Keegan Monaghan in ‘Platform’ with David Zwirner Gallery and James Fuentes Gallery

Virtual exhibitions have replaced in-person shows at many New York galleries, but David Zwirner Gallery’s new ‘Platform’ offers something different by showcasing work by individual artists represented by twelve established, smaller New York galleries.   The initiative highlights painting and sculpture, conceptual and digital art by groundbreaking artists and includes Keegan Monaghan’s impasto oil paintings.  Monaghan’s ‘The Screen’ – pictured here from New York Art Tour’s photo archive from Jan ’18 at James Fuentes Gallery – perfectly illustrates how pictures can ‘serve alternatively as barriers and entry points’ as we look at someone looking at someone looking.

Keegan Monaghan, The Screen, oil on canvas, red oak frame, 50 x 56 ¾ inches framed, 2016-2017.

Conor Backman at James Fuentes Gallery

Wall mounted sculptures made of cast marble dust by Hudson, NY artist Conor Backman at James Fuentes Gallery feature faux-lichen, suggesting salvaged architectural fragments with hints of possible historical significance. (On the Lower East Side through July 24th).

Conor Backman, installation view at James Fuentes Gallery, July 2015 (foreground: Monday and Sunday, marble dust, resin, cast aquaresin, 2015).

Richard Nonas at James Fuentes

In the late 60s, Richard Nonas was working as an anthropologist when he had an epiphany in the park one day while playing with his dog.  Picking up pieces of wood, he was struck by their relationship to each other and began a career in making sculpture whose construction was plain to see but which resulted in what he calls an ‘unexpected inexplicable result.’ (At James Fuentes on the Lower East Side through  April 21st).  

Richard Nonas, Untitled (from the Cherrytree Split Series), cherry wood, 2012.