The Bowery Gallery in Chelsea
is currently presenting a collection of work by Dena Schutzer for the
exhibition Wash and Fold. For her
third solo show at the gallery, Schutzer unveils paintings and etchings that primarily
depict a typical day inside a Yonkers laundromat. "A local laundromat was
my source, a place to watch for action that I could twist into a composition. I
was attracted to the intimate displays of basic struggle to maintain order and
dignity. The handling of fabrics that we cover, dry, and wrap our bodies in is
private yet becomes shared in public," explains Schutzer.
Man Folding (oil on canvas, 2017) Schutzer's combination of blue, yellow, and green colors are highlighted in Laundry-Blue and Yellow depicting a woman wearing a yellow-green
T-shirt as she stands in front of a washing machine carrying a $20 in her hand.
She wears a blue bracelet and blue nail polish and highlighted blue dreadlocks
in her hair. This blue, yellow, and green color scheme is also seen in the
colors of the washing machine, which is dark blue, the bottle of detergent
which is yellow with traces of green, and a sky blue-colored dryer.
Laundry-Blue and Yellow (oil on canvas, 2017)
Another notable painting with
a similar color scheme is Girl on Yellow
Chairs that effectively illustrates the notion of lazy, summer days. As the
name suggests, the paintingfeatures
a young woman, presumably in the summertime as she’s wearing grey shorts and a
sea-green colored tank top in light pink flip-flops, lying on her back sprawled
out on a row of bright yellow seats, her arms outstretched over her head
carrying her smartphone in a blue case. Above her on top of the machines are
three bottles of detergent; two green and one outline in yellow. A similar black and white
etching entitled Girl on Chairs With
Figures features the same image of the outstretched woman but features her
lying on the chairs with her head and arms facing the right side of the images
rather than the left and other patrons are seen taking their clothes out of
dryers or putting them away.
Girl on Yellow Chairs (oil on canvas, 2017)
Girl on Chair With Figures (etching, 2017)
Besides her laundromat
paintings, Schutzer also offers paintings depicting daily life in her Yonkers
neighborhood. These include Man on Soda
Bottle depicting a man in the park relaxing on a blue picnic blanket
resting his head on a nearly empty bottle of soda or Gatorade. On one side of
him are a pair of headphones and on the other side a woman can be seen resting
on her stomach with her head resting on her arms, and in the background are
trees with curved branches and park-goers strolling around the hilly landscape.
Another painting that takes place outdoors in an open area entitled Pushups depicts two teenage boys facing
across from one another pushing their body weight using an exercise table with
tree in the foreground with the branches leaning over to the left of the image.
At the Bowery Gallery 530
W. 25th St., through Mar. 24. The gallery is open Tue.-Sat. from 11 a.m. until
6 p.m.
A new project space dedicated to immigrant artists has opened in Bushwick. The space, known as “The Border,” opened earlier this month with the goal of promoting talented emerging and established immigrant artists living in the United States in the hopes of creating a supportive and nurturing environment for immigrants and non-immigrants alike to create a dialogue around their work. The inaugural show entitled The Border #1 features work by five artists each originally from different countries who offer drawings, sculptures, and other mixed media installations. One of the most intriguing works in the show is an installation by Peter Kaspar of a wooden board that displays digitized dots of different colors that blink on and off sporadically and are operated by a small stone situated on a censor nearby. Originally from Slovakia, Kaspar’s work explores the relationship between culture and memory. Kaspar has exhibited all over the United States and has a museum show coming up in his native country. C.J. Chueca of Peru unveils a wall of white, square tiles with many of them either partially chipped or completely gone, with the intention of providing insight into the complex roles that walls can play in one’s life. In front of the wall there is a small black handmade ceramic sculpture that looks like a real plastic bag with shoes in it. C. J. Chueca is currently working on her next solo show entitled Dos Cielos Azules (“two blue skies”) that will be on view next month at Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano (ICPNA). Also of note are two works by visual artist Levan Mindiashvili of the country Georgia. The first piece is a sculptural installation depicting three pigmented plastered run-down houses lined up in a row on a shelf on the gallery wall, while the other piece is a tapestry featuring a black and white image of a two-story house. Mindiashvili has exhibited in numerous museums across the U.S. and around the world in addition to his native country. Aphrodite Desiree Navab’s work often revolves around her Iranian, Greek and American cultural heritage with themes relating to history and politics. For this show, she presents eight small-scale watercolor drawings of hypnotic designs and patterns. These include spirals and other circular shapes that gradually expand or diminish.
