Blog Post #6 - The Chelsea Galleries

Wow. I must say, I was really impressed with a lot of the artwork I saw upon my visit to the Chelsea Galleries; I saw a lot that I didn't expect to see and there was a lot of variety in the methods, ideas, and visuals that I saw, even though it was all contemporary art. I guess it makes sense, though. Contemporary art can pretty much be anything.

I visited the Kim Foster Gallery first. There was a nice variety of artists here, and I found this one artwork (or two artworks, rather) by Christian Faur very interesting:

The one on the left is called Boy With Glasses, and the one on the right is simply called Girl. They are both made entirely with crayons!

They're really interesting to me because I initially saw them from a distance, and actually thought they could have been paintings or even photographs--but upon closer examination, I was able to see the colored tips of the crayons sticking out of the wall. I was amazed that this artist was able to depict two incredibly realistic images with nothing but colored crayons, and it kind of put a lot into perspective for me in terms of what can be accomplished within art.

I think Christian Faur is certainly playing around with unconventional methods and materials and perhaps even using these pieces as critique in regards to art itself. What constitutes art? Is this any less impressive than, say, a traditional representational portrait painting due to the method used? Or is it perhaps even more accomplished? It really got me to think about those two questions in particular, and I would say that's what every contemporary artist really wants; is to get their viewers to think.

Another gallery I visited, which I think might actually be my favorite, is the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery. And, gosh... I was genuinely amazed by the art I saw in here. Not that the other galleries weren't interesting or striking, but this one included some pieces that I truly had never seen before. One such example would be this art piece:

This is The Way to the Sea by Yorgo Alexopoulos. It was made using digital animation on an HD translucent LCD display, thassos marble, gypsum 3D print, aluminum, steel, glass, C-Print on brushed aluminum, mixed media diorama, LEDs, polished stainless steel, and custom electronics. Quite a mouthful.

You can absolutely see that hefty list of materials when you look at this piece, however. I wish I could post the video I took of it (my phone is being dumb) but the water in this piece actually moves like a real waterfall, and you can hear it, too. It is such a beautiful piece, there are so many things I love about it--the waterfall, the rainbow, the way the green mountain protrudes out of the actual encasing, and the way everything is positioned together--I feel like this is a scene from one of my adventure novels or videogames and I legitimately felt like I wished I could somehow transport myself there. It seemed like paradise.

This is definitely a piece that unfolds over time. Not only because of the digital aspect, but also just because it's one of those pieces where you have to just be there for a few minutes to really grasp it. A glance from afar doesn't do it justice.

This next piece is from the 303 Gallery. It is made by Alicja Kwade:

It's called Reality Zones, and it was made using bronze and steel. I really liked this piece just because of how interesting it looked, and I'm also a big fan of chains, as well as circles, in art. According to the information I read, this exhibition was all about challenging what we see as "reality," distorting space and using the sculptures as a means to get us to rethink about societal norms, which I found really neat. 

Overall, I really, really enjoyed this trip. I actually plan on revisiting really soon and checking out the few galleries I missed. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures and I can't wait to come back!