Against a hazy, apocalyptic landscape, two conjoined heads rise from a spindly stalk of a neck in this painting by Glenn Brown at Chelsea’s Gagosian Gallery, their downward facing gazes suggesting the demure demeanor of women meant to be looked at. The noir-romantic landscape and the women’s postures and youthful European features are recognizable from western art history. But self-consciously constructed in individual brushstrokes of multicolored paint, they forgo the illusion of reality. Positioned half in shadow, half in light, one with a halo, one without, Brown both withholds and illuminates their identities in a way that suggests constant morphing. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 23rd).
Tag: dancing
Nicola Tyson in ‘Somebodies’ at Petzel Gallery
Nicola Tyson’s freewheeling firewood sculptures embody a grace that belies their origins in the woodpile. Stripping each piece of dried firewood of its bark, Tyson assembles fleshy ‘dancing figures’ as disproportionate assemblages of thick and thin segments that bring to mind human bodies, trees and robots. (In ‘Somebodies’ at Petzel Gallery in Chelsea through Aug 4th).