Tag: london

Jonathan Baldock at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

Describing his new stoneware vessels at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery as ‘imperfect reliquaries,’ London-based artist Jonathan Baldock imprints the cylindrical forms with evidence of his own hand and adds cast body parts and funereal herbs.  In additional sewn works, 3-D heads emerge from flat felt and hessian textile backgrounds, staging a miraculous entrance from the picture into real space.  Likewise, the uncanny ceramic forms suggest an unknowable quality to the human body and its manifestations.  (On view in Tribeca through April 2nd).

Jonathan Baldock, Scuffle, stoneware and glaze filled with rosemary, 22 x 14 x 13 inches, 2022.

Peter Blake at Garth Greenan Gallery

Did Warhol just like Campbell’s soup?  Was Roy Lichtenstein simply enamored of blonds?  American pop art thrives on its ambiguous criticality towards consumption and mass media marketing, but iconic British pop art icon Peter Blake’s enjoyment of contemporary culture feels less ambiguous.  In a noteworthy show at Garth Greenan Gallery, for which a portion of Blake’s London studio has been packed up and reinstalled in Chelsea, the artist’s portraits of wrestlers, clowns, musicians and Marilyn-like woman are a tribute to the more and less famous.  (On view through May 18th).

Peter Blake, Mary Lin Monroe Fabulous Texan MM, acrylic, enamel and assemblage on board, 16 x 8 ¾ x 1 ½ inches, 2019.

Oscar Murillo at David Zwirner Gallery

Black canvases, some formerly used as studio rags, hang from wires in David Zwirner Gallery’s Chelsea space in Oscar Murillo’s new installation, dividing the gallery into sections like a make-shift field hospital. Even more ominous are sculptures inspired by morgue tables and a huge torn canvas featuring a bank note. Both are a far cry from the artist’s last show – for which he created a chocolate factory in the gallery. (Through Oct 22nd).

Oscar Murillo, installation view of ‘a futile mercantile disposition,’ oil and oil stick on canvas and linen, stainless steel, vinyl, latex, copper, PVC tubing, self-hardening clay with ground corn, and a single-channel video, dimensions vary, 2016.
Oscar Murillo, installation view of ‘a futile mercantile disposition,’ oil and oil stick on canvas and linen, stainless steel, vinyl, latex, copper, PVC tubing, self-hardening clay with ground corn, and a single-channel video, dimensions vary, 2016.

Gillian Wearing in ‘Public, Private, Secret’ at the International Center of Photography

Gillian Wearing’s now classic video of herself dancing uninhibitedly in a London shopping arcade in 1994 – causing discomfort with the idea of turning public into private space – is precedent setting in the International Center of Photography’s group show ‘Public, Private, Secret,’ which considers how identity is created both openly and in secret. (Through Jan 8, 2017).

Gillian Wearing, Dancing in Peckham, video, 25 min, 1994.
Gillian Wearing, Dancing in Peckham, video, 25 min, 1994.

Goshka Macuga at the New Museum

Miroslav Tichy surreptitiously photographed unsuspecting women in the Czech Republic for decades; the resulting images are often celebrated in New York galleries and museums. For her solo show at the New Museum, Polish-born artist Goshka Macuga created this tapestry, featuring women from Tichy’s photos (and other sources) along with two women who wear body suits based on Tichy’s drawings.  The women in the tapestry clean Karl Marx’s tombstone, summoning not workers but women to unite. (At the New Museum through June 26th).

Goshka Macuga, Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite, wool tapestry, collection of the Broad Art Foundation, 2013.
Goshka Macuga, Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite, wool tapestry, collection of the Broad Art Foundation, 2013.