Photos By Gail
Lucas Samaras has never been one to serve a straightforward meal — and with Dinner #15 (1965), he transforms the act of dining into something deeply psychological, uncomfortably tactile, and undeniably unforgettable. This sculptural work from his Dinner Series isn’t just a visual feast — it’s a surreal course in tension and temptation.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Lucas Samaras, Dinner #15
Chair (II), 1963 (All Photos By Gail)
Günther Uecker (German, b. 1930) is a sculptor, op and installation artist, known for his relief nail works first developed in 1957. His three-dimensional work creates a unique experience as it appears to move and cast different lighting effects as the viewer moves around the work. In 1961, Uecker became a member of the group of artists called ZERO, founded by Heinz Mack and Otto Piene. Inspired by the Kinetic Art movement, the collective grounded their philosophy on theories of light, technology, and optical illusion. Uecker also produces sculptures of pianos and chairs with nails sticking out of them, and he creates sets and costumes for opera performances.
Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
All Photos By Gail
West German artist Natascha Sadr Haghighian (b. 1968) investigates modes of perception and the politics of representation in an expansive conceptual practice that includes performance, writing, video, installation and online projects. She is particularly interested in the consumption of visual art – a field the artist identifies as a reflection of its wider socioeconomic context. I can’t work like this (2007) was conceived in response to a gallery’s invitation to feature her work as the sole exhibition in a commercial art fair booth; the piece was intended to mount a tacit assault on a strolling audience of potential buyers. Continue reading Natascha Sadr Haghighian, I Can’t Work Like This
Book 4, 1962: Book with Pins, Table Knife, Scissors, Razor Blade, Metal Foil, Piece of Glass and Plastic Rod (All Photos By Gail)
From MoMA:
In 1960 Samaras began a series of Surrealist-inspired boxes filled with personal materials that he encrusted in needles, mirrors, shards of glass, and brightly colored beads. The boxes were followed by room–sized installations and subversive Polaroid self–portraits. Like Samaras’s boxes, Book is a multifaceted object and a miniature world in itself. Although it includes eight fictional narratives written by the artist between 1959 and 1967, it is not a storybook.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Lucas Samaras, Book 4
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
