Jim Kempner Fine Art sits prominently on the Northwest corner of 23rd st and 10th Ave. The gallery is known for its representation of talented and successful artists; a literal and figurative corner-stone for the Chelsea art scene. So it was a great surprise to see a large nude figure stretching herself in their expansive window overlooking 23rd street. Even better was that it was one of Carole Feuerman’s latest works.

My first encounter with Feuerman’s nudes was decades ago, as a young boy in Miami. On one of my father’s art safaris to the local galleries on South Beach, he brought me by the shirt sleeve, up close to one of her startlingly realistic sculptures. The quality of realism in her works is still a remarkable thing to encounter as an adult. On many occasions since then, I’ve seen crowds of people in public gathered around her works, taking pictures. Its easy to see how one can get lost in contemplating the possibility that a human hand created the sculptures you see before you.

In her current exhibit: Carole Feuerman: Swimmers, Bathers, Nudes, we encounter her powerful works in new scales, smaller than life and quite larger than life figurative works that still defy belief. Even when unbelievably off-scale, these sculptures are still startlingly believable in their appearance. Feuerman’s choice of scales also forces the viewer to see the human body’s various surface details in blushingly close proximity. To the student of anatomy, this is an opportunity to observe human beauty in great detail.

What I most admire about Feuerman as an artist is her dedication to figurative works over the course of her long career. Aside from achieving a technical mastery of her medium and world-wide acclaim, she is still dedicated to depicting beauty in its most honest, straight-forward fashion.

I’m thrilled that her work is on exhibit in New York; this is a must see, and open until October, 31.

Jim Kempner Fine Art
is located at 501 West 23rd Street

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Monumental Shower. Sculpture, oil and resin. 59 x 48 x 29in.

Tree. Sculpture, oil and resin. 57 x w 35 x 40in.

The Survival of Serena. Sculpture, oil and resin. 42 x 80 x 38in.