Tag Archive | Sculpture

Opera Gallery Presents Contemporary Masters

Lincoln Center Ticket By Andy Warhol

It’s not even June, but it already feels like the galleries are winding down for a summer of dormancy. Opera Gallery in Soho just launched a group show, Contemporary Masters, that contains a few interesing pieces but had a surprisingly low Wow Factor. Here are a few pieces that stood out for me.

Keith Haring, Untitled

It’s always fun to see a Warhol and a Haring. Their stuff never gets old to me.

Arman’s Marmelade De Porcelaine Chinoise

French artist/sculptor Arman, perhaps best known for his deconstructed violins, has this awesome piece made with broken china suspended in plexiglass. Really gorgeous.

Sliced Violins With Acrylic Paint on Canvas By Arman

David Mach’s Standing Gorilla Greets You!

Sculptor David Mach has a few interesting works in the show, including two sculptures made from wire coat hangers. This towering Standing Gorilla is in the front window but I could not get a good shot of it from the street. It’s pretty cool though.

Manolo Valdes Cabeza Con Mariposas Plateada

If you’ve been to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx then you’ve seen the seven gigantic replicas of the statue above, by Spanish artist Manolo Valdes, scattered about the grounds. The title translates to “Head with Silver Butterflies.” I like it.

Alexander Calder Stripes and Stripes

When I think of Calder, I mostly assosciate his name with playful, minimalist mobiles. This painting by him is lovely.

Opera Gallery is Located at 115 Spring Street in Soho, New York, NY 10012.

Yoshitomo Nara at Pace Gallery

May11

Pace Gallery is currently hosting its first exhibition of Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, who joined the gallery in 2011. The exhibition features new paintings, bronze sculptures and works on paper.

I liked his paintings more than the large bronze sculptures. Here are couple of my favorites from Friday night’s opening reception.

This one really resonated with me, as I’m sure it does for many people.

I like this one as well because the girl could be dead or she could be just sleeping. Probably sleeping.

The Yoshitomo Nara Exhibit will run through Jun 29th, 2013 at Pace Gallery, Located at 534 West 25th Street, NYC in the Chelsea Gallery District. Gallery Hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Pink Thing of The Day: Jeff Koons Balloon Venus in Magenta

May10

JEFF KOONS
Balloon Venus (Magenta), 2008–12
High chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating
102 x 48 x 50 inches (259.1 x 121.9 x 127 cm)
1/5 unique versions

If you live in the tri-State area, you can see this awesome pink goddess of a sculpture in person at the Gagosian Gallery, located at 555 West 24th Street in NYC, through June 29th, 2013.

Gazing Ball By Jeff Koons at David Zwirner

May9

All Photos By Gail

It’s been a decade since the art of Jeff Koons – one of the contemporary art world’s wealthiest, most celebrated and undeniably wildly polarizing figures – has been the focus of a solo exhibit here in Manhattan. This week, he has two: a series of new works at David Zwirner and a retrospective (opening this evening) at the Gagosian Gallery.

The David Zwirner Gallery-hosted Gazing Ball opened last night and, even though the doors opened exactly one hour behind schedule, it was well worth waiting for.

For Gazing Ball, Koons has filled two conjoined spaces of the Gallery (located at adjacent addresses) with more than a dozen Las Vegas-style reproductions of ancient Roman statuary, each adorned with a strategically placed, royal blue stainless steel sphere flaunting the mirror-finish surface that has become so identifiable with Koons’ sculptures.

Jeff Koons with Art Collector Peter Brant at Wednesday’s Opening Reception

In each piece, the juxtaposition between the classic and the kitsch, to me, is conceptually fantastic and very visually appealing. But of course there are fans and then there are people live to talk smack about Jeff Koons, which I find puzzling.

It’s been said in other reviews, and I tend to agree, that people who dump on Jeff Koons’ art must be suffering from some kind of misplaced envy or inferiority complex. If you don’t like Jeff Koons, and no one says you must, you are free to stay away from his art shows, but don’t come a Koons’ exhibit and talk loudly about how much the art sucks, because it just makes you look pathetic and desperate to seem cool.

Jeff Koons’ Gazing Ball will be on exhibit through June 29th, 2013 at David Zwirner, Located at 525 West 19th Street, In the Chelsea Gallery District. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11 AM – 6:00 PM.

