N. Dash, installation view. All images via Untitled

The work of artist N. Dash often operates at a raw, wordless level: simple images and objects often devoid of any qualifying forms, save the materials. Perhaps fitting, then, that Dash’s first solo show, consisting of works of cloth, dirt, and other raw elements should be held at Untitled gallery in Manhattan. Focusing on dirt and its effects on cloth and other materials, Dash’s wall hangings walk the line between more conventional wall-hung pieces and works of sculpture. The texture and color of fabrics lie on a level playing field with the three-dimensional aspects of their arrangement and their spatial relationships to their surroundings.

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Agathe Snow, Hear No Evil, See No Evil (2008-2011). All photos on site for Art Observed by Alexandra Bregman.

OHWOW’s It Ain’t Fair lived up to its name as a successful destination apart from the Art Basel main fair last week. Located in Miami’s Design District, the show featured 20 artists in the fourth consecutive curated group show by OHWOW, this year’s theme: Materialism. As explored in Marxist philosophy, materialism at its most literal, tangible entity, focuses on the tactile rather than the abstractly metaphorical. Experimental materials served to manifest the ideology, with David Benjamin Sherry’s sand-filled photograph frame, Justin Beal’s use of plexiglass and plastic wrap, and the unique approach of Angel Otera, peeling and reapplying paint. “There’s not a bad piece in here,” said Operations Director Lydia Ruby. By Saturday evening, the gallery had sold most works on view, and had noted the remarkable curiosity and intellectualism overheard in the showroom.

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View of All That is Unseen exhibition, photo by L. Streeter, Art Observed.

A large-scale group show opened last Friday night in Greenpoint at Allan Nederpelt, showcasing 17 new artists such as Tony Oursler, N. Dash, Rachel Garrard, and Matthew Stone in the colossal space on Freeman Street on the very north-east tip of Greenpoint. The recently opened Allan Nederpelt exhibition space housed a large number of works all concerned with the idea of “Art addressing Metaphysics” and the artist’s relationship to the external world, the exhibit titled “All That is Unseen.”  Curators Meg O’Rourke and Caris Reid believe that this interest in the ethereal and otherworldly is partly a reaction to the mounting scientific complexity of our time, and marks the beginning of a transition in creative attitude. O’Rourke states in the press release, “Just as delving into spiritualism (along with shifts in science and technology) led to the birth of abstract art at the beginning of the last century, we feel we are currently at the edge of a collective shift.” Works ranged in a variety of mediums, from wooden sculpture to new media to electrical design.

Tony Oursler, Occult (untitled) for Cage (2011). Photo by Daniel Terna, Art Observed.

More text and images after the jump…

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