INES ESNAL : Articulated Tension
It’s above 50 degrees in NYC, (Thank the Aztec goddesses!) so shed those winter blues and take a trip to the High Line in Chelsea. Close by on 26th between 10th and 11th avenues is Opus Projects, an artspace currently hosting the elaborate work of Ines Esnal, a practicing architect originally from Spain. Her work is reminiscent of Gego, the Venezolana geometric abstractionist and genius of the art world. However, the work in the exhibit is mostly paper and mylar-based and uses a variety of techniques including embossery. This show is only up til April 20th so catch it while you can.
OPUS PROJECTS GALLERY 526 West 26th Street #705 New York, NY 10001
The Old Becomes the New: New York Contemporary Art Movement and the New York Art School
Contemporary Native American art is the theme of the show at Wilmer Jennings Gallery, and it’s a flavor the art world doesn’t always get to taste. Native American art is usually portrayed in museums as remnants of a disappeared past. Places like the Brooklyn Museum’s Arts of the Americas Gallery displays functional clay pottery, beaded leather moccasins or religious paraphernalia like Kachina dolls. While those artefacts are cool, artists who identify as “native” and see their art as referencing ancestral pre-colonial America aren’t always portrayed as so. Who knew Rauschenberg, Pollock and Lichtenstein pulled inspiration from a Native American lineage? Geometrical drums made from stretched cow hides, taxidermied foxes attached to canvas, and a wolf and hare grazing the grass foregrounding two silver skyscrapers are part of ‘The Old Becomes the New,’ a show that challenges mainstream curatorial practice. It’s on view until June 2nd.
Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House 219 East 2nd Street New York, NY 10009
Back Tomorrow: Federico García Lorca / Poet in New York
In June 1929 the Andalusian poet Federico García Lorca sailed from Spain to New York City, leaving behind some drama between his friends Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalî. They had just released the film ‘Un Chien Andalou,’ “an Andalusian Dog,” which Lorca took as a personal attack against him. More importantly, while in New York, Lorca attended Columbia and wrote the play ‘A Poet in New York.’ An exhibit at the New York Public Library’s Schwarzman building celebrates Lorca’s time in New York and displays the original manuscript along with photographs, drawings, and letters. NYPL says ‘A Poet in New York’ is “a howl of protest against racial bigotry, mindless consumption, and the adoration of technology.” Hmmm… and this was written in 1929? Check out his fascinating and still relevant work at the NYPL.You can see it through July 20.
NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street New York, NY 10018-2788