Tag: diorama

Derek Fordjour at Petzel Gallery

Visitors to Derek Fordjour’s impressive multimedia exhibition at Petzel Gallery can enjoy two free, live performances daily, take in vibrant new paintings and walk through a magical, life-sized diorama.  By far the most entertaining show in a particularly rich moment in the Chelsea galleries, Fordjour’s ‘Score’ sinks it in the basket while questioning what success is.  Known for images of Black athletes and performers whose excellence lands them in complicated performative roles, Fordjour includes this loaded painting titled CONfidence MAN.  One of the most attractive pieces in an enticing new body of 2D work, this colorful portrait shows a dapper man surrounded by balloons.  Despite the dazzle, he is posed in front of a skull in the window behind him suggesting that customers might do well to be wary. (Show is on view through Dec 22nd, performances through Dec 16th.

Derek Fordjour, CONfidence MAN, acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, glitter, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas, 85 x 65 inches, 2023.

Roxy Paine at Paul Kasmin Gallery

Roxy Paine’s three new dioramas at Paul Kasmin Gallery continue the artist’s interest in systems of control. Here, a view into a view into a hotel room alludes to the CIA’s experiments in administering LSD to unsuspecting civilians in the 1950s. The meticulously crafted scene illustrates a shocking invasion of privacy and personal well-being. (On view in Chelsea through July 1st).

Roxy Paine, Experiment, steel, maple, fluorescent lamps, acrylic prismatic light diffusers, aluminum and oil paint, 96 3/8 x 106 3/8 x 71 3/8 inches, 2015.

Curtis Talwst Santiago at Rachel Uffner Gallery

A tiny, parched figure gasps for water, a protesting crowd descends to a pool of water and here, an overloaded boat of migrants braves choppy waters in dramatic ring box dioramas by Canadian artist Curtis Talwst Santiago. Seen in Lilliputian scale, Santiago’s characters seem to be at the mercy of the elements and other forces beyond their control as they struggle onward. (At Rachel Uffner Gallery on the Lower East Side through Jan 8th).

Curtis Talwst Santiago, Deluge VII, mixed media diorama in reclaimed jewelry box, 6 x 4 x 4 ½ inches, 2016.
Curtis Talwst Santiago, Deluge VII, mixed media diorama in reclaimed jewelry box, 6 x 4 x 4 ½ inches, 2016.

Jasper de Beijer at Asya Geisberg Gallery

Inspired by a hermit living in the Maine woods with only a radio to hear news of the outside world, Dutch artist Jasper de Beijer created, then photographed paper dioramas depicting major world events from his memory rather than from documentation. Here (seen in detail), de Beijer recalls the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in all its terror. (At Chelsea’s Asya Geisberg Gallery through March 14th).

Jasper de Beijer, 12-26-2004 (from Mr Knight’s World Band Receiver’), c-print, 45×25” x 71,” 2014.

Roxy Paine at Marianne Boesky Gallery

A room eighty feet long is condensed into 18 feet in Roxy Paine’s latest uncanny scene from his Diorama series – an airport security checkpoint crafted entirely in maple wood, devoid of humans and presented for contemplation. (At Chelsea’s Marianne Boesky Gallery through October 18th).

Roxy Paine, Checkpoint, maple, aluminum, fluorescent light bulbs, and acrylic prismatic light diffusers, 14 ‘ h x 26’ – 11” w x 18’ – 7 1/2” d, 2014.