Finally, Colombian artist and the curator of the show Jamie Martinez presents several installations that incorporated his signature triangular shapes. These include two sculptures each with a bright thin strip of light (white and red respectively) encircling it, and a couple of small scale pieces of paper with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics with a thin red, wire forming triangles around the text. A similar piece Martinez presents is a poem by Maya Angelou entitled America also featuring a thin red wire with triangular forms. At The Border project space, 56 Bogart St., (1st floor) through Mar. 26.
THE BORDER curated by Jamie Martinez March 2 – March 26, 2018 56 Bogart Street 1st FL BK, NY 11206 T. info@theborderprojectspace.com www.theborderprojectspace.com
-Alison Martin
Photographs courtesy of the artists and The Border
“The Border #1” curated by Jamie Martinez at The Border, installation view, NY.
C.J. Chueca, “Body #1 (NY)”, ceramic tiles over wood and “Shoes in a trash bag”, handmade ceramic.
Aphrodite Desiree Navab, “The Love Labyrinth”, 8 – 8 x 10 inch drawings, ink on paper.
Jamie Martinez, two “Mesh” series sculptures, steel, copper and fiber optics plus “America”, Maya Angelou poem and thread on black leather/wood, 2018.
Peter Kaspar, “Untitled”, 48” x 72”, wood, fiber optic cables and a stone, 2018.
Levan Mindiashvili, (L-R) “Untitled 3,5,1”, pigmented plaster, wood and pigmented wax plus “Unintended Archeology”, tapestry.
Martin Soto Climent: Temazcal at Michael Benevento, installation view, 2018. Images courtesy of Michael Benevento.
Mexican artist Martin Soto Climent is presenting an intriguing show entitled Temazcal at Michael Benevento’s Los Angeles gallery.
For this show, Soto Climent unveils an expansive body of new works inspired by the spiritual transfiguration found in the ancient Mesoamerican steam baths during rituals known as “Temazcal.”
Typically held in stone igloos charred by burnt wood and swirling vapors, Temazcal is a ceremony performed over several centuries by healers to those seeking spiritual uplifting. With this show, Soto Climent navigates the viewer through the gallery’s four rooms documenting the beloved tradition in depth.
Mexican artist Martin Soto Climent is presenting an intriguing show entitled Temazcal at Michael Benevento’s Los Angeles gallery.
For this show, Soto Climent unveils an expansive body of new works inspired by the spiritual transfiguration found in the ancient Mesoamerican steam baths during rituals known as “Temazcal.”
Typically held in stone igloos charred by burnt wood and swirling vapors, Temazcal is a ceremony performed over several centuries by healers to those seeking spiritual uplifting. With this show, Soto Climent navigates the viewer through the gallery’s four rooms documenting the beloved tradition in depth.
Martin Soto Climent: Temazcal at Michael Benevento, installation view, 2018. Images courtesy of Michael Benevento.
The exhibition begins with a large projected slide show of 515 black and white images where the viewer gets a glimpse of the daily life of Don Pedro, a spiritual healer whose humble way of living was the inspiration for the show. The exhibition continues with numerous objects including a charred wooden egg (“Moonlight,” 2018), a cascading hide of black feathers (“Dark Flame”, 2018) a burnt upturned dragon sculpture (Serpiente Emlumada, 2018), a half-burnt bundle of leaning sticks (Flechazo, 2018) and the artist’s signature stretched tights compositions on a charred black wooden frame (Cacoon for a Dragon, 2018.) The last part of the exhibition features a gold leafed pot (Secreto, 2018) given to Soto Climent by Don Pedro. This charred metal pot was used to hold treasure buried within the Temazcal ceremony. Across from the pot, on the opposite wall is a mesmerizing video of a fire burning (La Puerta, 2018) where loud noises of animals and twigs crackling can be heard. The noises reverberate throughout the room and engulf the entire exhibition.
Martin Soto Climent: Temazcal at Michael Benevento, installation view, 2018. Images courtesy of Michael Benevento.
Soto Climent is best known for his surrealist manipulation of images and objects. His practice refers to the forms of the body and the psychology of desire embedded within a consumer based economy. For Soto Climent this psychology extends into the spiritual realms of being. Temazcal articulates the energies that connect the spirit to material form.
