In Praise of Color, Rust and Exuberance

Greg Haberny installation-"Burn All Crayons"

Dearest Readers,
On Sept. 19th I explored the galleries of one street in the Chelsea Art District of Manhattan. I walked along e. 24th from 10th to 11th Streets, crossed to the south side and walked back to 10th, strolling in and out of galleries on both sides. It took about two hours. I photographed my favorite pieces and will share them here. I found them robustly inspirational. Almost all are marked by an exuberance of color, courage, paint application, and joie de vivre.

Cristina de Miguel Untitled?

Elizabeth Murray-"Pleat"

Michael Brown-Versailles

Allison Miller at Susan Inglett Gallery

Marcello Lo Giudice

The rusty sculptures by Michael Brown with otherworldly photos of similar sculptures on snowy terrain, and the Versailles photo prints are perhaps exceptions to the exuberant theme, but they exude a gutsy love of odd yet daring juxtapositions of formal objects in ambiguous space and time.

I'll  conclude with a wildly funny paper mache installation of a NY City Bus by Red Grooms, part of a solo exhibition of his 3D paintings and assemblages at the Brattleboro VT Art Museum that I visited two days earlier. My friend Eleanora is a passenger half way down on the right. Grooms left one seat open for viewers to participate. I'm not a Red Grooms fan. He's captured the spirit and earthiness of the NYC commuter, but his work does not move me. It's a one-liner. Nevertheless he is exuberant, colorful and gutsy. I have to admire that.