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 BRISK STROLL THROUGH CHELSEA

Finding ourselves in the Chelsea area this sub-zero Saturday afternoon, we bundled up our mufflers, straightened our long johns and took a quick peek at a few exhibits in Chelsea. Here's what we saw:

JIM DINE "HOT DREAM (52 BOOKS)" @ PACEWILDERSTEIN - A gargantuan installation by one of the grandpa's of Pop. the gallery has been cordoned off into various shaped room which are overrun with drawings, photographs, prints, stenciled walls, audio tapes and sculptures. I was pleased to see the old man incorporate a few new images into his repertoire: Pinocchio and Santa appear in numerous guises and media (I had wished the large dark Santa in one room was chocolate and not clay, but.....). In fact the little wooden boy is ubiquitous. There is a notable large sculpture to your left when u enter that is a butch, manly piece featuring the artist's famed heart hanging from a Di Suvero-like framework of beams with wires and equipment dangling from it. An awful lot of stuff from one of our better known American artists.

NANCY SPERO 'UN COUP DE DENT' @ GALERIE LELONG - This large group of paintings and drawings date from 1954 to 1965 and show this artist in a period leading up to well-known later works. Done in Paris and exhibited there as The Black Paintings, these primal figurative works often deal with lovers and families. They also share a raw savage quality that is similar to that of her now-deceased life partner Leon Golub. Certainly smoother and more 'painterly' than most of his 'Giganticism' and political portraits, they share that power of deep gesture used for figurative purposes. WORTH A LOOK!!

Also seen:
DON BACHARDY: CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD, LAST DRAWINGS @ CHEIM & READ - A gripping and grueling series of portraits of the writer drawn by his life partner. Many of the later portraits, particularly those that focus of the head have the power of a Kollwitz or a Daumier. INTENSE BUT WORTHWHILE.

CHRISTOPHER MINER @ MITCHELL-INNES & NASH - new videos and a photograph from this satirist of proper, pious South. Definitely check out the "Via Delarosa" and "Closing Credits" videos. MADE US CHUCKLE ON A GRIM COLD DAY.

CHRISTOPH GIELEN @ DANIEL COONEY GALLERY: large color photographs of mankind at its finest, highways and housing. Taken around the world, they document a kind of corporate matrix has infiltrated the world; only the sign with Chinese writing is the only clue that the hi-rise we are studying is there and not Las Vegas or Dubai. Curving row of roads and houses taken recently in Texas look remarkably like original pictures from Levittown. If only they were computer-generated!!

"EVERY REVOLUTION IS A ROLL OF THE DICE" @ PAULA COOPER - A group show organized for the gallery by Bob Nickas of twelve artists. I didn't quite get the entire zeitgeist of the show but standouts include Barry X Ball's elongated Buddha head, Huma Bhabha's brancusi-esque sculpture and Carol Bove's peacock carpet. Note to gallery: As I remember the piece, the Louise Lawler by the front desk should have a pink wall or area of wall around it. We know Pratt & Lambert are out of business but its not impossible to match a paint chip!! Tsk tsk tsk!!