Contemporary artists are treasured for pioneering new directions in art, the more innovative the better. And with over 300 galleries in Chelsea, the sheer amount of originality can be staggering, if you know where to look. As is the case almost every month, my all-new Chelsea “Best Exhibits” gallery tour on Sat. May 7 will reflect this diversity in the most stimulating way, with several artists using strikingly unusual materials, or using traditional materials in completely unexpected ways. Highlights of this tour will include (1) a South Korean artist who “paints” with sequins on canvas, to astonishing effect, (2) a Tennessee artist who constructs masses of intertwined colored ribbons that evoke Jackson Pollock’s dripped paint, and (3) a German couple who carve the highest quality Italian marble to create quirky, puffy-looking creatures that endear and delight.

South Korean art is exploding on the international art scene, and one of these artists is showing his latest signature sculptures and works on canvas covered almost entirely in sequins. Though sequins, used almost exclusively in fashion, have a reputation for a tacky kind of glamour, this artist’s works are profoundly serious and beautiful. We’ll be visiting his latest show of large sequin-covered Buddhas, as well as sequined star constellations of astrological signs. Originally a painting artist, he wanted to add scales to his paintings of fish, and the sequins he used for this purpose took a life of their own. The two private tours to whom I’ve shown this exhibit have come away astonished, and I expect the same will happen with participants of my scheduled tour this Saturday.

Tennessee-born artist Vadis Turner will speak to our group when we visit her show of fabric art like you’ve never encountered. She says was originally inspired to use masses of ribbons from the various awards that she and her peers received as children, and also from the cross-cultural significance of ribbons as markers of ceremony and ritual. Coming on the heels of a well-received ribbon installation in the Brooklyn Museum, her current gallery show explores ribbons as markers of both birth and death. The work is richly sensuous.

Marble has been used over the millennia in the most somber way, so how delightful it was to encounter the quirky, laugh-out-loud marble pieces collaborated on by a German husband-and-wife team. Their pliable-looking “creatures” have been installed in front of a room-filling photograph of the Dolomite Mountains, from which they were originally mined. They charm us with the excitement of their reunion with the rocks that are their family of sorts. Ultimately, these pieces are about “home,” and I believe you will be touched and amused.

The gallery season ends in June, followed by a 3-month hiatus of no scheduled tours, so take advantage now of one of the final Chelsea “Best Exhibits” tours of the season.

Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D.
Founder and Director
New York Gallery Tours