All Photos By Gail. Click on Any Image to Enlarge.
If you live in any urban area such as New York City, you’ve seen trucks lie these parked on the streets, covered in graffiti and looking rather derelict. There’s no denying that they are part of the landscape for a city dweller. I like them.
One of the current exhibits at Jonathan LeVine Gallery is Kevin Cyr’s Right Place, Right Time, which includes a larege collections of new oil paintings on panels that range in of sizes from about 8 x 10 Inches to several fee across. These realist paintings depict vehicles seen by Cyr on the streets of Berlin, Brussels and Paris. The Right Place, Right Time series acts as a counterpart to In Praise of Rust, Cyr’s 2012 exhibition, in which he documented old vehicles seen on the streets of New York City — primarily vans and commercial delivery trucks covered in graffiti, rust, dents and other imperfections.
According to the exhibit’s Press Release, “Transportation, travel and exploration — ongoing themes throughout Cyr’s body of work — are particularly prevalent here, as the artist traveled abroad to explore the streets of foreign cities in his research for new subjects to capture. Cyr’s fascination with these vans and trucks is based around the idea that they symbolize a place and an ethos. He finds himself discovering the character of each city he visits through its vehicles.”
Taped Up Side Window Detail from Painting Above! Authentic!
Funnily enough, when we left the opening reception this past Saturday, a truck not unlike the ones immortalized in Cyr’s paintings was parked right outside on 20th Street. Art Imitates Life.
Kevin Cyr’s Right Place, Right Time will be on Exhibit through March 22, 2014 at Jonathan Levine Gallery, Located at 529 W 20th Street, 9th Floor, in the Chelsea Gallery District.
