Behind the Scenes
Opening Thursday, December 12 at Staley-Wise Gallery. On view through January 25.
The world of fashion, be it editorial or runway, is very much a polished one. Outfits are perfectly tailored, images are retouched, runway shows are directed and planned, and makeup and hair is painstakingly crafted. It’s less common to get a peek at the work that goes into making this possible, but it’s the chief objective of photojournalist Harry Benson’s latest exhibition at Soho’s Staley-Wise Gallery. The prolific photographer, who has captured notable faces from JFK to The Beatles, has been snapping shots at fashion shows for decades. This show focuses on everything but the finished product (well, and some of that too): the designers at work, the models preparing to walk, the people who actually purchase couture, and more.
Kansei: Like the River’s Flow
2010
hand-signed offset lithograph with cold stamp and high gloss varnish
image size: 28 diameter
(via Martin Lawrence Galleries / Facebook)
Takashi Murakami
Opening Friday, December 13 at Martin Lawrence Galleries, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through December 22.
Some successful artists still find themselves only notable and recognizable within an insular art world, but Takashi Murakami has managed to surpass this position. The Japanese artist, his “superflat” theory of aesthetics, and his colorful, cartoonish creations have not only impacted the art industry as a whole but made a splash in the world of commercial goods and pop culture—Murakami has collaborated with Louis Vuitton, Kanye West, and Billie Eilish, to name a few. If you want to get a more intimate look at his body of work, head to Martin Lawrence Galleries, which will be showing a wide array of Murakami’s silkscreens, prints, and paintings.
Location Scouts, 2019
Dyed linen curtain, thread, chalk pastel
26 × 21 inches (66.04 × 53.34 cm)
Courtesy the artist and Deli Gallery, NY
Palace of Errors
Opening Friday, December 13 at Deli Gallery, 7 pm to 10 pm. On view through February 2.
Within Lila de Magalhaes’s dreamy, pastel-tinged works—soon to be on view at East Williamsburg’s Deli Gallery—entire fantastical worlds unfold. A humanoid spider, with as many eyes as they have shades of paint on their palette, calmly works on a painting of a nude (human) woman. Worms squiggle amidst a background of peaches and a hill that may or may not also be some buttocks. Animals, plants, humans, and creatures that only exist in the pages of fairy tales all intermingle in creamy shades of purple, blue, and sherbet-y apricot. And don’t forget the sculptures, which star squirmy tubular creatures that might be snakes, or worms, or sentient piles of feces that have fallen in love. De Magalhaes’s creations are so intriguing, they make anything seem possible.