Tag: contemporary sculpture

Charles Ray at Matthew Marks Gallery

Charles Ray, Shoe Tie, solid stainless steel, 2012.
Charles Ray, Shoe Tie, solid stainless steel, 2012.

Charles Ray’s sculptural self-portrait is stunningly perfect – his body has the unflawed, fluid shine of poured mercury – and relentlessly banal – he sports an everyman physique and needs to tie a shoelace.  This first impression holds true to the man vs machine process he used to create the sculpture: a digital drawing is recreated as a clay sculpture which becomes the model for a computer controlled machine that sculpts the sculpture from a solid piece of steel. (At Matthew Marks Gallery on 22nd Street through Jan 12.)

Yinka Shonibare at James Cohan Gallery

Yinka Shonibare, Revolutionary Kid (fox girl), mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, fibreglass, leather, taxidermy fox head, steel base plate, BlackBerry and 24 carat gold gilded gun, 2012.
Yinka Shonibare, Revolutionary Kid (fox girl), mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, fibreglass, leather, taxidermy fox head, steel base plate, BlackBerry and 24 carat gold gilded gun, 2012.

Yinka Shonibare’s crafty revolutionary looks set for success with money, guns and communications, as embodied by his ’12 ‘Revolution Kid (fox girl),’ spotted today in the back viewing room of Chelsea’s James Cohan Gallery.  Toting a blackberry and a 24 carat gold gilded gun and dressed in Shonibare’s signature Dutch-imported, ‘African’ textiles, she begs the question of who she is and who’s backing her.

Phyllida Barlow at Hauser & Wirth

Phyllida Barlow, untitled: column, cardboard, plywood, foam, felt, colored felt, steel pipe, 2012.
Phyllida Barlow, untitled: column, cardboard, plywood, foam, felt, colored felt, steel pipe, 2012.

Constructed of layers of cardboard, plywood, foam and felt, Phyllida Barlow’s untitled column sculptures at Hauser & Wirth are monumental without being macho.  Bright, enticing colors and soft materials humanize these minimalist stacks.  (At Hauser & Wirth, 32 East 69th Street through 12/22).

Olafur Eliasson at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Olafur Eliasson, Object defined by activity (now), Object defined by activity (soon) and Object defined by activity (then) (2009).

Though not many of Olafur Eliasson’s projects are going to measure up to the impact of his past large-scale artworks (creating waterfalls on New York City’s East River or a sun in the Tate’s Turbine Hall), his latest solo show at Chelsea’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery features this simple but mesmerizing display of three fountains, lit by strobes, which turn moving water into seemingly static sculptures. (through Dec 22nd).

Judy Pfaff at Ameringer McEnery Yohe Gallery

Judy Pfaff, The Path to the Center Was Clearly Marked, honeycomb cardboard, pigmented expanded foam, melted plastics, fluorescent and incandescent light, 2012.
Judy Pfaff, The Path to the Center Was Clearly Marked, honeycomb cardboard, pigmented expanded foam, melted plastics, fluorescent and incandescent light, 2012.

Judy Pfaff’s new sculptures, on view at Chelsea’s Ameringer McEnery Yohe Gallery, channel Lynda Benglis’s neon colors and puffy forms, Louise Bourgeois’ or Yayoi Kusama’s profusion of phallic protrusions, and the commanding presence of a more recent wall-mounted Frank Stella.  Yet the profusion of optical seduction is typical Pfaff, as seen in pieces like ‘The Path to the Center was Clearly Marked’ (2012), an over 7ft wide tour de force created from honeycomb cardboard, pigmented expanded form, melted plastics, fluorescent and incandescent light. (Through November 10th.)