Tag: consumption

Gina Beavers at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Gina Beavers’ tongue in cheek (or burger in eye) self-portrait at Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery pictures the artist literally becoming what she consumes online.  Inspired by the similarity of the images we look at via social media, be it enticing food or makeup tutorials, Beavers creates sculptural paintings that MoMA called ‘visceral, vexing, often grotesque…’ when she showed at the museum last year.  (On view through Oct 17th.   Masks and social distancing required and appointments recommended).

Gina Beavers, Self-Portrait with Burger Eye 2015, acrylic and linen on panel, 36 x 24 x 3 ½ inches, 2020.

Hong Hao in ‘Turn of the Century: Photography in China’ at Chambers Fine Art

For over a decade, item by item, Beijing-based artist Hong Hao scanned his belongings for ‘My Things,’ a series of digitally constructed collages detailing his possessions, from the orderly spines of hundreds of books to more chaotic-seeming arrangements like this one that combine elements from different aspects of life.  The abundant objects in each image of the series speak to consumption, but Hong Hao explains that the act of scanning is meaningful as well as it ‘embodies a calm observation without any pre-judgement, a plain testimony, a relevant context for aesthetic exploration.’ (On view in ‘Turn of the Century:  Photography in China’ at Chambers Fine Art in Chelsea through August 31st.)

Hong Hao, My Things No. 3, scanned color photograph, edition 9/15, 2001-2002.

Elias Sime at James Cohan Gallery

Addis Ababa-based artist Elias Sime continues to turn discarded electronics into compositions that can suggest aerial maps or abstracted landscapes in his latest show at Chelsea’s James Cohan Gallery.  Computers made in China, sold in the US and discarded in Ethiopia make their way into artworks that implicitly question resource distribution and rampant consumption.  (On view through June 29th.)

Elias Sime, detail of Tightrope: Noiseless 18, reclaimed electrical wires and components on panel, 100 ¼ x 63 ¼ inches, 2019.

David LaChapelle at Paul Kasmin Gallery

Energy drinks, green tea tins and more consumer packaging form the basis of semi-retired fashion photography icon David LaChapelle’s latest series, ‘Refineries.’  Working with professional model builders, LaChapelle makes our consumption of fossil fuels – and the materials create from them – personal.  (At Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery through March 1st.)  

David LaChapelle, Land Scape Riverside, chromogenic print, 71 x 93 inches, 2013.