Exhibition Highlights by Yasmeen Abdallah

Art Spiel Picks: Chelsea Exhibitions in November 2024

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.

Exhibition Review by Will Kaplan

Aggregate at Studio 9D

In the three person show Aggregate at Studio 9D, artists Sammy Bennett, Bradley Milligan, and James Bertucci channel New York streetscapes and detritus to relay an earnest and affecting impression of the city. Bertucci’s trompe l’oeil paintings, Bennett’s fabric installation, and Milligan’s rugged sculptures overlap in a reverence for craftsmanship. Labor and construction are this show’s subject and, in many ways, its medium. In its use of material and representation Aggregate is boldly literal in its translation of the city’s chaos and beauty.

Exhibition Review by Eva Zanardi

Fiat Lux: Matthew Lusk Illuminates Newburgh with his solo show at Elijah Wheat Showroom

On March 31, 1884, the Village of Newburgh became New York’s second municipality to receive electricity, just two years after New York City. On September 14, 2024, Matthew Lusk achieved a similarly electrifying milestone by launching his solo show, Encyclopedia of Light (Today in Two Parts), an outstanding exhibition running through December 1 at Elijah Wheat Showroom in Newburgh, NY.

In Dialogue by Bat-Ami Rivlin

Erica Stoller: Find and Form

in dialogue

Outcropping, Erica Stoller’s recent solo show at A.I.R. Gallery, which ran through November 10th, utilized cardboard cuttings, formerly boxes, and packaging, as its exclusive material. When walking through the gallery, one noticed the show has three sections– a corner piece that covers two walls, floor to ceiling, a grid of individual cardboard compositions hung on the wall and a third “sandwiches” station that allowed viewers to pick up layered cardboard batches. Proceeds from the sale of the “sandwiches” go to Feeding America. An interesting survey of installation art—a site-specific installation, painting-like works on a wall, and an interactive piece. Stoller often works with space in curious ways. In Item # 25-033, her 2022 solo show at A.I.R. Gallery, she created a single wall-to-wall installation using Manilla rope and elastic bands. The rope cut through the gallery space, creating framed planes between ceiling pipes, wall hooks, and the floor.

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Exhibition Review by Etty Yaniv

Running Line: Noga Yudkovik Etzioni at FORMah Gallery

In Running Line, on view at FORMah gallery, objects stripped of function take on new roles: charged, amorphous, and poetic. Israeli artist Noga Yudkovik-Etzioni creates a space where memory, material, and form converge through elongated installations on the floor and a series of small wall-mounted paper-based reliefs

Uncategorized by Andrew Fish

Art Spiel Picks: Boston Exhibitions in November 2024

Highlights

In the aftermath of the Presidential election, I feel inspired to visit galleries and museums more than ever. Not only am I feeling a conviction to support these now-endangered organizations, but I am finding respite in their halls and holdings. Regardless of your political leanings, this is a tender time for artists and art institutions, as well as for the curators and Directors who organize exhibitions. Obviously, what’s on view this month was curated before Election Day, but now that we’re in a new world, all of it seems singed by the results and potently relevant for the time. Hugh Hayden’s exploration of public education reminds us that the Department of Education may be gutted, and J Rowen O’Dwyer’s portraits of Trans people show us a vulnerable population that’s now even more susceptible to the threats of an angry and fearful nation. It’s a sobering time, but one that calls for art and artists to persevere.

Elizabeth Insogna: Exquisite Traces at Anne Reid ‘72 Gallery
Exhibition Review by Amalia Rizos

Elizabeth Insogna: Exquisite Traces at Anne Reid ‘72 Gallery

Large-scale, multi-piece sculptures standing balanced by their own weight accompany ceramic tablets colored cream and periwinkle, which hang along the walls of Anne Reid ‘72 Gallery, echoing in their sudden coalition the deeds of a goddess from centuries ago. Hekate is her name, and she is a Greek goddess associated with fire, witchcraft, and transformation. In our search for the spiritual, returning to the philosophies of ancient times lends fresh wisdom, lighting compelling paths forward.

Featured Project by Art Spiel

Devon Gordon: OBSESSED at Zepster

featured project

OBSESSED, the group exhibition Shelby Nelson Ward curated at Zepster in Bushwick, Brooklyn, is inspired by Mariah Carey’s hit song Obsessed and the developmental impact of social media on the millennial generation. This exhibition explores how contemporary culture influences our understanding of self-worth and authenticity. Devon Gordon, the gallery founder gives us an insight into the venue and the current show, which runs through November 17th, 2024.

HOT AIR by Etty Yaniv

Donna Conklin King: Fifty-Eight Feet Down the Ocean

Hot Air

Sculptor Donna Conklin King draws on the philosophy of Kintsugi, the centuries-old Japanese art that highlights an object’s imperfections by emphasizing its cracks with gold leaf. She works primarily with concrete, experimenting by casting forms from unconventional materials such as tin ceiling tiles, food containers, and fabric. Her sculptures often incorporate delicate elements like doilies and 24-karat gold leaf, exploring the relationship between nature, architecture, and the inevitable decay of civilization. In her recent focus on public sculptures, Conklin King’s pieces are “openly cracked and repaired,” evolving and enduring over time. They reflect themes of resilience, history, and archaeology.

Exhibition Review by Eva Zanardi

All you need is JUST LOVE: Michela Martello at Pen + Brush

In the heart of Manhattan’s Flatiron district, Pen + Brush, a 130-year-old nonprofit dedicated to championing women in the arts, proudly presents JUST LOVE, an immersive, large-scale installation and exhibition by Italian-born Brooklynite Michela Martello. Drawing inspiration from the renowned Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, Martello’s 360-degree visual experience invites viewers to embark on an introspective and exhilarating journey, exploring the blurred boundaries between reality and the imagined. The narrative woven throughout the exhibition transports viewers into mythical domains, where the sacred and the fantastical coalesce seamlessly.