I took my first trip into Manhattan last week, and I've been sifting through and editing images to bring to you peoples what I found. I began at the Rubin Museum of Himalayan art which housed numerous Tibetan Thangka paintings, many of which I had sourced in my last research paper for my Critical Theory class with U of C's Trevor Stark: Tibetan Thangka Painting: Beyond Notions of the Ego Embedded In Style. This was an immensely grounding and powerful place, and put me in a present state of mind. This was very helpful for the bombardment of galleries I was to embark upon in Chelsea after my prolonged visit at the Rubin. Here, in this quiet place of contemplation I found my new inspiration, a Nepalese painter in the Tibetan style, Tsherin Sherpa. He didn't blow my mind, he expanded it in an exponential manner; sparking a new modus operandi of artistic pursuit.
"Tsherin Sherpa was trained in the conventions of Tibetan thanka painting and uses traditional aesthetics fused with symbolic principals and fantastical motifs and juxtapositions. Here, a release from the attachment to the ego, which is the ultimate obstacle to enlightenment is rendered."(https://rubinmuseum.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwzunmBRDsARIsAGrt4muPny1VFnWFTuaxz00rxndSVq__AHdaBZdfhHbXrYvqbidSr1WoZsAaAgMjEALw_wcB)
From the Rubin I proceeded towards the Chelsea Piers and zig-zagged between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue from 23rd Street West, down to 17th St. Wholly smokes! There were more galleries nudged next to one another in this eight block weave than I think maybe in Calgary collectively. Overwhelmed is an understatement, as is inspired or exhilarated. Here are some of my choice selections from Gagosian to Zwirner.
Mark Manders at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery exhibition of deceptive bronze and epoxy resin sculptures which reflect the medium of clay or concrete. The large scale of these gallery works peaks my anticipation to check out his public installation in the Dorris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park.
Alicja Kwade's scuptures remind me of Maskull Lassairre's wood carved interventions
which release objects from their material. Her work at 303 Gallery begs me to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art's rooftop site where her sculpture looks over the city scape. "Alicja Kwade’s work investigates and questions the structures of our reality and society and reflects on the perception of time in our everyday life. Her diverse practice is based around concepts of space, time, science and philosophy, takes shape in sculptural objects, video and even photography."(https://www.303gallery.com/artists/alicja-kwade/biography)
Jorge Palacios contstructed and carved wood sculptures reminded me of fellow colleague Joel Warkentin's work. Though, I think Warkentin's sculptures occupy and engage space in a much more diverse manner; and his use of colour plays a unique role in his installations which contrast and cohesively bring the works together at the same time. I feel a greater sense of inquisitive play when interacting with Joel's sculptures, something not evident here. Nonetheless, noteworthy for myself and more specifically Joel, at Danse Corey Gallery.
Finally a little bit of nostalgia was sparked by artist Peter Blake in "The Artist's Studio", at Garth Greenan Gallery. Here an exhibition of paintings, drawings, and sculptures along side thousand of objects and ephemera were reminiscent of hang'in out with Grant Leier in his studio.
Can you tell who's who in this Mash-Up?
What does this gallery hop of the Chelsea district tell me? Maybe that those who inspire, impress, and influence me, colleagues and peers, aren't too far off the mark in what is to be considered of the highest caliber in contemporary art these days, that is, by New York's standards anyways.
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