HIGHLIGHTS
Painting is infused with jagged jolts of adrenaline and endorphins this month, as evidenced by the markedly etched walls of white cubes sprinkled across Chelsea. Broad, gestural sweeps across canvases move into sculptural territory through the decisive claiming of space through prescient encounters. At Gagosian, Jadé Fadojutimi’s flourishing brushstrokes are illuminated by radiant pearlescent and neon hues that push and pull with hypnotic intensity. One is lifted off their feet and transported to an alternate world teeming with dance cards chock full of visual tangos with electric punctuations. At Seizan Gallery, Yashushi Ikejiri also embraces striking, colorful combinations through vibrant representations of the mundane, bringing an almost surrealist figuration of vignettes through a masterfully crafted language of paint. Pinaree Sanpitak’s presentation at Lelong & Co. takes a different approach through the limitations of color, where neutrals dominate with equal measures of intensity and fervor. Alteronce Gumby wonderfully bridges the two approaches of marrying bold colors with delicate textiles by showing two different bodies of work that tether these realms at Nicola Vassell. Light remained a constant inhabiting each gallery, moving across, through, or exuding from within each painting. As the brilliance of these colorscapes warms us from the inside out, each of these artists causes us to pause; the light they emit remains a constant with us as we move across our respective paths across the earth.
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DWELVE: A Goosebump in Memory at Gagosian @jadefadojuttimi @gagosian
On view through: December 21, 2024
Featuring: Jadé Fadojutimi
To enter Jadé Fadojutimi’s exhibition is to stumble upon a color field dream. With shades so vibrant that they function like a siren at sea, the mammoth paintings feel immersive and exciting; vision upon vision line the walls in splendid delight that satisfies beyond words. Moving through confident expressions of paint, each scene plays like a film still of the cinematic sublime: highly saturated pigments wish you a bon voyage as you step off of the land of this world and step into Fadojutimi’s world of atmospheric dreams of floating in the midst of the Milky Way or walking into the sunset at the end of your favorite technicolor film.
Distinct deftness and exuberant ecstasy are in full bloom in this impressive lineup that impressively spans with exciting surprises at every turn. A range of feelings swell and bow, like a balloon contrasting and expanding as air is pushed in and out. Large, looming, and utterly grand, a deep awe reverberates through the bones of the building. Each formidable canvas harnesses energies like precious gemstones, their intense vibrations bouncing off the walls and creating a stunning cacophony of silent melodies that play in our heads as we delightedly move from painting to painting. Joyful conjurings fuse with moments of reflection and gravitas as one moves through the gallery.
Prince of the Far Rainbow at Nicola Vassell @alteroncegumby @nicolavassellgallery
On view through: December 14, 2024
Featuring: Alteronce Gumby
Mosaics and fibers, tenderly melded with resin, adorn the walls in a myriad of colors and applications that pebble and pulse against the walls of the gallery. Standing amongst grand geometric-block compositions in the front gallery, these works conjure a sensation of existing within an alternate realm: one in which Tetris is the national pastime and in a sphere that is both meditative and exhilarating. Hard-edged jewel tones blend with dark swirls that reference beautiful marble. The precision and delicate placement of these mirrored mosaic tiles depict the laborious nature of their very existence, one that speaks confidently of their magnetic power. Contemplative, quiet moments of the fabric-sculpture-painting hybrids in the back gallery are a playful contrast to the brightly gleaming tonal works in the front.
These assemblages speak in soft whispers, their rainbow frameworks gracefully bending into trains of naturally dyed silk fabric. Gentle, resin-suspended rectilinear compositions elegantly drape onto the floor in sweeping gradations. The softness of the material lends a human quality that brings about a thoughtful connection between the dynamics between the two rooms. The dualities at play demonstrate the range of Gumby‘s practice, depicted in a sort of suspended animation. Beauty throughout each imprint markedly reveals the expanses through which the artist listens to the materials, experimenting and trying new methods and applications. This exhibition demonstrates the multifacetedness of Gumby’s work and presents poignant moments for deep conversations that we can connect our heartstrings to.
