Alison's Art Reviews

Multidisciplinary artist Jennifer Elster fills the entirety of her gallery space with paintings, photographs, pieces of clothing, and a variety of items from Elster's professional and personal life over the past three decades that are meaningful to her latest exhibition, The Classics . There are several different sections of the show that focus on specific periods of her life. For instance, "The Garden of Artifacts" features mementos to her father include a photograph of him catching a fish and a cassette of Bob Dylan's album Blood on the Tracks that was his last gift to her. Also featured in the Garden of Artifacts are items from her time working as a stylist for musicians including David Bowie and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. These include outfits worn by Bowie designed by Elster for his 1995 album 1. Outside that features him dressed as a detective and wearing a dress. In another section is a blue jumpsuit worn by Trent Reznor for a magazine pho...

The Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting an exhibition of work by Claudette Schreuders for an exhibition titled Genesis . The biblical title of the show reflects Schreuders’ dedication to creating simplistic yet original forms as a way of pursuing profound truths. The works on display include both figures and drawings of each of her subjects that are character studies mostly representing people and animals of her native Cape Town. One of the works in the show also known as Genesis is a depiction of Schreuders’ partner who is shown lying on his back in comfortable loungewear with his head propped up upon three pillows reading a page of the famous religious publication. In her drawing and sculpture titled Work , Schreuders illustrates the notion of her actually creating her works of art as she depicts herself diligently molding a piece of ceramic clay into a human head. Other character studies include Summer featuring a young white woman in a bikini, Emil featu...

The Ford Foundation Building in Midtown East is currently presenting the group exhibition titled THIS IS NOT A RETREAT! In its gallery space. The show offers more than 30 works by 25 artists who belong to a fellowship program based in New Haven, CT known as NXTHVN an abbreviation for “Next Haven” and was founded seven years ago by artist Titus Kaphar and businessman Jason Price and has helped aspiring artists advance their craft. The works on display include a large-scale mixed media installation titled Distorted Myths (Popo y Izta) by Esteban Ramon Perez.The body of the installation is a large, leather tarp featuring swirly lines converging toward the center and hangs from a wooden stick adorned with peacock feathers. The piece is inspired by a fictional story of a princess and a warrior that takes place in the volcanic atmosphere of Mexico. Anindida Dutta offers a similar installation known as Sex, Sexuality, and Society--Botswana . Dutta’s piece is comprised of several blac...

Hope Gangloff is presenting a collection of acrylic paintings for a show at the Susan Inglett Gallery. The works serve as a personal diary of sorts and include still-lifes, landscapes, and portraiture. The atmosphere is relaxed in Gangloff’s portrayals of friends and acquaintances such as Arnold (Lehman-Richter) featuring a man comfortably seated near a lakefront gazing at distant mountains in soothing tones of blue, purple and green. Waggie and James shows a man lounging on a sofa with his dog at his side; in another, titled James Case-Leal , the same character is shown braiding his hair while casually balancing a cigarette in his mouth. A large painting of a meadow hangs on the wall, with varying shades of reds and blues making it stand out. Other notable works include Brook at Dusk which offers an alluring array of soft and bright colors, the simple Bittersweet Barn with the bright, red subject taking over most of the canvas and Spring Porch capturing a night during a t...

The Bowery Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting a collection of work by Dena Schutzer for the show Agitation and Retreat . For this show, Schutzer, who’s based in the New York City area, unveils several oil paintings completed over the last two years that include cityscapes, rural scenes, still-lifes, and portraits of people and animals as they go about their daily lives in varying environments. Regarding the title, Schutzer explains that “Agitation” refers to the hustle-and-bustle feeling of scenarios she observes while “Retreat” refers to quieter and more personal moments she experiences. Some of the works depicting “Agitation” include Four Men Working that shows a group of construction workers diligently and fervently opening up a city street with clouds of steam rising. Other works in “Agitation” include the energy felt in Sparring showing a boy and his father in a boxing match in a park; Cables and Green Sky depicts a chaotic arrangement of power lines and thick, cur...

Addison Houses  (2023, oil on canvas) by John Goodrich By ALISON MARTIN The Bowery Gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting The Color's the Thing , an exhibition of recent paintings by John Goodrich. For this show, Goodrich presents a mix of landscape pantings, still lifes, and character studies all of which encourage the viewer to consider the relationship between color, shape, and open space.  Rembrandt is a major inspiration for Goodrich and Goodrich includes several paintings inspired by various renditions of Rembrandt's early skecthes including Bastion in Amsterdam , Three Women at the Entrance of a House , and Rembrandt's reclining nude series. Many of the landscape paintings in this show are countryside scenes of houses, water, cars etc. In Addison Houses, you can see the reflection of the houses in the water. In still-lifes such as Two Red Peppers , you can see how the bold red color of the peppers and their curvy shape and the large size compared to placed in ...