Using silicone and metal beads, sculptor Eva LeWitt creates a series of hanging spheres in Luhring Augustine’s Chelsea space that shape-shift as light passes through them. The artist has explained that for her, spheres are ‘a beginning and an end…a period, a punctuation.’ Hung in a ring around the middle of the gallery at varying lengths, they seem gathered as if for conversation or play. (On view in Chelsea through April 30th).
Visitors to Light and Space artist Helen Pashgian’s show of new work at Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery are invited to sit on benches to appreciate disk-shaped sculptures that appear to hover over pedestals in the gallery, while other pieces require movement to be appreciated. The second scenario applies with this untitled cast epoxy with formed acrylic sphere, which reveals or conceals bands of color as the visitor moves before it. Designed to reveal how perception of a single object or phenomenon can shift, Pashgian’s invites viewers to delight in the nuances of seeing. (On view through Jan 8th).
Glass balls in a rainbow of color and a beautifully ephemeral light projection greet visitors to Olafur Eliasson’s gorgeous new solo show at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, an exhibition designed to give visitors ‘a moment to exhale.’ ‘We need a moment of relief, of beauty, of letting go,’ explains Eliasson, an ambition fulfilled by every piece in the exhibition, including this spherical light installation. Created from green tinted glass and pink iridescent color-effect-filter glass, the piece reflects light of a single color while allowing its complementary color to pass through. (On view through April 24th. Appointments, masks and social distancing required.)
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).
Changing light and the effect of light on architecture are two recurring themes in Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s work and in his new sculpture ‘Return of the Arctic light sphere,’ on view in its own gallery at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Chelsea. A strong LED light inside the sphere passes through blue glass and Fresnel glass, a material once used in lighthouses to increase the intensity of light. Walk around the suspended sphere and the shadows change constantly, creating mesmerizing effects and giving viewers pause to consider the complexities of the sculpture’s geometry. (On view Tues – Fri by appointment through August 28th. Masks and social distancing required.)
