Fill 'er Up

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Billboard wall in Chelsea 



Who could have known that this billboard wall on 21st Street in Chelsea would be a metaphor for the jumble of stuff in the galleries right now?

At the Barbara Gladstone Gallery, Thomas Hirschhorn, inspired by the Italian cruise ship that ran aground feet from shore, has created his version of the listing banquet hall inside the inaptly named Costa Concordia. There's no sense of urgency or disorientation here, but it is an awesome spectacle.

Thomas Hirschhorn, Concordia, Concordia, at Barbara Gladstone Gallery in Chelsea, up through October 20

 

Detail below

 

Tip of the iceberg: At the doorway of Sikkema Jenkins on 22nd Street, where Leonardo Drew's installation is visible.

 

 

There's another apocalyptic vision at Sikkema Jenkins, where Leonardo Drew reportedly took the entire summer to install this season opener, a burnt offering of detritus from nature and industry. But for all its destruction there's something Phoenix-like about Drew's enterprise, for he's cobbled together an entirely new vision out of the ashes of the old. It's up through October 12. 

Installation view of Number 161 in the large main gallery

 

Detail below

Standing at the periphery of the main gallery, with the installation snaking around behind us and into a second space, we're looking at Number 159 on the far wall

 

Detail below, where riveted metal and assemblaged wood meet

 

Katerina Marcelja, Wet Wings and Wooden Sails, at Giacobetti Paul Gallery in Dumbo

 

In the 111 Front Street Gallery building in Dumbo, Katerina Marcelja took the detritus of a house that was deconstructed for remodeling and turned it into an installation, the largest work of which is this  menacing mountain of snapped lathing. The show is up through September 30. (Truth to tell, I went to see Mark Dagley's show at Minus Space next door, and I will show you those pictures soon.)

 

Detail 

 

 A steamroller in a tight space

 

At Dodge Gallery on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side, sculptor Dave Cole has shoehorned a steamroller into the gallery's below-ground-level gallery. No he didn't drive it in. The disemboweled steamroller was taken apart and placed section by section into the tight quarters and then reassembled. The unusual thing about this steamroller is that it's now a musical instrument. See the protrusions on the drum and the metal fingers on the wooden sound box attached to the front? Yes, it's a music box. (The song? My Country 'Tis of Thee. I might have preferred Jimi Hendrix or maybe Bach, but the one who does the work gets to pick the tune.) The show is up through October 28.

Dave Cole, The Music Box, 2012, Installation view. Photo, Carly Gaebe. Photo from the gallery website

 

Stay tuned over the next few weeks. I have a lot to show you of the new season in New York. As always, I welcome an annual voluntary donation of $20 to keep this blog going. Look for the money request in red on the sidebar and the Pay Pal link just below it. Thanks.