Tag: alicja kwade

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.

Alicja Kwade at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Berlin-based Polish artist Alicja Kwade explains that the invitation to install a piece on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was like being asked to crown the summarized history of humanity in the galleries below.  In response, she created a steel framed structure that symbolizes human systems and which incorporates stones sourced from India, Finland, Italy, China and beyond.  From the roof, viewing the New York’s rising skyline is unavoidable; Kwade draws in the surroundings as part of her artwork, inviting visitors to consider neighboring buildings as symbols of capitalism, a structure that can be examined as readily as the ones she erects. (On view through Oct 27th).

Installation view of Alicja Kwade’s ‘Parapivot’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, summer 2019.

Alicja Kwade at 303 Gallery

Starting with a 3D scan of a boulder, Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade gradually transforms the large rock into a sphere and a square, morphing through different materials along the way and separating each phase by a mirror.  At rear, a steel framework supports three more stones, identical in mass and weight but shaped and positioned to look otherwise.  Kwade’s intention – to challenge viewers to question what they perceive – results in a puzzling and provocative exhibition.  (On view at 303 Gallery in Chelsea through May 18th).

Alicja Kwade, installation view of ‘ParaParticular’ at 303 Gallery, April 2019.

Alicja Kwade at 303 Gallery

Large mirrors intersect with clear glass frames in Berlin-based Polish artist Alicja Kwade’s first solo show at 303 Gallery, confusing the sightlines and adding intrigue to the gallery’s stunning new space on 21st Street. In the foreground, Kwade offers a beautiful brass sculpture that suggests the trajectory of a slowing spinning and falling hoop, arresting a sequence of events as a sculpture. (In Chelsea through June 30th).

Alicja Kwade, installation view of ‘Alicja Kwade,’ at 303 Gallery, May 2016.
Alicja Kwade, installation view of ‘Alicja Kwade,’ at 303 Gallery, May 2016.

Alicja Kwade in ‘Lightness of Being,’ at City Hall Park

New Yorkers used to seeing abandoned and decrepit bikes are likely to get a kick out of Polish artist Alicja Kwade’s twisted racer in City Hall Park.  Like her curving wooden door that we saw on Lower East Side tours last Feb/March, she took the original apart, reformed it and pieced it back together to create an object of whimsy and wonder.  (Through December 13th).  

Alicja Kwade, Journey without Arrival (Raleigh), stainless steel, aluminum, rubber, plastic components, 2012/13.