Luscious Fog: A Walk Through Chelsea

Running errands on the West Side, we got lost in the fog and ended up in gallery territory. Here's what we saw:


Terry Winters "Cricket Music, Tessellation Figures and Notebook" @ Matthew Marks (522 & 502 W 22 St) - This month is a banner one for abstract painting and Terry Winters' show of large oil on linen canvases is a delight. Bright and happy, they expand on the artist's exploration of nature and the "micro as macro" sensibility that has been his trademark. Not quite psychedelic, these pictures swirl with the compression-expansion of a sunflower and each canvas works this tension masterfully. The paintings have well-worked surfaces that are pleasantly surprising close-up. They also make nice reference to earlier modern masters of color such as Matisse, Delauney and Redon. Accompanying these paintings, up the street, is Winter's "Notebook" installation, a series of notebook paged collages that appear deceptively simple and give us a peek into the artist's process. DEFINITELY WORTH A VISIT! 
Up until April 14th 2012.

Tessellation Figure 7

Dan Walsh @ Paula Cooper (534 W 21 St) - Another show of luxurious abstract work. Ranging from unbelievably bright and colorful to deep and brooding, Walsh's cumulative process of layers creates opulent surfaces that dazzle the eye. Structural formality is countered with small details that have the decorative  depth of Aboriginal art. Do not miss the drawings in the front gallery. As a confessed "gold slut", I loved theses drawings! Worth a visit!
Closes April 21th 2012.


Georg Baselitz @ Gagosian (522 W 21st St) - This German master presents his largest canvases to date in this Barn of Art. I was pleasantly surprised by this show. Eschewing his preferred "upside-down" orientation, these portraits a split horizontally with the upper half featuring a close-up of the subject done with large patches of color similar to the Color Field painters that are embroidered with fine lines that bring detail to the face, and the lower half the rest of their body, often in a combination of motion and memory. Also featured is a black wood sculpture of a man and a woman arm in arm. I've often found Baselitz's work aggressive and deliberately ugly, but I found a genuine love and delicacy in these works. Bravo.
Up until April 7th 2012.

Georg Baselitz, installation view

Jonathan Lasker "Early Works 1977 - 1985" @ Cheim & Read (547 W 25th St)  - Speaking of abstract painting, the title says it all. Early works by one our better know abstract painters today. And indeed these are early. One can see the artist struggling to find a way to confront the concept of painting NOT being dead yet finding a clear and viable voice. The show is set up nicely, so by the time you get to the last gallery there's some nice resolution going on with three very satisfying canvases.
Ends March 24th 2012.



Also seen:
Anne Truitt @ Matthew Marks (525 W 24th) - A nice survey show of drawings dating back to the early 60's. Truitt's minimalist nature is overshadowed by phenomenal sense of color and line. Deceptively simple, another luscious abstract show! Loved it!!
Until April 14th.


Catherine Opie @ Mitchell-Innes & Nash (534 W 26) "High School Football - Opie continues her study of the structure of space and the development of community by turning to an all-American pass time. Large format landscapes dominate the back of the gallery while touching portraits of players grace the front. Don't miss Football Landscape #9: a masterpiece. Worth a peek. 
Until April 14th.


Sarah Charlesworth @ Susan Inglett (522 W 24) A show of new work entitled "Available Light" by a master of the photo-object. Light blue predominated especially in a charming striped piece. Nice to see her back.
Until April 14th. 



Melanie Willhide @ Von Lintel (520 W 23)  Mash-up meets Zen. Working with images retrieved from her stolen, formatted hard drive Willhide creates some very amusing and disturbing images. Think Lillian Bassman meets Weegee!
Closes March 24th.

A STROLL THROUGH CHELSEA

Since our invitation to a studio visit to the Upper East Side was rescinded we strolled the Hi-Line then took in some art. Here's what we saw:

JANET CARDIFF & GEORGE BURES MILLER @ LUHRING AUGUSTINE GALLERY -Fabulous fun. Cardiff and Miller continue to produce smart works that demand the visitor's attention. Aural and narrative exploration are the words-dejour here. Three 'antique' black telephones adorn the wall when you enter the gallery. Definitely sit in on the bleary dream Cardiff recounts on the rightmost of the three. Mid-Gallery contains The Carnie, a large loud carousel with two small children floating above it. Make your way through as quickly as you can and get your behind into the last gallery which contains a lovely old wooden library filing cabinet. The piece is called "The Cabinet of Curiousness". Open a drawer and a sound or a voice or piece of music emerges from the drawer. Drawers can be opened and closed in random order which made for great viewer interaction. This piece drew me in so deeply and contentedly that i never listened to the final telephone pieces. On my next visit, because I intend to come back!
I would love to concertize on this instrument!! GO NOW!!
Up until May 1, 2010 - DO MOT MISS! TOTO AND I BOTH SAY GO!!




URSULA VON RYDINGSVARD @ GALERIE LELONG - Large, raw wooden sculptures. A variety of inside-outside vessel objects are crafted with the artist's usual attention to rough-hewn detail. Impressive in a Teutonic-fetish way. Ouch!!

Up until May 1, 2010 - WORTH A LOOK!




DONALD BAECHLER @ CHEIM & READ - Baechler continues to institutionalize his naïf style. Large flowers, soccer balls and skulls float on enormous tarps of spattered paint and newsprint. Theses pieces are big! And absolutely nothing new.


Up until MARCH 27, 2010 - IF YOU MUST. DEFINITELY FOR PAINTHEADS!!




CATHERINE OPIE  @ GLADSTONE GALLERY- Beautiful butch lesbians. Opie's color work is rich and straightforward. Her small black and white are fiercely fetishistic and don't really dull their porno appeal. Opie is highly capable and highly over-rated.
Up until April 24, 2010 - HOT HOT HOT??


Also seen:


APRIL ROSS-HO:  "Somebody stop me" @ MITCHELL-INNES & NASH- A nice New York debut by this California based artist. Very girly, very gold. My hat is off to anyone who makes their own pegboard! And we love the enormous inverted gold clown pin and gold chain ornaments. WORTH A LOOK.


ANDRE BUTZER: "Nicht fürchten! Don´t be scared!" @ METRO PICTURES GALLERY - Large, thick lavish paintings. Messy and derivative. Standouts are Grablegung von Winnie Puh (Entombment of Winnie the Pooh) and Nicht fürchten! (3) (Don't be Scared! (3))!! WORTH A WALK-THRU.


WES LANG: "Smile, It's a Grey Day: @ ZIEHERSMITH GALLERY - More paintings, large and small. Memento Mori moments galore. The smaller works are more successful, especially the 'black' paintings, simpler and more evocative. FLIP A COIN.

WILHELM SASNAL @ ANTON KERN GALLERY - A talented Polish painter working in the German School of Everystyle. Dim, wishy-washy and uninspiring. IF YOU MUST.


BARBARA KRUGER @ MARY BOONE GALLERY - A large scale multichannel video of humorless humor "artfully" projected. SKIP IT.