Venice, California is an exhibition of recent paintings and other works on paper by British artist Tony Bevan. For this series the artist has returned to the subject matter of heads and architectural structures, both of which are rendered with a crude application of acrylic paint and pure pigments, evoking a refined yet primitive surface. Formally, Bevan’s painting read much like drawings, being composed of think lines of charcoal mixed with paint applied using a brush which has been reduced to a stump. This process thereby eliminates any sense of the paint’s liquid properties, and allows the work to embody strong physical characteristics and richly dense textures. Bevan studied painting and sculpture at Bradford School of Art in the UK and later at Goldsmiths’ College and the Slade School of Fine Art. The artist began experimenting with the mediums of film, video and installation while cultivating his painting and sculpture. Bevan has exhibited world-wide with museum exhibitions at the ICA in London, the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst Haus der Kunst, Munich, and a major retrospective was presented by the Institut Valencia d’Art Modern (IVAM) in Valencia, Spain in 2005. This year Bevan had the honor of becoming a Royal Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

The Moti Hasson Gallery in New York City is currently presenting “Waking the Dead,” a new body of work by Canadian-born, New York-based artist Jillian McDonald. The exhibition will include a special performance on Halloween night. Within the show, the artist has produced several videos and a series of photographs which feature images that are derivative from a variety of horror films. In the work above, “Horror Makeup (2006), McDonald films herself transforming into a zombie as viewers gaze upon the transformation on an otherwise ‘normal’ subway ride. In reference to placing herself in the work, Mcdonald states “My presence in the work is not autobiographical. I think it’s clear that my image serves as a deliberate subject who enacts shared fantasies or fears.” McDonald received funding the exhibition in part by a grant from Pace University, and created the work through residencies in New York at The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace Program, The School of Visual Arts, and The Western Front in Vancouver, Canada. The artist received her MFA from Hunter College in NYC, and has complete exhibitions worldwide including works with Jack the Pelican Presents, NYC, Soap Factory, Minneapolis, and upcoming exhibitions with 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA, and Bjornson Kajiwara Gallery in Vancouver.