Tag: hauser & wirth

Jack Whitten at Hauser & Wirth

Pain and promise are embodied in one of the most beautiful and sobering artworks in Hauser & Wirth’s exhibition of late artist Jack Whitten’s paintings from the ‘90s.  A tribute to the children killed in the 1995 mass shooting, ‘Mask III:  For the Children of Dunblane, Scotland’ memorializes lost lives in a blaze of color created with chips of acrylic paint fashioned together in Whitten’s signature collage-like technique.  Honoring the dead and acting as witness, Whitten galvanizes his audience to resist what’s wrong and unify for higher purpose.  (On view through Jan 23rd).

Jack Whitten, Mask III: For the Children of Dunblane, Scotland, acrylic and recycled glass on canvas, 1996.

Louise Bourgeois’ ‘Drawings ’47-’07’ at hauserwirth.com

Louise Bourgeois’ spiders may be her best-known work (this image from New York Art Tours’ archives captured a bronze arachnid appearing to scale a wall at the American Museum of Natural History), but for 70-years of the late artist’s career, drawing played a key role in expressing states of mind.  Hauser & Wirth Gallery’s inaugural on-line exhibition features a selection of drawings from 1947-2007 that channel Bourgeois’ unconscious and personal history.

Louise Bourgeois, Spider I, bronze, 50 x 46 x 12 1/4 inches, 1995.

Larry Bell at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Operating under the premise that, “Art makes a positive difference at all times and in all circumstances” Hauser & Wirth Gallery has reverted to on-line exhibitions and other Internet-accessible strategies to make art available.  The gallery’s recently released exhibition walk-through with Light and Space artist Larry Bell wonderfully conveys Bell’s exploration of how glass ‘reflects, absorbs and transmits light.’   We can’t visit the artist’s reflective glass panels right now (seen here in a smaller sculpture), but the next best thing is watching him activate his ‘Standing Wall’ installations to shift the space around him.

Larry Bell, Iceberg SS, French Blue, Capri Blue, Periwinkle, and Turquoise laminated glass, 4 parts, unique, dimensions variable, 2020.

Rita Ackermann at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

A haze of cool colors hovers over and obscures energetic line drawings featuring human figures in Rita Ackermann’s new paintings at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, creating a juxtaposition between painterly gesture and drawing.  Titled ‘Mama,’ each painting links in title to a feminine source while channeling an Ab Exp style better known for its male adherents.  Simple drawings of circles and an occasional animal add in a child’s touch, further complicating the family relationships alluded to in the paintings. (On view in Chelsea through April 11th).

Rita Ackermann, Mama, Midsummer Night’s Dream, oil, acrylic, and ink on linen, 77 x 65 inches, 2019.

Rashid Johnson at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

A host of fractured figures, relatives to the artist’s signature box-headed, grimacing characters, greet visitors to Rashid Johnson’s latest show at Chelsea’s Hauser & Wirth Gallery.  Described by their past titles as ‘anxious men,’ Johnson’s new people bear titles relating to their brokenness, as if the damage to their psyche’s or bodies has become more profound.  The show climaxes in Johnson’s new film ‘The Hikers,’ in which two men meet while ascending or descending a mountain in Colorado, enacting a dance that expresses their anxiety and extends the theme into the three-dimensional world.  (On view through Jan 25th).

Rashid Johnson, Two Standing Broken Men, ceramic tile, mirror tile, spray enamel, bronze, oil stick, branded red oak flooring, black soap, wax, 95 ¾ x 71 7/8 x 3 inches, 2019.