Contemporary Art: A Gallery Evening In Chelsea, New York City

(Drivebycuriosity) - New York City is not only the world capital of finance. The metropolis is also a global center of the global art scene. There are hundreds of galleries for contemporary art and almost any day you can join an opening reception for something.

Last Thursday my wife and I went to Chelsea, a buzzing art district and neighborhood in Southwest Manhattan. Alone at this evening around 50 galleries had opening receptions for their exhibitions of contemporary paintings, sculptures, installations, videos and more. As usual the time span was very short, in most cases just from 6pm till 8pm. Therefore we had to pick just some pieces from the large pie. 

Above this paragraph you get a glance on an installation called "Checkpoint". This is a room-sized vision of a generic airport security stop. This artwork is part of a a solo exhibition of new works by Roxy Paine @ Marianne Boesky Gallery ( 509 West 24th Street, New York through October 18, 2014  artnet  artinamerica  marianneboesky). The artist used wood, metal and other material to replicate objects of daily life. I plan to post a seperate article about this fascinating show.

I also enjoyed the paintings of Ellen de Meijer which I saw  @ Unix Gallery (532 W 24th Street  unix ). The pictures are called "Shared Sights" (2012, oil on canvas) and "Best Friends"  (2012, oil on canvas).






                                                      Tribute To Richard Wagner

I found the 2 paintings above this line @ the Chelsea branch of the Gagosian Gallery (555 West 24th Street  gagosian). There you can see Dan Colen`s "Miracle Paintings (through October 18, 2014). The first painting is called "Ride of the Valkyries (2013, oil on canvas).  Maybe a trtibute to Richard Wagner or to the movie "Apocalypse Now". Maybe to both. The second work has the name Toccata et Fugue (2013, Oil on canvas)

The paintings above belong to the exhibition "Gary Panter: Dream Town" @ Fredericks & Freiser (536 W 24th Street, through September 27  fredericks). I enjoyed the cartoon-like images which remind me of some movie scenes I might have seen. From above: "Life Raft" (2014, Acrylic on canvas); unknown title; "July" (2013, Acrylic on canvas); "Ultima Lucha" (2014, Acrylic on canvas); "Fogger" (2014, Acrylic on canvas).

Above you can the collections of works I found in different places.
- The first painting is "Phenomena Mandette Turn" (1974, Acrylic on canvas) by Paul Jenkins @ gallery Berry Campbell, 530 West 24th Street (berrycampbell.
- The 2nd is from the exhibition "Adam Ross: Last Exit" @ Galerie Richard ( 514 West 24th Street, through October 11 galerierichard).
- The third work is called "Minor" by John M Armleder  (2012, mixed media on canvas) @ Gallerie Richard (galerierichard).
-No 4 is "L`Ìnvitation" (oil on canvas) by the French artist Frederic Deprun (frederic). The painting is part of group show called: Summer Collective Part II which runs through September 27, 2014 @ Bertrand Delacroix Gallery (535 West 25th Street bdgny )

The art work above - which I photographed form different distances - belongs to an exhibition of works by the Korean artist Kwang Young Chun @ Hasted Kreutler (hasted). The piece is called "Aggregation 08-JL019 Red, 2008" (Polystyrene triangles wrapped in traditional Korean mulberry paper (hanji) 52 x 76 3/4 inches).  The show @ 537 West 24th Street runs through November 01, 2014 (hasted).

Above another piece by Kwang Young Chun, called "Aggregation 14-JU024" ( 2014
Polystyrene triangles wrapped in traditional Korean mulberry paper (hanji) 71 x 59 inches). In both cases I like the delicate and very elaborated structure. You can see why they call him "contemporary master of paper".

Above this paragraph you can admire a painting by Gavin Rain, called "New Liz 1”,  (2014, acrylic on canvas). I found this work @ UNIX Gallery (532 W 24th Street unix). I shot the pictures also from different distances to show the technique that Rain had used.



                                                                   Cool Parties


Much of the fun from visiting art gallery receptions comes from watching the people who also visit these events. You can find there a lot of beautiful girls who often steal the show.

 

Many receptions are cool parties where people not just celebrate the exhibited art pieces. They also celebrate themselves and use the ocassion to socialize with other interesting people. And some of the galleries even serve fine wine.

This was our second visit at a huge Chelsea art event this year. In July I had reported about another art walk there (you can find my article here driveby).

Unfortunately my point-and-shoot camera doesn`t catch the pictures very accurately. The images you can see here are just proxies. You might go to the galleries by yourself and enjoy the works in the original.

Enjoy.