Will Ryman’s Bird at the Flatiron Plaza

Apr15

Photos By Gail

Bird (2012), is a 12-foot high, 12-foot wide, and 14-foot long sculpture, made with fifty-five hundred actual and fabricated nails in the shape of a bird. The work weighs five tons, and rests upon a nest of ninety thousand nails. Through this sculpture, Ryman changes the meaning of the nail, which is traditionally used to connect materials and build structures. By dramatically altering its scale and using it in excessive quantities, Ryman blurs the relationship between abstraction and realism. As the viewer rotates around the sculpture, Bird transitions from the shape of a bird to a nonrepresentational sculpture.

Bird will be on Display through April 21st, 2013
Flatiron Plaza
Intersection of 23rd Street, 5th Avenue and Broadway
New York

Joshua Liner Christens New Gallery Space with Direct Address: An Inaugural Group Exhibition

Mar30

Stephen Powers A Month of Somedays

One of our favorite Galleries in the Chelsea Arts District, Joshua Liner, has just moved from an upper floor at 540 West 28th Street to a 2,600-square-foot street level exhibition space that completely transforms the environmental aesthetic of the gallery. To celebrate the move, Joshua Liner is currently presenting Direct Address, an inaugural group exhibition featuring works in diverse media by longtime gallery figures as well as new additions to the program. Participants include the following artists:

Alfred Steiner, Clayton Brothers, Cleon Peterson, Dave Kinsey, David Ellis, Evan Hecox, Greg Lamarche, Ian Francis, Jean-Pierre Roy, Kris Kuksi, Oliver Vernon, Pema Rinzin, Richard Colman, Riusuke Fukahori, Shawn Barber, Stephen Powers, SWOON, Tiffany Bozic, Tomokazu Matsuyama and Tony Curanaj.

While I missed last week’s opening reception, I did drop by to see the show early last evening and was blown away not only by the gorgeous new space, but also by the fantastic artworks; some by artists I have come to know well through the Liner gallery, and other artists whose work I was seeing for the first time.

Here are some of my favorite pieces from the show:

What you see here is neither real fish nor real water, but a micro-layered acrylic painting by Japanese artist Riusuke Fukahori, which is viewed as a solid object. Pretty cool!

All That Glitters by David Ellis

This kinetic sculpture/chandelier by David Ellis is equipped with motors as well as recorded music, so that it plays various original instrumental pieces at random, accompanied by the tinkling or clinking of the bottles and other suspended pieces of the sculpture. Gallery assistant Lizzie told me that Ellis will have a full gallery show in September, so I will be looking forward to checking that out.

Daily Metaltations by Stephen Powers

We’ve seen a fun show by former-sign-painter-turned-graphic-artist Stephen Powers at Liner just this past summer and his work is colorful and full of dry humor.

Neo-Roman Opera House By Kris Kuksi

Ah, Kris Kuksi: He is just the best. Check out a detail of this insane work below.

You could look at just one of Kuksi’s worlds within worlds sculptures for weeks and never see everything.

The Long Shadow to Put to Use, Once Recognized By Jean-Pierre Roy

The Joshua Liner show has one of Jean-Pierre Roy’s paintings of futuristic, urban dystopia. His work is always thought provoking.

The Clayton Brothers have contributed a dozen works to this show, which are mostly clustered in a row along the front of the gallery’s main desk. Here is a close up of two panels from this series, which is called Reality Waits for Natural Light. These paintings reminded me a bit of Brazilian street artists, Os Gemeos.

Thalassa (Pink Seahorse) by SWOON

Street artist SWOON contributed this nice piece.

Bottle Rocket Bouquet

I’m not sure who the artist of this painting is, but I liked that I was able to guess the title just from observing the contents of the picture.

Direct Address: An Inaugural Group Exhibition will be on Exhibit Through April 20th, 2013 at Joshua Liner Gallery, Located at 540 West 28th Street. Gallery Hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM.

Giant Lipstick Sculpture By Agne Kisonaite

Mar28

Image Source

Eastern European painter and sculptress, Agne Kisonaite, created this stunning sculpture, entitled simply Giant Lipstick, using over 5000 used lipstick tubes. Measuring a height of 2.5 meters (8 feet) with an overall weight of 200kg (440 pounds), the sculpture is incredibly modern and yet timelessly beautiful. Agne made the sculpture to draw attention to the need for green effort consciousness with regard to reduction, recycling and reuse here in our consumer culture

In her artist statement, she emphasizes that four tubes of lipstick are sold in the world every second and the packaging left cannot be recycled.

Please note that the top, or red colored part, of the sculpture is obviously comprised new, or rather unused lipsticks, and that the work was sponsored by Avon, who likely donated the lipsticks and tubes/packaging for use in the sculpture.

