Newly Reviewed
queens
Edgar Carell
Until August 7th. Sculpture Center, 44-19 Purves Street, Long Island City, Queens. (718) 361-1750; sculpturecenter.org.Hours of Operation Thursday-Monday, 12pm-6pm
Importantly, New York’s contemporary art world was a much bigger place 30 years ago than it is today, not in scale but in mindset. Over the years of multiculturalism, our small, adventurous art space has focused on spirituality not simply as an object of study, but as an active practice in thinking about what art is, or could be. I have been experimenting with bringing the liturity into the premises.
The first organized solo exhibition by the artist Edgar Carrell entitled ‘B’alab’äj (Jaguar Stone)’ is a reminder of this. Born in Guatemala in 1987 and living and working in Guatemala, Karel has Maya cakchiquel ancestry, a tradition that has led him to use raw earth, rough stones, and a fire in the form of a burning candle. It forms the hallmark of the Monumental Sculpture Center installation. Visually, the work evokes altars, monuments and labyrinthine gardens. Its content is woven with cultural, political and personal histories.
Karel obliquely and poetically refers to the Mayan view of the earth as a dynamic, sensitive and divine being. He expresses his condolences to the indigenous peoples who have historically been persecuted in their lands. And he pays tribute to the continuation in his family and in his own form. (The molded clay piece spells out the syllable “tik,” a sound that reminds me of the sound my grandmother made when she asked wild birds for food.) The resulting SculptureCenter piece is visually stunning. Beautiful, not a “religious” work in the narrow sense. It’s a versatile, authentically spiritual charging station. Holland Cotter
tribeca
Denzil Hurley
Until July 22nd. Canada, 60 Lispenard Street, Manhattan, 212-925-4631. canada new york.com.Summer time: Wednesday to Friday, 10am to 6pm
You can see the abstraction. A weathered poster by Italian artist Mimmo Rotella hangs in the gallery. Animal bones that became the basis of Henry Moore’s sculpture.
And then there’s the abstraction. Pretty much any other abstract art by Agnes Martin, Donald Judd, and others.
However, the work of painter Denzil Hurley, currently on display in Canada, seems to inhabit a new category to be called ‘made abstraction’.
Harley objects are clearly made from scratch.
For example, “Orange Glyph” represents a bright orange canvas that seems to live happily in post-war Yves Klein’s monochrome.
Entitled J2#1, the work contains a head-high, all-black rectangular piece whose subtle flecks serve as a darker counterpart to Robert Ryman’s all-white paintings. .
But Hurley goes beyond the usual “maid-ness” of his abstraction by adding elements that create a found functional feel. The “Orange Glyph” canvas rests on a wooden pole, and the whole ensemble looks vaguely useful, like a protest sign that will soon be written. “J2#1” is anchored to a crude block of wood, as if waiting for the shooter’s target to stick into it.
Hurley, a longtime art professor, died in 2021 at the age of 72. He had his own abstract antecedents memorized. He was also black. I wonder if the “foundation” of his work captures the feeling that is so pervasive among black artists, that mainstream culture is just as much about them for him and other black artists as it is for white artists. The grand tradition of European art, which never made precedent fully available, was accessible, there is no doubt that they had a right to it. By creating Found Abstraction, Hurley connects his own work to a functional tradition that bypasses fine art entirely. Blake Gopnik
Chelsea
Phase 2
Until July 28th. ACA Gallery, 5th Floor, 529 West 20th Street, Manhattan. 212-206-8080, acagallerys.com.Summer hours: Tuesday-Friday, 11am-6pm
As a pioneer of the style writing movement, Artist Phase 2 has developed a visual language, colliding the deconstruction of typography with the volatility of street life, evolving the urgent graffiti of subway art into an elaborate cosmological form. I was. This survey of his work over 50 years includes 25 examples of his work across paper, canvas and aluminum prints, but only a cursory glance at the magnitude of his contributions to hip-hop culture. is. (He’s an accomplished dancer, refining his breaking and uprocking styles, and a b-boy. He put together the crew New York City. He’s also a graphic designer, and he’s known for his “geometric style.”) We have developed a unique cut-and-paste aesthetic.”funky nude deco” for flyers of parties that popularized the fundamental music of the time).
But his voice was the clearest in the paint. He is credited with inventing the bubble letter technique, known as “softy” for its bulging, pillow-like appearance, and later “wildstyle,” a dynamic, labyrinthine expressionism that trades legibility for propulsion. Phase 2 accelerated its evolution, adopting a holistic vision of aerosol art. . He rejected the “G-word” (meaning graffiti), comparing its inadequacy to “calling a meteor a pebble”.
The show marks his trajectory into increasingly flamboyant work that weaves near-mysterious symbolism into Baroque calligraphic abstraction, which he worked with almost until his death in 2019. That restlessness is evident in his line claims, such as “Hieroglyphs” (1987). : Fluid, continuous, no discernible endpoint. He explained his name in typical oracle-like fashion: “One is the beginning, two is the next step. Two is forever.” Max Lakin
Chelsea
Cosima von Bonin
Until July 21st. Petzel Gallery, 520 West 25th Street, Manhattan. 212-680-9467, petzel.com.Summer hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm
The dark gray duck figure that presides over Cosima von Bonin’s ‘Duffy Church’, an eclectic assemblage of sculptures and murals, raises its arms toward God in a gesture of supplication or resignation. represent. Or maybe thank you. A soft trash can nearby is cluttered with stuffed Bugs Bunny, furry paws and gloved hands. The dead expressions of von Bonin’s cartoon characters evoke a bunch of their exaggerated traits. In this cosmology, Daffy’s sexual urges and admirable tenacity force him into a senseless and unwinnable competition with a happy rabbit. Ducks are rigid and lonely, while rabbits are flexible and contain many.
The Daffy statue stands in the corner of a low rectangular pedestal with webbed toes protruding from the edge. A lobster-shaped mirror on the wall claws out to mimic Daffy’s posture. As you move around the room, you can see Daffy reflected in the silver shell. “The Lobster” takes the show into high polish pop territory. It is not praying. That’s how lobsters are made. You have no choice. This tableau unfolds in the first small room. A larger gallery showcases cartoon characters Daffy, Eeyore, Bambi, and embroidered works on walls of plaid and felt fabric, with phrases such as “le snobisme de l’argent” sewn on. I’m here. They enjoy being paintings with the addition of second-hand coolness like a fashion show. A plush velvet fence creates a slouch enclosure in the center of the room. Von Bonin’s cartoon content is soft and fluffy, but its slapstick morality can still be cramped. Travis Deal
