Art Hag

Lehmann Maupin's Chelsea space currently has on view Iranian-born artist Shirazeh Houshiary's Light Darkness. Featuring paintings, drawings, sculpture and video animation, "[E]ach of the works in Light Darkness oscillate and metamorphose constantly, revealing the true nature of the world which is not permanent or concrete, but illusive and changing," (from show's press release). Houshiary's pieces were "created by countless lines" that repeated and layered "produce a web or veil that captures the viewer's gaze." The "veiling" effect allows viewers "to explore space inside the paintings, which dissolve the distinction between reality and appearance." As the artist states, "These paintings are very contemplative and encourage the viewer to look within. Here synchronicity is the point of connection between inner and outer event." Houshiary moved to London in 1974 and studied at the Chelsea School of Art. Starting off in sculpture, she switched to painting in the early 90's. Her large scale works are mesmerizing. Ever-so-slightly shifting your position in front of one of her canvases provides a whole new perspective. Looking at them for too long can cause a slightly hypnotic effect. Learn more at Lehmannmaupin.com and at the artist's website Shirazehhoushiary.com. Through June 19th.

Down at Lehmann Maupin's Lower East Side gallery are a series of new sculptures by Lee Bul that "expand upon her continuing engagement with the fractured tropes and narratives of utopian modernity" (from show's press release). The raw, lovely, and intricate works suspended from the ceiling in the main gallery are composed by complex collisions of shiny metal, wire, and various other bits and pieces. According to the press release, "By turns strikingly elegant and obsessively intricate, the sculptural works in this exhibition delve into metaphysical and poetic concepts of architectural environments..." The South Korean-born Bul, whose earlier works included performance pieces, is in "a current phase of artistic inquiry, constituting an imaginative meditation on the ruins of history, a glittering yet melancholic topography of collective utopian aspirations and failures, the vestiges of which continue to resonate in our consciousness and experience of the world." As apocalyptic, jagged, and unpolished Bul's sculptures initially appear, after a longer look, they resemble sparkling, dangling jewels. Learn more at Lehmannmaupin.com and at Bul's website Leebul.com. Through June 19th.

Houshiary - Rupture, 2010, Loom, 2008, Vapour, 2010