Fred Eversley at David Kordansky Gallery

After a serious car crash in the mid-60s prompted a career shift from aerospace engineering to fine art, West coast Light and Space artist Fred Eversley applied his knowledge of materials to the creation of tinted cast sculptures like those now on view at David Kordansky Gallery in Chelsea.  As a kid in his father’s basement lab, Eversley recreated Galileo’s experiments in making parabolic shapes; as an artist, he describes his work as reflecting forms of energy and light.  Eminently enjoyable, Eversley explains that his sculptures are “made for spectators to amuse themselves by discovering all of the infinite combinations of internal reflections, refractions, color changes and other optical phenomena that one can perceive within an individual piece of sculpture.”  (On view through June 10th).

Fred Eversley, installation view of ‘Cylindrical Lenses’ at David Kordansky Gallery, May 2023.

Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio in The New Bend at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio’s ‘Holbein En Crenshaw,’ a rubber cast of a tree on a LA street dominates ‘The New Bend,’ a standout show of textile-related work curated by Legacy Russell at Chelsea’s Hauser & Wirth Gallery.  Layered imagery including a highway exit sign, distorted wheel-like shapes, and advertisements crowd together on one side of this hanging piece, recreating the bombardment of information pedestrians and motorists experience on city streets.  On the other side, the rough texture of the cast tree with its burls and imperfections suggests the difficulties of urban life, even for plants.  Aparicio explains that his intention is to connect beleaguered, non-native trees to the reception of migrant workers in California while also recognizing the rootedness of both in LA life.  (On view through April 2nd.)

Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio, Holbein En Crenshaw (Washington Blvd and Crenshaw Blvd., LA, CA), rubber, sulfur, tree and plant residue, wood glue, latex paint, acrylic paint, strings and found cloth quilt, 138 x 150 x 5 inches, 2018.

Ruth Asawa at David Zwirner Gallery

From pattern drawings based on wicker chairs to meticulous renderings of blossoming plants, Ruth Asawa’s artistic practice focused on remarkable elements of everyday life in addition to the hanging wire sculptures for which she is best known.  David Zwirner Gallery’s current exhibition of the late artist’s drawings and sculpture, which includes these ceramic casts of friends and visitors to her home, aims to reveal her integration of art and life inspired by her avant-garde background, busy household and active community. (On view through Dec 18th on 20th Street in Chelsea).

Ruth Asawa, detail installation view of Untitled (LC.014, Collection of Bisque-Fired life Masks from Ruth Asawa’s Home), ceramic, bisque-fired clay, approx. each 7 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ inches, c. 1967-1995.

Roni Horn at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Roni Horn once said that glass can convey ‘the most ideal expression of color.’ In two same-but-different cast-glass sculptures at Chelsea’s Hauser & Wirth Gallery, a tranquil, blue form immediately invites visitors to draw near and marvel at the reflections of light on the water-like surface of a substance that is neither fully liquid nor solid. (On view through July 29th).

Roni Horn, Water Double, v. 1, solid cast glass with as-cast surfaces with oculus, 132.1cm/52 inches (height), 2013-15.

Michele Grabner at James Cohan Gallery

Handmade blankets rendered in bronze and boldly colored paintings based on the blankets’ patterns orient Michele Grabner’s latest body of work toward the domestic, the personal and the tactile. Each blanket’s form looks ghostly, harkening back to the bodies that used it to stay warm. As 2-D images on the wall, the cozy factor is replaced by a reference to the grid, the ubiquitous underlying principle to much mid-20th century art. Grabner suggests that context is key. (At James Cohan Gallery’s Chelsea location, through Jan 28th).

Michele Grabner, Untitled, bronze, 43 ½ x 20 x 12 ½ inches, unique, 2016.  Background painting:  Untitled, oil on burlap and canvas, 86 ½ x 120 inches, 2016.
Michele Grabner, Untitled, bronze, 43 ½ x 20 x 12 ½ inches, unique, 2016. Background painting: Untitled, oil on burlap and canvas, 86 ½ x 120 inches, 2016.