The David
Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting a collection of work by
Yutaka Sone for the exhibition Day and Night. For his seventh
show at the gallery, Sone presents paintings of major cities at night that were
modeled after his large-scale marble sculptures that reflect his interest in
both natural and architectural landscapes.
Sone captures the energetic and
enthusiastic ambience of nightlife in major cities like Hong Kong that
beautifully illustrates the bright lights and billboards on small and tall
buildings that can be seen on the city’s waterfront, and dark hills obscured in
the back with miniscule homes representing the suburbs.
Similar paintings
include The Light at That Time which beautifully captures lower Manhattan at
night with the glowing lights of the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg
bridges, and Amusement in the Night depicts the scene of an amusement park at
night as the title suggests with traditional rides such as a Ferris wheel, a
roller coaster, a merry-go-round, and a tilting swing.
In addition to his paintings, Sone
presents a small-scale geometric marble sculpture known as Movie Theater that
illustrates a staircase leading to a movie theater where the screen is hit with
the point of a right triangle to create the illusion of the screen omitting
light reaching audience members.
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The Light at That Time (2015, acrylic on canvas) by Yutaka Sone
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Sone’s fascination with palm trees
is also evident as indicated in his Sky and Palm Tree Head series of paintings,
and a large-scale Tropical Composition/Canary Island Palm Tree series of large-scale
sculptures. Sone created his palm tree paintings in his garden in his Los
Angeles home, capturing their true essence with vibrant, evergreen leaves that
compliment the bright, blue sky in the background. The sculptures represent
Sone’s inner ongoing dialogue between natural and manmade structures. Sone
created this piece with help from local artists from the Michoacán region in
Mexico. The trees are made from rattan that is woven around a metal framework.
The works in this series are Sone’s largest to date to date standing between
one and two meters tall.
Yutaka Sone was born in Japan and
studied fine art and architecture at Tokyo Geijutsu University. He’s been a
member of the David Zwirner gallery since 1999 and his large-scale marble
sculpture Little Manhattan created between 2007 and 2009 is currently on view
at the High Line until March 2016.
At David Zwirner,
525 W. 19th St., through Feb. 20. The gallery is open Tue.-Sat. from 10 a.m.-6
p.m.
