“The Omen” Christian Lemmerz
Here are the responses to CHELSEA ART GALLERIES!
THE NEIGHBORHOOD:I’ve never been there before because I haven’t had the chance to. This neighborhood is nice, vibrant, and busy. However, when you go towards the river, the streets were a little empty but yet the buildings and the galleries are all next to each other. These galleries are here because the area simply lends itself to it. Seeing that all the buildings are squished together and that all the galleries were mostly empty space, made a lasting impact on me. A world of opposites combine to provide a stronger effect on the viewer. There was art on the walls of some buildings outside of the galleries. Having gallery neighborhoods like this one is something unique and something that should definitely be appreciated. The fact that people have one place to go in which see different types of art and can actually go from place to place without taking public transportation here and there is something valuable. People who go and explore and learn help make the neighborhood what it is. Word of mouth and constant support help the neighborhood continue to exist.
THE ART:
At the art gallery, LEO KOENIG INC., Christian Lemmerz launched “The Omen” It was one exhibit displaying three different peices but the one that struck me the most was the marble sculpture of a human covered by a blanket. At first, I really didn’t know what it was until I actually came up to it and really looked at it. It was below on the floor so I had to bend down to take a look at it. It was a very strong feeling so see something so simple but at the same something that has a universal message.
The piece is one that really makes one think about life and death. It is a figure underneath a cloth lifeless. The fact that the fabric was so well portrayed in marble is something that struck me. The artist had to chisel away at the block and transform it into that piece of art. I appreciate it more because I imagine all the work that the artist must have done to transform the block. The emptiness around it allows the audience to focuse on it and really move around it to examine it carefully. The artist’s message was that death makes all humans equal. Death does not discriminate. According to the press release: “[Lemmerz] confronts his audience with their own collective consciousness of present day terror, literally etched in stone.” When people think about fear these days perhaps they have a conception so far from the basic fear that it should instill in us.
The current trend in New York is that the artists have fallen away from the conventional. Change is art!
Going to the Chelsea Gallories was the first time I ever went to any sort of art gallery. It is an experience that I will never forget and hope to repeat with my friends and family. Who knew there was a whole other world out there? And so many artists who show their work to the public for FREE!