Chelsea Morning Ruin Porn

Robert Boyd

I was in New York last weekend for a comics festival and spent part of of my trip wandering around Chelsea and looking at art and destruction. Lots has been written about the effects of Sandy on many galleries, and I don't have anything to add. The storm hit October 30 and I was there on November 9 and 10. Obviously Manhattan got hit a lot less hard than other places, but because Chelsea is right on the waterfront that was most affected by the storm surge, it got hit unusually hard. The damage seemed slightly random, although the closer you were to the waterfront, the more likely you were to get hit. The small galleries on 27th street really seemed to catch it on the jaw.


Derek Eller Gallery

I was looking forward to the Thomas Barrow show at Derek Eller, but they have bigger fish to fry.



Winkelman Gallery

Winkelman Gallery got hit hard--Edward Winkelman has blogged a bit about the storm and the aftermath.



 Jeff Bailey Gallery


Winston Wächter Fine Art

And you still saw some of the futile sandbags that people had put out.




But aside from these very visible reminders, Chelsea was looking quite beautiful--a nor'easter had blown through and the air was cool and crisp. (That storm brought additional misery to the storm victims, though.)

 

 
Chelsea mornings

And there was good art to be seen, such as this show by CPLY (William N. Copley) at Paul Kasmin Gallery.


William N. Copley

And Pace Gallery had a huge Edward and Nancy Keinholz installation, The Ozymandias Parade, on display.

 
Me and The Ozymandias Parade

I made an effort to look at some above-the-ground-floor galleries and came across a really fun painting show by Lino Lago at George Adams Gallery.


Lino Lago , Another Crap Painting, 2012 , Oil on canvas , 58" x 72"

This Bill Viola video at James Cohan Gallery stuck with me.


Bill Viola, The Raft (still), 2004, video

And then there is random crap you run across--stickers and flyers. That's always an interesting part of the experience.





(I don't get the hipster hate, though.)