Elaine Reicheck updates Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude as part of her Swatches series, for which she Googles canonical art historical works, modifies their color and size, and renders them via a digital sewing machine on small fabric swatches. Presented as one of hundreds, an iconic artwork turns cute, neutralized by its size and the suggestion that it is just one of many. (At Zach Feuer Gallery through Feb 7th).
Elaine Reicheck, installation view of Swatches at Zach Feuer Gallery, Jan 2015.
Like a studio visit and gallery show rolled into one, Matthew Chambers’ solo show at Zach Feuer Gallery presents both books of ideas and finished paintings. Though the paintings appear to be unchallenging but pretty floral designs, the gallery explains that they’re designed to ‘transfix viewers by their own experience of seeing.’ (Through Feb 7th).
Matthew Chambers, installation view of solo show at Zach Feuer Gallery, January 2015.
The romance of the rails infuses Marianne Vitale’s totemic figures constructed from disused railway crossings. To stand near them is to imagine the tons of freight that have clattered over them, heading off to distant places. (At Chelsea’s Zach Feuer Gallery through Dec 20th).
Marianne Vitale, Installation view of ‘Nine Worthies’ at Zach Feuer Gallery, Nov 2014.
Titled ‘Chuck’ after his travelling salesman father, Houston-based artist Jeremy Deprez’s huge abstract painting takes its cue from a popular vertical stripe pattern in men’s dress shirts. Sized XXL (at over 14 feet long), the painting is a tour de force of optical illusion and gives new meaning to the concept of power dressing. (At Zach Feuer Gallery in Chelsea, through Nov 8th).
Untitled (Chuck), acrylic on canvas, 111 x 176 1/2, 2014.
How do babies see the world without benefit (or burden) of language and experience in interpreting forms? This question inspired Brooklyn artist and new father Johannes VanDerBeek’s more or less obviously human figures, including this flattened, rabbit-like form and a striding figure at Chelsea’s Zach Feuer Gallery (through Oct 4th).
Johannes VanDerBeek, to the left: Running in Grass, aqua-resin, fiberglass, steel, clay, silicon, paint, 65 x 45 inches, 2014. To the right: Early Outline with Leaning Features, Celluclay, Aqua-Resin, paint, steel, including base: 87 x 24 x ¼ inches, 2014.
