Paintings and Art World Intrigue: 3 Exhibitions in New York
Three exhibitions in New York City reviewed by Tsipi Inberg Ben-Haim and Anna Mikaela Ekstrand.
Mystery in Process: Alexandre Lenoir Between Dogs and Wolves
Upon entering Almine Rech in Tribeca my eyes darted across the canvases installed on the white walls and a question jumped into my mind: “What is the secret here?” The magnetic works reveal many hidden ins and outs. Their presence unveils an absence, missing surfaces that are ready for the eye to get to the bottom of. It is almost like being pulled by the nose in a search to uncover secrets. The works’ rich immersive details provoke an investigation into the imagery, and in general, the exhibition evokes a deep curiosity that ignites creativity in the audience’s viewing process.
Although Alexandre Lenoir has shown at the gallery’s Upper East Side location, Between Dogs and Wolves is the artist’s first show at the gallery’s Tribeca outpost. His work feels very comfortable on the vast white walls. The exhibition spans three rooms giving each of Lenoir’s seventeen works enough room to breathe, even creating a harmonious balance between them. The interplay of colors—yellows, greens, earthy browns, bloody reds, and blues—combined with evocative images like houses, flowers, bodies in open fields, and interiors of restaurants adds to the depth and warmth of the works, inviting the viewer to connect emotionally and intellectually.
Not completely abstract nor fully representational, the works are visually rich and attractive. What stands out is Lenoir’s revelation of his use of artist’s tape, particularly the mysterious phrase: “tape the sky at the beginning.” Speaking to the work’s conceptual foundation, the phrase is written in the top left corner of one of the canvases and anchors the exhibition. He implies that the creative process is as important as the outcome, encouraging viewers to engage deeply and find their interpretations, but also to consider the artist’s hand and process.
Visitors to Between Dogs and Wolves will unravel the layers of mystery and artistic intent that Lenoir has embedded in each piece exploring how they contribute to a broader narrative that expertly blends visual richness with conceptual depth.
-Tsipi Inberg Ben-Haim
On view until October 19th at Almine Rech, 361 Broadway New York, NY 10013.
Finger Paint for Thought: Thomas McDonell Figueroa St Paintings
With hues of blue at the upper corners, a dusting of purplish pink, and a splotch of white on the bottom left “Untitled (Figueroa St. ash)” really draws me in. It is calming, meditative, and beautiful. Unlike some of Thomas McDonell’s other smaller works on view, from his finger paintings with scratches, finger and hand print, and more erratic mark-making. Not, “I could do this.” But, “I have done this” as a child, comes to mind. (Well, not really, I was never that great of a painter as a child but you get the point—they are suggestive of a ‘back to basics’ approach: playful, aimless, and rather ugly.) It turns out my gut reaction was correct, The press release reads: “The works are an investigation into the creative process and its origins.”.
The press release states that McDonell was interested in ethologist Desmond Morris’s analysis of “art-making practices and behaviors of primates” and painting as imitation, or idea-lessly. Artist of the European modern art movement Art Brut romanticized those who lacked traditional training, were mentally ill, and were Indigenous artists, McDonell locates his creative (primitive) spirit in replicating the unknown and leaning into circumstance. This concept of chance merges with a commentary on spirituality in “Untitled (Figueroa St. mystic dharma)” where McDonell has included abstract references to a Buddhist Temple that used to be a Christian church that will be opening on his street Figueroa St this month. In addition to the painting, two sculptures of stacked newspapers (discards from the flower market) with a vase of fresh flowers placed on top that serve as pedestals for ceramic works are installed in the space. These sculptures allude to the everyday, the passage of time, and course the haphazardness of how events take place. Physical newspapers are both going out of fashion and print. Cool, but the whole set-up did not quite hit the spot. EUROPA is a beautiful space with a strong program, so I look forward to seeing how McDonell will further develop his ideas there in his next show.
– Anna Mikaela Ekstrand
On view until October 13, 2024, at EUROPA, 125 Division Street, NY, NY, 10002.
Promotion: Lauren Cohen Gallerina Do Not Disturb
As if it were a job promotion, multi-media artist Lauren Cohen asks us to wait. In her newest exhibition at Ace Hotel in Manhattan, a narrative unfolds through ceramics, video, drawings, paintings, and photography about her two years working as a ‘Gallerina,’ a gallery assistant, at an undisclosed Chelsea gallery. The show nods to the 1950-60 Funk Art movement; it is autobiographical, humorous, underground anti-establishment, and rife with cartoonish aesthetics. Replacing household objects with office objects, Cohen’s ceramic pieces are playful à la Robert Arenson: a phone with one of the blonde characters that return in drawings on the caller ID screen, a “#1 Gallerina” mug, a ‘painting’ on a tablet, and pens with “Someone’s Name Gallery.” The anchoring sculptural work is a chess game where pieces are key art world figures (lots of dicks and chicks) alluding to the games Gallerinas and artists must learn to navigate their work environment. A collection of small photographs with a man looking into a mirror, bare skin, and difficult-to-describe settings communicates big egos and male dominance—perhaps sexual abuse or harassment. The ceramic works are the strongest stand-alone objects. In a video with a birds-eye view of a bed, our gallerina throws herself on it, presumably tired after a long day playing her opponents at the gallery. The assemblage is a balancing act between angst and humor leaving the visitor with more questions than answers.
The exhibition’s redeeming factor is that it is actually not complete, it is a precursor for a film and a book that the artist will release in 2025—we are only seeing snippets of storyline and props. American artist Alex Israel did the same before his film SPF-15 was released in 2017. In his show #AlexIsrael on view at Astrid Fearnley Museet in Oslo, he screened a trailer and a table exhibited key props that allowed visitors to garner some of the story, but not all. (The film and exhibition lacked edge.) Both artists included sunglasses, a glamorous form of protection—necessary in treacherous vapid environments like Los Angeles and the art world. With the TV show Hacks recently released complicated work relationships are in vogue. The artist will find out if a wider public is interested in, or can relate to the travails of gallery workers when she plays chess twice weekly with hotel guests and visitors in character as the Gallerina.
Chess sessions each Wednesday and Sunday evening, email heygallerina@gmail.com to book. Open through November 21 at Ace Hotel, 20 W29th Street, NY, NY.
– Anna Mikaela Ekstrand
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