Tag: car

Studio Job at R & Company

Too large even for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, this hanging sculpture by Dutch design company Studio Job at R & Company in Tribeca pushes the scale of ornament to the max.  Inspired by the car that designer Job Smeets of Studio Job and his partner Rebecca Sharkey drove across the United States in 2019, the hanging bronze Cadillac Eldorado is one of several sculptures, including a huge light in the form of an Elvis jumpsuit and a breathtakingly dynamic Statue of Liberty set of drawers, that delight as they turn American pop icons into useful design objects. (On view through Jan 27th).

Eldorado, polished, hand-painted bronze, hand-formed glass, and silver and gold leaf, edition of 5 + 2 Aps and prototype, 2020-2022.

Maroesjka Lavigne at Robert Mann Gallery

Belgian photographer Maroesjka Lavigne has traveled from Namibia to China to the American West photographing animals and landscapes featuring unusual and unexpected color relationships.  ‘Rainbow mountains’ in Xinjiang China and sharp pops of color from yellow plants in Argentina are standouts in her solo show at Robert Mann Gallery, but it’s the unexpectedly beautiful soft pastel blooms of rust on the car in this photo that steal the show.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 21st).

Maroesjka Lavigne, Rust, US, archival pigment print, sizes vary, 2016.

Jenny Snider in ‘Summer Invitational’ at Edward Thorp Gallery

Jenny Snider’s small shaped painting of a car is a standout in Edward Thorp Gallery’s summer group show, its rounded corners and many planes suggesting a cartoonish vehicle with zany passengers taking an unconventional ride. (In Chelsea through July 29th).

Jenny Snider, 5/F, acrylic and pencil on wood, 12 ½ h x 9 w x ¾ d, 2002.

James Wines/SITE in ‘The Stand’ at P!

In 1977, James Wines partially buried twenty cars in a strip mall parking lot in Hamden, CT then covered them with asphalt to create an eerie auto graveyard. This maquette for that project, part of a group show at P! gallery on the Lower East Side, conveys a sense of quiet and disbelief upon discovering what looks like remains buried by ash. (Through Feb 26th).

James Wines/SITE, Ghost Parking Lot model, mixed media, 23 ½ x 33 ½ x 7 ¼ inches, 1977.
James Wines/SITE, Ghost Parking Lot model, mixed media, 23 ½ x 33 ½ x 7 ¼ inches, 1977.

Nari Ward on the High Line

Smart cars snag great parking spaces in New York; this one, created by Harlem-based artist Nari Ward, enjoys a privileged place on the High Line where an admiring audience regularly surrounds it. Inspired by an abandoned car that hosted a lime tree in his father’s yard in Jamaica, Ward planted an apple tree in this car, lining the exterior with rubber tire treads and turning a symbol of nimble urban driving into a stationary support for nature. (On the High Line through March 2017).

Nari Ward, Smart Tree, Smart car, cinder blocks, tire treads, soil, apple tree, 106 x 61 x 120 inches, 2016.
Nari Ward, Smart Tree, Smart car, cinder blocks, tire treads, soil, apple tree, 106 x 61 x 120 inches, 2016.