9.23.16
Chelsea Galleries and Whitney Museum of American Art
The lifeblood of the contemporary art world are the many galleries and exhibitions that hold artists’ works. In New York, the Chelsea galleries display art of every kind and permit the type of experimentation and ingenuity that drive current art trends. While some galleries are larger than others, they all provide a window into the flux that is contemporary art. For this day, I was particularly interested in artists’ installations of other elements to create a separate space for their art, a concept permissible in a gallery space, and the impermanency of these shows as a reflection of change.
Reminiscent of the separation of religious and non-religious spaces in architecture, Sarah Cain’s Dark Matter exhibition divides the outside world from the world of her art. As you step into the gallery space, you step onto geometric patterns and bright colors directly related to Cain’s paintings. She creates a world of her own, using floor space and decorating the walls with her multimedia paintings, a world soon to disappear as the show comes to a close. At Pace, we were able to see Michal Rovner’s exhibition Night, a new body of multimedia work focusing on themes of darkness and the nocturnal. What results in an other-worldly experience, bordering on a biological study of some new species. The Pace galleries have the luxury of space, allowing Rovner to fully equip one room into an immersive experience, bringing the viewer face to face with her subject. Rovner is able to utilise everything from film, to lighting, sound, and even temperature in this work. Perhaps serving as a commentary on emerging virtual reality technologies and the obsession with the unknown, the Rovner exhibition is able to combine art and technology into a new multimedia experience.
Unlike museum display, independent galleries allow artists to reestablish a space for exhibition. With some paint and spackle, it is easy to reinvent the gallery for the next show. Constantly in flux, the galleries continue to represent changing tastes and transform to meet the demands and trends of the art world.
