Tag: the hole nyc

Alex Gardner at The Hole NYC

With their black skin highlighted blue and featureless faces, Alex Gardner’s characters evade racial identification and offer no way to read their expressions.  In this painting at The Hole NYC, only hands supporting a foot are visible, but the title ‘Cheer Stunt’ brings to mind a group performance full of suspense and excitement.   Backlighting suggests a digital space or perhaps a stadium at night while alternatively, smooth, stylized hands and foot could be part of a new sculptural monument.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Dec 27th. Masks and social distancing required).

Alex Gardner, Cheer Stunt, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, 2020.

Anders Oinonen at The Hole NYC

It’s often hard to read a visage by Canadan artist Anders Oinonen, whose cast of odd characters is currently making faces on the walls of The Hole NYC on the Lower East Side.  This figure has turned his or her architectural face sideways, allowing cotton candy hair to float along the top of the canvas.  Though partially obscured in shadow, the face looks anxious, making this individual a perfect representative of the election anxiety faced by many Americans today.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Nov 15th).

Anders Oinonen, Untitled, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 2020.

Katsu at The Hole NYC

Seven blank white canvases, spray paint and drone technology have turned The Hole NYC into one huge painting by New York street artist and tech pioneer Katsu.  Partnering with Tsuru robotics in Moscow, Katsu has developed ways to write by drone and recently, to enable drones to create abstract paintings with programmed randomness.  (On view through August 23rd).

Katsu, installation view of ‘Dot’ at The Hole NYC, July 2020

Emily Mae Smith in ‘Second Smile’ at theholenyc.com

Installed in late April though the show will likely never be seen in person by the public, The Hole NYC’s exhibition ‘Second Smile’ asks how Surrealism continues to surface in contemporary painting.  The show includes work by Emily Mae Smith, whose painting of two candles in a clandestine nighttime meeting was a memorable part of her show at Simone Subal Gallery in 2017.  (On view at The Hole NYC through May 24th).

Emily Mae Smith, The Caress, oil on linen, 48 x 38 inches, 2017.

Drake Carr at The Hole NYC

Drake Carr’s acrylic and airbrush on canvas sculptures bring animation into three dimensions in a way that feels both fresh and disconcerting.  To the right, a dancer looks set to leap off the wall.  Behind, Carr nods to his mother’s window dressing business with a curtain arrangement that frames two weight lifters in a dramatic domestic setting.  Two freestanding characters to the left represent residents of Flint (Carr hails from Michigan) whose odd gestures represent the unnatural quality of the city’s tainted water.  (On view on the Lower East Side at The Hole NYC through August 12th).

Drake Carr, installation view of ‘Gulp’ at The Hole, NYC, July 2018.