It wasn’t until the very last day of the exhibit that I made it over to Bitforms Gallery to check out Israeli-American artist Daniel Rozin’s 3-piece interactive show, Sol. To be honest, I was most interested in a piece that everyone seemed to be writing about, a kinetic sculpture/installation called Cracked Mud (2019), which mimics the cracked surface of a dry river bed, stretched out under a glowing sun-like orb. Continue reading Daniel Rozin Cracked Mud at Bitforms Gallery→
Colored Sculpture By Jordan Wolfson (Above Photo By Josh White. All Other Photos and Video By Gail)
Geoffrey and I suspected we were in for some kind of rare treat when we arrived at David Zwirner and found ourselves waiting in a short line just inside of the gallery foyer. We were informed that artist Jordan Wolfson had made the gallery promise not to let more than 20 people into his exhibit at one time. “Well, OK,” we thought. Why not build a little suspense before we entered the exhibit, the contents of which was not visible from where we were standing.
Man Ray (1890 – 1976) worked in a wide variety of media, including photography, painting, and sculpture, often blurring the boundaries between these practices. Obstruction, an assemblage of 63 wooden coat hangers, is an example of the type of artwork Dada artist Marcel Duchamp called a Ready-Made, a term that suggests Man Ray’s appropriation and manipulation of pre-existing, common objects. The sculpture playfully mimics a chandelier, but, as the hangers seemingly divide and multiply, Obstruction quickly evolves into a dense tangle of overlapping forms. Cast shadows serve as distorted, immaterial extensions of its physical presence. Man Ray first created Obstruction in 1920, but the present work belongs to an addition of 15 reproductions that he created in 1961 for an important exhibition of kinetic art.
Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
This mesmerizing kinetic art sculpture by Italian Artist Walter Rossi can be observed from the first floor front window of the Agora Gallery, located at 530 West 25th Street in the Chelsea Gallery District.
Since 2000, Rossi has been working in kinetic art. He animates action toys and other found items by using a magnetic motor. The results are like theatrical presentations; often very funny and profound at the same time. I could watch them fly around all day long!
Victor Vasarely (April 9th, 1906 – March 15th, 1997), was a Hungarian–French artist, who is widely accepted as a leader of the Op Art movement. During the 1960s and ’70s, his optical images became part of the popular culture, having a deep impact on architecture, computer science, fashion, and the way we now look at things in general. Even though he achieved great fame, he insisted on making his art accessible to everyone. His motto was “Art for all”.
The breakthrough brought by his kinetic visual experiments transformed the flat surface into a world of unending possibilities, book marking an era in the history of art and foreshadowing a new global reality shaped by programming and the Internet. Ondho (oil on canvas, 1956 – 60) was painted during a span of time when he worked on serveral different series including Folklore Planétaire, Permutations and Serial Art.
You can learn more about the fascinating life and groundbreaking career of Victor Vasarely by visiting his official website, Vasarely Dot Com, and be sure to watch the very trippy intro!
Victor Vasarely’s Ondho is part of the Permanent Collection at the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan.
