Tag: van gogh

Urs Fischer at Gagosian Gallery

Van Gogh’s flower paintings were intended to be life affirming, representing joy, appreciation of nature and mankind’s love of the divine.  In this installation view of Urs Fischer’s piece ‘Denominator’ at Gagosian Gallery, a replica sunflower painting is overlaid with a projection of talking heads sourced from the internet, a juxtaposition geared to suggest that our devotion has shifted to the virtual realm.  The painting is part of a recreation of a room in London’s National Gallery, the added heads commenting on how traditional ways of spreading culture have shifted to individuals using on-line platforms. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 15th).

Urs Fischer, Denominator, database, algorithms, and LED cube, 141 ¾ x 141 ¾ x 141 ¾ inches, 2020-22.

Richard Bosman at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

No one falls off a cliff or screams into the rain in Richard Bosman’s paintings at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, a departure from the artist’s signature film noir subject matter.  Instead, a selection of Bosman’s work from the past thirteen years pays homage to icons of European/U.S. art history in the form of a painting on wood recreating Van Gogh’s palette and a view of mid-20th century abstract artist Barnett Newman’s studio.  The show’s highlight and biggest work is a 2015 installation titled ‘Museum Wall,’ a selection of paintings mimicking a Frieda Kahlo portrait, James Ensor’s masked characters, Van Gogh’s sunflowers and more.  Painted as if in elaborate frames, each canvas is pinned directly to a grey-painted wall like a poster, an homage to influential artists that also comments on the easy consumption of art. (On view in Tribeca through July 29th).

Richard Bosman, Museum Wall, oil on canvas, dimensions variable, 2015.

Adrian Ghenie at Pace Gallery

Ghosts of Van Gogh and Gauguin haunt Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie’s latest body of work, now on view at Pace Gallery.  Titled ‘Hooliganism,’ the show is inspired by the idea that beneath the attractive colors or forms of historic avant-garde painting is an explosive departure from painterly norms.  This painting recalls Van Gogh’s 1889 self-portrait made after cutting his ear but substitutes Van Gogh’s impassive stare with a face literally swirling with psychic force.  (On view through April 24th).

Adrian Ghenie, Untitled, oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 27 9/16 inches, 2020.

Shen Shaomin at Klein Sun Gallery

This painting is from the MoMA series, but it’s never been in the Museum of Modern Art. Instead, this piece of rogue modernism is a remake of Van Gogh’s famous Starry Night, painted by Chinese artist and provocateur Shen Shaomin to look as if it’s covered in bubble wrap. Even the packing tape is painted, not just trying to impress as trompe l’oeil, but suggesting that famous paintings are just another commodity. (At Klein Sun Gallery in Chelsea through April 29th).

Shen Shaomin, Handle with Care – MoMA No. 6, oil on canvas, 29 x 36 ¼ inches, 2017.

‘Guilding the Lolly’ at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise

Brian Belott’s eclectic, messy collaged artwork pops up regularly in New York group shows; this month for Gavin Brown’s Lower East Side summer group show, Belott’s the organizer, having asked artist friends to contribute their own reinterpretations of iconic artwork. Among the standouts, Giva Beavers remakes Van Gogh’s Starry Night as if rendered in bacon and Melissa Brown brings Holbein’s Ambassadors up to date in paint and lottery scratch-off ink on aluminum. (Through July 30th).

Installation view of ‘Guilding the Lolly,’ curated by Brian Belott at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, through July 30th.
Installation view of ‘Guilding the Lolly,’ curated by Brian Belott at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, through July 30th.