| Chelsea Afternoon |
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| Written by Mark Rifkin, Contributing Editor | |
Strolling Through Galleries Offers Rewarding Experience “Oak Tree Lake Sonomaâ€? oil on canvas, 2007  One of Thomas Beale’s creations runs from something on the West Side Highway  Carlos Amorales, “Black Cloud,â€? detail  Chris Mars, “The Tipping Point,â€? oil on panel  Reverse Perverse,â€? acrylic glass sculpture in painted wood door panel, 2006 Christopher Evans’ move from New York City to Sonoma County has resulted in “Open Space,” a series of lush green landscapes that find the painter returning to the West Coast’s natural beauty. At the Fischbach Gallery through November 10 (210 11th Ave., fischbachgallery.com), the works—comprising rolling hills, cloudy blue skies, and shimmering rivers—are like windows to a different land. Five of Aaron Spangler’s carved basswood pieces, covered with black gesso and graphite, will occupy the Zach Feuer Gallery through November 24 (530 West 24th St., zachfeuer.com). The most striking of the works, which seem to come alive as they protrude from the wall, is the 12-foot-long “Earthly Delights,” telling its own abstract narrative. Diana Al-Hadid pays tribute to a fallen hero in “Record of a Mortal Universe,” in the tiny Perry Rubenstein storefront gallery through November 24 (527 West 23rd St., perryrubenstein.com). Using such materials as plaster, cast plastic, wood, steel, and fiberglass, Al-Hadid has created a crumbling, once-elegant spiral staircase lined with classical Greek elements. You can practically hear the woeful sound of imminent death emanating from the huge gramophone, playing music from a swirling blackness at the bottom. After studying art at Dartmouth, Thomas Beale was searching for just the right medium in which to work. He ultimately decided on found wood and shells because of their warmth and natural energy. He reduced his chosen media to small pieces, which he then assembled into sculptures that seem to grow in patterns that, in his words, “mimic the natural world without representing it.” The 29-year-old artist has opened the doors of his studio to the street through November 17, inviting passersby into his intriguing and involving “Becoming” (11th Ave. between 21st & 22nd Sts.). Don’t miss the glowing form under the floorboards. Mexican artist Carlos Amorales has filled Yvon Lambert’s 21st St. location (550 West 21st St., yvon-lambert.com) with the dazzling “Black Cloud,” consisting of more than 25,000 black paper moths lining the walls, ceiling, exposed pipes, and skylight—a few have even flown into the bathrooms. Cut with a laser and then attached to the walls one by one, the moths seem to be alive, as if they’re flying in your peripheral vision. An accompanying 10-minute video takes viewers behind the scenes of the moths’ creation. (A companion exhibition, Amorales’ “Spider Galaxy,” will be on view at the 590 Atrium in Midtown through November 20, with live dance performances November 10-17 at 1:00 and 2:00.) Former Replacements drummer Chris Mars continues his exploration of persecution and cruelty with “New Salem,” on view at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery through November 17 (529 West 20th St., jonathanlevinegallery.com). Mars, who lives in Minneapolis and prefers not to travel, is deeply influenced by his brother’s battle with mental illness. His Gothic characters are creepy and skeletal, trapped in a spectacularly evil and frightening world. After an exhausting day checking out Chelsea galleries, head over to Chelsea Market (Ninth Ave. between 15th & 16th Sts., chelseamarket.com) for some food and drink—and, yes, yet more art. The hallways of the former Nabisco building are lined with dozens of black-and-white caricatures by artist and musician Andy Friedman, many of which appeared in The New Yorker. Among his subjects: Ben Stiller, Sarah Jessica Parker, Manolo Blahnik, Jon Stewart, Susan Sontag, Ray Kelly, the Three Stooges, an armed Dick Cheney, Chloe Sevigny, Randy Newman, John Updike, Bob Dylan, Stephen King, Steve Martin, Tom Cruise, and a dinner with Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice, Tip O’Neill, Ali Wentworth, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Rumsfeld. For some reason, the Beatles, Frank Zappa, and Bon Jovi are some of the very few that get some color. © Mark Rifkin 2007 |
