Pat Steir at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

A record number of monumental paintings are dominating Chelsea galleries this month; at just over thirty-seven feet long, Pat Steir’s ‘Blue River’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery is one of the largest and most absorbing.  Painted in 2005 and hung along more recent work, the gallery explains that the piece is intended to point viewers’ minds toward the vastness and power of the universe.  Washes of blue and white running down the canvas suggest a waterfall while a red border to one side evokes a stage curtain, nodding to the fact that this extremely large rendition of a natural scene is filtered through human imagination.  (On view through Dec 17th.)

Pat Steir, installation view of Blue River, Hauser and Wirth Gallery, Nov 2022. Blue River, oil on canvas, 135 ¼ x 447 inches, 2005.

Alicja Kwade at 303 Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Gravity is an unnamed but ever-present material in Alicja Kwade’s symbolically (and literally) weighty sculptures.  On view in her current exhibition at 303 Gallery in Chelsea, a rocking chair cast in bronze is partially enveloped by stone and positioned in an enclosure made of glass bricks meant to represent the artist’s personal living space. Around the enclosure are mobiles titled ‘Heavy Skies’ that distribute the weight of various stones, a contrast to the lightness normally associated with such balanced arrangements.  Precarity meets inertia in the contrast between fragile glass and heavy stone, creating a tension that comes from wondering what change is to come.  (On view through Dec 17th).

Alicja Kwade, Stella Sella, bronze, stones, 38 5/8 x 19.69 x 39.76 inches, 2022.

Raphael Navot at Friedman Benda Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Paris-based designer Raphael Navot’s furniture, now on view at Friedman Benda Gallery, begs to be touched. The gallery explains that the soft, curving forms of this couch, titled ‘Entwined,’ demonstrate the concept of comfort as something experienced both mentally and physically.  Though velvet upholstery resembles the surface of rock, and Navot intends to harken back to what the gallery calls the first furniture, ‘a pile of rounded rocks,’ the sheer tactility of the sofa’s sweeping curves makes softness irrelevant.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 10th).

Raphael Navot, Entwined, velvet, bronze, fiberglass, 3D-milled foam, 36.75 x 56.25 inches, 2022.

Betty Woodman at David Kordansky Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

“I do like extravagance, so if I’m going to err, I usually err in that direction,” Betty Woodman once said in a recorded interview as she explained the processes behind her exuberant ceramic sculpture.  David Kordansky Gallery’s current show of Woodman’s work from the ‘90s demonstrates the artist’s unconventional take on painting, ceramics and sculpture, including this lively piece, ‘Sala da Pranzo.’  Elaborate handles create a striking silhouette and call attention to the space beyond the conventional cylinder, a vessel that could hold flowers but better acts as a surface for painting.  Among the abundant patterns are foliate shapes and scrolls against an orange background, recalling Greek motifs, and large circles that suggest stylized neolithic pottery designs. (On view in Chelsea through Dec 17th).

Betty Woodman, Sala da Pranzo, glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer and paint, 25 ¼ x 32 x 10 inches, 1995.

Joan Mitchell at David Zwirner Gallery

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

David Zwirner Gallery’s current exhibition of work from museum and private collections by Joan Mitchell celebrates the late second generation abstract expressionist painter’s ability to suggest emotive landscapes through unique consideration of figure-ground relationships and bold color choices.  ‘Before, Again I’ from 1985 includes both orange tones that dominated her paintings in the early 80s and the cooler colors that evolved as a result of health challenges later in the decade.  Both palettes point to the inspiration she found in her gardens in Vetheuil, a town once home to Impressionist painter Claude Monet.  (On view through Dec 17th).

Joan Mitchell, Before, Again I, oil on canvas, 109 ½ x 78 inches, 1985.