contemporary art – Page 26

October 25, 2024November 2, 2024, by Anna Shukeylo

Bill Scott: Two Decades at Hollis Taggart

Installation view at Hollis Taggart Gallery

Bill Scott’s solo show Two Decades at Hollis Taggart Gallery’ celebrates this painter’s long career of collaboration with this renowned New York City gallery. Bill, a fairly reserved individual, often clad in neutral colors at gallery openings, produces profoundly beautiful works bursting with color. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bill, a friend and mentor for more than 15 years, dating back to my days as an undergraduate at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

October 24, 2024October 24, 2024, by Anna Shukeylo

Carrie Moyer: Timber! At Alexander Gray Associates

photo story

Installation view at Alexander Gray Associates. Photo courtesy of the gallery.

Carrie Moyer’s solo show Timber! is her debut with the renowned Alexander Gray Associates gallery in New York City. Her signature vibrant abstractions shine in the airy rooms of the Tribeca gallery space. Centering around “social and environmental instability,” this new body of work offers greater complexity and a more somber tone than Moyer’s previous work.

October 21, 2024December 6, 2024, by Etty Yaniv

kith and kin – the Australian Pavillion at La Biennale di Venezia

Photo Story

**Photo by Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia**

Archie Moore’s monumental installation, kith and kin, for the Australian pavilion at this year’s Venice Art Biennale, has been awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. It is a recognition well-earned. This multi-layered, profound installation more than fulfills the 60th Venice Art Biennale theme of “Foreigners Everywhere.” It does so with a poignancy, depth, and nuance that are increasingly rare in contemporary mega installations engaging with heavily charged subject matter, such as the history of Australian First Nations. kith and Kin confronts colonial legacies head-on while embracing humanity’s shared lineage. It serves as both a memorial to pain and loss and an understated reminder of our common ancestry.

October 15, 2024October 14, 2024, by Chunbum Park

Contours and Strokes: Between Traditional and Contemporary Art Forms

Mika Kanemura performing at the gallery. calligrapher: Komei

When one looks at Franz Kline’s Abstract Expressionist paintings involving Gestural Abstraction, they cannot help but read a Chinese or Japanese character in calligraphic form. In fact, a relationship can be established between Kline’s “abstract” lines and marks from the calligraphic strokes of Sumi ink made by the masters of the traditional art form—Japanese calligraphy.

October 14, 2024December 7, 2024, by A.E. Chapman

A Leg to Stand On—Melissa Stern at DIMIN

*Melissa Stern: A Leg to Stand On*, installation view

In Melissa Stern: A Leg to Stand On, the domestic meets the fantastic in the aptly named The Living Room, the front room exhibition space at DIMIN complete with a cozy two-seater sofa. Featuring her drawings and sculptures, Stern’s trademark humor and sense of play persists while the underlying thread of darkness that pervades her oeuvre feels especially heightened in this presentation. Deeply shaken by a fall during a winter walk in 2021, the artist’s works in the exhibition explore the precarious and fragile construction of the human body. Cobbling together disparate elements such as vintage shoes, wooden branches, scrap pieces of bannister railings, a doll’s lost arm, linoleum, wallpaper, resin, clay, paint cans, bolts, and screws, Stern balances absurdity with familiarity.

October 11, 2024October 10, 2024, by Riad Miah

Gary Petersen: The Shape of Walking at McKenzie Fine Art

*Garden of Music (after Bob Thompson),* 2024, acrylic and oil on canvas, 54” x 94”

For artists working within the realm of geometric abstraction, understanding the weight of art history is vital. The hard-edge lines, a keen understanding of color theory, and structured patterns—all form part of a visual language that has evolved over a century. Artists today, when approaching geometric abstraction, face a unique tension. On the one hand, they inherit the legacy of giants such as Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, and Kazimir Malevich, whose works laid the foundation for what we understand as “geometric art.” On the other hand, the question looms large: How does one continue to make geometric abstraction in 2024?

October 9, 2024October 10, 2024, by Claire Haik

Art Spiel Picks: Philly Exhibitions in October 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

Hanne Friis, The Mountain, hand-stitched faux leather and steel, 37 13/16 x 54 5/16 x 37 13/16 inches, at Locks Gallery, photograph courtesy of the gallery

Sometimes, we are confronted with artwork that hums with possibilities so profound you can feel them taking root in your chest and making a new home. You stand in the gallery, soaking it in, and you want to share it with as many people as possible. That said, I hope you take a good chunk of time to sink into the transcendent earthy abstractions of Warren Rohrer at Locks Gallery. Afterward, head upstairs and marvel, open-mouthed, at the unexpected forms created by sculptors Hanne Friis and Lynda Benglis. Then, journey over to Fleisher/Ollman Gallery and get lost in Sarah Gamble’s glittering forest interiors and interdimensional abstractions, filled with mystery and magic.

October 1, 2024September 24, 2024, by Jac Lahav

CJ Hendry And The Rise of Photo-op Art

Opinion

CJ Hendry, Flower Market, 2024: CJ Hendry Studio

CJ Hendry’s recent Flower Market installation, initially planned for September 13-15 on Roosevelt Island, was shut down by police due to overcrowding and quickly relocated to Brooklyn. The event was both a celebration and a symptom of our evolving art world. Hendry, known for her hyperrealistic drawings of everyday objects and her massive Instagram following of over 800k, collaborated with beauty brand Clé de Peau Beauté to pair their perfume scents with plush flower sculptures. Visitors could take one flower for free and buy additional ones for $5 each, creating Instagrammable bouquets to share with friends.

September 30, 2024October 6, 2024, by Anna Shukeylo

Art Spiel Picks: Chelsea Exhibitions in October 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

Tim Kent, Edges Off a Model, Courtesy of Hollis Taggart Gallery

The fall season opened strong with some very exciting painting shows in Chelsea and its outskirts. The not to be missed stand alone Monya Rowe Gallery is featuring work by two innovative female painters, while in the heart of Chelsea, Hollis Taggart is featuring Tim Kent’s captivating works in his second solo show with the gallery. Right across the street, Fergus McCaffrey Gallery is showcasing fresh work by a seasoned German painter Reinhard Pods.

September 27, 2024October 6, 2024, by Yasmeen Abdallah and Anna Shukeylo

The Art of Unpacking an Art Fair—Spring/Break NYC

Art Spiel Stew

3RD SPACE installation image. Image by Yasmeen Abdallah

We visited SPRING/BREAK Art Show in its new location in lower Manhattan on Varick St. We went independently, and then got together afterward to discuss our impressions of the fair, and the highlights we came away with. We have ruminated on possible trends and strong impressions that stayed with us long after the fair. Even though it has been almost a month past Spring Break Art Fair, the highlights resonated with us.