By Julie Baumgardner
After spending several years recovering from the removal of a brain tumor, the Swiss artist John Armleder is back with an untitled show at Nahmad Contemporary, on the Upper East Side. “Before I got ill, I did wall paintings with models of brains,” he said. Instead of gray matter, Mr. Armleder’s latest work includes large-scale canvases streaked with explosions of glitter, Styrofoam and tropical colors. The artist also plays with sculpture and installation: there are tractor tires planted with flowers, and a series of randomly placed fluorescent bulbs (a nod to his buddy Dan Flavin). “I have no genre,” he said. “I believe in everything. It avoids being stuck into a frame of understanding.”