Art
Art galleries, exhibitions and reviews of the latest and best art in New York
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Tom Holmes, “REALTREE®”
Two works face off in Tom Holmes’s engrossing new show of paintings, each of which exceeds the height of the walls. Topped by semicircular panels that fold against the ceiling, the works arch over viewers, enfolding them in vaporous fields of gestural washes and brush strokes. They resemble altarpieces and recall the way Baroque and Rococo painters pierced architecture with convincing depictions of infinite skies, an illusion amplified here by abstract ribbons rendered to make them appear to be floating against a background of sunset hues. In fact, Holmes created both pieces during an artist residency in Italy, where they were installed to fit in a pair of empty niches at the Palazzo Galli Tassi in Florence. Other works picture an odd assortment of scenes, including several that depict impromptu street-side memorials to shooting victims (complete with bouquets, hearts, Mylar balloons, and in one case, a Hello Kitty plush toy). Elsewhere, there’s a canvas featuring an image of swans swimming under crepe-paper streamers, and another of a Chevy El Camino truck viewed from above. A closer inspection reveals a dappled reflection in the vehicle’s shiny paint of an Eggo waffle box, the subject of the artist’s 2017 show at this same gallery. In 2010, Holmes left New York for rural Tennessee, a move that no doubt informs his references, which can seem hermetic at times. Still, their insinuations of violence, religiosity, machismo and consumerism—conveyed in a style redolent of melan
Paul Chan, “The Bather’s Dilemma”
You take inspiration where you can find it, even off the highway in front of a Walmart or a tire store. Locations like these are the natural habitats of so-called air dancers: advertising puppets that are animated by blowers to continuously furl and unfurl in a manner both comical and mesmerizing—qualities which Paul Chan has exploited in his own take on this roadside attraction. Chan’s versions have resembled puffer coats come to life or odd amalgams of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and a KKK member. Here, they stand in for art history’s “bather” genre. Familiar from paintings by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse and Auguste Renoir, these landscapes cum nude studies evoke the arcadian ideal of living harmoniously with nature. Given global warming and other crises, it’s easy to assume that Chan is being ironic, though the unalloyed exuberance of his pieces delivers something closer to an iron fist of hard truths wrapped in a velvet glove of pleasure. Chan pays homage to Matisse in particular, making a nod to his 1910 masterpiece, Dance, with a circle of billowing celebrants joining hands. The tone grows darker with a lone figure in a tank top emblazoned with i love you man in German; it sags and swells atop a “beach towel” that’s pieced together out of small American flags and labels for prescription opioids. Other works reference the refugee crisis as driven by climate change. Chan titles his exhibit “The Bather’s Dilemma,” though the quandary it poses is fairly straightforward:
“Paulina Peavy/Lacamo: They Call us Unidentified”
Sometime around 1932 (the dates are a little fuzzy), an alien being who called himself Lacamo contacted the artist Paulina Peavy (1901–99) during a séance in Long Beach, California. For the remainder of her life, at Lacamo’s behest, Peavy created artworks, writings and eventually videos to convey secret knowledge about the universe. She even wore homemade masks while painting to better channel her disembodied mentor; some of them, adorned with costume jewelry or silk tassels, appear in this small survey curated by Bill Arning. Alas, Lacamo seems to have been a bit too enamored of the Modernist art pioneered by Peavy’s better known—and, frankly, more visionary—contemporaries. Dating mostly from the 1970s and ’80s, her washy watercolors silhouetted by flat shapes overlaid with networks of fine lines have a mild psychedelic frisson, but look just like the countless examples of mid-century biomorphic abstraction pursued by Surrealists and Expressionists alike. (Roberto Matta’s otherworldly vistas come especially to mind.) Better are a series of glossy oil paintings featuring crystalline structures that glow against dark grounds or body parts that emerge from a morass of writhing forms. Painted between the 1930s and 1980, they seem to combine Surrealism and American Regionalism, anticipating later eccentrics such as Alex Grey or even Judy Chicago and are weird enough to stand on their own. Ultimately, Peavy’s work is charming, but it’s also apparent that she and her spirit guide
Latest art news
Bowery wall’s newest street art mural celebrates global culture in NYC
There are many great places to see street art in New York City, but none are as iconic as the Bowery wall, which began life in 1982 when legendary artist Keith Haring painted a mural on the remnant of what was probably a torn down building on the corner of Bowery and Houston. Photograph: Chop Em Down Films Since 2008, owner Goldman Properties has hosted murals for the site (some of them controversial) by street art's biggest names, including Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Os Gemeos, Swoon, Aiko, Ron English and Lakwena, among others. Now, Japanese contemporary artist Tomokazu Matsuyma joins the list with a vivid piece covering the wall’s 1,300 square feet. Photograph: Chop Em Down Films Currently living and working in Brooklyn, Matsuyma, who also goes by Matzu, is known for intricately detailed, layered compositions that combine imagery appropriated from pop-cultural sources (fashion photography; advertising) with style points borrowed from Edo- and Meiji-period Japanese art as well as from modern art. Photograph: Chop Em Down Films According to Matzu, his East-meets-West approach represents the hybridized nature of global culture with New York as its Ground Zero. Created with a team of 12 assistants, Matzu’s Bowery wall mural, which is on long-term view, follows the same playbook.
