Tag: miguel abreu

Pieter Schoolwerth at Miguel Abreu Gallery

How do you make representational painting in the digital age, when bodies no longer have to be near each other to interact? Pieter Schoolwerth ponders this in a multi-step process that involves photographing figures and shadows, drawing them, altering them in the computer, creating them in foam core or wood and printing and painting on canvas. The resulting images are convincingly attractive but unsatisfying – in this enigmatic relief sculpture depicting a student center, various figures are together but don’t connect. (At Miguel Abreu Gallery on the Lower East Side through June 28th).

Pieter Schoolwerth, Model for “Student Center,” enamel on wood, 54 3/8 x 47 ¼ x 7 ½ inches, 2017.

 

Yuji Agematsu at Miguel Abreu Gallery

Daily for the past twenty years, New York artist Yuji Agematsu has walked the city streets collecting refuse and reforming it into artful accumulations and arrangements. Here, he has allowed lollipops to melt and deteriorate before arresting them in precise moments of decay that still recall the joy of a freshly unwrapped piece of candy while fast forwarding to the end of that pleasure. (At Miguel Abreu Gallery through April 2nd).

Yuji Agematsu, no time, no location, lollipops, paper and plastic sticks, hair, thread, cellophane, chewing gum and mixed media inserted into wall, 18 x 25 ½ x 5 ¼ inches, 2013 – 16.

Pamela Rosenkranz at Miguel Abreu Gallery

An LED lighting strip turns Miguel Abreu Gallery an eerie green color, illuminating a puddle of synthetic liquid based on a pigment found in rainforest worms. Accompanied by a soundtrack of Amazon jungle noise played backwards, this installation by young Swiss artist Pamela Rosenkranz creates a surprisingly atmospheric faux-natural environment on the Lower East Side. (Through Dec 22nd).

Pamela Rosenkranz, Amazon (Green), LED lighting strip, 56 x 1 1/8 x ½ inches, 2016.
Pamela Rosenkranz, Amazon (Green), LED lighting strip, 56 x 1 1/8 x ½ inches, 2016.

 

Eileen Quinlan at Miguel Abreu

Her own nature photography and images downloaded from the Internet are the basis for several new photos by Eileen Quinlan at Miguel Abreu Gallery, including this interrupted shot of an otter. A strip from the center of the image looks like both a rip and a pool of water, while streams of photo chemicals toward the bottom of the image contrast liquids used in photo processing with the otter’s natural habitat. (On the Lower East Side through April 17th).

Eileen Quinlan, The Otter, gelatin silver print, 25 x 20 inches, 2016.
Eileen Quinlan, The Otter, gelatin silver print, 25 x 20 inches, 2016.

Pieter Schoolwerth at Miguel Abreu Gallery

One day while cleaning, artist Pieter Schoolwerth exclaimed in frustration, ‘This vacuum sucks!’ This unintended truism launched the idea for a show – can a vacuum do anything other than suck? Schoolwerth’s paintings and installation at Miguel Abreu Gallery show humans sucked into another dimension, speaking from the void and holding a vacuum hose like a mic. (Through May 3rd).

Pieter Schoolwerth, installation view of ‘Your Vacuum Blows, which Sucks,’ at Miguel Abreu Gallery, March 2015.