Tag: 1969

Joan Brown at George Adams Gallery

Late Bay Area painter Joan Brown’s self-portrait at age 31 includes her dog and third husband (artist Gordon Cook) standing outside the San Francisco Opera House. Hovering on a sidewalk that recalls a conveyor belt and an inverted red carpet, Brown and her partner pause stiffly in an urban landscape curiously devoid of other people. (At George Adams Gallery in Chelsea).

Joan Brown, Gordon, Joan and Rufus in Front of S.F. Opera House, oil on canvas, 2 panels, 80 x 30 5/8 inches and 80 x 60 inches, 1969.

Joseph Beuys at Mitchell-Innes & Nash

This sculpture, one of iconic German artist Joseph Beuys’ best known works and part of an exhibition of his multiples from the collection of Reinhard Schlegel, taps into Beuys’ story of having been shot down in his plane in WWII, then rescued by Tartars who wrapped him in fat and felt. The iron runners connect man to earth, felt symbolizes warmth and security, while the disk of fat refers to energy. (At Mitchell-Innes & Nash through April 18th).

Joseph Beuys, Sled, sled, fat, felt, belts, torch, sled: 41 x 34 x 110cm, 1969.

Alexander Calder at Paul Kasmin Gallery

Though one of Alexander Calder’s better-known mobiles hangs above, it’s this sheet metal llama that catches the eye at Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea. Included in an exhibition which partially recreates a groundbreaking show of New York art curated by Henry Geldzahler in 1969, its flat monochrome links it to surrounding minimal abstractions by Warhol, Noland, Flavin and more. (Through March 8th).

Alexander Calder, Moon Faced Llama (blue and red), painted sheet metal, 1971.