Inspired by early Christian and Mesopotamian building practices that imbued built structures with spiritual meaning, young Brooklyn-based artist Jeff Landman transformed timbers from a Pennsylvania barn into furniture-like platforms for transcendent experience for his first solo show at Tracy Williams, Ltd. (In Chelsea through Feb 22nd).
Jeff Landman, installation view of ‘Working on a Building,’ with ‘Bed,’ white oak, linen, 2013 in the foreground. Tracy Williams, Ltd., Feb 2014.
Bodies and furniture become one in New York artist Robert Fontinelli’s huge drawings, touching on materialism and how we define our personalities through design choices. Here in Feature, Inc’s front windows, two men merged with theater seats and each other suggest two identities becoming one. (On the Lower East Side through Feb 16th).
Robert Fontinelli, Twinks in Prouve Amphitheater Seats, 2014.
Known for crafting historical art and furnishings as if they’d been partly destroyed, Brooklyn artist Valerie Hegarty has astoundingly transformed several rooms in the Brooklyn Museum’s Cane Acres Plantation Dining Room to look as if disaster has struck, turning a gentile space into a riot of gunshot holes, destroyed food and flapping crows. (In the 4th floor Period Rooms at the Brooklyn Museum through Dec 1st).
Valerie Hegarty, installation view of ‘Valerie Hegarty: Alternative Histories’ at the Brooklyn Museum, July 2013.
Can a room full of benches inspire community-minded thinking? Francis Cape’s hand-crafted replicas of furniture from Shaker and other 19th century separatist communities, presented en masse at Chelsea’s Murray Guy Gallery, are objects whose value is rooted in their usefulness to many people – opposite of art as luxury commodity. (Through Aug 9th).
Francis Cape, installation view of Utopian Benches at Murray Guy Gallery, July 2013.
