Tag: illusion

M.C. Escher at Bruce Silverstein Gallery

Just as a tiny shift in perspective can cause a straightforward transparent cube to morph into an impossible cube, M.C. Escher’s architecture in this 1958 print is believable on first glance, until matching up columns to arches proves otherwise.  The lithograph is one of 75 artworks on view in Bruce Silverstein Gallery’s exhibition of the Dutch printmaker’s work from the ‘30s to late career. Inspired by the impossible cube, a version of which is being held by a seated man on the lower terrace, Escher delights viewers by confounding us.  (On view in Chelsea through Nov 20th).

M.C. Escher, Belvedere, lithograph, printers proof, 18 ¼ x 11 5/8 inches, 1958.

Meredith James at Jack Hanley Gallery

The experience of curling up with a good book in a comfy chair isn’t what you might expect in Meredith James’ ‘Library,’ a standout in her show of delightfully strange sculpture at Jack Hanley Gallery.  Stocked with blandly-colored, identical volumes, the miniature library set in a chair, feels more ominous than wonderful.  A gallery handout suggests that James’ new work explores ‘things in various stages of disappearance or obsolescence,’ offering an uncertain future for the written word.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Nov 10th).

Meredith James, Library, armchair, wood, acrylic paint, paper, 44 x 31.5 x 30 inches, 2019.

Jenna Krypell in ‘Impossible Objects’ at Davidson Gallery

Brooklyn-based artist Jenna Krypell’s abstract shapes suggest three dimensions in two, effecting momentary disruptions in our perception.  Resembling mazes, stylized calligraphy, or here, sections of a sunset-colored sky cut into strips and hung out, each arrangement of form offers engaging spatial complexity.  (On view in Chelsea at Davidson Gallery through August 16th.)

Jenna Krypell, DUSK, MDF, resin, enamel, 87 x 45 x 2 inches, 2019.

Patrick Hughes at Flowers Gallery

British painter Patrick Hughes continues to explore what he terms ‘reverspective,’ or the upending of our expectation that paintings will appear to be in one fixed place. Walk past one of Hughes’ projecting paintings on board, and the rooms he paints appear to shift; the device is acutely appropriate to his depiction of the Barnes Foundation, the art museum which itself shifted locations by moving to downtown Philadelphia in 2012. (On view at Flowers Gallery in Chelsea through Oct 14th).

Patrick Hughes, The Barnes Foundation, oil on board construction, 59 x 207.5 x 24 cm, 2016.

Vik Muniz at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Some buttons are photographed, some are real; the fun is picking out which is which. For his recent body of work, Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz creates such skilled illusions that what might be a gimmick in the hands of others instead prompts real pleasure in physically interacting with artwork up close and in person. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through April 1st).

Vik Muniz, Buttons (L), Handmade, mixed media, framed: 73.375 x 49.5 inches, one of a kind, 2016.