Tag Archive "bridgette-mayer-gallery"

Weekly Update — First Friday picks

Here’s the link to my Weekly piece.  Below is my copy. Sage Projects “Tenuous Magic Parts” opened at the new South Street gallery in May to a crowd of 300 and is being held over for another opening Friday. The show asks the artists to find truth in a perplexing world. Fantasy abounds in comical portraits, nonsense posters, paintings that question reality, still lifes that aren’t still, and junk assemblage sculpture. Dustin Metz’s paintings and Karen Stone’s “hair trees”—fantasy 2-D portraits with art nouveau arabesques of long hair—are standout pieces. Curator Jon Manteau loves music at openings and “Fat Man ... More » »

Beautiful dreamer: Clara Fialho at Bridgette Mayer Gallery

It’s been such a long while since artists unabashedly embraced the beautiful and the pretty that to see it placed before you as an earnest expression of soul makes me think the artist is a rebel, someone marching to her own drumbeat. Clara Fialho‘s highly internalized paintings at Bridgette Mayer Gallery are both beautiful and very pretty. And the dreamy abstract paintings deserve a close look because they embrace a kind of pre-postmodern sense of, I don’t want to say optimism, but at least acceptance of the world as a bunch of lemons with which you can make something delicious.

Two postmortems

Sometimes I just blow it in the timely department. I saw two shows that I hesitated to write about partly because I had mixed reactions. But they both were rather interesting, and so I’m coming back at them, even though both are gone. 1) Ryan Widger at Kelly and Weber (closed last month) Ryan Widger, Grey Room Ryan Widger‘s huge, grayed-out photographs at Kelly and Weber (201 Gallery) last month, created from distressed negatives that have suffered the effects of bleach and other cruel treatments, are of architectural spaces with mysterious what-is-it or who-is-it elements. They look like a still ... More » »

Expressions of ommm–Beach, Takeda and Oberst

Dennis Beach, Spin #1, acrylic on panel Dennis Beach continues to live up to his name–riding perfect waves of wood and color to create Op Art oms that vibrate with the universe, at Schmidt Dean. The exhibit of 12 pieces includes columns, tubes, and sunspots. At least that’s what they look like to me. Dennis Beach, Bump #1, Acrylic & Epoxy on Wood (the recesses are a deep blue-y purple that vibrates in much the way that the pure pigment spots in Anish Kapoor pieces do) There’s a funny tension here between Beach’s sense of control and my idea of ... More » »

Mapping another world: Charles Burwell at Bridgette Mayer

Charles Burwell, Red Bio, 36×37 inches; I loved the way the drips creates a wavy edge at the bottom that then created a ridged shadow. I don’t remember earlier work created with such abandon to the joys of juicy color and texture. The layers of Charles Burwell’s new work in his one-man show Continuum at Bridgette Mayer Gallery have taken on a new physical presence and a sense of freedom. The new paintings of oil on canvas suddenly are juicy with unrestrained overlapping lines and intense, drippy color — so drippy that the paint corrugates the bottom edge of the ... More » »

What we want to see Friday–that’s TODAY!!

Sorry we didn’t get this up earlier, y’ll but we hope to see you out and about tonight! love, libby and roberta SPACE 1026Spaceman, a print by Drive By Press Space 1026 tops our agenda with a print extravaganza that includes printing “in the gutter” according to the press release. We don’t know what that means, but we love the way it sounds. This is a collaborative printmaking exhibitionfeaturing works by Cannonball Press, Howling Print Studio, Drive By Pressand many, many more! So we will be there. Many affordable prints will be for sale so bring some bucks and get ... More » »

Weekly Update – Ivan Stojakovic at Bridgette Mayer

This week’s Weekly has my Editor’s Pick review of Ivan Stojakovic‘s new show at Bridgette Mayer Gallery. Below is the copy with a couple images from the show. Ivan Stojakovic. Cell Trip, 2007, Oil, Acrylic, Alkyd on Canvas, 48×60” Despite their Play-Doh colors and cake-icing surfaces, Ivan Stojakovic’s paintings raise serious—even heavy—issues. Stojakovic is a Yugoslavia-born emigrant who left home in 1999 after living through the war that tore his country apart. His paintings evoke maps or diagrams of complex systems with lines of flow intersected by nodes that resemble targets. Biogear, 2007, Oil, Acrylic, Alkyd on Canvas, 40×30” Battle ... More » »

Chris Lyon, dead at age 33

Chris Lyon, Balducko** I got a sad note from gallerist Bridgette Mayer today announcing the death in a motorcycle accident of a young artist, Chris Lyon, 33, whose solo show was scheduled to open at the gallery in March. We are saddened by the news about this young artist and his tragic accident. And we wish his family love in this time of sadness. Mayer, who is working with the family, says the artist’s exhibition will take place in March as planned. This is his third solo exhibit with the gallery. The artist died January 9, 2007, when his motorcycle ... More » »

Weekly Update 2 – The Red Show

Also in the Weekly this week, my Editor’s Choice short review of The Red Show at Bridgette Mayer Gallery. Here’s the link and below is the article with some pictures. “The Red Show”Through Dec. 23. Bridgette Mayer Gallery, 709 Walnut St. 215.413.8893. Michael Manuel’s Kyoto, stained glass and audio, from The Red Show. ”The Red Show” has more alizarin per square inch than any show in town, with the possible exception of “Tesoros,” the PMA’s roundup of colonial Latin American art. While “Tesoros” runneth over with blood-red hearts and flowing red robes, the Mayer show—commissioned new works by 13 gallery ... More » »