Tag: sunflowers

Urs Fischer at Gagosian Gallery

Van Gogh’s flower paintings were intended to be life affirming, representing joy, appreciation of nature and mankind’s love of the divine.  In this installation view of Urs Fischer’s piece ‘Denominator’ at Gagosian Gallery, a replica sunflower painting is overlaid with a projection of talking heads sourced from the internet, a juxtaposition geared to suggest that our devotion has shifted to the virtual realm.  The painting is part of a recreation of a room in London’s National Gallery, the added heads commenting on how traditional ways of spreading culture have shifted to individuals using on-line platforms. (On view in Chelsea through Oct 15th).

Urs Fischer, Denominator, database, algorithms, and LED cube, 141 ¾ x 141 ¾ x 141 ¾ inches, 2020-22.

Richard Bosman at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

No one falls off a cliff or screams into the rain in Richard Bosman’s paintings at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, a departure from the artist’s signature film noir subject matter.  Instead, a selection of Bosman’s work from the past thirteen years pays homage to icons of European/U.S. art history in the form of a painting on wood recreating Van Gogh’s palette and a view of mid-20th century abstract artist Barnett Newman’s studio.  The show’s highlight and biggest work is a 2015 installation titled ‘Museum Wall,’ a selection of paintings mimicking a Frieda Kahlo portrait, James Ensor’s masked characters, Van Gogh’s sunflowers and more.  Painted as if in elaborate frames, each canvas is pinned directly to a grey-painted wall like a poster, an homage to influential artists that also comments on the easy consumption of art. (On view in Tribeca through July 29th).

Richard Bosman, Museum Wall, oil on canvas, dimensions variable, 2015.

Billy Childish at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

It comes as no surprise that British artist Billy Childish counts Van Gogh as an influence. By putting these sunflowers in a vessel that recalls Gauguin’s ceramics, Childish marries two artists who lived outside of conventional society in an image that pulsates with pattern. (At Lehmann Maupin’s West 22nd Street location through Oct 31st).

Billy Childish, Sunflowers, oil and charcoal on linen, 60.04 x 42.13 inches, 2015.