Elaine Reicheck updates Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude as part of her Swatches series, for which she Googles canonical art historical works, modifies their color and size, and renders them via a digital sewing machine on small fabric swatches. Presented as one of hundreds, an iconic artwork turns cute, neutralized by its size and the suggestion that it is just one of many. (At Zach Feuer Gallery through Feb 7th).
Elaine Reicheck, installation view of Swatches at Zach Feuer Gallery, Jan 2015.
Outdoor scenes including a hot-air balloon over a Mexican pyramid and a lone, wind-gnarled tree by a lake in Japan have inspired British American photographer Michael Kenna’s serenely beautiful black and white images, now on view at Chelsea’s Robert Mann Gallery. Here, a jet of water shoots into the air, merging water and clouds in a mediated ‘equivalent’ worthy of Stieglitz. (In Chelsea at Robert Mann through January 31st).
Michael Kenna, Jet d’Eau, Geneva, 9.5 x 6.5 inches, 2012.
In 22 minutes of rich visuals, Israeli artist Yael Bartana inaugurates and destroys a replica Solomon’s Temple in her captivating film ‘Inferno.’ Inspired by a version of the temple finished last summer in Sao Paulo by a religious group (built with stones imported from Israel) Bartana’s film compresses a sequence of emotions – exhilaration to horror to indifference at a distant memory – at a dizzying rate. (At Petzel Gallery through Feb 14th).
Yael Bartana, still from ‘Inferno,’ Alexa camera transferred onto HD, 22 minutes, 2013.
The postmodern Italian design collective The Memphis Group flaunted ‘good taste’ in the 80s with their anti-modernist designs and materials that included molded plastics and laminates. Now the public can’t get enough, as evidenced by an irrepressibly upbeat show of furniture and design at Chelsea’s Koenig and Clinton Gallery. (Through Jan 31st).
Installation view of The Memphis Group at Koenig and Clinton, Jan 2015. Featuring Michele De Lucchi’s ‘Lido’ couch and ‘Polar’ end tables and Ettore Sottsass’s ‘Treetops’ lamp and ‘Park Lane’ coffee table.
On the subway platform one day, Dutch photographer Reinier Gerritsen noticed a serendipitous arrangement in red in the bag, sweater and lips of three women reading on the 6 train. From this initial flash of inspiration, Gerritsen began his a series of photo collages, bringing together book readers in single compositions that memorialize the printed tome. (On view at Chelsea’s Julie Saul Gallery through Feb 7th).
Reinier Gerritsen, One Hundred Years of Solitude, pigment print, 40 ½ x 70 ¾ , 2013.