Peruvian artist Kukuli Velarde makes her debut at Barry Friedman LTD with an incredibly visceral show, making excellent use of the nude in her art. With boundless imagination and unbridled drama, the works are intimate, soulful compositions that are difficult to pass by. I highly recommend that everyone in the New York area make a point to expose themselves to the strong presence that is Velarde’s work.

The exhibition debuts Velarde’s work in two mediums. The first being her terracotta sculptures, and the second being her paintings on brushed aluminum. The sculptures are vessels to an antique nature, displayed as evidence unearthed from an anthropological dig. Entitled ‘Plunder Me Baby,’ the sculptures presentation, with museum-like signage, provokes an association to an indigenous cultures’ reaction to European colonization and subjugation. Each piece is categorized as to estimated date and region of ‘find.’ They are listed uncommonly, containing a quick description of personal quirks (“Bites, likes tough love”.) Both startling and amusing is the personification experienced from each piece’s face and limbs. Kukuli’s grasp of expression is remarkable as her sculptures appear if as on the verge of coming alive.

In her paintings – the ‘Cadaver’ series – Velarde uses images of conquered peoples in the context of European cultural and religious imagery. The expressions of the subjects, in comparison to Velarde’s sculptures, are less playful, but are equally as powerful. Referencing modes of accepted Western beauty such as the classical Venus, Velarde literally tries on their “skin”, inserting herself as the model in most of her primary figures. There is an uneasy marriage of cultures here, which is what makes this exhibition work so well. There is both homage and disgust, piety and betrayal, using Western culture and its iconographic art as props to make her own contemporary statements.

Finally there is a video of her late father with whom she shared a very strong bond, her passion as artist especially apparent in this emotion-filled work. Kukuli surrounds the projected video with wall drawings, referencing the time that her father caught her drawing on the wall of their home. He sensed a talent in his daughter which he encouraged over the years. The homage is creative and touching and the exhibit as a whole, remarkably fresh. Dad would be proud.

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Vigilandote, Cadaver Series, 2004
Acrylic and Oil on Steel Plate
72 x 48 inches

Sculptor Antony Gormley has continually impressed us over his more than quarter-century career as a visual artist. In most cases Gormley uses his own body as the main influence for his work, creating structures that radiate energy through his varied use of medium, and shape. Having shown all over the world, Gormley has recently finished an installation in Manhattan’s flatiron district.

The installation consists of a series of thirty-one statues, camouflaged on rooftops in the surrounding area. Each weighs close to 3/4 of a ton. They are designed to overlook the Flatiron district from different angles, creating a visual flow. Gormley did a similar showing in London in 2007.

Walking through the Flatiron district, you would almost have to know where you were looking to see the ominous works. Standing in the central partition, across the street from the Flatiron building, the statues gaze down on you powerfully, overwhelming you with a sense of greatness, growing as you continue to discover the works that appear to be greatly aware of you prior to your discovery of them. Provocative, and glorifying of the human form through its borderline abstraction, Gormley’s works are a manifest piece of culture, waiting to be discovered.

Click here for the New York Times article on Gormley’s exhibit.

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Song, forged ball bearings, 2008, 86 x 86 x 60cm.

During my walks through New York’s gallery districts there are times that I find myself anxious for something to take my breath away. And there are times when it gets taken away not once but three times, all from artists working with the figure in very different ways.

On view at Postmasters Gallery is the current body of work by Steve Mumford, who started his ‘Baghdad Journal’ at the outset of the war in 2003. In his travels with the American military in Iraq, he made quick sketches of his experiences during moments of combat and repose. These were in turn transcribed on canvas upon his return to the studio. The new works in this show reveal a more nuanced look at war, and how it is experienced from the perspective of jihadists and our occupying military personal.

There are two nudes in the exhibit to talk about here. The small portrait of a half nude woman on a bed might be a competently rendered but unremarkable work until you notice her right arm veiled in shadow has been amputated. This then invites more scrutiny of her expression and the thoughts of a young woman whose life has been permanently altered. It gives credence to the graffiti painting in the other room lamenting “wish I was, where I was, when I was wishing, I was here.”

A large striking painting in the main gallery titled Baqubah portrays a languid moment for a group of marines cooling themselves in a murky pool of water. Most are nude and expertly rendered. Mumfords’ understanding of anatomy is on display here even through multiple tattoos on one of the men. He delivers relaxed poses with great textural passages of paint and atmosphere. As with ballet or opera, sometimes the most natural seeming movements take the greatest dexterity to pull off. I’ve been following Steve’s work for some time now and feel this is some of his best to date.

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Purple Heart, 2009, oil on linen, 36 x 24 inches

Baqubah, 2009, oil on linen, 71 3/8 x 71 1/2 inches.