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You should see this art exhibit in Chelsea, but don't research it first
By
Ryan Kailath
Published Oct 11, 2024
Modified Oct 11, 2024
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Courtesy David Zwirner
By
Ryan Kailath
Published Oct 11, 2024
Modified Oct 11, 2024
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Lines stretched down the block outside of the David Zwirner Gallery on 20th Street on Tuesday afternoon.
CUNY students, twentysomething art aficionados, and older women in Chanel dresses were all waiting to see the newest work by Doug Wheeler, an artist renowned for his experiments with perceptions of space and light.
Wheeler, who has exhibited with David Zwirner since 2010, has something of a cult following in the art world. Unlike contemporaries such as James Turrell, Wheeler’s work has not been permanently installed anywhere. When a Wheeler work comes to town, it’s an event for those in the know.
“You can’t describe it and you can’t replicate it,” said Kristine Bell, a senior partner at the gallery. “It’s just one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that really exist in your memory, and people like to be in that club. It’s a small club, but a really happy one.”
And while some visitors had a sense of what they might be in for, others came under the best conditions possible: knowing absolutely nothing about what they were about to see.
“I just heard it was really cool in there,” said Nathaniel Oumarjeet, a first-year student at Baruch College who was there on a field trip with his class, “Arts in New York City (1900-present).”
The David Zwirner gallery at 537 West 20th St.
Photo by Jason Schmidt / Courtesy David Zwirner
Here’s the most useful thing I can say about Wheeler’s “Day Night Day,” which opened at the gallery last month: You should absolutely visit, and if you aren’t already familiar with the artist, it’s best not to research anything beforehand.
“You’re going to be really surprised,” said Sarah Aghababayeva, who was beaming as she emerged from the exhibit. “If you search it up, it’s not going to be as fun.”
Other visitors echoed the sentiment, and hesitated to put the experience into words. Some called it “dreamlike” or “disorienting.”
“It was crazy,” Baruch student Santiago Patino said. “Like you were outside of the world, you were in another place.”
Docents like Tyler Redlitz and Jeffrey McCready spend hours shepherding guests through the installation in groups of four at a time. As such, they've seen the full spectrum of reactions to the piece, which can range from giggles of delight and wonder to fear and trepidation.
“I’ve seen a bunch of grown-ups turn into little kids when they get in there,” McCready said. “And I’ve seen some tears, which is pretty interesting.”
Attendees are forbidden from taking photos and recording in the exhibit, so the buzz and long lines have built up the old-fashioned way: via word of mouth.
“It’s such a rarity now because everyone’s so interested in grabbing the selfie and whatnot,” Associate Director of Communications Erin Pinover said.
Selfies, TikToks, and “art as Instagram experience” have become flashpoints in the fine art world, with many bemoaning what they see as a narcissistic commodification of creativity that reduces artistic expression to surface-level aesthetics driven by likes and shares.
The David Zwirner Gallery has been immersed in that debate. It represents artists like Yayoi Kusama, whose infinity mirrors and polka dotted rooms are endlessly postable.
But Wheeler is a completely different experience, according to Bell, the senior partner.
“It’s not sensational,” she said. “It’s meant to be meditative, to allow people to be present in the work without the distractions of photographing themselves.”
The fact that Wheeler is a pilot who lives under the big desert skies of Santa Fe, New Mexico, can help viewers understand or perhaps describe his indescribable work, she said.
“He brings a sensory experience of nature into this distilled abstraction,” Bell said. “If you follow abstract painting, this is as far as abstraction can go, as far as we’re concerned in the art world.”
Baruch student Wendkouni Ouedraogo had a different reaction.
“That was trippy,” she said. “How did they do it?”
"Doug Wheeler: Day Night Day" is on through Oct. 19.
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Ryan Kailath
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