Tag: 303 gallery

Nina Canell at 303 Gallery

Swedish artist Nina Canell has explained that sculpture is ‘an encounter,’ meaning that the atmosphere created by a piece and its materials will drive interest.  In the artist’s first solo show at 303 Gallery in Chelsea, unusual works involving fossils and conveyors achieve this goal, prompting curiosity via strange juxtapositions.  In this piece titled ‘Mother of Dust,’ a moving conveyor belt dominates the gallery; positioned just above the belt, a broom pushes along a handful of pearls.  As large as the sculpture is, the interest is in the point at which broom and pearls meet and the constantly moving, changing pattern of pearls generated by the device.  Canell’s interest is in geology, time and the interventions of humans in nature; although humans are absent here, their presence is indicated by the broom’s work – a process that has been set in motion and left to play out as it will.  (On view through Oct 28th).

Nina Canell, Mother of Dust, pearls, broom, modified conveyor belt, 280 x 35 x 23 inches, 2023.

Sam Falls at 303 Gallery

Known for making paintings by leaving canvases outside to weather under careful arrangements of plants and scattered, colorful pigments, Sam Falls’ ceramics at 303 Gallery offer a more direct appreciation of the flora he depicts.  While the canvas works feature silhouettes of plants (created as the natural material blocks the pigments from reaching the canvas), the ceramics include plant life which has been rolled into the clay and burnt out in the kiln.  Falls then applies glazes which flow and fade to suggest memories of the original natural material.  At the center of this piece is a photo taken on instant film (a technology that, like its subject, enjoyed a limited lifespan) of flowers in Central Park, which he returned to and harvested once dead to include in the ceramic form.  (On view in Chelsea through July 28th).

Sam Falls, The Pool, Central Park, NYC, Fujifilm FP-100C45 instant film, glazed ceramic and glass, 14 3/8 x 13 ¼ x 2 1/8 inches, 2023.

Tim Gardner at 303 Gallery

A gold panner in moonlight, a lone boy at a scenic outlook and a camper van headed into the mountains were some of the evocative but lonely subjects of Canadian artist Tim Gardner’s last solo show at 303 Gallery, created during the days of pandemic isolation.  His new watercolor and ink paintings at 303 have subtracted humans from the picture entirely, instead featuring horses, police bikes (minus riders) and flowers.  While the bikes beg the question of where the humans are, Gardner’s horses and flowers have a powerful and lively presence of their own. Here, a cluster of tulips sways in unison, a welcome pronouncement of the arrival of spring and nature’s beauty.  (On view in Chelsea through May 25th).

Tim Gardner, Untitled (garden), watercolor and ink on paper, 11 x 13 ½ inches, 2023.

Alicja Kwade at 303 Gallery

Gravity is an unnamed but ever-present material in Alicja Kwade’s symbolically (and literally) weighty sculptures.  On view in her current exhibition at 303 Gallery in Chelsea, a rocking chair cast in bronze is partially enveloped by stone and positioned in an enclosure made of glass bricks meant to represent the artist’s personal living space. Around the enclosure are mobiles titled ‘Heavy Skies’ that distribute the weight of various stones, a contrast to the lightness normally associated with such balanced arrangements.  Precarity meets inertia in the contrast between fragile glass and heavy stone, creating a tension that comes from wondering what change is to come.  (On view through Dec 17th).

Alicja Kwade, Stella Sella, bronze, stones, 38 5/8 x 19.69 x 39.76 inches, 2022.

Doug Aitken at 303 Gallery

In his latest multi-screen video installation, ‘Wilderness’ at 303 Gallery, renowned artist Doug Aitken asks, “How far we will continue to evolve, and at what cost?”   Aitken’s last major show in ‘18 at his Chelsea gallery featured communications expert and cell-phone pioneer Martin Cooper pondering how connected we actually need to be.  Here, the artist takes this train of thought further, shooting footage on the beach near his Venice home to suggest land’s end as a kind of metaphorical end to pre-digital life.  Beachgoers mouth phrases like ‘You sound so sweet and clear but you’re not really there,’ but the audio is from AI generated digital voices.  Alluring and alarming, Aitken’s scenes give pause for thought as we witness hands photographing the sunset becoming hands that hail the new.  (On view through May 27th).

Doug Aitken, Wilderness, installation view, eight-channel composited video, 2022.