The new fall season of exhibits has begun in Manhattan galleries. Two of the shows I saw this week in Chelsea had moods that were at polar extremes.
Templon Gallery has a survey of George Segal’s sculpture tableaux. These contain his signature figures cast from plaster bandages, arranged within set scenes.
I was especially struck by the designs where solitary figures are posed gazing into mirrors.
These desolate individuals seem trapped within their own (unhappy) self-images.
I found the scenes compelling, even as their desperation unsettled me.
Walking a few blocks south to the Zwirner Gallery, it was an emotional relief to walk into the space displaying the new pictures from Njideka Akunyili Crosby.
These are very large pictures, 8 feet tall, depicting her extended family, melding paint and collage techniques. A lot of contemporary art is deliberately cold and ironic, but not Crosby’s work — you can feel the deep affection she has for her subjects.
Even when one of her images does not focus on people, there is a vivid sense of warm communal life, as in this bedroom scene.
If Segal’s depiction of “the self” is a lost creature that is spiritually amputated from the rest of the cosmos, Crosby’s is of the self as one vital thread woven into a vast rich tapestry.
Segal’s work is haunting, but I’d rather live in Crosby’s world.
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NOTES
Sculptures shown are copyright the estate of George Segal:
http://viewingroom.templon.com/en/george-segal-1/1/
Pictures shown are copyright Njideka Akunyili Crosby:
https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2023/njideka-akunyili-crosby-new-york