Tag: sea

Julia Felsenthal at JDJ Gallery

Julia Felsenthal is the first to acknowledge that many artists before her have painted the sea, while also observing that, even in her own production, each rendition is different.  The Brooklyn and Cape-Cod based writer and painter tempts viewers to stop in front of each of her small watercolor on gouache studies of sky and water at JDJ Gallery in Tribeca to appreciate the various effects of light, mist, cloud, sunrise, water depth and more.  Sublime in power yet compact in form, Felsenthal’s waterscapes speak to the endless beauty and fascination of the ocean.  (On view through July 21st).

Julia Felsenthal, Glinting Sea, watercolor and gouache on paper, 12 x 9 inches, 2022.

Yoan Capote at Jack Shainman Gallery

Evoking light from heaven as well as the rising sun, Cuban artist Yoan Capote’s use of gold in a show of new seascapes at Jack Shainman Gallery’s Chelsea locations offers immediate uplift. After a 2019 visit to Italy, where Capote had access to abundant medieval and early Renaissance art, the artist adopted gold backgrounds and the circular format of this painting to create images that are optimistic yet also anxious.  Connecting the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean with many Cubans’ struggle to cross the Caribbean, Capote embeds fishing hooks in recent work, picturing the sea as a barrier.  (On view through Aug 5th).

Yoan Capote, Requiem (vault), 24kt gold leaf, nails and fishhooks on panel of linen mounted over plywood, 53 (diameter) x 5 (depth) inches, 2021.

Tony Cragg in ‘Spectrum’ at Lisson Gallery

Conflict is at the heart of Tony Cragg’s 1983 sculpture ‘Spectrum,’ from which Lisson Gallery’s new summer show takes its title.  Beautiful in its variety of color and inspired by the natural phenomenon of the color spectrum, it was assembled from sea plastic found on the shore, a decidedly ugly and unnatural phenomenon.  Part of a series, this iteration spreads objects out on the floor like a carefully presented anthropological display that implicates throw-away culture.  (On view in Chelsea Mon-Thurs, 11am – 4pm through August 27th. Masks and social distancing are required and visitor numbers are limited to 10 at a time.)

Tony Cragg, Spectrum, plastic, 255 7/9 x 137 ¾ inches, 1983

Athanasios Argianas at On Stellar Rays

Four hands repeat a gesture with multiple interpretations in the roughly woven lattice of Athansios Argianas’ bright, electroformed copper wall sculpture at On Stellar Rays. Interpretable as OK, perfection (if kissed by the lips), zero or something ruder, the sign is enhanced by a long title that suggests that seeing is as changeable as the sea. (On view on the Lower East Side through June 25th).

Athanasios Argianas, Sea a zero, see a zero, Zero seas, To see a zero, To sea two zeros, electroformed copper, resin, ground coral, 15 x 13 inches, 2017.

Vija Celmins at Matthew Marks Gallery

One stone is real, the other is a replica. Vija Celmins entices viewers to ponder which one came from the earth and which from the artist’s hand in this pairing at Matthew Marks Gallery’s 22nd Street space in Chelsea. In other works, Celmins turns her hand to the skies and the seas with meticulous realist paintings that celebrate the creative powers of the artist. (On view through April 15th).

Vija Celmins, Two Stones, one found stone and one made stone: bronze and alkyd oil, 2 ¼ x 8 x 5 ½ inches, 1977/2014-16.