Strong shadows and angular forms in photos of barns and rural architecture shot between the 50s and early 80s by Ellsworth Kelly bear a striking resemblance to the abstract shapes of the artist’s paintings, offering what feels like a peek at the artist’s real-world inspirations. (At Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea through April 30th).
At age 92, just two years after his previous major multi-gallery solo show, Ellsworth Kelly is back at Matthew Marks’ Chelsea galleries (all four locations) with works so bold that a New Yorker critic was prompted to call this Kelly’s ‘all-time most thrilling gallery show.’ Here, an elegantly minimal blue shape could be a stylized arrow pointing upwards, the measure of an angle and much more. (Through June 20th).
Ellsworth Kelly, Blue Angle, painted aluminum, 90 x 150 x 4 1/8 inches, 2014.
Exhibitions at three of Matthew Marks’ Chelsea galleries celebrate American art legend Ellsworth Kelly’s 90th birthday (which occurred earlier this week). The vibrant ‘Gold with Orange Reliefs’ is luxurious and organic, evoking lush fruits or a splendid sunrise. (Through June 29. This painting is at the 502 West 22nd Street location.)
Ellsworth Kelly, Gold with Orange Reliefs, oil and canvas and wood, three joined panels, 2013.
Ellsworth Kelly’s approximately eighty plant drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art could be some of the most insubstantial artwork on view in the city at the moment and some of the most enjoyable. In graphite on paper renderings from 1948 to the present of poppy flowers, beanstalks, ginkgo leaves and more, Kelly distills each plant into an easily identifiable outline that offers insights into the renowned abstract artist’s iconography.
