Inglorious Materials-Charles Bank Gallery
At Charles Bank Gallery there’s a group show with a serious name: “Inglorious Materials.” But don’t be scared off, the show features the work of of five different artists who explore different permutations of collage that create a visual language all their own.
Inglorious Materials-Collection
The works are constructed with found paper and objects with varying degrees of complexity. The interpretations of collage range from sculpture and installation to wallpaper and video.
Inglorious Materials-Wallpaper
A recording by sound artist Halsey Burgund pushes collage into the realm of digital media. The pieces in this show challenge the viewer to go beyond one’s elementary school concept of the homemade, DIY collage made of construction paper, words from the newspaper and magazine images. Through August 19.
Kurt Finsten
Paintings by the Danish artist Kurt Finsten are on view at 3A Gallery. The artist’s bald, unadulterated use of color may come from his living in Western Jutland, a remote part of Denmark where color, one can assume, must be taken seriously.
The gallery’s website features “Poppies,” a poem by Sara Coleridge, as a metaphor for the show:
The Poppies Blooming all around
My Herbert loves to see,
Some pearly white, some dark as night,
Some red as cramasie;
He loves their colours fresh and fine
As fair as fair may be,
But little does my darling know
How good they are to me.
(Sara Coleridge: from “Poppies” 1834)
Perhaps that’s as much as we need to know about Finsten’s use of color—“fresh and fine.” Through August 26th.
Charles Bank Gallery/ 196 Bowery/Wednesday – Sunday noon – 7pm
or by appointment/ 212. 219. 4095
3A Gallery/ 179 Canal Street, #3A/ Gallery is open intermittently and by appointment /212.219.7523
TLD contributor Tobi Elkin is a writer, editor and interviewer. A former Lower East Side resident, she delights in the neighborhood’s eclectic and diverse pleasures. Visit her website at tobielkin.com.
