CHELSEA — Over the new few weeks, dozens of galleries in and around Chelsea will launch shows ranging from the classic to the quirky to the, well, lint-filled.
This fall's selections include glass flowers, sculptures that look like exploding wood and a world made out of pocket lint, as well as art of the more traditional wall-hanging variety.
Here's a rundown of some of the neighborhood's must-see shows opening this month.
Love Stream
Local artist Randy Polumbo's fascination with the old and new combine in "Love Stream," which takes a vintage Airstream trailer and decorates it with fantastic luminescent flowers at the Steven Kasher Gallery (521 W. 23rd St). Polumbo's garden of fake plants, lit up in a rainbow's array of colors, are made of handblown glass and aluminum.
The exhibit kicks off on Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. and runs until Sept. 30.
Paris-Scope
Visitors to the Mixed Greens Gallery (531 W. 26th St.) will get a glimpse into Paris — covered in pocket lint — at this upcoming show. French artist Benoit Pype has covered the Projective Collective's Paris gallery with sculptures made of that most ubiquitous of substances, blown up through a magnifying glass. By looking into the titular Paris-Scope at Mixed Greens, you too can see a live video of the exhibit without the pricey ticket to France.
Paris-Scope opens on Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. and runs until Nov. 10.
Recent Drawings and Paintings by Robert Ludwig
Ludwig's new exhibit at gallery 307 (307 Seventh Ave.) is a whirlwind of subtle creativity. The artist uses charcoal, graphite and good old-fashioned paint to create wondrous geometric shapes, each with their own textures and feel.
Ludwig's exhibition opens on Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. and runs until Oct. 4.
The Desert Cantos
The Robert Mann Gallery is launching its new space (525 W. 26th St.) with a stunning array of stills by acclaimed photographer Richard Misrach. The photos show the evolution of Misrach's work over the past 25 years, including eerie outdoor scenes featuring things like empty chairs sitting in a vast, expansive desert. The showcase will also display Misrach's unusual use of a flash — the artificial light can be seen in many of his pictures — something that's normally frowned upon in the photography world. The show will demonstrate Misrach's continued concerns with issues around landscape and the ecological world.
The gallery will open the exhibit on Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. and it will run until Oct. 27.
Luminous
Using the latest in phosphorescent paint, German artist Regine Schumann creates glowing colored shapes on a two-dimensional wall for her debut New York show at the De Buck Gallery (511 W. 25th St.). Her wall sculptures glow with colored light in the studio space. If visitors decide to check out the show, they can ask the gallery staff to either turn up the lights all the way or shut them all off, allowing the sculptures to glow on their own.
Luminous starts on Sept. 13 and runs until Oct. 25.
Leonardo Drew
Returning to Sikkema Jenkins & Co. (530 W. 22nd St.), Drew's sculptures of wood, fiber and metal look like a, exploded forest, with only a heap of debris left behind. The installation was made specifically for the gallery, taking up the entire space. By combining both the natural (the wood) and the man-made (the metal), Drew is attempting to comment on the way our cities continually push out and eliminate the natural world.
The new exhibition begins on Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. and runs until Oct. 13.
