New Show of Tom Gillick & A Retrospective of Otto Piene’s Sensory Pieces
The 4 shows you can’t miss this week in New York (we have one extra!)
1. Liam Gillick @ Casey Kaplan
February 11 — March 19
Liam Gillick’s new exhibition with Casey Kaplan highlights the variety and contradictions at the core of the artist’s practice by focusing on a series of motifs that he repeats throughout his oeuvre. The show begins with some of Gillick’s wall texts — communicating phrases in pale, shimmering vinyl typography — and continues on to his abstract structures — powder-coated aluminum and transparent plexiglas forms. Together, the media demonstrate the architectural nature of Gillick’s work, his enduring fascination with structure, both narrative and physical.
On view at 121 West 27th Street, New York, NY.
2. Otto Piene @ Sperone Westwater
January 28 — March 12
Throughout his many-decade career, Otto Piene not only built an impressive oeuvre of works exploring light, sound and space but also become a central, founding figure in the ZERO art movement, which aimed to reassert avant-gardism following World War II. His new retrospective at Sperone Westwater spans the artist’s career, both in years and in media used (from painting to sculpture to installation pieces). The works are united by Piene’s engagement with the viewer’s sensory reaction to colors (specifically red), light and shapes.
On view at 257 Bowery New York, NY.
3. Shara Hughes @ Marlborough Chelsea
February 11 — March 12
Marlborough Chelsea’s showcase of new works from Shara Hughes catches the artist at a pivotal moment in her career, as she synthesizes the many painting styles she has implement and looked to for inspiration in the past. The myriad of aesthetics combine in Hughes’ new series of abstract yet uncannily realistic paintings, best described as “psychological landscapes comprised of “component gestures, provocative color-combinations and formal logic.”
On view at 545 West 25th Street, New York, NY.
4. Julien Meilland @ IDIO Gallery
February 19 — March 13
There is a special in our selection this week: the first U.S. show of the young French painter Julien Meilland. In this blog, we strive to provide the most relevant and best shows in NYC week after week. This is a painter to follow, doing his US debut in a new experimental Bushwick gallery space (IDIO Gallery) we love.
Julien Meilland was originally trained at the rigorous Ecole Boulle in Paris as a master woodworker. In his artistic practice, Meilland gradually freed himself from tools and experiments with ways to make color and paper meet directly, without the mediation of a brush (thus the name of the show, Sans Outil — literally “without tools” in French). The essence of the work is in the gesture, as unobstructed by tools, we see movement on paper in the purest form. One could say this is a show of choreography on paper. Unknowingly following the steps of Gerhard Richter and John Cage, his paintings are the mark of a universal dance, constantly simplifying his process to capture the essence of movement itself, the chance of contact and trajectory.
Show opening: Friday, February 19 2016 6pm-10pm with a live music set by Groj. Also, meet the artist at an intimate Salon on Sunday, RSVP essential.
On view at 976 Grand St., Studio D, Brooklyn, NY
