A trip through Chelsea leads to artistic treasures

Venturing into Chelsea for Thursday night art openings is not for the fainthearted. Fabulous people are out in full force, crowding galleries and sipping wine while looking at the latest art openings. The tiny rooms of the galleries are buzzing with conversation and bustle over the often provocative works. Going to Chelsea is less about the art, and more about the experience of going to see it, but it is definitely an experience worth having.

Jeff Bailey Gallery

The Jeff Bailey Gallery is a tiny space on the second floor of a building packed with other galleries. The small size of the rooms where the art is exhibited makes the space intimate and lively, especially when packed with brooding hipsters. “Jim Gaylord: Based on True Events” is Jim Gaylord’s first solo exhibition in New York. The artist’s inspiration came from freezing individual scenes from action movies on the computer, and digitally blending them together to create a combination of the multiple images.
The exhibit’s title is a reference to the popular movie tag line, “based on true events.” Gaylord uses the digital images to create oil paintings and gouaches, and his images are stunningly complex and full of incredible motion and energy. The forms seem just out of sight, and entrance the viewer to explore and investigate the action of the painting. The exhibition is currently on view at Jeff Bailey Gallery at 511 W. 25th St., and runs Oct.14-Nov.14. Admission is free.

P·P·O·W Gallery

Although P·P·O·W Gallery is in the same building as Jeff Bailey, it is a significantly larger space with an open and airy feel. Its exhibited artworks have more room to breathe and it has a more museum-like atmosphere. “Migratory Drift” is the gallery’s first exhibition with George Boorujy. The images are naturalistic and finely detailed textbook-like depictions of North American animals and landscapes. They are mainly large pictures on white background—yet, they are not merely naturalistic studies. Upon closer examination, there is something eerie and ominous about the images.

The astonishing simplicity of the cycle of life and death in nature is part of a larger commentary on the shifting ecology of a world that is more and more subject to human structure. On Thursday night, the gallery was also hosting a German performance artist named Freie Brandstiftung, who used three turntables to create strange and creepy music that perfectly complemented the sinister tone of the paintings. The exhibition is currently located at P·P·O·W Gallery at 511 West 25th St., and runs Sept. 17-Oct. 24. Admission is free.

Sputnik Gallery

One tiny room is all Sputnik can claim its own, but that is what gives it its charm. The strength of its pieces overwhelms and fills the diminutive space with much character. Oleg Videnin’s exhibition “The Journey Home” seeks to uncover a Russia that isn’t seen by visitors of Moscow or
St. Petersburg.

The photographs are haunting depictions of provincial life and its characters. Videnin uses highly traditional technique, without innovative angles or technology, yet his works’ innovation comes from what he captures. As the gallery puts it, “They have the sense of Presence. His characters—worn, slightly damaged, often lonely—embody the image of the truly human.” The people in Videnin’s photographs stare out at the viewer, creating both uneasiness and an inability to look away. The exhibition is currently on view at Sputnik Gallery at 547 W. 27th St., and runs Oct. 15-Nov. 28. Admission is free.