Tag: cyanotype

Han Qin in ‘Blue’ at the Nassau County Museum of Art

Created in Hangzhou, China last summer and now on display just outside of New York City at the Nassau County Museum of Art’s ‘Blue’ exhibition, Han Qin’s ‘The Direction of Migration’ was inspired by the artist’s own journeys between China and Long Island.  Using a cyanotype process that involves exposing treated paper to sunlight, Han Qin – a professional dancer who choreographed a dance to accompany this work – arranged emigrant friends in dance poses on the paper.  Ethereal and suggesting natural upward movement, the piece pictures hopeful journeys.  (On view through Nov 1st.  Tickets must be purchased in advance).

Han Qin, The Direction of Migration (Diptych), cyanotype on paper, 3307 x 94.5 cm, 2019.

Walead Beshty at Petzel Gallery

Many artists work with fascinating methods on which they, unfortunately, don’t elaborate.  Walead Beshty’s latest installation at Petzel Gallery swings to an almost opposite extreme, detailing the contents of his studio in over five thousand images picturing tools and objects that have contributed in some way to his production as an artist.  Each cyanotype is the product of a simple photographic process that renders objects in white against a treated blue background of newspapers, boxes, personal correspondence and more.  Originally commissioned by London’s Barbican Art Center in 2013, the installation (seen only in part at Petzel Gallery) still speaks powerfully to the incredible amount of unseen labor behind today’s art production.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 14th).

Walead Beshty, installation view of “A Partial Disassembling of an Invention Without a Future: Helter-Skelter and Random Notes in Which the Pulleys and Cogwheels Are Lying Around at Random All Over the Workbench” at Petzel Gallery, Nov, 2019.

Meghann Riepenhoff at Yossi Milo Gallery

Whether she’s boldly charging into the Pacific Ocean or gingerly stepping into a placid pond to expose a cyanotype, Meghan Riepenhoff continues to generate fascinating and beautiful cameraless images of water.  For this multi-panel work, the artist dipped her prepared photo paper into Utah’s Great Salt Lake, sprinkled on salt from the ground and allowed the work to dry, propped in the sun.  (On view in Chelsea at Yossi Milo Gallery through June 22nd).

Meghann Riepenhoff, Littoral Drift #1170 (Polyptych, Great Salt Lake, UT 08.25.18, Lapping Waves at Shoreline of Antelope Island), six dynamic cyanotypes, approx. 88 x 42 inches, unique, 2018.

Fran Siegel at Lesley Heller Workspace

Fran Siegel’s monumental aerial view of Los Angeles defies standard views of the city that emphasize the grid, instead glorying in the expansive notion of the place as a fragmented network of systems and communities.  (At Lesley Heller Workspace on the Lower East Side through December 1st.)  

Fran Siegel, installation view of ‘Overland 16,’ cyanotype, ink, pencil and pigment on cut paper, 96” x 140,” 2013.