NEW YORK—Gagosian Gallery appears to have been transported to the mountains of Italy. Five enormous canvases by Rudolf Stingel grace the white walls of the gallery—like picturesque windows with spectacular views. From afar, the grayscale landscape works look like photographs, but upon closer inspection the photo-realistic canvases reveal themselves to be masterfully executed oil paintings. Vintage black-and-white photographs of Merano, Stingel’s birthplace in the Tyrolean Alps, inspired the untitled works that measure up to 15 feet in width.
The gallery describes Stingel’s motivations: “Although the subject recalls the German Romantic tradition, such detectable influences are simply vehicles for Stingel’s broader concerns with memory and decline. Conflating a subject that is highly autobiographical with a conversely passive process, he has left some of the finished paintings on the studio floor to collect incidental scuffs and debris.”
On view from March 4 to April 19, 2014, today is the last day of the exhibition at the West 24th Street location of Gagosian Gallery.
All photos by Arts Observer
Detail of “Untitled,” 2010 (oil on canvas).
Installation view.
Detail.
“Untitled,” 2010 (oil on canvas).