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Hayv Kahraman, Icosahedral Body, 2013. Wood and aluminum. Photo William Jaeger
El Anatsui, Chambers of Memory, 1977. Ceramic and Manganese. Detail. Photo William Jaeger
Stressed World, installation view 2. Photo William Jaeger
El Anatsui, Womb of Time, 2014. Aluminum and copper wire. Photo William Jaeger
Garnett Puett, untitled (apisculptural studies #51), 2019. Wax, forged steel. Photo William Jaeger
Lyne Lapointe, installation view. Photo William Jaeger
Paul Anthony Smith, Dreams Deferred, 2022. Oil on inkjet printed on dibond. Photo William Jaeger
Stressed World, installation view. Photo William Jaeger
Yoan Capote, Nostalgia, 2014-2016. Suitcase, bricks, cement. Photo Wm Jaeger
Stressed World, installation view. Photo William Jaeger
Vibha Galhotra, Alcove (from Life on Mars), 2019. Nickel coated ghungroos, fabric, polyurethane. Photo William Jaeger
Carrie Mae Weems, The North Star, 2022. Seven inkjet archival prints in oval frames. Photo William Jaeger
Yoan Capote, Status Quo (Reality and Idealism), 2010. Bronze. Photo Wm Jaeger
With nearly 200 artworks by thirty artists from all over the world and in every discipline, “ Stressed World ” makes diversity normal. Luckily, the show doesn ’ t parade its works from every corner of the racial, gender, and sexual universe. It is inclusive by instinct. It walks the walk.
For those who don ’ t know Ghanian artist El Anatsui ’ s work, which had a beautiful showing at the Clark Art Institute in 2011, there are several different aspects to his output here. It is centered around one of his large wall-hung works, the titular “ Stressed World, ” which is something like a post-industrial quilt using discarded aluminum scraps woven together with copper wire.
In another room, Anatsui ’ s large hanging orb “ Womb of Time, ” using the same kinds of materials, is disarming as the faceted surface slowly rotates, suspended. Both of these works flaunt a formal ingenuity alongside an ecological and social sensitivity. A series of smaller, earlier, rough-hewn sculptures made of manganese further expand our appreciation of the Anatsui ’ s range.
Many of the the artists here have multiple works on view, often showing their evolution over time, so the show has a matrix-like sturdiness as you bob in and out of rooms and discover — and better grasp — further works by artists seen earlier. So we can take in “ Status Quo ” by Cuban artist Yoan Capote, an oversized balance scale in the entry gallery, and then discover his “ Nostalgia, ” a suitcase filled with Manhattan bricks, later on . Both works play against cliches and expectations with critical wit.
Where: The School, Jack Shainman Gallery, 25 Broad Street, Kinderhook, NY 12106
Info: 212-202-3402 or https://jackshainman.com/exhibitions/stressed-world-2022
The many color photographs by Irish artist Jackie Nickerson range from creepy, off-color still lifes or glimpses of strange interiors, to a wall of eight large, staged studio “ portraits ” where figures are obscured, draped or encased in different kinds of plastics. These are dark, perplexing works, and they might try too hard, but they expand the larger palette of the show.
The sculptures by Hawaiian beekeeper Garnett Puett push a single fabulous idea — beeswax hives created, by bees (with some interference from Puett) around irregular armatures. These collaborative objects are weirdly modernist and yet unclassifiable, not to mention beautiful in material, formal terms.
The many figural bronze sculptures by Claudette Schreuders, with some companion works on paper, create a growing, cohesive presence throughout the building. Their stoic, enduring demeanors make you pause, and you wonder slightly what they are thinking, and if they might know more than you do.
There are some stalwarts included: a few Andy Warhol photographs each made of four repeated images, and some colorful and overtly decorative color images by Gordon Parks. These photographs are complemented by some brand new, multi-image works by Carrie Mae Weems that go cosmic — one is literally a series of pictures in rounded frames of, apparently, the North Star. More grounded, and more disturbing, are fifteen circular photographic images by Deborah Luster showing crime scenes, penetrating in their frank detachment.
You ’ d be correct if you saw the curation here as finding a way to create an eclectic show of dissimilar works under a very loose rubric. It helps that the art is beautifully conceived, thoughtful ly sourced and finished with care. Ditto for the installation itself in the converted school, maximizing the peculiar spaces, nooks, cavernous rooms, and walls facing big windows.
The Jack Shainman Gallery represents a vast array of artists who don ’ t naturally fall under one parasol. But in “ Stressed World ” there is a sharp eye for internal currents that make the show gel, including declarations of cultural nuance, and some observations, however fuzzy, about resisting miscomprehension and adversity.
And so the show ends up representing all of us.
Jaeger has been teaching in the Art Department at the University at Albany for over twenty years. He identifies as a photographer and also writes about photography and art. He avoids social media as much as possible. You can reach him at wmjaeger@gmail.com.