All Photos By Gail
Beginning in the 1960s, Keith Sonnier (1941 – 2020) was one of the few artists experimenting with neon tubing as a sculptural medium. His pursuit was part of a larger interest in using everyday and industrial materials, foregoing the illusory space of painting in favor of a more literal and direct, artistic approach.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Keith Sonnier, Neon Wrapping Neon II
Photos By Gail
These incredible Illuminated Pink Octopi — which appear to be folded paper in the style of Japanese origami, but which are more likely fabricated from hard plastic — are part of a kinetic light display adjacent to one of the Jellyfish tanks at the Vancouver Aquarium. The colored lighting rotates continuously through all the colors of the spectrum, accompanied by lulling ambient music that recalls Brian Eno’s Music for Airports if he had composed a similar piece for public Aquariums. Needles to say, but you can see I am about to, it is quite mesmerizing.
On Friday evening, I hauled butt over to Javits Center for a quick trip to the NY Boat Show — which was scheduled to run until 8 PM that night — because I had a feeling the event might be canceled on Saturday, with the Noreaster coming (and I was right). This Big Apple (that is what it is called) is actually not an official bus shelter, but a piece of public art that you can sit in. It can be found on the north side of 34th Street, just across from the fancy 7 Train exit. It looked so beautiful all lit-up, I could not resist snapping a pic for the ‘gram. The piece was created by World of Marzell!
Follow My Adventures on Instagram at @WorleyGigDotCom!
All Photos By Gail
If you’re going to be visiting the Whitney Museum, walking on the High Line, or otherwise spending time in the Meatpacking District, make sure to find your way to Gansevoort Plaza, (located between Ninth Avenue and Gansevoort Street) to check out a new Public art installation, Bombora House, by Brooklyn-based artist Tom Fruin. An internationally known sculptor whose work has been featured across NYC, and written about here on The ‘Gig, Fruin’s work can be seen as a celebration of human behavior and everyday life.
“If you really want to understand what makes up the fabric of people and places, you often learn all you need to by looking at the floor,” says Fruin of his approach. Reusing collected fragments of street and retail signage, disposed theater props, plastics and metals, Fruin creates something beautiful from nothing. Fruin refers to this process as “quilting,” whereby discarded items are brought together to create a map of life. With Bombora House, Fruin conveys messages of hope, stability and joy in the sculptural interpretation of a home and a suggestion to look at our surroundings with a fresh perspective.
Continue reading Tom Fruin’s Bombora House in the Meatpacking District
All photos By Gail
An undeniable showstopper of the 2019 Salon Art + Design show in NYC, the translucent, rainbow-hued Minosse Glass Block Chair remains one of the most breathtaking pieces on the floor. Comprising a range of glass blocks set individually by hand, Minosse recalls ‘the labyrinthine geometries of mythic palaces belonging to ancient civilizations.’
An original design by Milan-based studiopluz, the chair was exhibited by London’s WonderGlass gallery as an integral part of its site-specific Dark Matter installation. Exploring the transformation of matter, sound, cosmic geometry, and light, Dark Matter was created in a collaboration that also included Tokyo-based studio, Curiosity by Gwenael Nicolas.
The throne-like chair pushes the boundaries of glass manipulation, allowing for the piece to represent advancements in color combination with the glass surface used as a white canvas upon which paint is applied by hand. The process is impossible to replicate, thus allowing each piece to celebrate individual authenticity as an integral part of its design resolution.
Photographed in November of 2019 at the Salon Art + Design at the NYC Armory.