Tag: broom

Emily Mae Smith at Petzel Gallery

Inspired by the manically busy brooms in Disney’s Fantasia, Emily Mae Smith’s recurring broom character is set apart – an individual posing with tense self-assurance in several of the artist’s new works now on view at Petzel Gallery.  Initially, Smith saw the brooms as representative of unrecognized female labor; separated from the pack, they become lone underdogs constructed from the discards of wheat production but forming identities of their own. This figure is host to two mice on her legs and birds and a squirrel on her head, offering sanctuary and even enduring abuse as part of her relationship to nature.  (On view through Nov 12th).

Emily Mae Smith, Habitat, oil on linen, 2022.

Emily Mae Smith at Simone Subal Gallery

Emily Mae Smith’s subversive broom-bodied character appears in close-up with a view of mice, wheat and a polluted environment reflected in her eyes in this highlight of the artist’s current show at Simone Subal Gallery.  Derived from Disney’s Fantasia, the broom appears poised to clean up the landscape she surveys, perhaps in aid of the mice and wheat, species who’ve been on the planet a long time.  Her crown of hair, composed of gingko leaves, points to the trees’ role in removing huge amounts of CO2 from urban environments.  (On view on the Lower East Side.  Masks and social distancing are required and appointments recommended.)

Emily Mae Smith, Head, Horizon World, oil on linen, 67 x 90 inches, 2020.

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.