In the months of September and October, New York City welcomes a wave of artwork that pours into various galleries in the Chelsea area. Visiting the Luhring Augustine Gallery, on West 24th Street, and the Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art Gallery, on West 28th Street, was a new and informative experience. In the Luhring Augustine Gallery, the class had an opportunity to observe various sculptures by Simone Leigh. In the Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art Gallery, the class was exposed to seven prints from Frank Stella’s Moby Dick series. The experiences in the two galleries were very different because of the art in the galleries, the size of the galleries, and the people working in the galleries.
The class’ first stop was the Luhring Augustine Gallery. The rules of a gallery were very new to the class. There is no flash photography allowed and touching the walls with hands or objects such as book bags is prohibited. The reason for having clean white walls is to avoid any distractions a viewer can have from the art. The gallery staff is very serious about these rules and because people accidentally touched the walls, there was a gallery staff member following us around. This made the gallery feel very unwelcoming and took away from actual enjoyment of the art. Nevertheless, there were many figures to be appreciated and admired.
Luhring Augustine Gallery had three rooms with various sculptures by Simone Leigh. The sculptures from this collection shared many characteristics. All of the art was sculpted out of clay and was made in the shape of a face with no eyes. Some of the heads and bodies molded by Simone Leigh were sat upon dresses made of a material that has the texture and features of hay. The most intriguing sculpture was in the third room. It was placed in the center of the room and it was positioned in a way that made it the center of attention when walking down the hallway to the room. This is shown in the picture. This gave the viewer the feeling that as they were walking to this room, they were entering the world of the sculpted figure. This figure had various head busts around it with similar facial features. It was similar to walking into a different culture and placing yourself in another world. The fact that these sculptures had no eyes was also interesting because it showed the sculpted figure can represent anyone in that culture. The figure in that room gave a sense that it was greeting the viewer and that made the experience of the art more enjoyable.
After the Luhring Augustine Gallery, the rules of a gallery were clear and the class was headed to the next gallery about five blocks away. The Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art Gallery was only one room in a building that had a variety of different art showings. In this gallery, the class was welcomed into a room housing seven prints by Frank Stella. Stella printed these abstract works of art towards the end of his career as a print artist. This art was far more expensive than Simone Leigh’s work, but surprisingly the people at this gallery were more welcoming. The class had the great opportunity to actually meet and speak to Anders Wahlstedt who enhanced the art viewing experience with information on how it was made and where he obtained it. Wahlstedt showed us a small video on how much effort actually goes into making a print and the amount of trials needed to make the artist’s imagination come to life. This video revealed how many people are involved in the production of a print. Yes, Frank Stella’s name is signed on the art, but in reality, it would be impossible for him to complete this work without the assistance of the print press operator and other team members that help handle the art. The main detail of the work that caught my attention was the “AP” next to Stella’s signature. Wahlstedt explained that this meant these pieces were artist prints owned by the Stella family, and therefore had a closer connection to the artist. The prints themselves did not have complex underlying meaning or symbolism, they were just various shapes and colors inspired by Moby Dick. The print is a product of the artist’s imagination and the viewers job is simply to view it and admire the various shapes and color schemes. This art is designed for the enjoyment of the viewer; it emphasizes an importance on how the viewer feels when admiring art, not the importance of how the artist felt when designing the art.
