Emotion and vulnerability continue to be strong themes in Jesper Just’s latest body of work at Perrotin Gallery on the Lower East Side. American Ballet Theater dancers lie and sit on the floor while receiving muscle therapy via patches applied to their skin. Though nearly motionless, this individual’s alert state and a single tear suggest powerful goings on beneath a calm exterior. Panels separated from the main display join blocks of concrete on the gallery floor in order to engage viewers more personally by forcing us to consider our own bodies in the gallery space and our own efforts at constructing meaning. (On view through Feb 15th).
Tag: ballet
Romare Bearden at DC Moore Gallery
At the end of Romare Bearden’s ‘Bayou Fever,’ a 1979 ballet storyboarded by the artist but never performed, all problems are resolved and ‘The Emperor of the Golden Trumpet’ plays for the characters as they travel to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. One of twenty-one panels, this artwork demonstrates Bearden’s wonderful storytelling capacity and facility with collage. (At DC Moore Gallery through April 29th).
Daniel Heidkamp at Derek Eller Gallery
The huge portal dominating Daniel Heidkamp’s hotel room painting leads us into more than we might expect. From what looks to be one of the Maritime Hotel’s distinctive windows, Heidkamp shuffles the New York skyline and offers glimpses of a ballet rehearsal in a building that only exists in this painting. It feels surprisingly daring to rearrange New York’s built environment and particularly appropriate as construction booms in the city. (At Derek Eller Gallery through Feb 5th).