Francois-Xavier Lalanne’s sheep sculptures on Michael Shvo’s Getty Station is a striking combination of urban and rural: so bourgeois yet so unexpected. It’s hard to decide whether the grazing sheep intruded upon the gas station or if the gas station is paving over the pasture. Really, the grass was there first, but it’s hard to imagine grass dominating over something industrial in the city. One would not think to combine the two, yet upon seeing it, the two work in perfect harmony together. One similarity between the two seemingly opposite, a gas station and a meadow, is their usefulness. Gas and technology is what powers most of us through our days, yet we don’t stop to appreciate the equally important role that plain fresh air plays in our lives. This public art display is a creative way of expressing the “go green!” motto, and capturing the attention of anyone who passes by. Or, reminding people of the good old days when gas was still less than $3.

Pieter Hugo, in his art exhibit at the Yossi Milo gallery, Kin, focuses on the racism and disadvantages that black Africans face in South Africa. While apartheid may have ended, the discrimination hasn’t. He explores the pitiable Africans’ homes and lives making us wonder how the whites can let the Africans survive day-to-day like this? When race permeates every aspect of society for the worst, so does the question of how to handle it. In one picture, a young boy is seen begging on the streets of South Africa where his skin, caked with dirt, actually looks silver. This is probably the epitome of poverty from the eyes of a New Yorker; however, it’s commonplace in South Africa. The hopelessness in his eyes combined with the blurry outline of Spanish-tiled roof houses in the background magnifies the striking injustice and destitution that the Africans face, where all-powerful whites are but a mere fraction.