“Art Attack” at The Pool Art Fair in the Chelsea Hotel

The Deep End of the Pool
(image (c) Chris Twomey

This years Pool Art Fair held at the historical Chelsea Hotel on 23rd street was the highlight of the weekend. Artists took over hotel rooms from the 1st to the 5th floor displaying their work throughout the rooms. Like an old fashion Easter egg hunt, droves of people wandered through the corridors list in hand recommending their favorite rooms. The Pool provides an intimate informal viewing experience between the artist and the public. It was a feast of art, and I was absolutely intoxicated by some of the work

Chris Twomey – presented her series of work exploring “the XX chromosome (female).” She states; her interest lies in the XX’s ability to heal a flawed mutation in the DNA by combining and backing –up since there are two X’s. It is symbolic of the ancient fertility goddess of seasonal renewal; this series proposes an archetype for change, inspired by genetic realities. Toomey’s painting” Triumph of the XX: XX : Xya,” mixed media on aluminum, the female and male seem to be in the process of mutating into another form. The red haired XX goddess is in an entwined embrace with her lover reminiscent of Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” with a subtle twist. The mating of the praying mantis seems to come to mind… In her film shown on the wall which was also reflected onto a sheet of mylar on the bed underneath she creates another dimension. The XX goddess is succulent, passionately kissing her lover as the male, “mutates – morphing” into diverse races. She is the center of power, the constant in the equation. The constant combining and recombining eventually results in becoming “one”.

Lindsey Nobel – presented her series of work in which she uses drawing, paint, and photography sealed under resin. Nobel creates organic forms-creatures-organisms with tendril lines reaching out across the shiny black spaces from which they reside in search of connection. “Life form seeking life form”, they feel microscopic in size. She presents a glimpse into a world invisible to the naked eye floating within the liquid-like black surface. Nobels’ larger work “the black orchid” the surface is textured by wrinkles in the black plastic on the surface. The resin is allowed to pool into areas creating a dual existence of the visceral surface for the form. The work itself noble states is titled “the black orchid” when seen one way while becoming something else when turned another necessitating a different title. Human beings like Nobel’s forms succumb to their primal need for connection to others.

Peggy Cyphers presents her paintings and works on paper exploring the universe inspired by recent images from science. They are the deepest recesses of space, earth’s seas and the human mind coming together within fields of color. You are drawn into them as a lone astronaut floating in space guided only by natural forces occurring around you. Slowly your mind begins to wander into deeper intellectual thoughts and questions spurred by fossil like imprints of plant life and nebulous swirls. These traces of life leaving clues further the conversation.