Tag: installation

Seung-taek Lee at Canal Projects

Prominent Korean artist Seung-Taek Lee’s untitled stone and rope installation at Canal Projects occupies but does not dominate the center of the art institution’s large SoHo space.  Shaped by the cords that have bound it, each hanging stone represents time and human intervention in nature; hung by ropes that form lively V patterns, the arrangement is minimal but dynamic. Inspired by environmental movements of the 60s and 70s that emerged as South Korea transformed the basis of its economy from agriculture to industry, Lee has created performances with the wind and harnessed fire to creatively collaborate with nature.  The earth itself – in the form of a huge painted vinyl balloon resting on the gallery floor – has joined Lee on a bike ride through Beijing, appeared in various natural spots and on earth day this year will be used in a performance on Governors Island. (On view on Canal Street in SoHo through May 22nd).

Seung-Taek Lee, (foreground) Untitled, stone, rope, dimensions variable, 1982-2022. (background) Earth Play, oil on vinyl balloon, 21’ diameter, 1989-1996.

Jannis Kounellis at Gladstone Gallery

Describing himself as a ‘Greek man and an Italian artist,’ the late Jannis Kounellis was a founder of Arte Povera, a movement that emerged from the desire of post-war Italian artists to embrace materials more linked to everyday life than to fine art.  In this piece from 2016, Kounellis sourced outdoor sheds, placing them on beds of coals arranged in a grid around Gladstone Gallery’s spacious 21st Street location.  Iron panels line the walls, holding a rope and bent pieces of metal that resemble an alphabet.  Though not meant to be interpreted literally, Kounellis’ materials are evocative – coal suggesting fire and the wooden sheds standing in for fuel while looking like makeshift coffins.  Whether it’s the death of the industrial past hinted at by the old railway sheds or more contemporary losses, this somber installation acts as a reminder to pause and reflect.  (On view through Dec 23rd).

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, iron panels, bent metal, metal hooks; iron panels, rope, metal hooks; antique wardrobes, coal, overall dimensions variable, 2016.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at Pace Gallery

In the middle of Chelsea’s bustling Pace Gallery, it comes as a surprise to hear your own heartbeat filling the cavernous room housing Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive installation ‘Pulse Topology.’  Placing your hand under one of three small monitor suspended from the ceiling not only broadcasts the sound of your heartbeat but translates it into flashing lights in one of thousands of lightbulbs suspended in an undulating pattern from the ceiling.  Though essential to life, we often take our beating hearts for granted; making them the focus of an artwork not only flips interior functions to the exterior, it speaks to something visitors have in common.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 22nd).

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Pulse Topology, 2021, 3,000 LED filament lightbulbs, DMX controllers, custom-made photoplethysmography sensors, computers, covers any area between 1,000 and 5,000 square feet.

Claudia Martinez Garay at GRIMM Gallery

Lima and Amsterdam-based artist Claudia Martinez Garay constructs a complex image of Peruvian culture and history by combining images sourced through different means. In a piece now on view in her solo show at Grimm Gallery in Tribeca, a winged hybrid creature and stepped geometries inside a flat-topped pyramidal form bring to mind Peruvian mythologies and architectures.  In the foreground, academic drawings of native flora are mounted on aluminum, expanding representations of Peru into the gallery and into the realm of new understandings.  (On view through Oct 15th).

Claudia Martinez Garay, Ghost Kingdom, painted wall mural, sublimated print on aluminum (9 parts), steel stand (6 parts), 199 x 186 x 115 inches, 2022.

Anila Quayyum Agha at Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Inspired by Islamic art and architecture, Anila Quayyum Agha’s pattern-based practice celebrates the intricacies and pleasures of floral and geometric design.  Her installation Beautiful Despair, commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, literally immerses the viewer in patterns that are projected from a central cube onto the floor, walls and ceiling of a room at Sundaram Tagore Gallery.  With the piece, Quayyum Agha commemorates those lost to Covid (including her sister) while expressing hope for the future.  (On view in Chelsea though Oct 8th).

Anila Quayyum Agha, Beautiful Despair, lacquered steel and halogen bulb, 60 x 60 x 60 inches, 2022.