San Francisco-based photographer Michael Light – known for his aerial photographs of the American West – needs considerable distance not just to capture the natural and manipulated landscape but to fit in a train so long it seems like part of the environment. (At Danziger Gallery through Jan 18th).
Michael Light, Union Pacific Freight Train Heading West, Near Rock Springs, WY, pigment print, 2007.
This swashbuckling Puss in Boots was created on 36 former library card catalogue cards, sourced from eBay by New York artist Matthew Weinstein. One of the topmost cards originally directed readers to a commentary on Dante’s Divine Comedy. Now it plays host to a new creation. (At Carolina Nitsch Gallery through Jan 18th).
Matthew Weinstein, piece from ‘The Splendid Outcast,’ featuring card catalogue cards re Dante’s Divine Comedy, ink on paper, 2013.
Has this couple managed a mind-meld between her warm personality and his cool-colored tranquility? Or do they remain at opposite ends of a spectrum? Titled ‘The Anniversary,’ this embroidery on a found photograph by British artist Julie Cockburn grants suggestive new lives to forgotten pasts. (At Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea through Jan 25th).
Julie Cockburn, The Anniversary, hand embroidery on found photograph, unique, 2013.
Cesar’s process art fills Upper East Side gallery Luxembourg & Dayan in a mini-retrospective ongoing until the end of this month. Here, ‘Compressions’ of heavy-duty fabrics that bring that bring to mind commerce (jute sacks) and work clothes (corduroy) contrast a shiny plastic ‘Expansion’ which seems to exist for visual pleasure. (Through Jan 31st).
Cesar. On walls: three Mural Compressions (Jute Sack, Wool Blanket & Corduroy – all 1976.) On floor: Expansion N35/15, polyester reinforced with fiberglass, mauve lacquer, 1972.
Twice a day, a New Museum employee starts up and moves a motorcycle to maximum speed, its rear wheel causing a huge, cast-iron flywheel to spin for over two hours after the performance ends. Chris Burden’s contraption – The Big Wheel from 1979 – contrasts the freedom of an individual on a bike with an industrially sized wheel, visibly demonstrating both labor and energy harnessed. (On the Lower East Side through Jan 12th).
Chris Burden, The Big Wheel, three-ton, eight-foot diameter, cast-iron flywheel powered by a 1968 Benelli 250cc motorcycle, 1979.