Titled ‘Winter,’ Viya Celmins first New York solo show in six years at Matthew Marks Gallery sees out the season with paintings featuring snow against dark backgrounds. Those familiar with the artist’s signature subject matter may identify the work as a night sky painting for which she is renowned, but what look like stars are in fact flakes of snow. Celmins has explained in an interview that she aims to wrestle something vast down into the space of the canvas, fixing it there. The new snow-related paintings suggest she’s taken the universe and transposed it into something positioned right before our eyes. In a further twist, the piece’s title, ‘Snowfall(coat)’ reveals that the snow is not actually seen in front of the darkness of night but has been pictured instead on a black coat. (On view in Chelsea through April 6th).
Vija Celmins, Snowfall (coat), oil on canvas, 19 5/8 x 13 1/8 inches, 2021 – 23.
Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education.
For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine.
Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)
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