Tag: composite

Thomas Bayrle at Gladstone Gallery

The vast scale of the three artworks in Thomas Bayrle’s current solo show at Gladstone Gallery’s cavernous 21st Street gallery speaks to the huge public profile of his subjects:  the Pope, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Kim Kardashian.  Composed of repeated images arranged to create a portrait, Bayrle’s ‘superforms’ mimic the repetition of information via mass media and suggest that a person’s identity is formed by their messaging.  In this case, Kim Kardashian’s persona merges with the means of disseminating it – the iPhone.  (On view in Chelsea through April 23rd).

Thomas Bayrle, Kim Kardashian, pencil, acrylic and fine art pigment print on paper, mounted on gallery cardboard, 41 x 37 1/8 inches, 2021.

John Houck at On Stellar Rays

Known for clever analogue photo manipulation, John Houck’s latest body of work adds painting to the mix. Houck paints around items borrowed from friends – here a mason jar – in successive arrangements, gradually building one composite photo that disrupts traditional picture space. (At On Stellar Rays on the Lower East Side through May 22nd).

John Houck, Incidental and Intentional, archival pigment print, 28 ½ x 21 ½ inches, 2015.
John Houck, Incidental and Intentional, archival pigment print, 28 ½ x 21 ½ inches, 2015.

Ken Price at Matthew Marks Gallery

Iconic ceramic artist Ken Price launched this series of monumental bronze composite sculptures late in his life, bringing a career of innovation to a close with suggestive, almost glowing forms. (At Chelsea’s Matthew Marks Gallery through June 28th).

Ken Price, installation view of ‘Large Sculptures’ at Matthew Marks Gallery, in the foreground: ‘Ceejay,’ painted bronze composite, 48 x 48 3/8 x 46 inches, 2011.