DriveByCuriosity: Contemporary Art: Best Of New York`s Gallery Shows 2019

(Drivebycuriosity) - 2019 was a good year in the world of contemporary art. New York City, which has hundreds of art galleries, presented a flood of impressive art shows. It was so much fun to discover different styles and ideas and I was impressed by the variety of concepts, styles and techniques. Many exhibitions happened of course in the classy galleries of the Chelsea district, but the rapidly gentrifying Lower East Side is a strong contender. I display here my favorites from New York´s gallery shows 2019, as usual a very subjective selection (here my report from 2018 ).

China is rising and so do the artists from the huge country. Beijing based Jia Aili is for me the discovery of the year. Gagosian displayed his futuristic murals in April. I want to be a billionaire and to be able to purchase all these gorgeous paintings and hang them on huge white walls in my own palace. So I could look onto them every day while listening to Richard Wagner´s Götterdämmerung or some super-massive heavy metal.

There were more up-and coming Chinese artists on show. Above you can see Gang Zhao`s "Ménage à trois", which I spotted @ Green Naftali in April.

Gallery Perrotin on the Lower East Side displayed paintings by Chen Fei in December. I like his surrealist style which is influenced by Renaissance paintings.

There was another big discovery: Loie Hollowell. She belongs to the shooting stars in the contemporary art market. The artist started in October 2016 with a solo show at a little gallery @ New York`s Lower East Side and some paintings were sold some for $8,000 to $15,000. Those prices have since increased more than 1,200 percent, and Loie Hollowell has become one of the most fiercely sought-after artists in New York, reports Artnet.com (artnet ). The media describe her work as "abstract body landscapes". Gallery Pace exhibited her paintings in September in their new flagship building in Manhattan´s Chelsea district.

I really love the fanciful paintings by Louis Carreon which I saw @ HG Contemporary in October. Carreon has a background in street art (it shows!) and is influenced by artists like Basquiat and Julian Schnabel.

I also indulged into Bernardo Siciliano`s hyper-realist murals @ Aicon Gallery in November. The huge canvases which remind me of Caravaggio and cinema scenes. According to the press release Siciliano also got influenced by Edward Hopper, Lucian Freud & David Hockney. But he found his own unique style and each painting seems to tell a story.

Unstable Equilibrium

Above some images by Alex Kanevsky, spotted @ Hollis Taggart in September. The artist studied theoretical mathematics at Vilnius University in Lithuania before pursuing an artistic career in the United States (wikipedia). Now the artist creates compositions which are inspired by the concept of unstable equilibrium in physics.

Julian Opie has an unique style which easily recognizable. Above some images from his show "Walking in New York" @ Lisson gallery in April.

Above some images by Daniel Richter exhibited @ Grimm Gallery in December. In these new painting the Berlin based artist mixes abstract & figurative styles.

Above some surrealist images by Kelly Bjork (Nancy Margolis Gallery, September) followed by Anna Conway (Fergus McCafffrey March) & Tim Vermeulen (George Billis Gallery March).

Marcela Florido's "Retiro" ( Thierry Goldberg, February) & "United we stand" by Gary Rudell ( Hennoch, March). Aren`t they wonderful?

Michael Fullerton`s "Groupie" ( Greene Naftali , March) followed by 2 mural details seen @ The Hole in September.

Matvey Levenstein`s wonderful "Orient" (Kasmin March)

Amazing Steel

I am always impressed by Richard Serra`s massive steel construction, the images above are from the latest show @ Gagosian in October.

Apparently other artists work with steel too. Above Beverly Pepper`s "Core-Ten" (Marlborough Contemporary, March) & sculptures by Bernar Venet (Kasmin, September).

Imagined Landscapes

In January Ivy Brown Gallery exhibited a painting by David Mellen, one of my favorite artists. Above his "We belong to Nowhere".

There were more amazing abstracts by Alexis Portilla (Hollis Taggart, March) followed by John Knuth (same show) & Michael Schultheis (Winston Wächter Fine Art April).