Tag: jazz

Jason Moran at Luhring Augustine Gallery

Areas of darker and lighter blue in jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran’s bold new abstractions at Luhring Augustine suggest intervals of energy and calm, control and freedom.  Moran made the works by placing pigment on Gampi paper, laid atop a keyboard, then enacting private performances – ‘surrogates to the concerts I was unable to perform in 2020,’ he explains.  Paired with tracks from his new album, the works suggest both transcendence and engagement with the challenges of life over the past year.  (On view at Luhring Augustine’s Tribeca space through Feb 27th).

Jason Moran, Went wild and left in Silence, pigment on Gampi paper, 25 1/8 x 37 ½ inches, 2020.

Roy DeCarava at David Zwirner Gallery

Roy DeCarava’s velvety toned black and white photographs aimed for expression, not documentation, seeking to capture scenes of African-American life in Harlem and beyond with ‘penetrating insight and understanding’.  Over one hundred silver gelatin photos now on view at David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea celebrate the centennial of DeCarava’s birth while showcasing the artist’s ability to sensitively portray a variety of subjects, from the everyday life of families to thrilling portraits of jazz musicians like Jimmy Scott.  (On view through Oct 26th).

Roy DeCarava, Jimmy Scott singing, silver gelatin print, 14 x 11 inches, 1956.

Rodney Graham at 303 Gallery

Displayed on a lightbox, Canadian artist Rodney Graham’s staged photographs are enticing, glowing portals into the past. In this unlikely scenario, a jazz drummer from yesteryear uses his kit as a table for a traditional meal of Salisbury Steak. (At 303 Gallery in Chelsea through June 2nd).

Rodney Graham, Dinner Break (Salisbury Steak), printed aluminum lightbox with transmounted chromogenic transparency, 44 5/8 x 34 5/8 x 7 inches, 2017.

Rashid Johnson at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

At the center of Rashid Johnson’s ‘architectural grid work,’ classically trained pianist Antoine Baldwin plays jazz compositions on a piano fixed high in the structure. Complex and intriguing sounds merge with an arrangement of evocative objects – plants in planters hand-made by the artist, blocks of shea butter, stacks of books relating to African-American culture and early video work by Johnson. Together they continue the artist’s theme of freedom and anxiety experienced by African-American men in America, offering escape through lush greenery (signaling travel to a warmer land) and abundant reading material (liberation for the mind) or imprisonment by a rigid grid. (At Hauser & Wirth Gallery through Oct 22nd).

Rashid Johnson, Antoine’s Organ, black steel, grow lights, plants, wood, shea butter, books, monitors, rugs, piano, unique installation, 480.1 x 858.5 x 321.9 cm, 2016.
Rashid Johnson, Antoine’s Organ, black steel, grow lights, plants, wood, shea butter, books, monitors, rugs, piano, unique installation, 480.1 x 858.5 x 321.9 cm, 2016.