Currently at Andrea Rosen Gallery II is a group show with an unconventional pairing of artists headed by filmmaker and installation artist Mika Rottenberg. The exhibition is centered around her colorful luminescent collection of cast resin and hand-painted sculptures that look like pieces of wall pulled straight from one of her film sets. In an effort to explore alternative methods of employing new and old materials, the gallery juxtaposes Roettenberg's wall pieces with other physically evocative works by Lynda Benglis, Sean Bluechel, Jean Dubuffet, and Axel Salto.
The Lynda Bengalis piece is a multi-colored, acid-trippy beeswax sculpture (the artist's transformational work helped redefine the relationship between painting and sculpture in the mid-60s and 70s). Also on display is a piece from Jean Dubuffet's Texturologie series created in the late 1950s. The painting gives the impression of finely packed earth on a canvas––tiny droplets of sparkling paint scattered across the surface resemble soil. The textures also evoke an otherworldliness, like stars in a dusty nebula. Mid-century ceramicist Axel Salto experimented with organic colors and shapes; his vases display lumpy and bulbous surfaces rather than the smooth, abstract styles popular at the time. Although decorative in nature, his vessels address formal questions about the process of creating an art object.
At a first glance, Sean Bluechel's Drunk Photos, with their flat surfaces and somewhat disturbing subject matter, seem out of place. The photographs, however, contain an undeniable physicality, like the other works in the show. Bluechel's images of lollipops, cigarettes, Post-It notes, duct tape, and beer cans layered onto the human body reexamine the nature of the material itself. All of the works elicit bodily responses from the viewer either visually or physically, making the exhibition a full sensory experience.
Through June 22, 2013.
ANDREA ROSEN GALLERY
525 W 24th St
New York, NY 10011
MAP
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Mika Rottenberg pieces
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Jean Dubuffet piece with Axel Salto's vases
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Detail of Dubuffet's piece
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Detail of Lynda Benglis' beeswax piece
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Sean Bluech
The Lynda Bengalis piece is a multi-colored, acid-trippy beeswax sculpture (the artist's transformational work helped redefine the relationship between painting and sculpture in the mid-60s and 70s). Also on display is a piece from Jean Dubuffet's Texturologie series created in the late 1950s. The painting gives the impression of finely packed earth on a canvas––tiny droplets of sparkling paint scattered across the surface resemble soil. The textures also evoke an otherworldliness, like stars in a dusty nebula. Mid-century ceramicist Axel Salto experimented with organic colors and shapes; his vases display lumpy and bulbous surfaces rather than the smooth, abstract styles popular at the time. Although decorative in nature, his vessels address formal questions about the process of creating an art object.
At a first glance, Sean Bluechel's Drunk Photos, with their flat surfaces and somewhat disturbing subject matter, seem out of place. The photographs, however, contain an undeniable physicality, like the other works in the show. Bluechel's images of lollipops, cigarettes, Post-It notes, duct tape, and beer cans layered onto the human body reexamine the nature of the material itself. All of the works elicit bodily responses from the viewer either visually or physically, making the exhibition a full sensory experience.
Through June 22, 2013.
ANDREA ROSEN GALLERY
525 W 24th St
New York, NY 10011
MAP
Mika Rottenberg pieces
Jean Dubuffet piece with Axel Salto's vases
Detail of Dubuffet's piece
Detail of Lynda Benglis' beeswax piece
Sean Bluech