“Anselm Kiefer: Next Year in Jerusalem” is a new exhibition currently at the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea. It’s special because it is Kiefer’s first exhibition in New York in eight years. The New York Times said Kiefer’s pieces “blend painting, sculpture and set design; incorporate elements of filmmaking, performance and photography; and marshal the forces of history, literature and religious thought.” I think this makes the exhibition very interesting, because you can explore a theme through the use of different art mediums. Although a gallery with only paintings can also be very profound and moving, I think “Next Year in Jerusalem” can attract a wider audience because it has more variety, and everyone can find a style of art that they like.
Kiefer's "Cetus"
Another interesting thing about the exhibition and about Anselm Kiefer himself is that he was born in the last few weeks of World War II, and so his art deals with human suffering and devastation in order to reflect that time period. Some of the pieces are the fuselage or engine of a vintage airplane, a thorn bush with flames, and a wedding dress covered in shards of glass. Kiefer’s paintings also carry a heavy and gloomy mood, with the use of dark paints. Even “Cetus,” a painting of an enormous mountain landscape and a field of dead stalks, brings up the image of death and war.
“Anselm Kiefer: Next Year in Jerusalem” is at the Gagosian Gallery until December 18th.
New York Times Article
Slideshow
Kiefer and Gagosian are MAJOR names in the art world. Go to see this!