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.

China Pessimism Bubble: The Return Of Stock Market Shanghai?

(Drivebycuriosity) - It looks like the China Pessimism Bubbly is finally popping. Last week the Shanghai Composite Index gained 4.9%, the biggest weekly advance since February 2013 (bloomberg).  The gauge for the Chinese stock market climbed 10% year-to-date and rebounded 17% from a trough reached in March 2014. But the index is still way below its peak of around 3,400 points in summer 2009. For around 4 years the Shanghai Composite has been glued to the 2,000 mark.

Investors have been obsessed with the negative aspects in China and ignored the ongoing strength of the broad economy. For years China bears like New York Times correspondent Paul Krugman and Jim Chanos, a hedge fund manager and short seller, have been banging the "China crash drum"  (driveby). The notorious China crash callers claim that China is suffering from huge structural problems like too high debts and too huge investments into real estate which would cause a "hard landing" of the Chinese economy.

So far China avoided the so-called "hard landing". In the second quarter of 2014 China´s economy grew 7.5%, after plus 7.4% in the first quarter. Last week we learned that the service sector there gained speed, helping the transformation to a modern consumer focused economy and reducing the dependency from exports and erratic global markets.

I am generally optimistic for China. The growth story stays intact, thanks to the secular catching-up process which is fueled by the still extreme income & wealth differences to the US and other Western nation values. The huge country is rapidly transforming into a consumer economy like  the U.S. and other modern countries. Many peasants are moving to the huge metropolitan centers which are spread all over the huge country to lift their standard of living. This creates a fast rising affluent middle class, giving consumer spending a boost as the strong retail sales (growth rates around 12%) demonstrate. China´s growth should be boosted by the technological progress and advances of Internet, automatization of industrial production and 3D-printing. These developments raise efficiency and the productivity of China´s economy as success stories like Alibaba and Baidu demonstrate.

Last year Beijing announced a new economical reform to bolster China`s transformation (driveby). "The Economist" calls the announcements the most wide-ranging and reform-tinged proposals for economic and social change in many years. According to Bloomberg the announced changes are aimed at giving more influence to market forces and loosening government controls.

I believe that catching up, transformation, reforms and technological process will generate enough boost to keep China growing for years which creates a lot of investment chances on China`s stock market.  Maybe in the recents days China´s started again a rally - as it did in the years 2006 and 2007 when the Shanghai Composite more than tripled.

New York City: Fall Fashion Week 2014 - Queens Of Glamour

(Drivebycuriosity) - NewYork City is not only the world capital of finance. The metropolis is also one of the global centers of the fashion industry. 2 times a year the city turns into a mecca for the world of glamour and celebrates the "Mercedes Benz Fashion Week" (mbf). The bi-annual event is a huge boon for New York`s economy. The events infuse yearly around $850 million into the city’s economy, estimates the New York City Economic Development Corporation (vancouver).

This Fall Fashion Week, sponsored as usual by the German carmaker  Daimler - owner of the brand "Mercedes Benz" - and other companies, shows the Spring/Summer 2015 collections (through September 11th).

Like in the years before (driveby) last week I pilgrimed to the Lincoln Center - a huge place before the Metropolitan Opera - where the main sponsor has his tent which is the center of the glamorous event.

Again I enjoyed seeing lots of gorgeous women. It seems that the Fashion Week is one of the occasions where stalking is not just allowed, it may be even welcome. Models are used to be spotted and the billion dollar fashion business needs the eye of the public. As usual the models there acted very professional and cooperative. They broke their rush from place to place for photographers and even posed and smiled for humble  bloggers like me.

                                                        The Empress

If all the models shown here are queens of glamour, the gorgeous person displayed below was their empress. Unfortunately I don`t know her name, a Google image-search didn`t help. But anyway - she ruled the place.

But there was a lot of competition of course as you can see.

I had much fun there. Thanks to all the friendly graces.


Enjoy

Movies: The Trip To Italy

(Drivebycuriosity) - The British actors Steve Coogan & Rob Brydon are established comedians in the UK. Both are well known for their TV shows. In the recent years they have been collaborating in TV series and movies - with great success. In 2010 started their TV series "The Trip" which lead to the same named movie. The film "The Trip To Italy", which is now running in US cinema theaters, is their newest co-production and a sequel to "The Trip" (imdb).

"Italy" gives both comedians ample opportunity to display their talents. Most time the camera focuses on their faces and follows their dialogues and sketches. I enjoyed their laconic but humorous comments about the world around us and had the most laughs when the were imitating the voices and speaking in the manors of some Hollywood stars like … (this is a spoiler free blog). 

The plot is just the frame for the comedian`s show. "Coogan", as himself, travels - together with his friend "Brydon" - to Italy to review there 6 restaurants for the newspaper "The Observer". I loved the gorgeous landscapes (mostly at the Rivera coast). Some places justify even the cliché of "heaven on earth". And the served meals at the classy restaurants looked "mouth-watering".

I found the film very amusing. It waked my appetite to take the trip sometimes by myself.