Whitehot Magazine
"The Best Art In The World"
Artist Barry X. Ball with his 2008-2012 sculptures Envy (L) and Purity (R)
By PAUL LASTER, FEB. 2015
A well-tuned sculpture show that flirts with both the attractive and the grotesque, Beautiful Beast presents a spirited group of works in a variety of media by sixteen contemporary artists. Curated by artist and New York Academy of Art (NYAA) dean of academic affairs Peter Drake and organized by NYAA director of exhibitions Elizabeth Hobson, the exhibition turns NYAA’s Wilkinson Gallery into a funhouse for figurative art.
Whitehot hit the opening reception to capture artists from the energetic show along with NYAA staff and invited guests mingling with the art. Scroll through the images below to see more. WM
Beautiful Beast curator and NYAA dean of academic affairs Peter Drake with Patricia Piccinini's
2004 sculpture Bodyguard (for the Golden Helmeted Honeyeater)
Artist Rona Pondick with her 2007-2012 sculpture Wallaby
NYAA president David Kratz with Folkert de Jong's 2007 sculpture The Piper
NYAA MFA candidate Cassandra Read with Gehard Demetz's 2012 sculpture How Do You Feed Spirits?
Artists Leslie Dill and Don Porcaro with Dill's 2007 metal-mural Rush
Art critic and biographer Phoebe Hoban with Evan Penny's 2013 sculpture Self-Portrait, Variation #2
SALONTEA founder Tracy Stern and artist Randy Polumbo
Artist Judy Fox with several of her 2011 sculptures
Artist Richard Dupont with his 2015 sculpture GABPT 11
NYAA public relations director Folake Ologunja and art critic William Simmons with Evan Penny's 2011
sculpture Young Self: Portrait of the Artist as He Was (Not), Variation #2
Artist Jeanne Silverthorne with her 2004 sculpture Phosphorescent Betty
Beautiful Beast is on view at the NYAA's Wilkinson Gallery through March 8, 2015.
Paul Laster is a writer, editor, curator, artist and lecturer. He’s a contributing editor at ArtAsiaPacific and Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art and writer for Time Out New York, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Galerie Magazine, Sculpture, Art & Object, Cultured, Architectural Digest, Garage, Surface, Ocula, Observer, ArtPulse, Conceptual Fine Arts and Glasstire. He was the founding editor of Artkrush, started The Daily Beast’s art section, and was art editor of Russell Simmons’ OneWorld Magazine, as well as a curator at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, now MoMA PS1.
view all articles from this author