On Saturday, Marlborough Chelsea hosted an opening featuring Ansel Krut’s Cut Flowers and Stephen J. Kaltenbach’s A Short Exhibition on Art Expression: Actualization.
London-based artist Ansel Krut debuted his second solo exhibition at Marlborough Chelsea. His work is usually composed of paintings on canvas surrounding still life. Like some of his previous work, Krut’s Cut Flowers depicts still life flowers, from memory, which are often painted in relation to body parts. In multiple paintings, a vase is substituted for a woman’s torso and breasts or a man’s body.
This set of paintings is less playful than some of Krut’s previous work, but they have his unique sense of melancholia. Cut Flowers seems to be concerned with the fleeting nature of time, and of art, as exemplified by his choice to paint from memory. The cut flowers will eventually drop, and what exactly the individual, the vases, can accomplish, fulfill, or produce in the passing time is called into question.
Stephen J. Kaltenbach’s exhibition, A Short Exhibition on Art Expression: Actualization, was also concerned with human life, its span, and the desire for permanency. The California-based artist displayed his breadth of talents by producing paintings, sketches, writing, and even iron-work.
His piece, Coffin Cam, which he created in 2001, feels particularly relevant today, when the longing to be seen does not seem satisfied by the ways in which individuals share themselves, like social media, or even art.
Kaltenbach’s time capsules are also affected by the desire for permanency. They often include instructions for when they are to be opened, and are inscribed with messages or words like “Wisdom”. The contents of the capsules are always unknown.
Both artists seem to be contending with the issues of time, the desire for a long-lasting effect in the world, and with the place or capacity of art.
Cut Flowers and A Short Exhibition on Art Expression: Actualization will be at Marlborough Chelsea until June 18.