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Fragile Narratives at Lelong & Co. @pinareesanpitak @galerielelong
On view through: December 7, 2024
Featuring: Pinaree Sanpitak
Pinaree Sanpitak’s Fragile Narratives at Lelong & Co. is an unveiling of new works exploring ongoing compositions that serve to embody the female form. This investigation has continued to evolve throughout the years, particularly as Sanpitak contemplated motherhood and the ever-changing aspects of the body as it pivots to accommodate new life and nourish it. Stillness, serenity, and nesting coexist here, along with nods to the daily routines of sustaining the lives of both parent and child. The silk figures seemingly reference nightslips, maternity clothing, and breastfeeding garments in their purposeful and dignified posture: arms outstretched to hold closeness and chase away bad dreams and anything that might pose a threat. This genteel quality underscores the dignified subjects as they gaze back knowingly. As an artist with a practice of deftly incorporating textile into her work,
Sanpitak continues on this path by utilizing mawatta silk as abstracted figures. The silk is painted onto large canvases that loom large and commanding throughout the main gallery space. Their presence feels familiar, like matriarchs guarding their children; their countless watchful eyes unfazed by patriarchal structures, batting them away like bothersome pests. As the voluptuous forms dominate in their silent protests, paintings and sculptures with more animated punches of color inhabit the remainder of the gallery, contrasting the silent but powerful muted tones that greet us at the entry with ghostly energy that most certainly feels like an awakening.
With Fallen Leaves at Seizan Gallery @SEIZAN_NY
On view through: December 21, 2024
Featuring: Yashushi Ikejiri
Gorgeously slick paintings are infused with a gritty crunch that seeks to heighten one’s sensorial elements. The illusion of texture and depth makes the mundane electrifying and the ordinary memorable. Through sweet, candy-coated colors, references to the simplicity of life are thoughtfully distilled with decay and rot, a beautiful opera to occupy the heartbeats pounding within our flesh-covered chest cavities. These studies of life’s most exhilarating moments are gleefully captured for time immemorial, a playful time capsule for future anthropologists to reflect on and make sense of this strange era in the earth’s history.
The tension lines between what is concealed and revealed are melted down into symphonic frequencies that delight and entrance as we are asked to reckon with our innermost thoughts and, ultimately, existence and mortality. Ikejiri’s keen strength to do exactly this, by way of capturing discarded wrappers and crevices, serves as mirrors to the loneliness epidemic wrapped around a time in history when the world feels increasingly off-kilter. Ikejiri’s work offers hope that even if art can’t fix the world, it can hold a mirror up to society to teach us to embrace the beauty within the ugly and work toward creating a world we want to cultivate by finding beauty in even the most unexpected moments.
All photos courtesy of Yasmeen Abdallah
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About the writer: Yasmeen Abdallah is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, curator and educator examining history, contemporary culture, materiality, reuse, memory, and space. She has been a visiting and teaching artist at institutions including New Museum; Pratt Institute; Sarah Lawrence College; Residency Unlimited; BRIC; Kean University; Parsons; Columbia University; Children’s Museum of NYC; El Barrio Artspace; Fairleigh Dickinson; and University of Massachusetts. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology (focus in Historical Archaeology) and in Studio Art with honors, with a Minor in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies from University of Massachusetts; and received an MFA in Fine Arts, with distinction, from Pratt Institute. Exhibitions include Art in Odd Places; the Boiler; Bronx Art Space; Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center; Cornell University; Ed Varie; Elizabeth Foundation; NARS Foundation; Open Source; Pratt Institute; PS122 Gallery; Spring Break Art Show; University of Massachusetts; and Westbeth. Publications include Anthropology of Consciousness; Ante Art; Art Observed; Bust Magazine; Emergency Index; Hyperallergic; Papergirl Brooklyn; Free City Radio; Radio Alhara; Tussle Magazine; the Urban Activist; and Transborder Art. Her work is in public, private, and traveling collections in the U.S. and abroad. @86cherrycherry