Tag: Pace Gallery

John Gerrard at Pace Gallery

John Gerrard’s 18’ tall installation at Pace Gallery, picturing a flag-shaped gas flare rising from the South Pacific Ocean near Tonga, speaks to climate crises on a massive scale.  The artwork is based on photos of the ocean taken by artist and activist Uili Lousi, but quickly departs from fixed images, using game engines to generate always-changing, non-time-based simulations.  The show’s other pieces – a portrait of the last passenger pigeon in the world and a huge traffic jam in LA – question where our consumption of resources is taking us.  (On view in Chelsea through Aug 12th).

John Gerrard, Flare (Oceania), simulation, installation dimensions variable, 2022.

Glenn Kaino at Pace Gallery

Just as this fifty-foot-long sculpture by Glenn Kaino at Pace Gallery multiplies and extends Olympic gold winner Tommie Smith’s raised fist on the podium at the 1968 Olympics, the athlete’s gesture for social justice continues to impact protest in and beyond the sports world. The installation – Kaino’s first at Pace Gallery – comes on the heels of his ‘Pass the Baton’ NFT project, through which digital renderings of a baton used by Smith in record-breaking races have been sold to raise funds for activist organizations.  The piece is on view through Saturday, but if you don’t catch it at Pace Gallery, an earlier, larger sculpture from the Bridge series will go on view next year in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection in Washington DC.  (On view through June 11th in Chelsea).

Glenn Kaino, installation view of Bridge (Raise Your Voice in Silence) at Pace Gallery, June 2022.

Peter Alexander at Pace Gallery

After an over two-decade hiatus from sculpture-making, late west coast Light and Space artist Peter Alexander came back strong, creating cast forms that appear to glow.  Pace Gallery’s current show of these works from ’11 to ’20 features this eighteen-foot-long installation of urethane strips.  Varying in width and color, the parallel pieces create an irregular rhythm that excites the senses.  (On view through March 19th).

Peter Alexander, Heard it Through the Grapevine, urethane, 77 x 18’ 1” overall installed, 2019.

Elmgreen and Dragset at Pace Gallery

Titled ‘The Painter, Fig. 1,’ this lacquered bronze sculpture by Berlin-based duo Elmgreen and Dragset appears to be offered as an illustration of an artist in action and is prominently displayed in the window of Pace Gallery’s Chelsea building.  In the adjoining gallery, other sculptures hint at themes of regret, loneliness and the will to dominate; nearby, this artist responds.  It’s unclear if he’s laying down black paint or scraping off white paint to reveal the darkness beneath; either way, he appears to be putting a dramatic end to his monochrome existence.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 18th).

Elmgreen and Dragset, The Painter, Fig. 1, bronze, lacquer, linen, paint, 98 7/16 x 100 3/8 x 23 5/8 inches, 2021.

Tara Donovan at Pace Gallery

Masses of everyday objects (pencils, cups, index cards) transform into wondrous landscapes, creatures and more in Tara Donovan’s labor-intensive sculptural practice, but her latest show at Pace Gallery elicits awe at purely abstract forms.  Black drinking straws by the thousands create subtle patterned surfaces in the main gallery while manipulated wire screens dipped in ink demonstrate the endless possibilities of transformation on a grid.  The show’s centerpiece is the most interactive, causing visitors to circle around a sphere composed of slim plastic cylinders in an attempt to reconcile how light can make hard plastic appear soft and fuzzy.  (On view at Pace Gallery through March 6th).

Tara Donovan, Sphere, PETG, 6’ x 6’ x 6’, 2020.