art days...chelsea chillin.

i went out to chelsea the other day with my usual companion, alan. it was nice out...we got to bring the cameras out finally...we were ready to go.

juergen teller: paradis.

lehmann maupin gallery. 540 w26th st.

upon entrance i was a fan of the space. it was a simple room but big enough so the work had room to breathe. first thing i noticed was the size and quality of the prints. they were large...4-5 ft high or so. they were real grainy and i thought, "did the size compromise the quality of the print?" but then realized it was intentional. the pieces i like the most were of nude models in the world renowned art establishment, the louvre. i want to know how he got permission to do this. can regular people take photos in the louvre? what's interesting was the placement of nude figures, specifically women, in this museum. he put a classical subject of a classical art form in a place of classical art. i see it as almost a response to the guerrilla girls except here the nude women are actually in the louvre [just as grand as the met]. the rest of the pieces were his artistic shots of works in the museum. not as interesting to me.

enoc perez.

mitchell-innes & nash gallery. 534 w26th st.

i was interested in the work of enoc perez right from the gate because he depicts a lot of architectural form. i've often used architecture in my work so it was interesting to see his depiction of it. the works are clean with a lot of saturated colors. the texture of the surface is the most interesting. alan and i spent a good bit of time trying to figure out the method.

the edges are clean enough that they could be prints but then we realized they were taped. then i realized the surface looks like the result of not having enough medium in your ink when you roll it out with a breyer to do a print. from our judgement, they were rolled. the work exists on a good scale which is large but still allows you to digest the whole piece. he does not simply try to paint architecture as he sees it and injects his own specific style and angle.

ed cohen.

winston wachter fine art, inc. 530 w25th st.

alan and i became sort of uninterested in the artists on the suggested list so we started to go into gallerys that we thought would interest us. i'm glad we did. the work of ed cohen brought me back to my roots. his work is comprised of drips and bright color. its a new take on the first paintings i ever did when jackson pollock made me change the way i look at painting. cohen effectively puts his own spin on pollock in a more minimal sense. he takes something thats familiar to people and put it in a new context. this is something i've realized about my own work so i think thats why i liked it subconsciously. the work also made me wonder about how it was made. the drips exist on a solid white or black surface. but they do not sit on top of the surface like you'd expect, they are a part of it. he definitely works wet into wet but the paint hold such crisp edges that it's surprising and it's a little puzzling. they are super glossy as well. i think there was the heavy use of some kind of resin.

honorable mentions...

thordis adalsteinsdottir.

stux gallery. 530 w25th st.

flat, bold, almost androgynous figures. they often take strange forms and positions. there is a meticulous use of pattern. they almost appear to be prints. refreshing.

maya lin.

pace wildenstein gallery. 545 w22nd st.

so precise. so calculated. so perfect. so meticulous. so amazing.

it really makes me scratch my head and wonder how it was done.

not-so-honorable mention...

barthelemy toguo: the pregnant mountain.

robert miller gallery. 524 w26th st.

way too much work to digest at once. there were photos, paintings, sculptures, an installation, a video and even a performance piece one night. not what i expect in chelsea.