Used archery targets, repaired flea market antiques, still life paintings and more inform LA-based artist Ricky Swallow’s practice of putting everyday objects through a series of transformations. Here, bronze vessels cast from cardboard and applied with what looks like a ceramic glaze conjure lily pads and Aladdin’s lamp. (At Chelsea’s Casey Kaplan Gallery through Aug 2nd).
Ricky Swallow, Staggered Vessel with Rings, patinated bronze, 2013.
It would be amazing enough if this sculpture by Willie Cole was made of shoes. It’s rendered more permanent and pushes the materials a step further by being crafted of bronze. (At Chelsea’s Alexander and Bonin Gallery through July).
Willie Cole, Shoonufu Female Figure, bronze, 2013.
Further to yesterday’s post, this late 4th – 2nd century BC Greek bronze is another reason to visit the Met sooner rather than later. On view in the Greek and Roman galleries through Sunday, this remarkably detailed depiction of a boxer fresh from a fight even includes copper inlay to convey cuts to the face and ear as well as an altered alloy under one eye to suggest bruising.
Boxer at Rest, Greek, Hellenistic period, late 4th – 2nd century B.C., bronze inlaid with copper. Lent by Republic of Italy, 2013.
Chelsea’s ‘Jeff Koons moment’ draws to a close as this week at mega-galleries David Zwirner and Gagosian where Koons’ has shown his stainless steel balloon sculptures and new work inspired by antiquity. But this Hulk remains at Sonnabend Gallery through July, allowing one more chance to marvel at the meticulous detail of this bronze rendition of an inflatable toy.
Jeff Koons, Hulk (Friends), polychromed bronze, 2004-2012.
Public sculptures tend to depict moments of triumph, not regret. This makes Polish artist Goshka Macuga’s bronze rendition of Colin Powell, part of the High Line’s portrait exhibition ‘Busted,’ surprising and poignant as he shows the leader holding a vial of anthrax in his 2003 UN speech on weapons of mass destruction. (Through June 2014 at 22nd Street on the High Line.)
Goshka Macuga, ‘Colin Powell,’ bronze and concrete, 2009.