ART NEWS: Feb.03

“Right Turn at Rabbit Road” is Eric McHenry’s first exhibition of his oil paintings. Filled with magical creatures (ranging from horses with feathered tails to a primate brandishing a crucifix), a landscape in motion from the perspective of a rollercoaster, titanic vessels and various motorcraft hovering in space, and a series of painted and constructed road assemblages—made with oil, canvas, wood, and diecast cars manufactured in Chicago in the 1950’s—McHenry’s mysterious mise-en-scene evokes a surreal world orbiting around Los Angeles thoroughfares. Broomsticks fly over grassy plains, cannonballs crash through paddocks and ponds shaped like bunnies appear out of nowhere. Many compositions contain juxtapositions of shiny and rough elements, a nod to the analog/digital divide. There’s no man behind the wheel in McHenry’s throwback mindscape, a hesh reduction of Edward Hopper and Grant Wood through the eyes of a Midwestern-born, Southern-raised Angeleno. Info: Praz-Delavallade Projects, 6150 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, USA, Duration: 17/2-25/3/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-18:00, www.praz-delavallade.com/

The exhibition “Other World” allow visitors to experience the work of Maurits Cornelis Escher as never before, combining his famous prints, which revolve around optical illusions, impossible architecture, reflections and the natural world, with installations by Belgian artistic duo Gijs Van Vaerenbergh. This double exhibition is divided into two sections representing night and day, a contrast that fascinated Escher. The first part of the show, DAY, arranged by theme, will be displayed in our large, daylit galleries, where the work of Escher and the spatial installations of Gijs Van Vaerenbergh will challenge and enhance each other. In the second part, NIGHT, Gijs Van Vaerenbergh have been given the opportunity to combine their models of dream architecture with more intuitive and idiosyncratic elements of Escher’s work. This unique combination sheds new light on the popular and versatile artist Maurits Cornelis Escher who, 125 years after his birth, still inspires people of all ages the world over, including mathematicians, architects, artists and art lovers. Info: Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Stadhouderslaan 41, Den Haag, Netherlands, Duration: 18/2-10/9/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, www.kunstmuseum.nl/

Wu Tsang’s exhibition centers around “Of Whales”, an immersive realtime video installation that offers a poetic meditation on the whale’s perspective, through a deep dive into an oceanic cosmos that is alluded to in Herman Melville’s tale. First presented at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, the work was created on the Unity gaming platform as a dynamically generated real-time video and sound installation, which envelops visitors in an oceanscape-cosmos for respite, contemplation, and provocation. “Of Whales” forms part of a filmic trilogy that includes Tsang’s feature-length adaptation of Moby-Dick, the maritime tale of a captain’s obsessive quest for the eponymous white whale, which Tsang reinterprets through postcolonial, queer and environmental readings of the novel. The story of Moby-Dick chronicles the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of a whaling ship who seeks revenge on a giant albino sperm whale that bit off his leg. It is a legend that everyone knows, but few people reflect on its significance today. The story is saturated with problems and reflections of its time—but also of our present. Tsang’s surreal adaptation recontextualizes this epic allegorical drama, exploring themes of labor and desire through a post-colonial lens. Info: Curator: Soledad Gutiérrez, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, P.º del Prado 8 Madrid, Spain, Duration: 21/2-11/6/2023, Days & Hours: Mom 12:00-16:00, Tue-Sun 10:00-19:00, www.museothyssen.org/en

The exhibition “All of Me” is an immersive tribute to Winfred Rembert’s incredible life and artistry and include more than 40 works made in his signature medium of carved, tooled and painted leather, including several never before seen. Produced during the last three decades of his life, the works on view offer a striking visual memoir and will take visitors on a journey through key chapters of the artist’s personal history. Rembert’s paintings recognize the people and places––from pool halls, juke joints, and civil rights protests, to cotton fields and chain gangs––that shaped his worldview, uniquely rendered through technical mastery of his chosen medium into something arresting and astonishing. The opens with two powerful depictions of the immense cruelty of the America Rembert experienced during his time in the segregated South. This pair of works introduces viewers to motifs the artist deployed repeatedly over the years, and which became icons of his oeuvre. Info: Hauser & Wirth Gallery, 32 East 69th Street, New York, NY, USA, Duration: 23/2-22/4/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, www.hauserwirth.com/

“Chaos and Memories” is an exhibition in two parts. While the works hail from different geographical locations, the artworks presented feel somehow interconnected, revealing the subtle erosion of time and memory. As we stand on the precipice of uncertainty, art can give us new perspectives and hope for new futures. It has the power to decenter our point-of-view and evoke deep-seated emotions and associations,  drawing fragments of the past into our present. Produced by ScanLAB, “FRAMERATE: Pulse of the Earth” bears witness to landscapes in flux. The work reveals alterations caused by human-centred industry and the immense forces of nature; destruction, extraction, habitation, construction, harvests, growth, and erosion. Created from thousands of daily 3D time-lapse scans of British landscapes, the work observes change on a scale impossible to see with the lens of traditional cameras. In the other Part “Taiwanese VR works” are shown works by: Craig Quintero, Vang Fish, Chen Singing and Clément Deneux. Info: PHI Centre, 315 Saint-Paul Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Duration: 22/3-11/6/2023, Days & Hours: Mon-Tue 9:00-17:00, Wed-Thu 9:00-19:00, Fri 9:00-20:00, Sat 10:00-20:00, Sun 11:00-19:00, https://phi.ca/en/