Tag: modern

Mary Obering at Bortolami Gallery

Inspired by her love of art history and travel to Italy, New York-based artist Mary Obering infuses modern, minimal style with references to early Renaissance art to create dynamic and luminous paintings.  Bortolami Gallery’s current presentation of her work from 1972 – 2003 includes this 1992 painting that balances light and dark colors in a way that moves the eye around the canvas, creating a lively circular movement enriched by glowing panels of gold leaf.  Blocks of color in egg tempera – painted to show the artist’s hand through fluctuations of color – have an extra vibrant glow, adding to the uplift and pleasure of the piece.  (On view in Tribeca through Feb 26th. Masks and social distancing are required.)

Mary Obering, A2 + Y2, egg tempera and gold leaf on gessoed panels, 2 panels, total dimensions: 84 x 84 inches, 1992.

Lygia Clark at Luhring Augustine

Iconic Brazilian Neo-Concretist Lygia Clark explored the experience of space in both two and three dimensions, in paintings and her famous bicho (critter) sculptures that could be handled and manipulated. At Luhring Augustine Gallery in Chelsea, 2-D pieces, like this study for a modulated surface, suggests the organic world with tones that allude to earth and sky. (On view through June 17th).

Lygia Clark, Estudio para Planos em superficie modulada (Study for Planes in modulated surface), gouache on cardboard, paper: 9 7/8 x 13 3/8 inches, 1952.

Rudolf Bauer in ‘The Museum of Non-Objective Painting’ at Leila Heller Gallery

Leila Heller Gallery compliments the Guggenheim’s current ‘Visionaries’ exhibition with a show featuring artworks by early 20th century ‘non-objective’ painters, including mature works by German avant-gardist Rudolf Bauer. Though this painting from the ‘30s brings to mind a planet on the left and the built environment to the right, Bauer’s focus was art as expression of the spirit. (In Chelsea through March 4th).

Rudolf Bauer, Green Form, oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 66 7/8 inches, 1936.
Rudolf Bauer, Green Form, oil on canvas, 51 ¼ x 66 7/8 inches, 1936.

Marti Cormand at Josee Bienvenu Gallery

This painting of a sculptural fragment by German modernist artist Emy Roeder, a man puzzling over an abstract sculpture, and a portrait head by German artist Edwin Sharff are all meticulously paintings by Marti Cormand of artworks labeled ‘degenerate’ by the Nazis during WWII. Displaying the images as a series of 5 x 7 inch ‘postcards’ downplays their radicality but emphasizes the fact that their aesthetic has been wholly assimilated into contemporary art. (At Josee Bienvenu Gallery through July 22nd).

Marti Cormand, installation view of ‘Postcards A – Z’ at Josee Bienvenu Gallery, through July 22nd.
Marti Cormand, installation view of ‘Postcards A – Z’ at Josee Bienvenu Gallery, through July 22nd.

Meraud Guinness Guevara in ‘In Good Company’ at Lori Bookstein Fine Art

Though she was allied with the pre-war Parisian avant-garde, Meraud Guinness Guevara favored realism. This 1938 still life foregrounds an intimate arrangement of curving kitchen objects while a more austere selection of white forms stands behind at attention. (In ‘In Good Company’ at Lori Bookstein Fine Art through July 29th).

Meraud Guinness Guevara, Still Life with Kitchen Objects, oil on canvas, 23 ¼ x 28 ¾ inches, 1938.
Meraud Guinness Guevara, Still Life with Kitchen Objects, oil on canvas, 23 ¼ x 28 ¾ inches, 1938.