Yayoi Kusama is bringing a new Infinity Mirror Room to NYC this fall
We New Yorkers love shine. From sparkling skyscrapers to sleek dance floors and bright new restaurants, we can’t deny our love of a gleaming spectacle. And Yayoi Kusama feeds into our obsession—in the best way possible. This fall, New York will receive the ultimate glimmering art show: a brand-new Infinity Mirror Room from Yayoi Kusama. The fresh insta-bait is set to debut along with the rest of the artist's show on November 9, 2019 at the David Zwirner Gallery, and it will be on view until December 14. Kusama's Infinity Rooms—filled with floating, mirrored orbs or flickering lights—lend themselves to creative selfies and reflective contemplations. The installation will surely beckon everyone from New York’s art connoisseurs to first-time tourists, so get ready to get in line… We’ll meet you there for a pic of an exhibition that's bound to, once again, be a sought-after 'gram. View this post on Instagram Cue drum roll | A solo exhibition featuring the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed, sensational #YayoiKusama returns November 2019 to David Zwirner New York. “Sometimes I think Yayoi Kusama might be the greatest artist to come out of the 1960s.”––@robertasmithnyt for the @nytimes For updates on this exhibition––including opening dates, featured works, and a chance to preview the show before it opens to the public (and the long lines ensue)––follow along here and subscribe to our newsletter via link in bio. … Pictured: Yayoi Kusama, Film still
The New Museum is doubling its size with a cool new addition
Among NYC art museums, the New Museum has generally been seen as the scrappy upstart with a bleeding-edge program dedicated to the latest in contemporary art. But in the last decade or so, the New Mu has been steadily achieving major institution status, especially since it relocated in 2007 from Soho to a bold, purposed built seven-story structure on the Bowery. Designed by the Tokyo architectural firm Sejima + Nishizawa/SANAA, it’s quickly became a Lower East Side landmarks as well as a magnet for visitors, whose numbers have swelled by 100% since the move. Photograph: OMA/Bloomimages.de But now things are about to get bigger still, as the New Mu just announced a major expansion. Projected to open in 2020, the design is the handiwork of the firm OMA, which is headed by Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas. Koolhaas, of course, is the one of the world’s most recognized architects—thanks in part to his book, Delirious New York, a treatise on the dizzying ambitions of Gotham, and how they shaped the city landscape. In that respect, The New Mu addition fits right in: Rising from a site next door to the museum’s current location, the building takes on a dynamic, faceted form which complements the stacked boxes of the SANAA design. And it will add a lot more room, packing in a total 61,899 square feet of space. The building will also feature a central atrium staircase with views of the surrounding neighborhood, an expanded lobby and bookstore and an 80-seat restaurant.
This new immersive installation promises a trip to another dimension
It’s no secret that New Yorkers love immersive environments, which seem to be everywhere these days—from creations by fan fave Yayoi Kusama to what are essentially pop-up ads for TV shows to more fantastical fare. Joining the latter category is the newest entry into the immersive genre, ZeroSpace, which promises a mind-blowing experience that will take you through a “portal to another dimension in the middle of New York City.” Photograph: Inna Shnayder Part theatrical experience, part new media installation, ZeroSpace bills itself as Alice In Wonderland with lasers, and is located across the street from Madison Square Garden at 136 West 33rd St between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. When visitors enter the 25,000-square-foot space, they encounter an actor-driven sci-fi scenario involving operatives from a super-secret government agency on a hunt for aliens. Agents escort you through a series of large rooms filled with trippy projections and interactive elements. One area with pillows invites you to lie on the floor and stare up at a ceiling filled with dangling, fiber-optic “plants” while you're being tended to by robed figures. Elsewhere, you’ll find yourself being mesmerized by a hanging kaleidoscopic light sculpture. And if you get thirsty during your otherworldly adventure, ZeroSpace also boasts two bars. Photograph: Inna Shnayder Getting through all of this typically takes about one to two hours, but visitors are welcome to stay as long as they want. (We suggest
