Tag: wood

Barthelemy Toguo at Galerie Lelong

Part installation, part performance, Cameroonian-French artist Barthelemy Toguo’s ‘Urban Requiem’ begins with a room of charcoal drawings of African Americans killed by police and culminates in a gallery of heavy, wooden, torso-shaped stamps marked with messages.  Against the back wall of the show, prints made using the stamps advocate for peace and respect for human life.  The stamp in the foreground incites hope for ‘All the world’s futures.’  (On view at Galerie Lelong in Chelsea through May 11th).

Barthelemy Toguo, Installation view of ‘Urban Requiem’ at Galerie Lelong, April 2019.

Claudia Wieser at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Berlin-based artist Claudia Wieser takes the 1976 BBC drama ‘I, Claudius’ as inspiration for a gorgeous exhibition featuring wallpaper printed with towering busts from antiquity and a series of refined painted vessels atop a large ceramic tiled pedestal.  Rather than tell a story or suggest particular meanings, Wieser evokes elegance and opulence using low-brow materials like wood and mirror-polished steel, perhaps a parallel to politically corrupt Roman rulers whose culture non-the-less produced prized artwork.  (On view at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea through April 14th).

Claudia Wieser, installation view of ‘Chapter’ at Marianne Boesky Gallery, March 2018.

Leonardo Drew in ‘The Onrush of Scenery’ at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Though it resembles an oversized segment of wall and molding, Leonardo Drew’s ‘Number 201’ is a standout in Sikkema Jenkins & Co’s current nature-focused show.  Using materials originally derived from nature and often used in building, Drew’s construction marries nature and culture in enticing forms.  (On view in Chelsea through Feb 24th).

Leonardo Drew, Number 201, wood, plaster and paint, 24.5 x 25.5 x 17.25 inches, 2017.

Serge Alain Nitegeka at Marianne Boeksy Gallery

Obstacle courses constructed from lengths of black wood are a recurring part of Johannesburg-based artist Serge Alain Nitegeka’s practice, forcing gallery visitors to reconsider their environment while ducking and bending through the gallery. Having lived and moved often as a refugee during his childhood, Nitegeka connects his own political experience with the gallery visitor’s spatial experience. (On view at Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 24th).

Serge Alain Nitegeka, installation view at Marianne Boesky Gallery, January, 2018.

Giuseppe Penone at Marian Goodman Gallery

Giuseppe Penone’s 1985 branch, carved from the block of fir wood to which it still belongs, posits artist as creator and forces a comparison between human effort and natural growth. (At Marian Goodman Gallery on 57th Street through Dec 22nd).

Giuseppe Penone, Albero di 3,50 metri, fir wood, 140 1/8 x 11 1/8 x 6 ¼ inches, 1985.