James Kalm sneaks into the Gagosian Gallery on the “down-low” to take a brisk tour of this recent group of paintings “Horizontal Tracking Shots” by Mike Kelley. Kelley uses the theatrical device of the “set” or “backdrop” as a coloristic ground on which to place his eccentric imagist paintings. These large planes of uninflected designer colors place the applied paintings into a context with high formalism, creating a complex dialog between the abstract and the eccentric.
Only two viewing days until Christmas
Thanks Loren. I think I'll go see the show again after your surreptitious camera and sotto voce treatment.
The Kelley show is only up for two more days. In fact, most galleries have only two more viewing days until Christmas, starting their holiday break on Christmas Eve, Thursday December 24. Some even have shortened hours on Wednesday. Which could make tomorrow the last full day of gallery hopping in 2009. Time to be making your list and checking it twice, especially for those exhibitions that will not re-open in January.
Here are the Chelsea galleries I hope to visit before 2009 is done. (If a gallery is not on this list, chances are I've already viewed their current exhibition.)
Sean Kelly, David Nolan, Jose Martos
Black + White, Morgan Lehmann
Paul Kasmin, Foxy Productions, Foley
Lelong, Virgil de Voldere, Claire Oliver
Metro Pictures, Fredericks Freiser, Andrea Rosen, Hasted Hunt Kraeutler, Gagosian
Daniel Reich
Pace, Friedrich Petzel, Brent Sikkema
303
Anton Kern, Jack Shainman
Postmasters, Alexander Bonin, Andrew Edlin, Lori Bookstein
Museums, of course, will stay open during the break. And no, the following cartoon of a wall sculpture/installation in a museum is neither a Maurizio Cattelan, a Paul McCarthy, nor an unholy collaboration between the two. But it does refer, somewhat strangely, to the holiday season soon upon us.