Tag: environment

Edward Burtynsky at Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has spent a lifetime documenting mankind’s impact on the planet, picturing German coal mines, vast industrial landscapes in China and more recently, salt pans, gold tailings, oil bunkering and more in sub-Saharan Africa.  His current exhibition of photos shot in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and beyond at Chelsea’s Sundaram Tagore Gallery includes otherworldly landscapes created by the harvesting of salt, including these Salt Ponds near Naglou Sam Sam in Senegal. In shallow, man-made ponds, microorganisms change color as evaporation causes salinity to increase, resulting in a spectacular, painterly display. (On view in Chelsea through April 1st).

Edward Burtynsky, Salt Ponds #4, Near Naglou Sam Sam, Senegal, pigment inkjet print on Kodak Professional Photo Paper, 48 x 64 inches, 2019.

Seung-taek Lee at Canal Projects

Prominent Korean artist Seung-Taek Lee’s untitled stone and rope installation at Canal Projects occupies but does not dominate the center of the art institution’s large SoHo space.  Shaped by the cords that have bound it, each hanging stone represents time and human intervention in nature; hung by ropes that form lively V patterns, the arrangement is minimal but dynamic. Inspired by environmental movements of the 60s and 70s that emerged as South Korea transformed the basis of its economy from agriculture to industry, Lee has created performances with the wind and harnessed fire to creatively collaborate with nature.  The earth itself – in the form of a huge painted vinyl balloon resting on the gallery floor – has joined Lee on a bike ride through Beijing, appeared in various natural spots and on earth day this year will be used in a performance on Governors Island. (On view on Canal Street in SoHo through May 22nd).

Seung-Taek Lee, (foreground) Untitled, stone, rope, dimensions variable, 1982-2022. (background) Earth Play, oil on vinyl balloon, 21’ diameter, 1989-1996.

Christina Forrer at Luhring Augustine Gallery

LA-based Swiss artist Christina Forrer’s new tapestries at Luhring Augustine continue to explore complex and troubled relationships, specifically between mankind and nature in the show’s most dramatic work, ‘Sepulcher.’  Titled after the space in which a dead person would be laid, the piece features a blazing sun, burning fields, bolts of lightning and icy breath from a blue figure in the sky, all signs of nature wreaking havoc.  Yet lady bugs, a waterfall and a fertile orchard suggest continued benefit and abundance.  All crafted in bright and pleasing colors, Forrer’s apocalypse is tempered by love of and hope for the natural world.  (On view in Tribeca through Oct 29th).

Christina Forrer, Sepulcher, cotton, wool and linen, 97 x 162 inches, 2021.

Robyn O’Neil at Susan Inglett Gallery

‘American Animals,’ an uncannily orderly yet apocalyptic vision of the heads of white men subsumed by waves of water or hair, dominates Robyn O’Neil’s current solo show at Susan Inglett Gallery.  Known for drawings that feature multitudes of middle-aged men wreaking various kinds of havoc, O’Neil suggests with this enormous drawing that the men are receiving their comeuppance, perhaps from a feminine force engulfing them with hair or from nature, overcoming them with waves of water.  Who are the men?  Why is their response to calamity so strangely passive?  O’Neil keeps us guessing with provocative questions. (On view in Chelsea through June 4th).

Robyn O’Neil, American Animals, graphite on canvas, 103 x 140 inches, 2020 – 2022.

Angelo Filomeno at Chart Gallery

Angelo Filomeno’s latest works, now on view at Chart Gallery in his first New York solo show in seven years, lure visitors closer via bold color contrasts and a literal glow from his materials.  Appearing to be ‘painted with a sewing machine,’ as the New York Times once put it, the embroidered works on silk shantung resemble painting in presentation and scale but are marked by a richness of color and abundance of light afforded by their material.  Filomeno’s work never strays far from the theme of mortality; here, an iceberg illuminated by lightning brings our changing environment into focus.  (On view through June 18th).

Angelo Filomeno, Storm, embroidery on silk shantung stretched over cotton, 68 x 52 inches, 2022.