Soto Climent lives and works in Mexico City. His work has been featured in many exhibitions around the world including the Frieze Art Fair in London in 2016.
At , 3712 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, through Mar. 17. The gallery is open Tue.-Sat. from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Mother, 2018, Leather, charred wood, 12.5 x 8.125 x 5.375 inches.Flame, 2018, bird wing, candle, glass vitrine, wood plinth, acrylic, 16 x 7.5 x 7.75 inches.Moon light, 2018, charred wood, wood plinth, acrylic, 7 x 2.75 x 8 inches.Martin Soto Climent: Temazcal at Michael Benevento, installation view, 2018. Images courtesy of Michael Benevento.
ALISON MARTIN ALISON MARTIN IS A LIFELONG RESIDENT OF NEW YORK CITY. SHE LOVES TO WRITE AND IS VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT COVERING THE TOP CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITS IN NEW YORK CITY AND ALL OVER THE WORLD.
“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Photographs courtesy of the artists and gallery.
A major showing of the work of 16 international artists is the inaugural offering of the new gallery HE.RO in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The exhibit, Ideal Types, features paintings, sculptures, photographs, tapestries, and furniture installations and other things. It was curated by Alfredo Cramerotti with input from Elsa Barbieri.
The title of the show refers to a term coined by sociologist Max Weber. For him, “ideal types” are models that share characteristics of real-life objects but do not seem to follow any specific example.
The curators and artists explore the study of the internal logic of a foreign world, and each artist illustrates this process in his or her own creative way.
Painting by Valerio Adami.
Valerio Adami of Paris presents a Roy Lichtenstein pop-art style painting entitled L’ultimo Pound (allegoria). The piece depicts a bedroom perhaps of a hospital or orphanage with two beds on either side of the pitch-black doorway with portraits of an old man on one and a skull on the other with a terrified girl standing in the middle clutching her stuffed rabbit. The bright yellow paint used contrasts starkly with the black and grey.
“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Photographs courtesy of the artists and gallery.
Another notable work in the show is the installation Harvest Moon by Shezad Dawood of London. Like Adami’s piece, Dawood also illustrates contradictions of dark and light as Dawood’s piece features a black, wall-mounted backdrop with a thin, neon tube of light in the shape of a half-moon or half lightbulb.
“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Wooden sculpture by Peter Schuyff. Photographs courtesy of the artists and gallery.
Also of note is an installation by Peter Schuyff of Amsterdam entitled Irene. The 5-foot tall wooden sculpture is shaped into a curvaceous hourglass figure as though it were to represent some woman in some way. Schuyff’s other works in the show include two paintings depicting warped, close-up patterns of red, white, and blue stripes entitled Nurse’s Aid and Lollipop.
“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Tapestries by Sarah Entwistle. Photographs courtesy of the artists and gallery.
Sarah Entwistle of Berlin presents several large-scale tapestries with two of them darker colored and one with lighter colors like pink and red with various geometric designs outlined by thin sewing thread.
A number of the works were commissioned especially for the show and were premiered at the opening; others are by artists never before shown in the Netherlands in keeping with the gallery’s goal of presenting the best of new contemporary art in Amsterdam.
The other participating artists in the exhibition are Athanasios Argianas of London and Athens, Adriana Arroyo of Berlin, Ewa Axelrad of London, Chloë Cheuk of Hong Kong and Montreal, Fabrizio Cotognini of Civitanova Marche, Laurence Kavanagh of London, Alice Pedroletti of Milan, Peter Sköld of Stockholm, Peter Tillessen of Zurich, Alesch Vital of Scuol, Gernot Wieland of Berlin, and Bedwyr Williams of Caernarfon.
At HE.RO through Mar. 31. The gallery is located at Beitelkade 4, 1021 KG, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The gallery is open Wed.-Sat. from 12:00-18:00 (12 p.m.-6 p.m.).
Paintings by Jake and Dinos Chapman in the office of the gallery.“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Photographs courtesy of the artists and the gallery.“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Photographs courtesy of the artists and the gallery.“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Photographs courtesy of the artists and the gallery.“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Photographs courtesy of the artists and the gallery.“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Photographs courtesy of the artists and the gallery.“Ideal Types” Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti at HE.RO, installation view. Photographs courtesy of the artists and the gallery.
