Tag: 70s

Philip Guston at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

When Philip Guston stopped painting in an abstract expressionist style and adopted a new, faux-naïve look in 1970, art world response was so negative that the artist relocated to Rome for the better part of the following year.  ‘Pittore,’ part of a major show of Guston’s late work at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, expresses some of the anxiety that Guston must have felt as a painter, as well as his need to change to a representational style to engage in a more overt way with the politics of the day.  Here, the artist lies awake in bed at night, his paint and brush beside him.  Smoking, his eyes bloodshot, and with a clock rising behind him like a moon dominating a landscape, the pressure is palpable.  (On view in Chelsea.  Proof of vaccination, photo ID and masks are required).

Philip Guston, Pittore, oil on canvas, 72 ¾ x 80 ½ inches, 1973.

Tetsumi Kudo at Andrea Rosen Gallery

Cage-based artworks from the ‘60s to the early ‘80s by late, Paris-based Japanese artist Tetsumi Kudo at Andrea Rosen Gallery demonstrate human estrangement from nature. Despite the bright colors, a heart shape, plastic flowers and the label reading ‘Bonheur,’ happiness seems far from this abject couple’s experience. (In Chelsea through Nov 16th).

Tetsumi Kudo, Bonheur, painted cage, artificial soil, plastic flowers, cotton, plastic, polyester, resin, string, cigarettes, thermometer, Aspro tablets, circuit board, 21 x 11 x 14 inches, 1974.
Tetsumi Kudo, Bonheur, painted cage, artificial soil, plastic flowers, cotton, plastic, polyester, resin, string, cigarettes, thermometer, Aspro tablets, circuit board, 21 x 11 x 14 inches, 1974.

Tyson Reeder at Canada

A 70s style motorcycle merges with a camouflage carpet in front of a geometric patterned wall in Tyson Reeder’s ‘Chopper,’ one of several new canvases that look like a teenager’s careful drawing of an object or place that’s desirable but out of reach. (At Canada on the Lower East Side through Feb 15th).

Tyson Reeder, Chopper, mixed media on paper on canvas, 52 x 71 inches, 2014.

Sam Gilliam in ‘Beyond the Spectrum: Abstraction in African-American Art, 1950-1975’ at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery

Color Field painter Sam Gilliam’s unstretched canvas from 1970 is a standout in Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s current exhibition ‘Beyond the Spectrum: Abstraction in African American Art, 1950-1975’ for taking the space of a painting into the space of the gallery. Like a huge paint rag or a giant apron, this piece from 1970 evokes an object with use-value, hung momentarily on the wall. (In Chelsea through March 8th).

Sam Gilliam, One Thunder, acrylic on unstretched canvas, 70 x 23 x 11 inches, 1970.

Stan Douglas at David Zwirner Gallery

Vancouver photographer and filmmaker Stan Douglas continues a theme from his last show – the influence of Afrobeat on the NY music scene of the 70s – with his latest film ‘Luanda-Kinshasa,’ on view at Chelsea’s David Zwirner Gallery.  Watching the video in its entirety – and music lovers may want to – could take six hours as the scenes run in non-sequential loops. (Through Feb 22nd).  

Stan Douglas, still from Luanda-Kinshasa, Jan 2013, David Zwirner Gallery.