Tag: black

Titus Kaphar at Gagosian Gallery

Amid vibrantly colored décor from an earlier time period, two sisters hold children who have disappeared in Titus Kaphar’s ‘Not My Burden’ at Gagosian Gallery’s 21st Street space in Chelsea.  A much-anticipated follow-up to select paintings shown online when TIME commissioned a cover from Kaphar after George Floyd’s murder, the exhibition features work in which children have literally been cut out of the canvas, representing the anxiety and fear experienced by Black mothers. (On view through Dec 19th.  Appointments, masks, social distancing, contact info and a health questionnaire are required).

Titus Kaphar, Not My Burden, oil on canvas, 66 x 60 ¼ inches, 2019.

Lorna Simpson at Hauser & Wirth

In the Arctic, ‘so much believed to be white is actually – strikingly – blue,’ writes award-winning American poet Robin Coste Lewis in a text applied to the wall at the entrance to Lorna Simpson’s solo show at Hauser & Wirth.  Titled ‘Darkening’ and featuring monumentally scaled paintings combining text and images from Ebony magazine, the AP and National Archives, the new work pictures bodies and icy landscapes commenting on, as Simpson has explained, ‘inhospitable conditions and how to survive those conditions.’  (On view in Chelsea through July 27th).

Lorna Simpson, Blue Turned Temporal, ink and screenprint on gessoed fiberglass, 102 x 144 x 1 3/8 inches, 2019.

Petah Coyne at Galerie Lelong

For her first New York gallery show in nearly ten years, Petah Coyne continues to create richly evocative sculpture inspired by literature; this peacock-topped chandelier titled ‘Black Snowflake’ pays homage to Masuji Ibuse’s Black Rain, his 1965 novel about Hiroshima.  Personal themes also run though the show; here, a piece in memory of Coyne’s late father includes a bird considered in Irish mythology to accompany the soul to heaven.  (On view at Galerie Lelong in Chelsea through Oct 27th).

Petah Coyne, Untitled #1242 (Black Snowflake), specially-formulated wax, pigment, taxidermy, candles, tassels, ribbons, hand-blown glass bulbs, chicken-wire fencing, wire, steel, cable, cable nuts, sash weight, quick-link shackles, jaw-to-jaw swivel, silk/rayon velvet, 3/8” grade 30 proof coil chain, Velcro, thread, plastic, 71 x 75 x 50 inches, 2007 – 12.

Tony Smith at Matthew Marks Gallery

Titled ‘Playground,’ this piece by architect turned modernist sculptor Tony Smith was inspired by ancient mud-brick buildings. Two public installations of the sculpture in Beverly Hills, CA and Rochester, NY entice visitors to go through the opening but in New York, visitors to Chelsea’s Matthew Marks Gallery are invited to appreciate at a little more of a remove. (Through April 18th).

Tony Smith, Playground, steel, painted black, 64 x 128 x 64 inches, 1962.

Louise Nevelson at Pace Gallery

Iconic 20th century sculptor Louise Nevelson famously maintained that the color black – in which she painted many of her assemblages – “…is the most aristocratic color of all. You can be quiet and it contains the whole thing.” This untitled piece from near the end of her life goes beyond black, mixing the blue of a mass produced dustpan with homier wood tones and an industrial roller, combining items from home life and beyond. (At Pace Gallery’s 534 West 25th Street location through Feb 28th).

Louise Nevelson, Untitled, broom, dustpan, metal, paint and wood on board, 63” x 48” x 7 ¾’, 1985.