Autumn weather makes us want to wander. Since we had to pick up some catalogs, we strolled through Chelsea. While trawling through the galleries, we saw:
Joan Mitchell @ Cheim & Read (547 W 25) - Entitled "The Last Paintings", these twelve pictures are from the last five years of her life and show the artist at the top of her game. Large and ambitious, these giddy abstract canvases are both stark and bold. The innate presence of Nature in them is almost taken for granted (Mitchell moved to Paris, France in 1959 then to the outskirts of the city in 1967). But as with her other AbEx compatriots, her works seem deceptively simple but are actually rather complex. Walking up close to them you appreciate her mastery of the surface of her canvas and the complexity of her brushwork. A nice breath of Spring in NYC as Autumn approaches. Check it out!!
Richard Pousette-Dart @ Luhring Augustine (531 W 24) - "East River Studio" is a spectacular mini-retrospective of the youngest of the AbEx painters that he produced during the five years at his E 56th Street studio, an old brewery. Pousette-Dart exemplifies the post-WWII collision of art history with the fracturing of surrealism and abstraction. Sculptures that seem like rusting wires and metal plates are actually dreamy takes on Nature. Canvases are worked, cut apart, reworked, then tacked to stretchers. And many of these canvases are WORKED!! Another side of the AbEx obsession with surface, I can see their influence on artists like Terry Winters and the later work of Brice Marden. Curated by Christopher Wool, many of these works have not been seen in NYC since the early 1950s. Definitely worth a visit!!
Matta @ The Pace Gallery (534 W 25) - This "Centennial Celebration" focuses on the later years of this Surrealist master. Almost museum-like in its adoration, one see's the essence of his earlier work on a much larger scale. No work dates from before 1975, so all the canvases are large, yet the scrambled biomorphic blobs and explosions are all there. Like Mitchell's work, the surfaces of the pictures are even more intriguing viewed up close. And once again we see the artist's influence on others, not only AbEx artists but those of the Eighties' as well. There's nothing extremely surprising here but well worth a peek.
Yoko Ono @ Galerie Lelong (528 W 26) - Another titled installation, "Uncursed", is Ono's way of "re-creating" an action that she performed in Hiroshima. Just in time for Performa 11 and it's Fluxus Weekend, Ono provides a thoughtful and droll view of life in New York with large rubber centipedes crawling up the back corner. Large old doors without their locks stand and recline around the rear gallery with small glossy puddles of sky nearby. Random quartets of identical holes lead you to that gallery. Dramatic in its presentation, I didn't come out feeling blessed. Worth a peak.
Also Seen:
Peter Hujar @ Matthew Marks (523 W24) - "Three Lives: Peter Hujar, Paul Thek, & David Wojnarowicz" is a charming exhibit of mostly vintage prints Hujar took of his two best-known lovers along with self-portraits from as early as 1957. The loveliness of the prints is offset by the decay of the body. A very heartfelt installation.
Sarah Braman "Yours" @ Mitchell-Innes & Nash (534 W26) - In her first NYC show, the artist presents sculptural and wall works. The stars of the show are the sculptures, all of which meld large pieces of a mobile home with very formal modern boxes. I found the pieces very droll, sort of taking a home apart to create a series of garden follies. Be sure to check out the vanity mirror that's incorporated in the piece entitled "Coffin"!!
Anh Duong @ Sonnabend Gallery (536 W22) - An interesting and provocative exhibit of self-portraits. A queasy blend of Balthus, German Expressionism and Alice Neel, the artist peers out at us constantly in beguiling yet mundane scenerios. Paranoids should avoid, otherwise go!
Peter Hujar @ Matthew Marks (523 W24) - "Three Lives: Peter Hujar, Paul Thek, & David Wojnarowicz" is a charming exhibit of mostly vintage prints Hujar took of his two best-known lovers along with self-portraits from as early as 1957. The loveliness of the prints is offset by the decay of the body. A very heartfelt installation.
Sarah Braman "Yours" @ Mitchell-Innes & Nash (534 W26) - In her first NYC show, the artist presents sculptural and wall works. The stars of the show are the sculptures, all of which meld large pieces of a mobile home with very formal modern boxes. I found the pieces very droll, sort of taking a home apart to create a series of garden follies. Be sure to check out the vanity mirror that's incorporated in the piece entitled "Coffin"!!
Anh Duong @ Sonnabend Gallery (536 W22) - An interesting and provocative exhibit of self-portraits. A queasy blend of Balthus, German Expressionism and Alice Neel, the artist peers out at us constantly in beguiling yet mundane scenerios. Paranoids should avoid, otherwise go!
