Saturday in the Galleries
June 6, 2009
11 am
Some artists create their artwork by accumulating a series of hand-made strokes or objects over a period of months or longer. Since the 1960s, Yayoi Kusama (who’s celebrating her 80th birthday with exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery on both coasts) has created an intricate net-like pattern to cover her expansive painted surfaces. These signature works called infinity net paintings are made by endlessly repeating a thickly or thinly painted loop. Don’t miss her pumpkin sculptures covered with an optical pattern of black spots and sitting in a specially designed polka dot environment. While Kusama’s dazzling “pumpkin patch” is meant to be viewed from the street, you must step into the black void of her “infinity room” for the full mesmerizing effect.
Down the block at Mary Boone Gallery, Jacob Hashimoto starts his artwork by making hundreds of miniature kite-like shapes cut from Japanese rice paper and often collaged with colorful patterns. He strings the forms together to create numerous chains of them. He then arranges the chains in layers of rows stretched between dowels and the resulting tapestries exist as paintings and sculptures.
Learn more about the exhibits we’ll visit by following these links:
Yayoi Kusama at Gagosian Gallery
Jacob Hashimoto at Mary Boone Gallery
http://www.robertmillergallery.com/index2.html
Contact Dorothea Basile at artimeny@nyc.rr.com to reserve a spot.
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May 2, 2009
11 am
Creating something entirely new is often what leads an artist to experiment. Sometimes the experiment is based on a method or material that has been around for 2,000 years. Rosemarie Fiore’s Pyrotechnics paintings are made from the colorful pigments discharged by fireworks. She contains the explosions like specimen using cardboard cylinders and metal cans. Dustin Yellin borrows a different, more recently developed technology, creating resin sculptures reminiscent of CAT scans and MRI’s.
Rosemarie Fiore at Priska Juschka Fine Art
http://www.priskajuschkafineart.com/exhibitions.php?id=111
Dustin Yellin at Robert Miller Gallery
http://www.robertmillergallery.com/index2.html
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April 4, 2009
11 am
Paintings often communicate their own creation - ideas are seen in layers and preliminary sketches and erasures are as much a part of the finished product as the last touch of paint. For the works of Gordon Cheung and Dana Schutz, becoming is a constant state of being both in process and subject matter. Cheung’s paintings are ‘virtual-reality environments’ depicting techno-sublime landscapes populated by cowboys and bulls painted over stock exchange listings. Schutz’ works depict groups of people passing time, but reside in the moment preceding action.
Gordon Cheung at Jack Shainman Gallery
http://www.jackshainman.com/dynamic/gallery1_exhibit.asp
Dana Schutz at Zach Feuer Gallery
http://www.zachfeuer.com/
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March 7, 2009
11 am
This is a year of transformation! This month we’ll look at artists who work in different media but are concerned with the transformation of everyday materials and experiences into the extraordinary. Artist John Gerrard creates a digital replication of the real world that leaves an elemental composition of earth, sky, sun and the human figure that the viewer interacts with. For Jacob Kassay, alchemy is an integral part of a mixed media practice that presents illumination and transformation as primary subjects. His silver-plaited paintings reflect the glow of the world around them.
John Gerrard at Simon Preston Gallery
http://www.simonprestongallery.com/exhibitions/osw/
Jacob Kassay at Eleven Rivington
http://www.elevenrivington.com/internal_landing.html
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February 7, 2009
11 am
For the next month, artists will be creating performances that blend sound and sculptural installation live in the galleries. At Gladstone Gallery, Allora & Calzadilla have carved a hole in the center of an early 20th-century Bechstein piano, creating a void through which the performer stands to play the Fourth Movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. At David Zwirner Gallery, a free standing recording booth is built inside the gallery space to house both readers of On Kawara’s monumental One Million Years, which is comprised of One Million Years [Past], created in 1969 and containing the years 998,031 B.C. through 1969 A.D., and One Million Years [Future], created in 1981 and containing the years 1996 A.D. to 1,001,995 A.D.
Learn more about the exhibitions we’ll visit by following these links:
Allora and Calzadilla at Gladstone Gallery
http://www.gladstonegallery.com/allora_calzadilla.asp
On Kawara at David Zwirner Gallery
http://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/185/index.htm
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January 10, 2009
11 am
Meet video artist Jennie Thwing as we explore her solo exhibition called Catch My Legs and Hold Them There. Thwing’s work explores identity in crisis. The video, animation and photographs in “Catch My Legs” include experimental footage of the artist and others presenting themselves as a collective of women workers who harvest legs for a living. Their attempts achieve various emotional and physical states and suggest that we all have multiple personalities, which emerge when we least expect and desire.
Jennie Thwing at Soho20 Chelsea Gallery
http://www.soho20gallery.com/home.htm
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December 6, 2008
11am
Cindy Sherman
This month we look at three photographers who approach taking pictures as theater. From the process of constructing the photo to the way it is displayed, the works by these artists create magnificent illusions, challenge our perception, and make us realize that taking pictures is more than just point and shoot.
Bring a camera with you (cell phone cameras count!). We’ll be taking pictures of the Chelsea area and adding them to our website gallery.
Learn more about the exhibitions we’ll visit by following these links:
Hiroshi Sugimoto at Gagosian Gallery:
http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/2008-11-06_hiroshi-sugimoto/
Kim Keever at Kinz, Tillou and Feigen
http://www.ktfgallery.com/artists/kim_keever/
Cindy Sherman at Metropictures
http://www.metropicturesgallery.com/index.php?mode=current
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November 1, 2008
11 am
Weather, detail, 2008, archival ink jet print on canvas
To kick off the new season of Saturday in the Galleries, we will be meeting artist Marc Lepson in his exhibition titled Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, and then looking at work by Mario Merz and Olaf Breuning.
Using everyday materials, these artists create new realms of time and space — from walls of painterly cell-phone pictures and scans of newspapers, to giant igloos made of sticks and broken glass. We’ll investigate how these installations challenge our perception of memory and modes of information absorption.
Learn more by visiting the following the websites:
Marc Lepson: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow at M.Y. Art Prospects
http://www.myartprospects.com/
Mario Merz at Barbara Gladstone Gallery
http://www.gladstonegallery.com/mario_merz.asp
Olaf Breuning at Metro Pictures Gallery
http://www.metropicturesgallery.com/index.php?mode=current