Daniel Buren, installation view at Petzel Gallery, 2013.
In the late 60s, when the avant-garde sidelined painting for Minimalism, Performance and Conceptual art, Daniel Buren forged ahead with ‘painting’ that jettisoned aesthetic concerns. He hit on a formula that he’s used ever since, using vertical stripes 8.7cm in width in site specific installations that force reconsideration of their space. Petzel’s new 18th Street gallery space has barely had time to be considered (this is only the 2nd show there), but Buren’s work has never looked more attractive.
Meg Webster, Polished Stainless Steel for Reflecting Outstretched Arms, mirror-polished stainless steel, 2012.
Meg Webster’s aesthetic is minimal but rife with references to the natural world. Her current show at Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery includes paper covered with egg of free-range chickens and a sand bed from 1982/2012, which she originally brought into her studio from the beach. Both are reflected in this cross-shaped sculpture designed to reflect outstretched arms. (Through Feb 9th).
We conceive of and show off our identities via our clothes, but how often do we really ponder the look, feel, size and meaning of our garments? Julie Allen, known for her meticulous sculptures and drawings of objects important in her personal life, created this underwear from Saran Wrap and tape as one of hundreds of drawings and sculptures made to mark her recent marriage and revel in intimacies enjoyed. (At McKenzie Fine Art on the Lower East Side through Feb 3rd).
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
Nothing else in Chelsea looks remotely like Brooklyn-based sculptor Robert Lazzarini’s latest sculptures at Marlborough Gallery (through Feb 16th). Partly inspired by the 1973 movie Badlands, they and evoke an American roadtrip gone badly wrong.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
This fence was welded together from over two-hundred individually cast steel pieces. Lazzarini’s attention to detail goes far – he even made the barbed wire. It’s the most impressive piece in the show not only in terms of how much work went into it, but in how Lazzarini reimagines a metal fence blowing as if it were a cloth or flag gently flapping the in breeze.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
Lazzarini called this melting liquor sign the ‘most profound piece in the show,’ saying, ‘It speaks to a damage within society that is not easily seen.’ In person, the sculpture’s text is surprisingly difficult to read, as if we had had one too many. Its towering, ghostly presence is a highlight of the show.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
Vaults, blown open and empty, are such a Hollywood staple that this twisted lockbox looks strangely familiar. Finding it twisted in the corner, as if in a fun-house mirror, is not so expected. While struggling with that not-quite-clear sense of déjà vu, check out the sculpture’s most amazing feature – its perfectly skewed lock.
Robert Lazzarini, at Marlborough Gallery, Jan 2013.
Roosevelt, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, pigment print, 2012.
Charlotte Dumas’s photographs of the horses who participate in soldier burials at Arlington National Cemetery are shot ‘at home,’ in their stables after hours. Out of their work context, they’re portrayed as individuals, and the effect is striking. Originally commissioned by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, they’re now on view at Chelsea’s Julie Saul Gallery through March 9th.
