8. Elisa Johns
Mike Weiss, 520 W. 24th St.
Through May 8, this seven-year-old Chelsea gallery shows the works of Elisa Johns. Atmospheric and mythological, the large-scale ethereal paintings, mostly graceful strokes of color against a white background, portray ancient heroines such as Diana, the huntress.
9. “Fleurs”
Benrimon Contemporary, 514 W. 24th St.
What do flowers signify in art: impermanence, sensuality, beauty, decay? This large show, opening May 6, features both 19th- and 20th-century artists and argues that the meaning of flowers, and how they were painted, has changed radically from the 1880s through to the present.
10. Alison Elizabeth Taylor
James Cohan, 533 W. 26th St.
With collectors like Eli Broad and Val Kilmer, this Chelsea gallery is only getting more powerful and better known. On May 7, the gallery opens the aptly named “Foreclosed,” a show by wood-inlay artist Alison Elizabeth Taylor. Her images focus on “the marks, holes and removals found in homes abandoned by foreclosure.”
11. Mark Ryden
Paul Kasmin, 293 10th Ave.
Look but can’t buy: This show, by a cult painter known for his album covers (Michael Jackson’s Dangerous, among many others), was virtually sold out before it opened. Los Angeles collectors, mostly, flock to Mr. Ryden’s Alice in Wonderland meets John Currin meets big-eyed “precious moments” figurine images. Sweet and acrid simultaneously, the kitsch meister’s fantasy scenes are arresting.
apeers@observer.com
