As soon as we read that Stanley Whitney cranks Miles’ “Bitches Brew” each time he paints we knew Lisson Gallery would be our first stop in Chelsea. He puts a color down and responds to it with his next move, a call and response, similar to Miles Davis’s late sixties soundscapes. Needless to say, the show was a delight. These large paintings stop you dead in your tracks.
In a summer program at Skidmore College in 1968 Whitney became the favorite of his teacher Philip Guston. He credits Guston with teaching him how to put a painting together. Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo has a Stanley Whitney retrospective on its calendar for 2023.
And once we were at Lisson we discovered the Columbian textile art, Olga de Amaral. A revelation. A block away Gilbert and George were showing their “New Normal Pictures.” We spent nearly an hour on a bench in a white room looking at a barely discernible yellow sphere by Helen Pashgian. Lucy Raven’s video installation, “Ready Mix,” at Dia Chelsea was stunning. Chelsea still has the goods.
1 Comment
Just realized we completely avoided the Hunter Biden show. I guess we missed it because it was in SoHo, where there aren’t really reputable galleries anymore.