Contemporary Art and Culture
The two person show at John Doe juxtaposes Michael Chandler’s paintings and Charlie Rubin’s photographs. Both artists deliver meditative and vivid abstractions – Chandler makes visceral paintings founded in nature but informed by the rhythm of the city and Rubin explores the artifice of place, and the post-Instagram void. Continue reading “Slow Motion at john Doe”
Curated by Maria de Los Angeles and Susan Noyes Platt, the group show “Internalized Borders” at John Jay College of Criminal Justice examines the various ways in which language and legal systems create internal and external borders. It addresses urgent issues of immigration, detention, and deportation; especially focusing on how these issues are related to fear, criminalization of identity, economics of migration, and perception of otherness. Continue reading “Internalized Borders at John Jay”
The exhibition James Castle: People, Places & Things, curated by Karen Wilkin and currently on view at the New York Studio School Gallery, features over fifty important works and ephemera, surveying Castle’s diverse modes of working. It runs the gamut from his well-known drawings of farmyards and interiors to the less familiar depictions of house, machines, clothing, and people, to his books and objects. It includes even more rarely exhibited objects – some sources for his imagery borrowed from the James Castle Collection and Archive LP and from the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation. In her curatorial statement Wilkin says she aims to affirm why Castle should be regarded as an American master. Indeed, the breadth of his work is jaw dropping and the emotional resonance is deeply moving.
Continue reading “James Castle: People, Places & Things at the NY Studio School”
All Photos courtesy of the artist and Norte Maar Cypress Hills Gallery
In his exhibition at Norte Maar Cypress Hills gallery, Kevin Curran uses interior design elements as a departure point for an installation – combining wallpaper, rugs, vases, framed works on paper, wall-mounted and free standing sculptures. His surfaces merge opulent materials like crystals and gold leaf, with rough-hewn casual aesthetic. This exhibition includes drawings that refer to Afghan war rugs as well as political tensions in the US. The symmetry of rug design paired with natural and man made forces of destruction highlights the fine line between an orderly society and chaos. The imagery brings together a little boy’s enthusiasm for rockets, trucks and guns with the perspective of an adult’s anxiety driven by real world events. Continue reading “Objects from the End of Western Civilisation at Norte Maar”
All Photos courtesy Susan Sechler Luss
The Green Door gallery was created at the Divine Mercy Cultural Center to foster a sense of community in the Williamsburg neighborhood. The venue was initiated by Father Thomas Vassalotti, who, along with Father Paul Anel of Heart’s Home, reached out to the artist and curator Elisa Jensen with the wish to connect to the many artists in the neighborhood.
Concern with Climate Change and how it impinges on our planet links the five artists featured in the impressive sculpture show at David&Schweitzer. Running the gamut from minimalist to narrative sensibilities and from found objects to fabricated materials, the sculptures created by Ruth Hardinger, Babs Reingold, Rebecca Smith, Kelin Perry, and Christy Rupp, engage the space in juxtaposition to one another – visually situating the overall exhibition at the intersection of natural history and archaeological excavation, thematically layered and at times poetic. The artworks in the show refer to the underground, trees, atmosphere, underwater, and animals- each of the individual parts that is essential for life on Earth. Continue reading “Planet Ax4+1 at David&Schweitzer Contemporary”
Art Ravels: Arts and Culture Unwound is an eloquent and well curated blog focused on contemporary visual art by Linnea West
In 1582, four recent converts to Christianity were sent from their home in Japan to Europe and the papal court by the Jesuit mission in Japan, as evidence of its success. Called the Tenshō embassy, the four boys met the Pope and saw the great sites of Renaissance Europe before returning home eight years later. Contemporary Tokyo-born, New York-based artist Hiroshi Sugimoto came across the story of the Tenshō embassy while he himself was photographing in Italy. Continue reading “Outside of Time: Hiroshi Sugimoto at Japan Society”
Underdonk started in 2013 as a small experimental project space and later evolved into a vibrant artist-run gallery located at 1329 Willoughby. Underdonk’s eleven members operate an ambitious exhibition program such as the notable 2015 exhibition “Paul Klee,” which featured work by twenty contemporary artists who referenced the 20th century modernist master. Continue reading “Underdonk, A Community Fixture”
Photos by Etty Yaniv unless otherwise indicated
For Ellen Hackl Fagan, ODETTA’s gallerist and curator, titling the current sculpture show Thomas Lendvai: 10 was a no-brainer. When artist Thomas Lendvai came up with the title “Ten,” which marks the first time in ten years that the sculptor has been given a chance to show his large-scale sculptures in a New York gallery, Hackl Fagan embraced it willingly. Serendipitously, it also marks the tenth show at ODETTA. Continue reading “Searching for the Meaning of Art: ‘Thomas Lendvai: 10’ at ODETTA”
Typically, crowded openings are not an ideal setting for experiencing the artwork on display. Nevertheless, the current show at Storefront Ten Eyck, featuring Elise Siegel’s ceramic busts paired with Mie Yim’s abstracted figure paintings, thrives in a crowded space. As in a theatrical experience or a ritual ceremony, the visitors’ presence enhances the psychological tension that these artworks emit.
Continue reading “Duplicate Meanings: Finding What Is Lost at Storefront Ten Eyck”