The Armory Show Pier 92 and 94 2011

Post by Lisandra Gomez

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One of the biggest Art shows in New York just took place in Pier 92 and 94, there were over 1,000 Artist. They Varied from new and upcoming artist to up close with Chuck Close paintings. My personal favorite was there in the modern section; De Chirico, which was a nice surprise. I actually got tickets to go before the exhibition opened, let’s just say there was a massive crowd of gentlemen in suits, armed with gorgeous women. It was  a little uncomfortable at first just because I had to weave around the mass of people huddled in front of the actual art work; but a great experience none the less.  A teacher once told me that when going to an opening other artist are always the harshest critics, dealers never really give their opinion on what they think because they want to learn what other people are interested in, and collectors tend to love mostly everything. This quote was confirmed when most of my friends from the Fine Arts department mentioned they didn’t enjoy the contemporary section very much, but at the opening everyone there seemed pleased and impressed.

I put together a couple of images of the contemporary artist that I found interesting. The first piece that struck was this enormous 210×160 cm canvas, acrylic on canvas. By the Artist Luiz Zerbini  it was  this Huge this grid pattern in the background that resembled the side of

(above) Luiz Zerbini

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apartment buildings in some type of tropical country. Each small cube was a different color and so the entire background was covered in this urban looking grid. Then there’s these street wires and phone poles covered with wild life ; leaves, cactus, monkeys. It’s decaying wild

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life over a city and rectilinear line work is amazing and the juxtaposition between the two is what really strikes me as beautiful. What really catches my attention is his use of exotic colors and how well he uses them within the space he creates. There strong reds with yellow hues and browns near light blue. His palette is remarkable rich with luminous and arranged with wild life images. He combines natural settings with the urban life and I can almost name a place and town while looking at this painting. Although they are not literal representation of lands they can place a date and time. I’m all for meticulous and intense details so this one definitely stole my heart. Here are some close ups I took. This piece in particular is called Le Corbusier 3D World, 2010. By the Brazilian artist Luiz Zerbini.

Then I went around the corner and bumped into a piece by Erik Thor Sandberg and couldn’t help but admire how this piece was more closely related to illustration rather because of its peculiar compositions, unusual in a good way though. The craftsmanship was flawless and they were very baroque in their style, which is something we don’t see too often now a days. Although the message is ambiguous I found that all of his work had similar patterns in which they are all very surreal, I would say he is the contemporary Dali.

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(above) Alterations 2010

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(above) Passive 2009

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I Chose to talk about Ron Van Ser Ende, Sculpture reliefs sine there are very 3 dimensional. His pieces are made of salvaged wood. His work consist of colored bit and pieces of wood nailed together to form an image.  They aren’t repainted in order to fit his work. With these found pieces he compiles these enormous reliefs of sometimes everyday objects he finds interesting. These sculptures are usually in extreme perspective and he uses this to his advantage. Here are some images, (Below)

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(above) work by Ron Van Ser Ende

His work references mosaics in a more modern way. On a interview he speaks of how growing up most of his town was very industrial and that he felt liberated when he expressed himself in sculpture. A nice quote by him “Cars evoke our individuality but at the same time they are the symbol of environmental catastrophe, of unsustainability.” This in fact is relevant  since fueled vehicles take a large amount of fossil fuels to build. His main influences are, pop culture and his ‘basic boyish enthusiasm’. These overly sized figures have an immense amount of time and planning in them. When seen from a far they look like paintings but what a brilliant surprise when you get up-close and see all the almost invisible nails keeping these pieces of wood together. A must see at the Armory.