Whirlwind visit to Chelsea On Tuesday for a quick tour of great art before the Nurture Art Benefit. Some highlights include:
Yoan Capote (Cuba) at Jack Shainman. This show is not open yet, but we got a preview and chatted to Yoan for quite a while about the work. It’s fantastically smart and funny, and very well-made (a change from many object-based works in Chelsea as of late). 2D and 3D sculpture and object-based images. Do not miss it.
Alejandro Almanza Pereda at Magnan Metz. Wonderful sculpture and plant and light and image works all around. One or two duds, but mostly very exciting.
Eric Fertman at Susan Inglett Gallery. Again, well-made and funny objects, this time all in wood. Good and old friend Christopher Ulivo, a fantastic painter, is also with this gallery, and so I’ve been trying to go every time I’ve been in NYC over the last while; and I am never disappointed. Get this: Chris and I were in a Ska-Punk band together in 1995 (spelling and grammar on that MySpace page aside, “Stinky Pete” now works in the communications industry).
Airan Kang at Bryce Wolkowitz. Very smart and fun objects and sculptures about mediation, new and traditional, as well as an homage to and citation of many artists and art forms. We stayed and talked about the show for some time: lightning books!
There were a few other good shows (like Yael Kanarek at Bitforms), and some not so great (the much talked about Gagosian show; the sad thing is, it’s not horrible, but rather, not even worth talking about. Why are people doing so? Note: I did not mention the artist or link to the site….), but those above are the four I’d say are not to be missed in Chelsea, if you have some time….
