Tag: window

Robert Gober at Matthew Marks Gallery

Drawings of barred windows contrast sculptural tableau depicting open windows in Robert Gober’s new work at Matthew Marks Gallery’s 22nd Street location. While the bars suggest imprisonment, a series of wooden windows offer varying degrees of access into personal space resembling – to judge by the weathered sash and can of lithium grease in this version – an aging farmhouse.  Titled ‘Help Me,’ the piece suggests urgent need as it offers objects that stand in for the house’s inhabitants and possibly allude to the body.  Despite the pretty hand-painted designs on a lively curtain that appears to catch the breeze, uncertainty, sentiment, nostalgia and even delight at Gober’s meticulously hand-crafted objects combine to leave a feeling of thought-provoking unease.  (On view through Dec 23rd).

Robert Gober, Help Me, pewter, glass, synthetic plastic polymer, epoxy putty, acrylic paint, wood, cotton, epoxy resin, 30 ¼ x 30 3/8 x 18 ¾ inches, 2018 – 2021.

Eleanor Ray at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery

Eleanor Ray’s sunny Texas, Wyoming and Utah landscapes at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery are an enticing alternative to dreary mid-winter New York City.  Despite their size (c. 6.5 inches high), the tiny oil paintings communicate wide open spaces suffused with light;  here in ‘Wyoming Window,’ the silhouette of a window next to a view from another window turns the sun into an almost tangible presence in the room.  (On view on the Lower East Side through Feb 10th).

Eleanor Ray, Wyoming Window, June, 2018, oil on panel, 6 ½ x 8 inches.

Toyin Odutola in ‘Vanishing Points’ at James Cohan Gallery

The skin, shirt and vest of the man in this portrait by Toyin Odutola are alive with pattern, a foil to the quiet interior in which he stands and a suggestion of busy thoughts.   Looking out into the light coming from outdoors, he’s privy to a vision from outside that we can’t yet see. (In ‘Vanishing Points’ at James Cohan Gallery through April 22nd).

Toyin Ojih Odutola, Manifesto, charcoal, pastel and pencil on paper, 18 ¾ x 23 ¾ inches, 2017.

Daniel Heidkamp at Derek Eller Gallery

The huge portal dominating Daniel Heidkamp’s hotel room painting leads us into more than we might expect. From what looks to be one of the Maritime Hotel’s distinctive windows, Heidkamp shuffles the New York skyline and offers glimpses of a ballet rehearsal in a building that only exists in this painting. It feels surprisingly daring to rearrange New York’s built environment and particularly appropriate as construction booms in the city. (At Derek Eller Gallery through Feb 5th).

Daniel Heidkamp, Dreams, oil on linen, 96 x 72 inches, 2016.
Daniel Heidkamp, Dreams, oil on linen, 96 x 72 inches, 2016.

Sarah Charlesworth at the New Museum

For her last series, late Pictures Generation photographer Sarah Charlesworth used available light coming from her studio window to illuminate carefully chosen objects. Here, a glass holding a sphere has the meticulous quality of product photography, but it sells nothing, instead it turns everyday objects into something serenely magical. (At the New Museum through Sept 20th).

Sarah Charlesworth, Carnival Ball, from the ‘Available Light’ series, Fuji Crystal Archive prints with lacquered wood frames, 2012.