Tag: soap

Rachel Lee Hovnanian at Leila Heller Gallery

A huge, flawless bar of soap in Carrara marble acts as an icon of purity in Rachel Lee Hovnanian’s current solo show at Leila Heller Gallery.  The third in a series of consecutive exhibitions by the artist at this Chelsea gallery, the show encourages introspection and the chance to ‘clean up’ some mental baggage.  Assistant by gallery staff, a visitor can write down something (s)he’d like to eliminate from her/his life on one of the cast plaster soaps stacked against the gallery wall, then smash the soap with a mallet.  (On view in Chelsea through July 20th).

Rachel Lee Hovnanian, PURE Marble Large, carrara marble, 15 x 10 ½ x 3 ¾ inches, ed of 8, 2018.

Jeremy Deprez at Feuer/Mesler Gallery

Colorful lumps of squeezed clay, or the pattern on a checked shirt are inspiration to Houston-based artist Jeremy Deprez; here, he presents visitors to Feuer/Mesler Gallery with a five foot high bar of hotel soap. Unlike pop predecessors who supersized everything from hamburgers (Oldenberg) to soup cans (Warhol), Deprez pays painterly attention to his flecked monochrome. (On the Lower East Side through March 27th).

Jeremy Deprez, WINDEL, acrylic, modeling paste and canvas on panel, styrofoam, 65 ½ x 38 ¼ inches, 2016.
Jeremy Deprez, WINDEL, acrylic, modeling paste and canvas on panel, styrofoam, 65 ½ x 38 ¼ inches, 2016.

Larry Bamburg at Simone Subal Gallery

A 300 lb piece of talc was the basis of this large sculpture by Larry Bamburg, who bridged the natural and manmade by adding a similarly colored soap, then bathroom tiles to the stone, creating a conversation between materials whose properties converge yet remain distinct. (At Simone Subal on the Lower East Side through March 20th).

Larry Bamburg, Talcto Tile PL’d to MDO, talc, ceramic and plaster tiles, planitesine, medium density overlay (MDO) plywood, 70 3/10 x 43 ½ x 54 ½ inches, 2016.
Larry Bamburg, Talcto Tile PL’d to MDO, talc, ceramic and plaster tiles, planitesine, medium density overlay (MDO) plywood, 70 3/10 x 43 ½ x 54 ½ inches, 2016.

Roger Hiorns at Luhring Augustine

Known for sculptures that initiate processes that yield attractive results (like an engine block transformed by gorgeous copper sulphate crystals), British artist Roger Hiorns goes for a gritty sci-fi feel in the back gallery at Chelsea’s Luhring Augustine. Compressors pump air through grimy car parts creating billows of soap suds that make these quasi-organic figures appear sentient, if barely. (Through Oct 18th).

Roger Hiorns, installation view at Luhring Augustine Gallery, Chelsea, Sept 2014. All works: Untitled, plastic, compressor, and foam, 2014.