Walton Ford is back at Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery with more of his signature large watercolors focusing on the fraught relationship throughout history between man and animal. Here, he recalls a medieval tale of a retreating poacher who scattered reflective balls to confuse a tigress. (Through June 21st).
Walton Ford, The Tigress, watercolor and gouache on paper, 60 x 120 inches, 2013.
Energy drinks, green tea tins and more consumer packaging form the basis of semi-retired fashion photography icon David LaChapelle’s latest series, ‘Refineries.’ Working with professional model builders, LaChapelle makes our consumption of fossil fuels – and the materials create from them – personal. (At Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery through March 1st.)
David LaChapelle, Land Scape Riverside, chromogenic print, 71 x 93 inches, 2013.
The elegant simplicity of Modernist art icon Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures is on display at Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery, where the gallery has partnered with the Brancusi Estate to showcase five posthumously created cast bronze sculptures. Based on a Hungarian artist who modeled for Brancusi several times, this sculpture of Mllm Pogany displays the otherworldly charm of her saucer-like eyes, hands folded against her head and cascades of hair down her back. (Through Jan 24th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Mademoiselle Pogany II, polished bronze, 17 5/8 x 11 3/8 x 11 7/8 inches, 1925-2006.
Most prominent in post-war in France for his ‘accumulations,’ the artist Arman was also an avid collector of art from other cultures. Paul Kasmin Gallery’s select show of pieces from Arman’s African collection features this mask from the Makonde of Tanzania, a type worn by young men in their initiation ceremonies. (In Chelsea through Jan 11th. Check website for holiday season opening hours.)
Face Mask: likomba, Makonde, Tanzania, wood, teeth, fiber, 24 x 10 x 9 inches with base. From the collection of Arman.
In a 200 year throw-back to the days when parts of Chelsea were Clement Clarke Moore’s apple orchard, Paul Kasmin Gallery has partnered with collector and real estate developer Michael Shvo to create an agrarian landscape on the recently closed Getty gas station on the corner of 24th Street and 10th Ave. Before the site is turned into a luxury condo, it will be populated by sheep sculpture by the late French artist Francois-Xavier Lalanne, making for one of the most head-turning exhibitions in Chelsea at the moment. (Through Oct 20th).
