Rauchs Hunt, Kaphars Not My Burden, Shaws The Martyrdom of Icarus Artworks

An art gallery is a principal place where artists have an excellent opportunity to demonstrate their talents, attract public attention, and exchange bright, relevant ideas and recommendations. In this regard, the Chelsea neighborhood, New York City, is a unique site containing numerous art exhibitions where spectators can discover thousands of progressive, challenging, and curious works with different formats and content. This paper aims to describe the works of three artists, namely, Hunt by Neo Rauch, Not My Burden by Titus Kaphar, and The Martyrdom of Icarus by Raqib Shaw. The paper will also explain what urges me to choose these works and provide a general impression of the art encountered in Chelseas commercial galleries.

Neo Rauch Hunt

While visiting David Zwirner Gallery, I was primarily impressed by the artwork Hunt which portrays several flying men wearing green hats and coats and playing ice hockey (David Zwirner n.d.). Besides, one of the men is frozen in an ice cube, while another cube had a caterpillar tail. As usual, this painting is characterized by an exceptional combination of realism and surreal abstraction, as well as the elements of culture in which Neo Rauch was born and raised. In this composition, human figures are against the backdrop of secular architecture, industrial installations, and bizarre, barren landscapes, which creates a dreamlike atmosphere. The mens detachment, slowness, weightlessness, and passivity within the work exerted contradictory and disturbing emotions.

Titus Kaphar Not My Burden

The second painting that impressed me was Not My Burden by Titus Kaphar, exhibited in Gagosian Gallery (Gagosian n.d.). This work shows that two sisters emanating a pale, metallic radiance hold invisible or carved figures in the form of children, one of which looks at the spectator, while the others try to touch the first. Strange bright décor from earlier times, setting, and simple wallpaper indicating the origin of sisters help reveal the pictures meaning. Not My Burden appeared after George Floyds murder, thereby presenting the fear and anxiety experienced by Black mothers about their children and the younger generation overall.

Raqib Shaw The Martyrdom of Icarus (After Honthorst and Carracci)

The past artwork that I should discuss is The Martyrdom of Icarus by Raqib Shaw in Pace Gallery, one of the most recent works, which astonished me with a richness of vibrant colors, fantastic figures, and bizarre scenes (Pace Gallery n.d.). It seems like mysterious mythical characters come to life, try to move, run, and have fun. Undoubtedly, the picture of exclusively high quality execution and art impresses with its complexity and makes viewers enjoy the rich and harmonious combination of colors and contemplate the hidden meanings and provocative themes. Sometimes, it is difficult to imagine that colors can be so alive, natural, and marvelous. They seem to take you to a beautiful fairy tale rife with wonders and mysteries.

General Impression

In general, I was pleased with most of the artwork I managed to see in galleries since they allowed me to broaden my understanding of the wealth of the art world. Some works contained implicit social perspectives making me profoundly reflect on current public issues such as discrimination, biases, indifference, violence. Others fascinated me with the combination of lovely and subtle colors and the complexity of applied graphic components. They were also works that I could not interpret clearly; that is, they were really challenging to comprehend, which indicated that I should work on my understanding and knowledge of art. Overall, while visiting, I have not encountered any picture that could upset me, but each of them has given me something valuable.