Chelsea Gallery Visits

September 23, 2009

Robert Miller Gallery: Barthelemy Toguo

This exhibition was titled "The Pregnant Mountain." It featured paintings, photography, video, and installation. The paintings were made in water color. To me they stood out as the strongest pieces in the gallery. Each painting was large scale with wild designs and unique colorful compositions. The installation consisted of a room filled with beds covered in piles of clothes, with photography mounted on the walls. I enjoyed this form of presentation because of how it connected the various forms of media.

Andrea Meislin Gallery: Jed Fielding

This collection of photographs struck me as soon as I entered the gallery. The exhibit was titled "Look at Me," an appropriate title for a collection of documentary style photos of blind people in Mexico City, primarily children. The photos were black and white, in medium size, and scattered throughout the gallery. Each photo was very compelling and a bit hard to look at but also hard to look away. This was my favorite exhibit of the day.

Mitchell, Innes & Nash: Enoc Perez

This exhibition by Perez I found to be very enjoyable. Coming from an engineering background I admired the various pieces consisting of buildings and other oddly designed architectural structures. The drawings / paintings were very geometric and linear. The use of bold colors made each image pop with a bold appearance.

Lehmann Maupin Gallery: Juergen Teller

Upon viewing this exhibit titled, "Paradis," I found nothing striking about it. When I view a piece I suppose I look for the immediate / obvious meaning or significance and I found very little in this work. I think the artist was trying to make some comparison from classic art to modern day art. The photos appeared flat with poor composition. I suppose it may be a reflection of my personality or generation but I am not one for subtlety whether or not this work is about that.

Aperture Gallery: Nature as Artifice: New Dutch Landscape in Photography and Video Art

This was the only exhibit that featured works by multiple artists I viewed this day. The photographs were stunning. Especially the large scale prints of various Dutch landscapes. The Dutch are haled for their civil engineering master craftsmanship and it can be seen in a lot of these works. My favorite was two large scale glossy photos by Frank van der Salm. His cityscapes were surreal and captured my attention and respect immediately.