Iconic German artist Sigmar Polke created this painting the year after a trip that took him around Asia, from Papua New Guinea to Thailand and beyond. Painted on checked fabric, Polke’s hovering, calligraphic mountains compete with a rectangular pattern of curving black splashes, creating an almost mythical realm at center. (At David Zwirner Gallery’s 20th Street location through June 25th).
Rudolf Stingel paints the sublime in his latest body of work, but from a distance. Working from vintage, found photos of his birthplace – Merano, Italy – the artist faithfully copies distortions from the camera, marks of age from the prints and then leaves the canvases on the floor of his studio, building in physical and conceptual distance between his New York audience and the Alps. (At Gagosian Gallery’s 21st Street location through April 19th).
Rudolf Stingel, Untitled, oil on canvas, 132 x 180 ¾ inches, 2010.
Italian artist Olivio Barbieri’s photographs of European mountain ranges are often breath-taking, but he takes something else away in his latest series, namely large sections of the mountain that he substitutes for snow-like areas of white. Barbieri explains that he’s interested in the hiker’s point of view, including ‘mirages and hallucinations.’ (At Yancey Richardson Gallery’s new 22nd Street location through Nov 2nd).
Olivio Barbieri, Alps – Geographies and People #11, archival pigment print, 2013.
