ART-PRESENTATION: Gardens On Orchard, Part II
Orchard Street, located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is rich with history. Once a literal Orchard belonging to James De Lancey, the street was a lavish garden during the Revolutionary War. By the mid 1800’s, the property was divided up into immigrant housing. As settlers relocated to New York City, new businesses opened their doors and remained for many years. “Gardens on Orchard” captures the spirit of those who took risks and focused their energy into making something out of nothing (Part I).
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Lesley Heller Workspace Archive
Six galleries on Orchard Street are teaming up this summer to present exhibitions exploring the theme: “Gardens on Orchard”. Lesley Heller Gallery brings viewers back in time to Orchard Street as a garden space, presenting a group show of garden and outdoor themed works spanning painting, sculpture and photography. Artists in the exhibition are: Ken Buhler, Paul Campbell, Elisabeth Condon, Natalie Frank, Elizabeth Gregory-Gruen, Catherine Howe, KK Kozik, Judith Linhares, Cyrilla Mozenter, Naoto Nakagawa, Katherine Newbegin, Jim Osman, Katia Santibañez, Fran Siegel, Sara Sosnowy, Daniel Wiener. Foley Gallery presents a group exhibition featuring works by Andrew Millner and Martin Klimas. Andrew Millner investigates the relationship between art and nature – the natural and the made. By using heavy acrylic medium over digitally illustrated line drawings, Millner traces bouquets of flowers that cross his path, marking time and emotion. The work moves back and forth between the mechanical/general to the hand made and the specific. The titles of the work are taken from specific occasions. The viewer is left with a memory of a bouquet that was once whole, but eventually weathered away. Martin Klimas experiments with the simultaneous state of motion and stillness in his exploding flowers series. The photographs explore the relationship between time, beauty and destruction. In Klimas’ flowers (vases) series, a spring-fired projectile shatters the vase, showing the transformation of a solid object into one that is in between, a temporary sculpture that comes together for a moment, creating a comforting notion that something beautiful can be created out of chaos. The group exhibition “Translucent” at McKenzie Fine Art examines how artists exploit the inherent nature of materials to achieve translucency in their work. The exhibition features painting, sculpture and photographs by: Andrea Belag, Michelle Benoit, Freddy Chandra, Christopher Dunlap, James Lecce, Shane McAdams, Doreen McCarthy, Maureen McQuillan, Shari Mendelson, Pipo Nguyen-duy, Erin O’Keefe, Fran O’Neill, Rob de Oude, Gary Petersen, Don Voisine, and Laura Sharp Wilson. The other galleries are: Shin Gallery, Pablo’s Birthday and Muriel Guepin Gallery.
Info: Lesley Heller Workspace, 54 Orchard Street, New York, Duration: 12/7-18/8/17, Days & Hours: Wed-Sat 11:00-18:00, Sun 12:00-18:00, www.lesleyheller.com. Foley Gallery, 59 Orchard Street, New York, Duration: 12/7-12/8/17, Days & Hours: Wed-Sat 11:00-18:00, Sun 12:00-18:00, www.foleygallery.com. McKenzie Fine Art, 55 Orchard Street, New York, Duration: 23/6-18/8/17, Days & Hours: Wed-Sat 11:00-18:00, Sun 12:00-18:00, www.mckenziefineart.com. Shin Gallery, 322 Grand Street, New York, www.shin-gallery.com. Pablo’s Birthday, 57 Orchard Street, New York, www.pablosbirthday.com and Muriel Guepin Gallery, 83 Orchard St, New York, www.murielguepingallery.com
