This past Saturday I decided to take a Chelsea Gallery Tour. It was a beautiful day and it was great to be out and about.
So we visited seven galleries and each one showed an extremely different form of art.
I really appreciated that shared difference because each gallery and its showcased art evoked a different visual and emotional experience for me and I found that experience to be just as interesting as well.
So I’m going to give you your own private gallery tour and if you like what you see then I recommend that you book your own tour with Merrily Kerr at New York Art Tours (www.newyorkartours.com).
So here we go:
Gallery #1 David Zwirner Gallery, 519 West 19th Street and the showcased artist was Oscar Murillo
So yes, real chocolate and we could take it! Yum. Yum. Yum.
David Murillo is an artist who wants to bridge cultures and so he brought a team from The Columbina Chocolate Company to New York to create these popular Columbian chocolates which they were making in the back of the gallery.
In this way, the chocolate makers would be able to experience New York and New Yorkers would be able to experience Columbina candy.
And what better way to build a cultural bridge then through chocolate.
Very fun and interesting interactive exhibit.
Gallery #2 Mathew Marks Gallery, 522 West 22nd Street and the showcased art was Ken Price
Ken Price worked in the fine art and ceramic world and created sculpture made of bronze and fiber glass. This his surfaces were finished with automotive paint.
Gallery #3 Klein Sun Gallery, 525 West 22nd Street and the showcased artist was Jiang Pengyi
Klein Sun Gallery shows contemporary Chinese art.
The art featured in this exhibition was of Jiang Pengyi.
In this photo Jiang took an everyday object, the chair and put phosphorus powder and was on it which gives the chair a different type of look other than “everydayish.”
I think then it’s up to the viewer to feel either uncomfortable with the object or see the magic of its possibilities.
Gallery #4 Pace Gallery, 534 West 25th Street and the showcased artist was Tara Donovan
OK. True confessions. I really loved Tara’s work and so I included myself in one of the photosSoLOL
Tara takes everyday objects and transforms them into large scale installations and sculptures.
LOL. The people are not part of Tara’s sculpture. But I wanted you to see how large this sculpture was which was made out of commercial stock cards and which reminded me of how Cappadocia, Turkey looked.
OK. That’s me. I wanted to get into the act. This piece is called Untitled and it’s made out of acrylic and adhesive.
Gallery #5 Pace Gallery, 510 West 25th Street and the showcased artist was Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto photographed dioramas at The Museum of Natural History and then created meticulous black and white photos from them. Here is my favorite, The Ostriches.
Gallery #6 Paul Kasmin Gallery, 293 Tenth Avenue and the showcased artist was Walton Ford
Ford does large scale watercolors where he wants to show the viewer the relationship between humans and animals.
And the last gallery we visited was The James Cohan Gallery at 533 West 26th Street and the showcased artist was Fred Tomaselli.
Tomaselli uses the collage form of art but he combines it with cut-outs and paintings to express his vision. After his vision is created in this way he then paints over it and then pours resin over it and then seals it with heat.
This gives you the distinct feeling that you’re looking at a three dimensional picture and not one which actually has a very flat surface.
So if having this kind of experience perks your interest, then give yourself the opportunity to check out www.newyorkarttours.com or just take a meandering stroll by yourself or with friends through the Chelsea Gallery area.
Either way-you’ll have an interesting experience!
