Hauser & Wirth

6/29/2013

Shifting Chelsea's center of gravitas southward, this new gallery features a dramatic entrance--a broad, not-too-steep staircase which when you get to the top ends in a big reveal as you turn left. There it is--the cavernous gallery with vaulted wood beams, lots of natural light, and some really good art! I saw the Paul McCarthy show there. It's big wooden sculptures and drawings based on the artist's twisted vision of Snow White. Everything is warped--you can see Prince Charming on his white stallion, but the figure of him on his horse is split and repeated several times, fused with trees and dwarves, turned back on itself and sliced up into separate pieces, each with a smooth grain of wood that suggested no cut was ever made--that these weird fantasias just emerged into form. Decapitated heads of Snow White herself litter the floor, with blank, pupil-less eyes and a whorish hole of a mouth--actually not a hole but a divot with a rounded bottom, the right size to hold an apple, whole and unchewed. Here too the polish factor on the wood is very high, but the shallow oral cavity suggests a digging into the surface by a wood carver, without the possibility of penetration or a real inside. The imagination is twisted and broken up into pieces but each fragment emerges into being as if whole.  

All around, this is a great gallery to visit. I didn't interact with the staff directly but overheard them talking and they seemed nice--one of the desk girls was so nice she even expained scallion cream cheese to her coworker. She told her about how an onion-like bulb has green shoots that get cut up and mixed with cheese. First week in new York honey?

4/6/2013

New space from Hauser & Wirth just opened Jan 2013.  Massive space in old roller rink.  Other space is UES.

Current exhibition from Dieter Roth finishes today.  Theme of biodegradable art continues.  This is the same guy who did the suitcases of stinky cheese in LA.  Hmm.  Only a Swiss guy would do that.  A Swiss modern art guy.  Whats up this time?  Mini chocolate busts of himself.  What kind of chocolate?  Swiss of course, duh.  One last trivia thing for our Swiss chocolate fans - he's the guy who did a rabbit shit thing from the actual mold of the Lindt chocolate rabbit.  You'll never look at Easter the same again ...

Nice touch with the free espresso at the end.

I also really liked the entrance with the colorful different stripes on the wall.  Take a closer look, they're all slightly different.