Week In Review: Wasted In Manhattan

Week In Review:  Wasted In Manhattan

By Dounia Lomri

America is, and has been for decades, drowning in a massive pile of trash. We produce trash many times a day. Eventually, it accumulates and we end up not knowing where to put all of it, but in a trashcan. And why is this? Because of excessive consumerism and a state of mind we have been habituated to—as soon as you’re done, throw it away. When should we decide if an object has become obsolete? Art very often emerges from societal and political issues.  Around the city, this excess has been transformed into works of art as sculpture and installations.  Here, garbage and waste have been transformed, recycled.  The results are works that are surprisingly emotional and aesthetically satisfying.

Trash has a funny way of being relatable. We can usually establish a connection in some way or another. And the fact that we viewed these objects as ephemeral and obsolete before they became pieces of art makes us question the utility of waste, what we truly think art is, and where its limits are, if there even are any. Artists such as Phoebe Cummings and Zhang Huan at the Museum of Arts &Design literally work with trash, or at least, with what most people consider to be trash. Huan mixes ashes with steel and wood and creates amazingly detailed sculpture. Bharti Kher also blows our mind with her culturally charged pieces, made of old radiators and other objects we are familiar with. There is a marked unfamiliarity with these objects as they are used in a new context. These garbage-inspired works are critiques of a detrimental society, strewn around the city.  While it is certainly not everybody’s cup of tea, it is undeniably inspiring to see these materials come back to life in ways we hadn’t even fathomed.

-“Inside-Outliers’ Alchemy: Working the Edges of Perception” by  Abigail DeVille and Stephen Woods, at M55 Art, 44-02 23rd Street, Long Island City, NY 11101. Ends April 21.
DeVille plays with the meaning objects have for each and every one of us; they “serve as place marker for our experiences”, but are also there to question our perceptions and their stability.

-“The Way We Live Now” at Brooke Alexander Editions, 59 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10012. Ends April 14.  Artists: John Baldessari, Alex Katz, Raymond Pettibon, Fairfield Porter, Richard Arstchwager, Andy Warhol, Ken Price, William Wegman, Allan McCollum, Tom Otterness, Alan Blecher, Matt Cullican, Philip Guston, David Robbins, Richard Hamilton, Malcolm Morley, Bruce Nauman, Annette Lemieux, Meyer Vaisman, Ed Rusca, Jeff Koons , Frank West, Allen Ruppersberg, Lorna Simpson, Claes Oldenberg, Joan Brossa, Mike Kelley, Jasper Johns, Jonathan Borofsky, Dan Graham, Martin Kippenberger, Richard Bosman, Markus Raetx, Steve Gianakos, Roy Lichtenstein, Matthew McCaslin, Peter Blake.
A living space, composed of familiar and unfamiliar objects is on view.  The viewer is to determine whether we accept it, or reject it, if we still view it as an imagined space, or if it has become a real one.

-“Sweep away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design” at the Museum of Arts & Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019. Ends August 12. Artists: Andy Goldsworthy, Catherine Bertola, Kim Abeles, James Croak, Phoebe Cummings, Alexandre Orin, Jim Dingilian, Gilthero, Zhang Huan, Elvira Wersche, Cui Fei, Igor Eskinja, Linda Florence, Maskull Lasserre, Su Zhiquang, Vik Muniz, Antonio Riello et al. I have been literally swept away by these dusty sculptures. The ephemerality of these works is striking, and maybe a little bit frightening. However, the details and hours of work put into these sculptures are impressive.

Sylvan Lionni: Lost in America. April 5 – May 12 at Kansas Gallery.

-“Lost in America” by Sylvan Lionni, at Kansas Gallery, 59 Franklin Street, New York, NY 10013. Ends May 12.

-“The hot winds that blow from the West” by Bharti Kher, at Hauser & Wirth, 32 E 69th street, New York, NY 10021. Ends April 14.  Sylvan Lionni questions a lot in this show; the way we live, the way we interact with objects in the America we live in, and the relationship between use and value. Materials used include a shower curtain, laundry bags and computer keypads, and have all been transformed into paintings we never would have questioned.

-“Pitch”, by Lonnie Holley, Fabienne Lasserre and Halsey Rodman at Jeff Bailey Gallery, 625 W 27th Street, New York, NY 10001. Ends April 21. Found materials compose Holley’s sculptures, as he “seeks to give new life to materials that are typically discarded.” It definitely works for me; the materials give life to the sculpture as they are given life to themselves. Fabienne Lasserre also constructs by deconstructing, but adds vibrant color and volume to her paintings.

Peter Shelton, pagodawindowskull, 1993. Courtesy of Sperone Westwater.

-“powerhousefrenchtablenecklaces” by Peter Shelton, at Sperone Westwater, 257 Bowery New York, NY 10002. Ends April 28. Shelton engages personally with his work, as he animates one of his personal belongings (his boots) and creates complex, yet intriguing pieces we are tempted to interact with, but are forced to take a step back from. “I try to think of materials as not just a surface or treatment, but part in parcel to what the work is” Shelton says about his work.

-“Altered States” by Valerie Hegarty, at Marlborough Chelsea, 545 West 25th Street, New York, NY, 10001. Ends May 5. Hegarty explores the political tension the United States is characterized by. Her “Sinking Ship” is very symbolic of this tension, as a canvas is falling apart, the ship painted on it “sinking” with it. The melting of the piece even continues to the floor, and touches “rock bottom.” Her choice of materials is bright, but the message she is shooting right at us is even better.

-“Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream” by MOS, Visible Weather, Studio Gang, WORKac and Zago Architecture at The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019. Ends July 30. These architects attempt to create the American Dream, whatever that really is. The materials used are interesting, and the show’s title a little ironic, which is why we are ready to be presented with the new “American Dream.”

-“Every Inch a Man” by Bryan Zanisnik, at Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art Center, 466 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002. Ends May 6. Zanisnik’s performance art is original and powerful; the objects he interacts with, which are old objects brought back to life from his childhood. He plays around with gender roles, and tries to destroy the stereotypes and “givens” American culture has constructed.