CLAES OLDENBURG & COOSJE VAN BRUGGEN

Posted on 2020-12-28

An exhibition of work by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen titled “There is no such thing as a perfect lamb chop” marks the inauguration of Paula Cooper Gallery’s new seasonal pop-up at 243A Worth Avenue opening on Saturday, December 5, 2020. The couple first began their working partnership in 1976 and, over the course of the next three decades, produced an extensive body of drawings, sculptures, and public commissions. The presentation at Paula Cooper Gallery includes examples from these important collaborative years, as well as works by Oldenburg made before their meeting and after van Bruggen’s passing in 2009.

Opposite – Claes Oldenburg, Tomates Farcies, 2015

Exhibition runs through to January 9th, 2021

Paula Cooper Gallery
243A Worth Avenue
FL, 33480 Palm Beach
USA

www.paulacoopergallery.com

  

JUSTIN MATHERLY – COMPOST

Posted on 2020-12-28

Juxtaposing classical elements with anachronistic and humorous details, Matherly examines psychological and bodily trauma, and the often oblique or recursive path of convalescence. Two towering sculptures titled Eat yourself fitter feature an enlarged reproduction of the head of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. Sentineled in each of the front galleries, the deities face out towards the street, gorging on brightly colored tubes that tumble from their mouths in intestinal coils. The absurd action is both defiant and futile, grotesque and comical—bringing to mind the cannibalistic antagonist of the 1980 Italian horror film Antropophagus and the ancient ouroboros symbol of a serpent who eats its own tail.

Opposite – Eat yourself fitter, 2019

Exhibition runs through to February 20th, 2021

Paula Cooper Gallery
243A Worth Avenue
FL, 33480 Palm Beach
USA

www.paulacoopergallery.com

  

ROSSON CROW – NEXT YEAR AT MARIENBAD

Posted on 2020-12-28

In this new series, Thomas Klotz addresses the theme of adolescence and the anxieties that come with it, by referencing his twelve-year-old daughter. Devoid of narrative dimension, this implicit portrait takes shape through anonymous images, “punctuation exercises,” where walls, volumes, materials, voids and shadows are all surfaces of projection, silent commentary. Heavily influenced by Lewis Baltz, Thomas Klotz directs his attention to the everyday, the trivial, where the shot resembles a micro-input of something that, in the photographer’s eye, takes on an intriguing and singular thickness. In addition, through his framing, Thomas Klotz turns away from what naturally draws the eye while suggesting presence by way of hints that attest to a life captured candidly toward a tipping point.

Opposite – We Used to Have Parties, 2020

Exhibition runs through to January 30th, 2021

Galerie Nathalie Obadia
3 rue du Cloître Saint-Merri
75004 Paris
France

www.nathalieobadia.com

  

ROGER HERMAN – MY FRENCH PAINTINGS

Posted on 2020-12-21

In his newest works, Herman paints Versailles-like landscapes, partially inspired by films like Alain Resnais’ L’Année dernière à Marienbad. Garden landscapes, trees and balconies can be seen dotting various canvases throughout the gallery juxtaposed by large paintings of flowers, fruit bowls and skulls.

Opposite – Untitled, 20204

Exhibition runs through to January 30th, 2021

Praz-Delavallade
6150 Wilshire Blvd
CA 90048
Los Angeles

www.praz-delavallade.com

  

ELEONORE KOCH

Posted on 2020-12-21

Eleonore Koch occupies a unique place in the history of Brazilian modernism. Born in Berlin in 1926, she emigrated to Brazil aged ten alongside her Jewish family. Having completed her academic training at the School of Fine Arts, in São Paulo, in the mid-1940s, she later pursued her art studies in Paris (1949-50), where she had lessons at the Académie Julian, the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and at Árpád Szenes’ (1897-1985) studio. Upon her return to São Paulo, Koch started to exhibit her paintings whilst working as a set designer. In 1953, she undertook further studies under the painter Alfredo Volpi (1896-1988), who taught her to work with tempera. From then on, this became her medium of choice. In Koch’s painting the typical rhythmic texture achieved through delicate brushwork that characterises Volpi’s work acquires a particular vibrancy due to the fact that she was ambidextrous.

Opposite – Blue Carpet on Steps in Landscape, 1984

Exhibition runs through to January 16th, 2021

Modern Art
7 Bury Street
SW1Y 6AL
London

www.modernart.net

  

PETER SANDBICHLER – THE GOLDEN BAR

Posted on 2020-12-21

Peter Sandbichler is interested in functional shifts and content-related condensations that result from the reuse of found objects or materials. For more than 10 years he has been using packaging cartons as a resource-saving material, which allows him to “think big” and to realise spaceconsuming installations. The principle of folding two-dimensional surfaces into three-dimensional, modular structures proves to be a central constructive and aesthetic element.
The exhibition is deliberately oriented towards the street in order to create a dialogue with pedestrians. Various unusually presented objects – including a Tensegrity Light (1999/2020) made of six fluorescent tubes, an Alte Schachtel (engl. old box; 2020) made of papier-mâché or a concrete cast of an elephant leaf (2020) – create a new, sometimes irritating atmosphere. The work Fliegenauge (engl. fly’s eye; 2011) on the front wall of the main room contributes to this. Its recessed convex round mirrors are reminiscent of those used in road traffic or in “panoptic”
buildings – such as prisons. Inevitably, a surveillance situation is suggested in which visitors can be observed from different perspectives.

Opposite – DIE ZEIT, WISSEN, 14. DEZEMBER 2017, 2017

Exhibition runs through to February 27thh, 2021

Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman
1010 Vienna
Austria

www.galeriethoman.com