Tag: model

John Pai in ‘The Unseen Professors’ at Tina Kim Gallery

Dense and complex, this piece by octogenarian sculptor John Pai, now on view in a show of work by three 20th century Asian-American sculptors at Chelsea’s Tina Kim Gallery, evokes a scientific or mathematical model in flux.  Piece by piece, Pai welded short steel rods together in a hands-on practice he likened to drawing.  Reflecting subconscious activity and taking inspiration from music, science, architecture and more, Pai’s dynamic constructions elicit wonder at complex structures in our own thought processes and the world around us.  (On view through January 29th. Note holiday hours and closures.)

John Pai, Slice of Wave to Go, welded steel, 23.5 x 32 x 30.5 inches, 1980.

Ricardo Brey in ‘Re: Bicycling’ at Susan Inglett Gallery

Susan Inglett Gallery’s excellent summer group exhibition, co-curated by David Platzker of Specific Object and Alex Ostroy of the cycling apparel brand Ostroy, celebrates the bike as revolutionary object.  From a late 19th century French poster depicting a woman in long dress enjoying the freedom of the road to Rodney Graham’s bike-powered, rotating psychedelic collage, the exhibition extols the power of the bike to take people in new directions.  Here, Ricardo Brey’s standout mixed media sculpture ‘Joy,’ connects bikes to heavenly paths and celestial orbits.  (On view through July 23rd).

celestial orbits. (On view through July 23rd).
Ricardo Brey, Joy, mixed media, 14 3/16 x 25 ¼ x 31 ½ inches, 2018.

Jamian Juliano-Villani at JTT Gallery

Jamian Juliano-Villani enchants critics with her latest show of realist paintings featuring “plenty funny” (Art Forum) yet “haunting (Art in America) collaged-together imagery. The “closely watched rising star’s” (Artnet) “impressive…gonzo paintings” (The New Yorker) include this blue-furred model strutting the runway with Key Food bags – a setup that offers entre into a strange alternative universe. (On view at JTT Gallery on the Lower East Side through Feb 24th).

Jamian Juliano-Villani, Three Penny Opera, acrylic on canvas, 74 x 50 inches, 2018.

Sage Sohier at Foley Gallery

Photographer Sage Sohier looks ambushed by her former-model mother and her sister, who make Sohier up with gusto in this family portrait. Our sympathy is tempered by mom’s and sis’s smiles, but as Sohier stages beauty treatments and time at home in her mother’s company, viewers are prompted to consider the role of beauty and appearances in Sohier’s life and our own. (On view at Foley Gallery on the Lower East Side through Jan 7th).

Sage Sohier, Mum and Laine making me up, Washington D.C., archival pigment print, 28h x 33.75w, 2004.

Pieter Schoolwerth at Miguel Abreu Gallery

How do you make representational painting in the digital age, when bodies no longer have to be near each other to interact? Pieter Schoolwerth ponders this in a multi-step process that involves photographing figures and shadows, drawing them, altering them in the computer, creating them in foam core or wood and printing and painting on canvas. The resulting images are convincingly attractive but unsatisfying – in this enigmatic relief sculpture depicting a student center, various figures are together but don’t connect. (At Miguel Abreu Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 28th).

Pieter Schoolwerth, Model for “Student Center,” enamel on wood, 54 3/8 x 47 ¼ x 7 ½ inches, 2017.