Daniel Buren, installation view at Petzel Gallery, 2013.
In the late 60s, when the avant-garde sidelined painting for Minimalism, Performance and Conceptual art, Daniel Buren forged ahead with ‘painting’ that jettisoned aesthetic concerns. He hit on a formula that he’s used ever since, using vertical stripes 8.7cm in width in site specific installations that force reconsideration of their space. Petzel’s new 18th Street gallery space has barely had time to be considered (this is only the 2nd show there), but Buren’s work has never looked more attractive.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
Nothing else in Chelsea looks remotely like Brooklyn-based sculptor Robert Lazzarini’s latest sculptures at Marlborough Gallery (through Feb 16th). Partly inspired by the 1973 movie Badlands, they and evoke an American roadtrip gone badly wrong.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
This fence was welded together from over two-hundred individually cast steel pieces. Lazzarini’s attention to detail goes far – he even made the barbed wire. It’s the most impressive piece in the show not only in terms of how much work went into it, but in how Lazzarini reimagines a metal fence blowing as if it were a cloth or flag gently flapping the in breeze.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
Lazzarini called this melting liquor sign the ‘most profound piece in the show,’ saying, ‘It speaks to a damage within society that is not easily seen.’ In person, the sculpture’s text is surprisingly difficult to read, as if we had had one too many. Its towering, ghostly presence is a highlight of the show.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
Vaults, blown open and empty, are such a Hollywood staple that this twisted lockbox looks strangely familiar. Finding it twisted in the corner, as if in a fun-house mirror, is not so expected. While struggling with that not-quite-clear sense of déjà vu, check out the sculpture’s most amazing feature – its perfectly skewed lock.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
Roosevelt, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, pigment print, 2012.
Charlotte Dumas’s photographs of the horses who participate in soldier burials at Arlington National Cemetery are shot ‘at home,’ in their stables after hours. Out of their work context, they’re portrayed as individuals, and the effect is striking. Originally commissioned by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, they’re now on view at Chelsea’s Julie Saul Gallery through March 9th.
Jacob Kassay, installation view of Untitled (disambiguation), 2012.
Jacob Kassay’s electroplated canvases – paintings made with old photographic processes – became better known in the past year or so for their astronomical prices than their artistic merit. In Kassay’s current show at The Kitchen one of the signature silver-colored pieces sits in the gallery corner behind a beam, an unambiguous message that the artist has moved on. (At The Kitchen through Feb 16th).
Jacob Kassy, installation view of Untitled (disambiguation), 2012.
Robin Rhodes, Paries Pictus – Color in the Pictures, vinyl and oil crayons in custom box, 2013.
Kids from PS 63 in the South Bronx discovered that coloring with crayons isn’t as easy as it seems…At least not when the crayons are over two feet long. Berlin-based South African artist Robin Rhode created wall decals and handed over the crayons, letting the children discover that being an artist can be hard work. (At Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side Gallery through March 16th).
