Tag: group show

Rammellzee in ‘Wild Style’ at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery

Forty years after the release of the independent film ‘Wild Style,’ a chronicle of the early days of New York hip hop culture, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery celebrates with a star-studded exhibition of writing, painting and sculpture that captures the creativity and energy of emerging urban youth cultures in the late 70s and early 80s.  Rammellzee’s sculpture Gasholear, surrounded by a cloud of spacecraft capable of producing lettering, is an astounding sight at the center of the main gallery.  Grasping a combination guitar/double halberd, this futuristic character is a machine/robot/human force to reckon with. (On view in SoHo through Jan 13th).

Rammellzee, The Gasholear (THE RAMM:ELLl:ZEE), c. 1987-1998, 180 pound exoskeleton of the RAMM:ELLl:ZEE, found objects, wireless sound system, paint and resin), dimensions variable.

Angela Dufresne in ‘Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing’ at FLAG Art Foundation

‘Strike Fast, Dance Lightly:  Artists on Boxing’ at FLAG Art Foundation opens with artworks that avoid actual engagement in the sport – ‘I told you nobody ought never to fight him,’ reads a text painting by Ed Ruscha while Paul Pfeiffer’s video ‘Caryatid (Pacquiao)’ digitally removes one of the fighters in a bout.  Soon enough though, the match is on in a blaze of color in Rosalyn Drexler’s pastel of a lime-green colored athlete against a pink background, Katherine Bradford’s fighters locked in an exhausted or amorous embrace, and Angela Dufresne’s small expressionist oil painting of two circling fighters surrounded by a spray of blue and red paint that conveys the violence and energy of the match.  Engaging with the sport on many levels, FLAG’s show requires no specialty knowledge to appreciate the enjoyably eclectic inclusions, from an ancient Roman oil lamp featuring a boxer to Eadweard Muybridge’s late 19th century photographic studies and much more.  (On view through August 11th).

Angela Dufresne, Fight Scene, oil on canvas, 10 x 14 inches, 2009.

Ashley Teamer in ‘We Buy Gold’ at Nicola Vassell Gallery

In a statement accompanying work from her Yale MFA studies (grad ’22), New-Orleans-based artist Ashley Teamer cites the batture – the constantly shifting land between low tide and the levee along the Mississippi River – as inspiration.  Her dynamic image collage ‘4912 St Bernard Ave’ in the group show ‘We Buy Gold’ at Nicola Vassell Gallery is a highlight of an exhibition described by its curator as being about change, slippage and breakthrough.  A figure in pink shoes and dress (like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz) appears to plunge down into a tangle of branches both photographed and drawn while above, among the clouds and in another realm, is another figure with their back to us.  Teamer tempts viewers to ask what will transpire next in this evocative story.  (Curated by Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels. The exhibition is also at Jack Shainman Gallery’s Chelsea space through Aug 11th.)

Ashley Teamer, 4912 St Bernard Ave, inkjet print, twine, oil pastel, graphite, 83 x 89 ½ inches, 2021.

Ramekon O’Arwisters in ‘Pollen on a West Wind’ at Jason Jacques Gallery

The organizing principle for Jason Jacques Gallery’s group show of innovative ceramic sculpture is not a theme but a place – all participating artists connect in some way to the Center for Contemporary Ceramics at California State University at Long Beach.  Ramekon O’Arwisters’ relationship to CSULB is less conventional and his work alluring for his creative appropriation of failed ceramic forms abandoned there into fabulously colorful and dynamic sculptures.  Inspired by an encounter with broken ceramics during a residency at the San Francisco dump, O’Arwisters added the material to his textile practice, creating exuberant yet compact compositions that energize the show.  (On view in Chelsea through March 25th).

Ramekon O’Arwisters, Cheesecake #9, fabric, ceramics from CSULB ceramic program, beads, pins, 20h x 11w x 11d, 2019.

Mikey Yates in ‘The Midnight Hour’ at The Hole

Young Kansas City based artist Mikey Yates, whose ‘Summer Walker’ is a standout at The Hole’s current night-themed group exhibition, paints tranquil scenes that include a family making art together at the dining room table and women chatting at night on a rooftop.  Such scenes – whether populated by solitary people or multiple individuals – argue the pleasures and importance of domestic life.  Though the individual in this painting walks alongside a highway in relative isolation, light from the streetlamp, a yellow hydrant and glowing neon sign in the distance create a sense of well-being and purpose.  (On view through Feb 18th).

Mikey Yates, Summer Walker, oil, acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 40 x 30 inches, 2022.