Chelsea Galleries

Chelsea is an ever changing landscape of art shows and galleries. As an artist I find it both mesmerizing and intimidating. I am simultaneously inspired to make art or quit making art altogether.  This was not my first visit to Chelsea, but because of the constantly evolving exhibitions there’s always something new to see. I usually go to a limited amount of galleries when I visit to avoid “art overload”. This time around I visited about 6 of the suggested shows, starting on 25^th street and making my way down.

The first gallery I visited was Doosan, which was showing Yunsung Lee. The paintings were sharp and rendered beautifully in bright colors. The large female nudes are obviously inspired by anime and Manga comics while perhaps commenting on the voyeuristic male centrism of the genre. What I found most interesting were the detail paintings; a cropped background or pieces of stars or a “POW” balloon that lacked figures but made for interesting abstracts while still having a context.

Praxis Gallery was my next stop where Marela Zacarias’ “Warp and Weft” series was showing. These wall sculptures are inspired by textiles but they are made with an additive process and then painted. I really enjoyed the textures and folds of the material and how it interplayed with the painted patterns. I also learned some interesting details about the process from the gallery: the base is created with wood which is then overlaid with window screens and joint compound then, lastly, painted. As a sculptor, I appreciate learning how something is made. The red wall is a nice touch for the display, and really sets off the black and white pattern of this particular piece.

I visited several other galleries with impressive work by artists including Cindy Sherman, Richard Serra, and Anish Kapoor, but “The Marionette Maker” at the Luhring Augustine Gallery really stole the “show”! Their installation is an enchanting, self contained world (housed in a caravan trailer) filled with tableaus involving marionettes which are computer controlled. Each window and door reveals a scene, variously a marionette maker drafting designs, an opera, a ship sailing over rough seas, and including a full sized woman (sleeping or dead) in the rear. If one kneels down toward the back of the caravan you can catch a glimpse of a serene, pastoral valley; or you can sit in one of the two movie-style chairs and enjoy the opera. The whole installation is haunting and filled me with wonder. There is a second room housing an instrument of the artists’ devising which is also pretty fantastic. I was taken by the interactive and immersive nature of both installations, as well as the skill in execution. Categorically I would say they are kinetic installations involving magical realism, and they are both pretty magical!

 I later took some time to visit Highline Park, which exited my design sensibilities. It is a great urban reclamation project and definitely worth a visit!

In short, there is a lot to see in Chelsea at any given moment. I will continue to make a point of visiting as often as possible. I am glad we were allocated class time to visit galleries, as it often slips through the cracks in anyone’s busy schedule. It is important to view the work of others and be inspired in our daily lives.