Pat Steir at Cheim & Read

At eleven by eleven feet, New York painter Pat Steir’s monumental pours of pigment, oil and turpentine create glowing sheets of color in deep spaces that beckon and offer to engulf the viewer. (At Chelsea’s Cheim and Read Gallery through March 29th).

Pat Steir, Green, Orange and Mica, oil on canvas, 11 x 11 feet, 2013.

Lynda Benglis at Cheim and Read Gallery

Iconic Process artist Lynda Benglis excites the senses with a new selection of ceramic sculptures hand formed from tubes and slabs of clay.  (At Chelsea’s Cheim & Read through Feb 15th).  

Lynda Benglis, Untitled, glazed ceramic, 20 x 16, 12 inches, 2013.

Sean Scully at Cheim & Read

This monumental, eight-part painting may be an abstraction, but it was inspired by the winter colors of southern Bavaria, where artist Sean Scully spends time. (At Chelsea’s Cheim & Read Gallery through Jan 11th).  

Sean Scully, Night and Day, oil on aluminum, 110 x 320 inches, 2012.

Barry McGee at Cheim & Read Gallery

These days, San Francisco street art legend Barry McGee is more likely to show his work in galleries and museums than outdoors, but his installation in the back room of Cheim & Read Gallery in Chelsea – a collection of around 400 elements bulging off the wall – pops with a white-cube defying energy.  (Through Oct 26th).  

Barry McGee, Untitled, 400 elements; ink, graphite, acrylic, screenprint, photographs on paper, found objects and frames, 2005-2013.

Elizabeth Murray in ‘Reinventing Abstraction’ at Cheim and Read Gallery

A dark geometric shape appears to do battle with two biomorphic entities in Elizabeth Murray’s 1982 canvas at Chelsea’s Cheim & Read Gallery.  Part of an exhibition showcasing abstract painting in the 80s, its attention-grabbing drama and size (over ten feet tall) excite the imagination.  (Through Aug 30th).  

Elizabeth Murray, Sentimental Education, oil on canvas, 127 x 96 inches, 1982.