Chelsea Opens
It was great to be back wandering around Chelsea tonight. Mother Nature smiled on both the art and fashion worlds by holding off on the rain that had been forecast to be heavy this evening.
People were out and about in reasonable numbers, but it wasn’t a heavily attended season opener compared to years gone by. The frantic craziness with people rushing from one gallery to another with their long lists of gallery openings was not evident tonight. In fact all in all, the atmosphere was relatively subdued with few galleries pumping out high octane energy. The fact that there were many galleries that were closed for the evening, whether because they were installing for later openings or were still showing their summer shows, didn’t help.
The impact of the recession was very much evident, with many shows presenting mono-chromatic, dark or washed out colors with subject matters that were equally subdued.
Having said all that, there were some excellent highlights that I will be going back to see in the next few weeks, so that I can make a really detailed study of the works, something that opening night is never really conducive towards. The following are in no particular order.
Pace Wildenstein is showing Maya Lin’s large- scale installations “Three Ways of Looking at the Earth” at their 22nd Street location. She has recreated scaled down natural topographies within the confines of the gallery allowing you to walk around and through the environment, giving you a different perspective and experience of the natural world. The main piece “2 x 4 Landscape” was created by a team of 12 people working for a month assembling 50,000 pieces of vertical wooden two-by-fours. It is an imagined terrain that swells from a skirt of four to six inches to a peak of 10 feet occupying 2,400 square feet. The work has a Zen-like purity and simplicity yet manages to instill awe in the viewer.
Another installation was Chen Qiulin’s “Sincerely Yours” at Max Protetch also on 22nd Street, although this is the tail end of a summer show that closes on September 19th. Moved by the earthquake that hit Sichuan Province in May of 2008, she has created a show incorporating papier-mâché human figures that resemble Pompeii’s last day, videos and photographs of the still devastated urban infrastructures that sit amid landscapes that are renewing and recovering faster. Interestingly, the overall image is of hope.
At the Axelle Fine Art Gallery on 25th street Philippe Jacquet’s exhibition of what sculptor Charles Schindler describes as “unlikely landscapes” was on show. The artist’s background in architecture is very much evident in the landscapes, buildings and boats. A blend of super-realism and surrealism executed with impressive skill, Jacquet builds scenes that pop out from the canvas and also deceives the viewer with landscapes and seascapes that are not quite what you expect on closer inspection. The rich yet soft colors gently draw the viewer in to appreciate the beauty that even the rusting old hull of a barge can provide.
At Kim Foster Gallery on 20th Street, Sherry Karver is exhibiting “Private Stories / Public Places. Karver has taken the excellent pastime of people-watching and into art with a wonderful combination of oil painting, digital imagery, oil glazes, resin and text. The images of people are intriguing, but it is the addition of her very witty and often poignant commentary of their intimate personal details which are placed over the people and dogs which really draws you in. She explains “I superimpose biographies on top of figures about the person; their hopes, their dreams and often something personal that they would rather not reveal.” You cannot fully appreciate her visual art without reading the text. This exhibition definitely requires some additional time in the schedule.
Finally if you haven’t been to see it yet and can get there by September 19th, “Naked!” at Paul Kasmin is a summer group show featuring an illustrious roster of artist and their contribution of figurative work. Included are Pablo Picasso, Kenny Scharf, David Lachappelle, Duncan Hannah, Cecily Brown, Man Ray, Tom of Finland, Mel Ramos, Andy Warhol and many many more.
Wishing you a new season of great art discoveries.
