Inspired by a news story about a dolphin that swam into Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal and died the same day from the pollution, New York artist Alexis Rockman conjured this vision of the canal as a cauldron of contamination in which the strong adapt to survive. (At Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side through Nov 2nd).
Alexis Rockman, Gowanus, oil on wood, 2013.
Wim Delvoye’s twisted Gothic tower and a bronze crucifix distorted into a Möbius band flirt with potentially provocative subject matter; ultimately, however, his spectacularly distorted swirls of laser-cut metal are all about the wow factor. (At Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side through June 28th).
Wim Delvoye, Dual Möbius Quad Corpus, polished bronze, 2010.
Wolfgang Laib’s fourteen-foot high ziggurat dominates Sperone Westwater’s narrow main gallery with its hefty slabs of fragrant beeswax. Titled, ‘Without Beginning and Without End,’ Laib creates his architecture in the form of an ancient structure, while using a natural material made by bees in their own building process. (On the Lower East Side through March 30th)
Wolfgang Laib, ‘Without Beginning and Without End,’ beeswax, wooden understructure, 2005.
Turin-based artist Fabio Viale – who started working with marble when he was 16 – once rolled a 2,000 lb marble sculpture of a tire through the city streets. These pristine marble ‘tires’ haven’t seen that much action but tied together, they’re a surprising feat of technical accomplishment. See them Saturday, Feb 9th, 2-4pm on Merrily’s Lower East Side gallery tour. (At Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side, through Feb 23rd).
Step into the entrance of Turkish artist Kutlug Ataman’s latest solo at Sperone Westwater and you step into the flow of the Iguazu Falls in Argentina…or at least a projection of them in ‘Mayhem,’ a seven channel installation on screens and the floor. Ataman explains the piece as a response to the Arab Spring as it symbolizes cleansing and destroying power. (At Sperone Westwater on the Lower East Side through Dec 22nd).
