My final picks for the weekend. Finally.
Charlotta Westergren: Ã…hus Sommaren 1974
Bellwether Gallery
134 Tenth Avenue, between 18th and 19th Streets
Through April 8th
This is an odd show in that amongst some rather uninteresting paintings, Westergren has created a really great light and scent installation. Meant to stimulate the artist’s memory of a night in small Swedish coastal town her family used to vacation in, this piece feels slightly surreal. The smell of the room is rather damp, slightly mildewish, yet pleasant, and the hall walls to the brightly lit center room are colored a very seventies orange. Even the light fixtures feel seventies, though they may just be bulbs. The hall leads to an interior room which is a lot like visiting a James Turrell piece in that the light that fills the room is mindnumbingly exquisite.
Jose Lerma
Andrea Rosen Gallery
525 West 24nd St.
Opening: Saturday April 1, 6-8pm
In the interest of “full disclosure”, I feel I should mention that I have worked in Lerma’s studio within the past three months. This makes me a) a genuine expert on his work, b) not at all objective. c) both. Given that the correct answer may well be C, I can not in good conscience review the show. I will however make grandiose statements you all can dismiss based on the disclosure above. You probably won’t see it in this show, but I truly believe that this artist has the potential to change the field of painting. He has the talent, and talk to him for twenty minutes, and he’ll give you enough art ideas to think about to keep you occupied for the next month.
Tom Wesselmann: Sunset Nudes
Robert Miller Gallery
524 West 26th Street
Through April 22nd
Dead artist gallery row on 26th street can be hit or miss, but Robert Miller has a great Wesselman show up. The gallery has done an excellent job of choosing GOOD Wesselman nudes, many of them completed in the last few years of his life. This pop artist knew how to put construct a painting, and this exhibition shows it. [Editorial note: For some reason I chose a jpg least likely to illustrate my point…the Miami Vice Nude…]
Inka Essenhigh
303 Gallery
525 West 22nd
Through April 1st
The latest Essenhigh exhibition shows a greater Surrealist influence than has been seen previously in her work. In particular, Remedias Varo, a lesser known figure within the movement, though among the more talented, and the artist everyone loves to hate Salvador Dali can be seen as inspiration. If you happen to be in Chelsea Saturday, I highly recommend this exhibition. The paintings are among the most inventive you will see, and as one of the best talents working today, her show should not be missed.
Comments on this entry are closed.