Check out more photos of this unique and thought provoking work of art This Link!

Thanks to Pamela Nguyen for The Tip!

Sunflower Sculpture, New York Botanical Garden

Mar17

Photo By Gail

Spring will be here soon enough.

Kenny Scharf Sculpture Squirtz on Display at The Standard

Mar15

The Artist with his Sculpture (Image by Photographer Chris Mosier Courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery)

Paul Kasmin Gallery is pleased to announce Squirtz, on view at The Plaza at The Standard, High Line from March 15 – April 1, 2013. Following its debut at The Standard High Line, Squirtz will continue to be on view April 4 – May 4, 2013 as part of Kenny Scharf Kolors at Paul Kasmin Gallery, 515 West 27th Street.

Titled Squirtz, the work is a two-sided, 8-foot tall, sculpture that is 6-feet deep from nose-to-nose. Utilizing Scharf’s repertoire of symbolic imagery over the last thirty years, one face of Squirtz is awestruck, in shock, and the other wears a slapstick grin—a portrayal of the ancient Greek theatrical trope of tragedy and comedy. Painted with glossy enamel, similar to car paint, Squirtz brings to light Scharf’s endeavor to overcome the barriers of elitist art by using the materials of commercial manufacture.

Dean West and Nathan Sawaya Present In Pieces

Mar1

All Photos By Gail

It’s been a true pleasure to discover the art and follow the career of Lego Brick artist Nathan Sawaya over the past few years. I’ve enjoyed Nathan’s Brick by Brick and Red exhibits at the Agora Gallery in Chelsea, and now he has collaborated with photographer Dean West for In Pieces — something completely different indeed!

Geoffrey and I attended a private opening reception for In Pieces on Thursday, February 28th and were blown away by this series of minimalist tableau photographs by Dean West, which digitally incorporate Sawaya’s playful but realistic Lego sculptures. Please enjoy my photographs from the exhibit accompanied by narrative from the show’s official press release.

Train

Lego Track Sculpture

Nathan Sawaya!

The project is a series of tableau compositions based on ideas about nature, culture, society and, more specifically, identity. Identity as a cultural creation has been heavily commercialized and manipulated, and we prominently portray this through a highly stylized representation of contemporary life. The integration of Sawaya’s unique sculpture is key to the series’ narrative and aesthetic.

Bus

Lego Mannequin from Store Window

Lego Dog

The images have been constructed using modern photography techniques, combined with specially sculpted LEGO® objects placed within the scenes. The combination not only builds on and accentuates the images’ aesthetic, but also compels the viewer to deconstruct each tableau, thereby exposing elements of the construction of cultural identity itself.

Pool

Lego Flip Flops and Towel (Nathan Sawaya at rear of photo on his Smart Phone)

Isolated individuals stand in recognizable but chillingly empty minimalist scenes with geometrical design, derived from common features of the American landscape. Their averted eyes gaze into nothingness, and a strange feeling of aloofness and displacement reverberates. Unique talent has been incorporated into the tableaux, with elongated limbs, referencing society’s idealized bodies.

Dress

A dress made of LEGO bricks looks more like pixels breaking off into the blowing wind. Juxtaposed against a desolate, American realist environment, the images are appealing, yet eerily ambiguous- a very engaging and unforgettable effect.

Dress Close Up

Lego Red Dress

Referencing the aesthetic of the American Postcard in both the style and content- the series has been color graded with pastels such as warm yellows and pale blues. The imagery, from a distance, appears entirely photographic. However, as the viewer begins to digest the images, the series reveals its brick by brick fabricated construction. The [layered] process also represents the direct processes involved with digital photography today. Clear references to pixilation and technology are apparent through stylized manipulation and digital enhancements.

Hotel

Cloud Constellation from Hotel

Cloud Detail

In Pieces by Nathan Sawaya and Dean West will be on Exhibit at Avant Gallery (at the Openhouse Gallery), Located at 201 Mulberry Street (Between Kenmare and Spring) through March 17th, 2013. The exhibition will be open daily from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM.

The Worleygig

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Tag Archive | Sculpture

Yoshitomo Nara at Pace Gallery

Pink Thing of The Day: Jeff Koons Balloon Venus in Magenta

Gazing Ball By Jeff Koons at David Zwirner

Will Ryman’s Bird at the Flatiron Plaza

Giant Lipstick Sculpture By Agne Kisonaite

Sunflower Sculpture, New York Botanical Garden

Kenny Scharf Sculpture Squirtz on Display at The Standard

Dean West and Nathan Sawaya Present In Pieces

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