Seven Enigmatic Sculptures

Firth MacMillan, "Pink Grow Green" (2006)
Let’s start at Charles Cowles, with a group of sculptures by Firth MacMillan, on view through February 2. Crafted in ceramic, MacMillan’s pieces range from objects a few inches across to something like this one, "Pink Grow Green" (2006), which scrambles joyously across 43 feet of two adjoining 12-foot-high walls. MacMillan is a virtuoso ceramicist, and I found this piece lovely, entertaining, and subtly ribald, with pinkish-orange fruitlike bodies emerging (and floating away like balloons) from lush tropical foliage, but unmistakably hinting at human sexuality as well.

Courtesy Charles Cowles