Tag: performance

Derek Fordjour at Petzel Gallery

Visitors to Derek Fordjour’s impressive multimedia exhibition at Petzel Gallery can enjoy two free, live performances daily, take in vibrant new paintings and walk through a magical, life-sized diorama.  By far the most entertaining show in a particularly rich moment in the Chelsea galleries, Fordjour’s ‘Score’ sinks it in the basket while questioning what success is.  Known for images of Black athletes and performers whose excellence lands them in complicated performative roles, Fordjour includes this loaded painting titled CONfidence MAN.  One of the most attractive pieces in an enticing new body of 2D work, this colorful portrait shows a dapper man surrounded by balloons.  Despite the dazzle, he is posed in front of a skull in the window behind him suggesting that customers might do well to be wary. (Show is on view through Dec 22nd, performances through Dec 16th.

Derek Fordjour, CONfidence MAN, acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, glitter, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas, 85 x 65 inches, 2023.

Studio DRIFT at The Shed

Amsterdam-based design duo Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn, aka Studio DRIFT, create objects of wonder that range from lights created with dandelion seeds to mysteriously floating concrete blocks.  Both are on view in their current exhibition at The Shed in Hudson Yards through the end of the week, offering the chance to marvel at objects that pair nature and technology.  Here, ‘Fragile Future,’ is a sculpture/lamp that has been created by hand gluing dandelion seeds to LED lights, a juxtaposition of natural and the man-made materials that encourages appreciation of the beauty and possibility of nature’s designs.  (On view through Dec 18th.)

DRIFT, Fragile Future, Dandelions, LED lights, phosphor bronze, printed circuit board, 2007-21.

Pat Oleszko and Anthea Hamilton in ‘Living Things’ at JTT Gallery

Whether it’s the wheezing, inflatable breast sculpture by Pat Oleszko or Anthea Hamilton’s sea-life encrusted boot near the entrance, the group exhibition ‘Living Things’ at JTT Gallery immediately feels set apart.  Though the artists hail from different generations and employ various media, performance and transformation is key.  Here, Pat Oleszko’s huge hammer costume appears in an accompanying film, ‘Tool Box,’ while Anthea Hamilton’s Papilio whip butterfly dominates the back wall with leather whips for antenna.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Nov 28th.  Masks and social distancing are required.)

Back wall: Anthea Hamilton, Papilio whip butterfly, printed fabric, Devore velvet, Ikat cotton, upholstery foam, leather whips, metal cable ties, 2018. Foreground: Pat Oleszko, Mike Hammer (from the Tool Jest), foam, fabric, paint, wire, 1984.

Ai Wei Wei’s ‘Heaven and Earth’ at lissongallery.com

Arrested and held by the police for 81 days in Beijing in 2011, politically outspoken artist Ai Wei Wei was eventually accused of tax evasion, charges which he fought in court.  Lisson Gallery is currently showcasing one of the several artistic responses Ai Wei Wei has made since, a nearly 7-hour long Henan Opera that recreates the court proceedings in language, “…couched in complex, obfuscating legalese and riven with dead ends.” (Lisson Gallery).  Pictured here is an image from New York Art Tours’ archive of Ai Wei Wei’s first artwork in response to his detention, an installation recreating scenes from his prison life that was on view at the Brooklyn Museum in 2014. (‘Heaven and Earth’ is on view at lissongallery.com through June 15th).

S.A.C.R.E.D., six dioramas in oxidized metal, wood, fiberglass, polystyrene and sticky tape, 2013.

Wuru-Natasha Ogunji at Fridman Gallery

Inspired by women’s lives in her parent’s native Nigeria, US born artist Wuru-Natasha Ogunji’s considers the daily task of carrying water in her video, ‘Will I still carry water when I am a dead woman?’ Featuring several masked women walking the residential streets of Lagos dragging gold-colored water containers, viewers witness the toll exacted on the bodies of the exhausted and drenched participants. (On view at Fridman Gallery through Oct 12th).

Wuru-Natasha Ogunji, still from ‘Will I still carry water when I am a dead woman?, single-channel digital video, 11 min, 57sec, 2013.