Tag: gagosian gallery

‘Avedon 100’ at Gagosian Gallery

Enter Gagosian Gallery and you’ll immediately see Marilyn Monroe striking flirtatious poses in 1957, to the right is a joyous full-length portrait of Tina Turner and further back, a cast of characters from Andy Warhol’s Factory exudes downtown chic, even in the nude.  The gallery’s museum-quality celebration of iconic photographer Richard Avedon’s 100 birthday includes some of the most recognized subjects and photographs of the 2nd half of the 20th century, a time when Avedon shot for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and the New Yorker while also completing his own projects. The beautifully staged exhibition offers sightlines that take visitors from oil field workers in Oklahoma to a fashion shoot narrative (right and left in this image) to Dovima, posing with elephants in a Paris circus in 1955. (On view through July 7th).

Richard Avedon, installation view of ‘Avedon 100’ at Gagosian Gallery, May 2022.

Helen Frankenthaler at Gagosian Gallery

Helen Frankenthaler’s abstract paintings allude to landscapes and moods; a showcase of the artist’s work from the ‘90s at Gagosian Gallery conveys the pleasures of colors and feelings observed in nature.  Pioneer of an influential staining technique in mid-century American abstraction, Frankenthaler here adds an overt, textured brushstroke that emphasizes the surface of the canvas.  Appearing to hover over aqua-toned pools of color and an underlying dark depth, the long orange mark sets in play a complicated and shifting illusion of depth. (On view through April 15th on 24th Street in Chelsea).

Helen Frankenthaler, Poseidon, acrylic on canvas, 70 ¾ x 100 inches, 1990.

Albert Oehlen at Gagosian Gallery

German painter Albert Oehlen’s continuously morphing style has been associated with ‘bad painting’ and a sense of being “on the way to becoming something else,” two qualities which linked him in his mind to another celebrated and influential artist, Paul McCarthy who he has invited to show with him now at Gagosian Gallery.  Oehlen’s new work features a recurring abstracted form resembling a corporate logo, a modified pi symbol or, in proximity to the figurative sculpture by McCarthy, a squat torso with two long legs.  Seen in various color combinations and even as a cast aluminum sculpture, the form merges with or boldly erupts from fields of gestural abstraction.  Here, the ambiguous shape appears defaced by paint, a suggestion that the medium still has power to shake things up.  (On view in Chelsea through April 22nd).

Albert Oehlen, Omega Man 15, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2021.

Anselm Kiefer at Gagosian Gallery

Gagosian Gallery’s enormous Chelsea space seems made to accommodate the monumental scale and theme of Anselm Kiefer’s latest paintings, which address contemporary migration via reference to Greek mythology and the Biblical exodus.  The title of this over 43’ long painting, ‘Danae,’ refers to the Greek myth of Zeus manifesting as a shower of gold to visit the imprisoned Danae, a liaison which resulted in the birth of their son, Perseus.  Here, a cloud of gold hovers above the cavernous hangar of Berlin’s now-closed Tempelhof Airport, a space that has been used to house refugees, as if to rain blessing on the imperiled populations that have taken refuge there. (On view through Dec 23rd).

Anselm Kiefer, Danae, emulsion, acrylic, oil, shellac, gold leaf, coal, metal and wires on canvas, 149 5/8 x 523 5/8 inches, 2016 – 2021.

Urs Fischer at Gagosian Gallery

Van Gogh’s flower paintings were intended to be life affirming, representing joy, appreciation of nature and mankind’s love of the divine.  In this installation view of Urs Fischer’s piece ‘Denominator’ at Gagosian Gallery, a replica sunflower painting is overlaid with a projection of talking heads sourced from the internet, a juxtaposition geared to suggest that our devotion has shifted to the virtual realm.  The painting is part of a recreation of a room in London’s National Gallery, the added heads commenting on how traditional ways of spreading culture have shifted to individuals using on-line platforms. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 15th).

Urs Fischer, Denominator, database, algorithms, and LED cube, 141 ¾ x 141 ¾ x 141 ¾ inches, 2020-22.